WP Realm

WordPress news, community news, reviews and more from all over the world

Remkus de Vries

About Remkus de Vries

Avid and heavy WordPress user since 2005, so effectively a WordPress oldtimer. Started as developer and agency owner, now works as Manager Partnerships at Yoast.

Co-founded WordCamp Europe in 2012, and WordCamp Netherlands back in 2009.

Principal owner of WP Realm.

The WordPress Core team proposes to auto-update old WordPress installations

by Leave a Comment

There’s an interesting proposal on the Make Core blog by Ian Dunn. The proposal suggests to auto-update all older or equal than 3.7 – the version that introduced auto-updates – WordPress instances to 4.7.

The reason for wanting to do this is actually best summarized by Otto in a comment:

If we simply said “we’re not backporting fixes anymore” and left it at that, then that changes nothing except now we’re intentionally leaving a huge portion of the web vulnerable to undiscovered threats

Samuel “Otto” Wood

Read the rest of the post on the Core blog and weigh in. It’s a bit of a read, but I would include the comments before asking your questions or adding your comments.

Themes on WordPress.org will require keyboard navigation to be built in

by Leave a Comment

The Theme Review Theme announced today that they will shortly be requiring new themes to include keyboard navigation to be built in.

The main goal for this new requirement is to make the themes on WordPress.org have better accessibility features by default. Having keyboard navigation included means you would be able to navigate theme settings and such in the browser without the use of a mouse. This is especially needed for users of alternative input devices who are sighted.

Read more about it at the announcement post.

Google launches Site Kit

by Leave a Comment

Google announced the developer preview of Google Site Kit on GitHub. They’re launching it on GitHub first so this way they allow WordPress developers to test drive the plugin and test Site Kit compatibility with other plugins. For now, it’s the easiest way for Google to gather implementation feedback and recommendations for this plugin.

Google’s current implementation of the plugin setup flow requires developer know-how and familiarity with Google Cloud Platform and OAuth verification process.  The current setup experience is not the final user experience they plan to make available to WordPress users. Learn more about it on GitHub.

Give props in abundance, not in restraint

by Leave a Comment

Giving props, for those who are unaware, is where someone who has contributed to open-source code is given acknowledgment. Typically you’ll find these props given within a specific ticket in which a person has contributed a fix for the open ticket. In the WordPress realm, you’ll also find these props at the bottom of a new release post as you can see here in the section called The Squad.

Those who contributed the actual fix are the ones receiving props. But … that’s not very inclusive.  [Read more…] about Give props in abundance, not in restraint

WordPress.com, Jetpack and How It’s All Changing, Maybe?

by 5 Comments

Having a commercial version of WordPress alongside a non-profit version has been confusing. Especially to those starting out with WordPress, but not exclusively those new to it. It would be a great win for the WordPress Community if Automattic’s flagship product, WordPress.com, would rebrand itself to Jetpack.com. I have said this, half-jokingly, in the past decade to anyone who would listen. #sorrynotsorry.

But with WordPress.com now allowing for plugins and themes to be activated on their platform, the lines get even more blurry.

The Need to Make Money

Since Automattic is running on venture capital money, at some point it’s going to focus on monetization even more. If you have been paying close attention to how the sign-up between a stand-alone WordPress installation and Jetpack has changed over the last couple of months, you will have noticed. For a brief period, the free option was even hidden in the “Skip for now” button below the pricing table you’re greeted with when you connect Jetpack to your site.

You may have also noticed Automattic opening up their affiliate program. It includes Jetpack, WordPress.com, and everything WooCommerce now. All clear signs that Automattic has made monetization a higher priority in recent months. And judging by a tweet sent out yesterday at the Affiliate Summit, Jetpack is taking a very prominent role:

Changes in Branding

What’s even more interesting, navigating to the WordPress.com main page–make sure you’re logged out–will show you a WordPress frontpage without any signs of a W. Meaning the WordPress logo. I’m not sure when this changed, but it’s a very clear sign that WordPress.com’s branding is changing.

It’s just pure speculation on my part that this will lead to switching from WordPress.com to Jetpack.com, but I for one would welcome the change. I also think it will help send less of a mixed message for those entering the WordPress Community, Automattic’s affiliate program or both. 😉

An Ode to the Unsung Heroes of PHP

by Leave a Comment

Over the holidays, Juliette Reinders Folmer published an interesting article over at 24 Days in December.net that is well worth your attention. Juliette talks about some of the most used projects in the PHP sphere are largely maintained by one person.

And while it’s bad enough that it’s a relatively thankless job for the maintainers, what scares me is this: what will happen if one of them steps down ? Or changes job and won’t get much time from their new employer to continue working on the project ? Or just loses interest ? Or – while we don’t like to think about this -: what will happen if one of them would die ?

[Read more…] about An Ode to the Unsung Heroes of PHP

Filed Under: Uncategorized

A Reboot of Some Sorts

by 10 Comments

For many, many, many moons, this blog has been slumbered. Not quite dead, but certainly not alive and kicking. And as I’ve hinted on twitter a couple of weeks back, this is about to change. WP Realm started out as a multi-person project, but from now on this is a one-man project handled by me, Remkus.

Forces have been set in motion to give WP Realm a reboot of some sorts. Our focus on the community aspect of the WordPress project will remain strong, but we’ll be adding a few things to the mix.

New Content

[Read more…] about A Reboot of Some Sorts