In the Loop: A WordPress Podcast by Blackbird Digital

Cory and Phil are back for a Dev Chat discussing the impending WordPress 6.0 release, version numbers, market share, and full site editing in the wild. If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related that you’d like to hear us discuss, find us on Twitter as @InTheLoop_WP or send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. ## Links (3:04) WordPress Version Numbers: https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/about/release-cycle/version-numbering/ (8:52) 6.0 Field Guide: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/ (42:54) WordPress Market Share is Shrinking: https://joost.blog/wordpress-market-share-shrinking/ (50:54) Google Trends “WordPress”: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=WordPress (59:34) Fragnum Opus FSE: https://fragnumopus.com ## Upcoming WP Events WordSesh, May 16-20, 2022: https://wordsesh.com/

Cory and Phil interview Allie Nimmons, founder of Beedia Productions, a LinkedIn learning instructor for WordPress, cohost of the Underrepresented in Tech podcast, and frequent WordCamp speaker. We talk about Allie’s path through WordPress and how her background in theater complemented those skills, as well as the thrills and challenges of creating educational content for a rapidly-developing software like Gutenberg. If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related that you’d like to hear us discuss, send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter as @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links WordPress 5 Essentials LinkedIn course: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/wordpress-5-essential-training (28:44) Learn WordPress: https://learn.wordpress.org/ (37:30) Beedia Productions: https://www.beediaproductions.com/ (38:16) The Open Source Economist Podcast: https://christiechirinos.com/podcast/ (39:26) Hysteria Podcast: https://hysteriapod.com/ (42:03) Allie’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC39T0DQR6LNnLUbw9bTI9CA (47:17) Allie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/allie_nimmons (47:26) Allie’s Website: https://allienimmons.com/ ## Upcoming WP Events WP Career Summit, April 8 (Allie’s session): https://wp-career-summit.heysummit.com/talks/the-importance-of-culture-fit/ WordCamp US 2022, September 9–11: https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/

Cory and Blackbird senior designer Jack Watson interview Bet Hannon, web accessibility advocate and founder/CEO of BH Business Websites, an agency that designs, builds and maintains accessible sites. Bet was a speaker at WordCamp US 2021 and is a co-organizer of the Bend, Oregon WordPress Meetup. We discuss why and how to do accessible WordPress sites, the good and (mostly) bad of accessibility overlays, some sound business advice about working accessibility into your contracts, and how to impress upon clients that accessibility is their responsibility, too. If you have questions about WordPress website development, agency life, or anything else web-related, send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links Bet Hannon Business Websites: https://bhmbizsites.com/ Twitter @bethannon: https://twitter.com/bethannon (13:47) How To Write Alt Text, The Complete Guide: https://bhmbizsites.com/how-to-write-alt-text-the-complete-guide/ (20:02) Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker Plugin: https://equalizedigital.com/accessibility-checker/ (33:56) Overlay Fact Sheet: https://overlayfactsheet.com/ (40:50) Release of Liability Template: https://bhmbizsites.com/release-liability-template/ ## Upcoming WP Events WordPress Accessibility Day, Nov 2-3, 2022: https://wpaccessibilityday.org/

Welcome back to a new season of In The Loop! We have some excellent guests lined up this year, but we start off 2022 with a Dev Chat between Cory Hughart and Phil Hoyt about the recently released WordPress 5.9 and Full Site Editing, open source compensation, video games, and Valentine’s Day. On Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2022, take some time to show your most beloved plugins some love and leave a review! If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related that you’d like to hear us discuss, find us on Twitter as @InTheLoop_WP or send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. ## Links https://blackbird.digital/podcast/ (08:49) Crock of Time, Cory’s fermentation logbook: https://crockoftime.com (10:27) WPPodcasts: https://wppodcasts.com (14:57) Tendo, a block theme by Phil: https://wordpress.org/themes/tendo/ (18:08) Block locking: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/08/locking-blocks-in-wordpress-5-9/ (18:46) WordPress 5.9 field guide: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/01/10/wordpress-5-9-field-guide/ (20:17) 5.8 block style loading: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/07/01/block-styles-loading-enhancements-in-wordpress-5-8/ (23:46) Carolina Nymark on no-code themes: https://twitter.com/carolinapoena/status/1484174134284365826?s=20 (49:08) White House Open Source Security Summit: https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/white-house-hosts-open-source-security-summit-big-tech-a-18304 (52:42) #WPTalks Twitter space, “Get Contributors Paid & Attract People to Grow WordPress”: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1djxXPkkWVoxZ (1:01:01) XKCD Dependency: https://xkcd.com/2347/ (1:04:21) Hacktoberfest drama: https://joel.net/how-one-guy-ruined-hacktoberfest2020-drama ## Upcoming WP Events WordFest Live March 4, 2022: https://www.wordfest.live/2022/march/

