Plus: Tumblr adopts Gutenberg, what’s new in 6.0, and our primer on ADA compliance
Welcome back to MasterWP, your weekly newsletter for WordPress professionals. đ
Iâm Rob Howard, CEO of Howard Development & Consulting, the WordPress development agency that owns and maintains the Understrap open-source theme framework. As Alex and Ben mentioned last week, weâve acquired MasterWP from them, and we have big plans to devote more resources to even more insightful content for WordPress pros.
Youâll also see posts from my co-editors â Nyasha, Gavin and Brian â as well as guest posts from our other employees and WordPress personalities from around the web.
If youâd like, you can also follow us on Twitter @_MasterWP.
Next week, Alex and I will both be sharing an in-depth posts about our approaches to WordPress-industry acquisitions. For now, letâs dive in to the newsletterâŚ
This weekâs sponsor is WordPress.com.
Build and manage professional sites with secure managed hosting on WordPress.com. Beautiful themes, built-in SEO and payments tools, and access to over 50,000 plugins.
Everything you need for your business, plus 24/7 support from WordPress experts.
Want to sponsor MasterWP and reach more than 40,000 WordPress professionals? Get in touch with us here.
Donât Call it a Comeback
Is Tumblr on its way back to the top?
Tumblr was once one of the biggest social media websites in the world. It inspired new understandings of politics, pop culture, and style. An underground bastion of creativity that allowed people to explore, learn, rant and rave. But nothing good lasts forever. The last few years have seen a steady decline in users for the site. Complaints range from disagreements on censorship, concerns about the culture that some communities bred, and the rise in more popular social media sites. However, Tumblr is trying its hardest to make itself relevant again. With new owners, technological features, and a new generation will Tumblr make a comeback?
Read the full story here. â Nyasha
The Elementor vs. Gutenberg Challenge
Which builder is best for inexperienced users?
Founding editor Ben joins us this week for a look at a fun YouTube video, where a WordPress dev challenges his two daughters to build a page in Elementor and Gutenberg as complete novices.
Who will win?! Check it out here. â Ben
The end of the Covid-era tech stock boom
And what it means for those of us in the WordPress and software industries.
For the past two years, juggernauts like Amazon and upstarts like Zoom have benefited from the shift to remote work and much less activity outside the home.
Now that the pandemic is (hopefully) slowing down, the financial winds are changing for tech companies. In this post, Iâll look at how public tech companies have surged (and suffered) so far, and what this means for software developers.
I dig into each of the big categories of client you probably serve as a designer or developer, and what we can expect in terms of their reaction to dropping tech stocks and increasing inflation.
Hereâs the full article. â Rob
WordPress 5.9 and Full Site Editing
Could we take advantage of full site editing, or is it really just an appeal to the DIY, no-code crowd?
In this post, I dig into the latest major WP feature â full-site editing.
Joe Casabona posted a great piece that asks the question many of us in WordPress have been wondering: Who is site editing for? It’s pretty clear that it’s meant as a response to site builders like Wix and Squarespace, and maybe even is the start towards sherlocking frameworks like Elementor. But what about the vast majority of agencies and freelancers who have been happily building client sites that intentionally don’t run on Wix or Squarespace?
The new site editor is fun and exciting, but a little dangerous too. It assumes that you understand abstract developer concepts like the query loop, a post archive, margins and padding, typography and block spacing. However, it also assumes that you also would rather use a WYSIWYG than write the code yourself: even the Customizer with its Additional CSS panel is gone.
Read the full article here. â Brian
Whatâs on deck for WordPress 6.0
WordPress 6.0 will be the release that really completes the Site Editor.
When Gutenberg was first released with WordPress 5.0, much digital ink was spilled over the idea that Gutenberg was rushed out to match the fancy, point zero release number. Looking back, it’s clear that Gutenberg was released before it was ready, but also that Gutenberg needed be shipped because it’s never really going to be “ready”. It’s constantly growing and evolving, for better or worse.
After WordPress 5.9 was delayed last year, I was almost expecting them to just release everything outside of full site editing, and wait until 6.0 for another big, life-changing point zero release. That didn’t happen, but in a sense, 6.0 will be the release that really completes the Site Editor and potentially removes the “beta” badge that still shows up on the Site Editor itself.
Read our full preview of WP 6.0 here. â Brian
Optimizing Your Site for ADA Compliance
‘Design isnât hampered by accessibility, design IS accessibility.’
Alex and Ben have written previously about new trends in accessibility and design, specifically that âdesign isnât hampered by accessibility, design IS accessibilityââ and we couldnât agree more. But building an accessible website involves many development considerations as well â more than just visual design.
In our comprehensive guide, we walk you through some of the easiest updates you can make to help bring your website into compliance.
Weâve got the full guide in a 20-page PDF right here â no signups or opt-ins necessary. Enjoy! â Gavin
Quick Links
Block, FSE, Hybrid, Universal? What Do We Call These New WordPress Themes? from WP Tavern
Netflix orders docuseries on alleged crypto laundering couple from The Verge
Making âDinobabiesâ Extinct: IBMâs Push for a Younger Work Force from The New York Times
Quote of the Week
âPrestige is just fossilized inspiration. If you do anything well enough, you’ll make it prestigious. Plenty of things we now consider prestigious were anything but at first. Jazz comes to mindâthough almost any established art form would do. So just do what you like, and let prestige take care of itself.â
â Paul Graham in How to Do What You Love
This weekâs sponsor is WordPress.com.
Build and manage professional sites with secure managed hosting on WordPress.com. Beautiful themes, built-in SEO and payments tools, and access to over 50,000 plugins.
Everything you need for your business, plus 24/7 support from WordPress experts.
Want to sponsor MasterWP and reach more than 40,000 WordPress professionals? Get in touch with us here.