Our final episode of 2021 is here, closing out Season 1 of In The Loop! Today we’re taking a look back at the first 10 episodes with some highlights, so if you have only listened to one or two this should give you a taste of what the other episodes have to offer. There’s a secret tape I found full of holiday spirit and an important announcement near the end. If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related that you’d like to hear us discuss, find us on Twitter as @InTheLoop_WP or send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. ## Credits "Xylophone Sweep" by DANMITCH3LL ( https://freesound.org/s/232009/ ) licensed under CCBYNC 3.0 “Trumpet Brass Fanfare.wav” by ohforheavensake ( https://freesound.org/s/423455/ ) licensed under CCBYNC 3.0

Megan and Cory chat with Mike Demo about his open source adventures and his current role at Codeable. Demo shares about the Codeable platform and their expert community and gives lots of great advice for freelancers and dev agencies. If you have questions about WordPress website development, agency life, or anything else web-related, send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links Mike Demo’s Site: https://mikedemo.com Mike Demo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mpmike Codeable Freelance Jobs: https://codeable.io/apply Growth-Driven Design: https://www.growthdrivendesign.com

We’re back with another Blackbird Dev Chat between Megan Rose, Phil Hoyt, and Cory Hughart. In this episode we talk about the WordPress 5.8 release and how that has dramatically affected theme development for us, an update about Advanced Custom Fields and escaping output, a long discussion about what “barrier to entry” really means, some old news by now about one particular Automattic acquisition that happened over a month ago, and a soft announcement about our very own open-source workflow script. If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related that you’d like to hear us discuss, find us on Twitter as @InTheLoop_WP or send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. ## Links theme.json: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/06/25/introducing-theme-json-in-wordpress-5-8/ Block based themes: https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/how-to-guides/themes/block-theme-overview/ ACF HTML escaping by default: https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/blog/acf-5-10-release-html-escaping-blocks-api-v2-block-preloading-and-more/ Gulp WP: https://github.com/BlackbirdDigital/gulp-wp Mark Jaquith PHP Gutenberg block: https://twitter.com/markjaquith/status/1432461667187765251?s=20 10up Toolkit: https://github.com/10up/10up-toolkit ClassicPress: https://www.classicpress.net/ WordCamp US 2021: https://us.wordcamp.org/2021/

In this episode, Megan and Cory chat with Ebonie Butler, Lauren Pittenger, and Ryan Welcher, who work at web agencies of varying sizes. We talk about using WordPress in an agency setting, including common challenges, favorite projects, and career advice. If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related, send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links Ebonie Butler of YIKES Inc. https://twitter.com/metalandcoffee_ https://www.twitch.tv/metalandcoffee_ Lauren Pittenger of WebDevStudios https://twitter.com/laurenpittenger https://www.instagram.com/laurenpittenger/ https://laurenpittenger.com/ Ryan Welcher of 10up https://twitter.com/ryanwelcher https://ryanwelcher.com/ https://twitter.com/goodfirstbugs

In this episode, the devs at Blackbird get back together to talk about block widgets, themes, patterns, directories, and other WordPress 5.8 goodies, Advanced Custom Fields anxieties, and part 2 of the highly-anticipated Gutenberg Shuffle series: The Last Custom Field. If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing,  or anything else web-related that you’d like to hear us discuss, go to blackbird.digital/podcast or send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter as @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links Conex Firefox Add-On WordPress 5.8 Release Timeline Block Pattern Directory Clove: A Showcase of Block Patterns by Anariel Design The User is My Mom ACF Acquired by Delicious Brains ## Upcoming WP Events WordCamp Santa Clarita – July 17-18, 2021 WordFest Live – July 23, 2021 ## Music To Code To Call Me If You Get Lost by Tyler, The Creator Videoclub on Spotify Wizardry by Fragnum Opus Chip SongBook Vol 11 by Yoann Turpin ## Licenses "Trumpet Brass Fanfare.wav" by ohforheavensake on Freesound.org is licensed under CC BY 4.0

In this episode, Megan and Cory are joined by david wolfpaw, a WordPress support superhero and master of analogies. Today david shares about their path within WordPress and we discuss their experiences providing website maintenance services. We also chat about the philosophy behind the IndieWeb movement, decluttering the internet and much more! If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related, send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links david’s personal site: https://davidwolfpaw.com/ FixUpFox: https://fixupfox.com/ david’s newsletter: https://davidwolfpaw.com/newsletter/ IndieWeb: https://indieweb.org/ IndieWeb Plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/indieweb/ Velox Theme: https://wordpress.org/themes/velox/ ## Upcoming WP Events WordSesh: https://wordsesh.com WordCamp Europe: https://europe.wordcamp.org WordFest Live: https://wordfest.live

In this episode, Megan and Cory talk to John James Jacoby of Sandhills Development about what he’s working on and how it can help us make better websites. John, AKA JJJ, contributes to Core and Meta, is a BuddyPress & bbPress lead, speaks at WordCamps, and is very generous with his time and knowledge. John was great to talk to, and we have have an extra-long episode jam-packed with a myriad of topics ranging from Gutenberg versus page builders, getting started contributing, remote work on tiny screens, and surgeons, with a sprinkling of useful plugins John is working on like Sugar Calendar, WP User Profiles, and BerlinDB. If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related that you’d like to hear us discuss, go to blackbird.digital/podcast or send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter as @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links Sandhills Development: https://sandhillsdev.com Sugar Calendar Plugin: https://sugarcalendar.com WP User Profiles Plugin: https://github.com/stuttter/wp-user-profiles BerlinDB: https://github.com/berlindb GiveWP 100k Celebration: https://givewp.com/givewp-100k-celebration-invitation/

Today, Joe A Simpson Jr joins the show to chat about all things WordPress. He shares his WordPress origin story, as well as how he became the leader of two Meetups. We also chat about his experience as a graphic designer stepping into WordPress for the first time, online events, and connecting with others in the community. If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related, send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links Joe’s Site: https://joesimpson.info/ Joe’s Podcast: https://backdownmemorylane.com/ HeroPress Article: https://heropress.com/essays/second-chances-how-a-trip-back-into-the-wordpress-community-saved-my-life/ WordPress Santa Clarita Valley Meetup - https://www.meetup.com/wordpressscv/ WordCamp Santa Clarita - https://santaclarita.wordcamp.org/ Elementor Meetup Info - https://elementor.com/community/meetups/ WP Accessibility Day - https://wpaccessibilityday.org/ WordFest - https://www.wordfest.live/

Joining us today is Michelle Frechette, the Head of Customer Success for GiveWP. Megan and Michelle chat about WordFest, Big Orange Heart, online WordPress events, and the work she and others are doing to keep our community connected.  If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related, send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links Big Orange Heart - https://www.bigorangeheart.org/  WordFest - https://www.wordfest.live/schedule/  5.6 Release - https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-5-6/  Underrepresented in Tech - https://www.underrepresentedintech.com/ WP Career Pages - https://wpcareerpages.com/  GiveWP 100K Celebration - https://givewp.com/give-swag-store-intro/ 

Wow! A lot has happened since our first episode one year ago! Happy birthday to us, I guess? In this episode, we are introduced to some new faces and discuss our early days on the web, our experiences integrating Gutenberg, some hot topics in WordPress right now, git repositories, and music to code to. Listen until the end to catch a preview of our upcoming episode, where Megan interviews Michelle Frechette of GiveWP! If you have questions about WordPress website development, contributing, or anything else web-related, send an email to podcast@blackbird.digital. You can also find us on Twitter as @InTheLoop_WP. ## Links Get Involved: https://make.wordpress.org & https://learn.wordpress.org/contribute WP Tavern 5.6 Release Post: https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-6-development-kicks-off-with-all-women-release-squad White House Redesign - @nacin’s Thread: https://twitter.com/nacin/status/1353855894342094848 Automattic Announcement: https://wordpress.com/blog/2021/01/04/let-our-experts-build-your-dream-website/ git-filter-repo: https://github.com/newren/git-filter-repo Fragnum Opus: https://fragnumopus.bandcamp.com/ Nectar by Joji: https://shop.jojimusic.com/products/nectar-digital-album GiveWP: https://givewp.com/ Big Orange Heart: https://www.bigorangeheart.org/ WordFest: https://www.wordfest.live/ Underrepresented In Tech: https://www.underrepresentedintech.com/

Welcome to In the Loop, a WordPress podcast from Blackbird Digital. On this show we’ll be discussing every aspect of WordPress—from how it’s built and developed for, to the ways that businesses, organizations, and individuals are using the platform. Today I am joined by my colleague and co-host, the Lead Technologist of Blackbird Digital, Cory Hughart, with our first guest, Megan Rose, the Technology Manager of KHM Travel in Brunswick, Ohio (update 2021: Megan has joined Blackbird!) and one of the lead organizers of the Northeastern Ohio WordPress Meetup Group. The topic for our first episode is “Why WordPress?” Specifically, why have we chosen to specialize in this platform. In answering the question, we chat a bit about our winding career paths and how they led to WordPress, how our development and deployment processes differ, what you can expect from a WordPress MeetUp, and the various ways to participate and give back to the open source community. Lastly, if you have any questions about WordPress that you would like us to discuss in a future episode, please email them to podcast@blackbird.digital.