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Pandemic experiences, “Are you disabled?” and the history of screen readers

ByDan Knauss

Back in July, Sabina Ionescu published a lot of different responses from people in the WordPress community to questions about the impact of the pandemic on them. I missed it then, but it’s still relevant and worth reading. Some other things I’ve enjoyed but haven’t slipped into a post yet: Joanne Limburg discusses the agonizing…

What is the WordPress community capable of? A lot of good. And a few bad apples.
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What is the WordPress community capable of? A lot of good. And a few bad apples.

ByMichelle Frechette

WordPress 6.1 is here, and it’s awesome! It takes more than a village — really a small city — to keep us moving forward. Thank a contributor — there are thousands of them. • Thanks especially to Mika Epstein! It’s beyond brave of Mika to share what she has gone through for the Plugins Team and the whole community. No one should ever have to go through what she has. You should know her story if you don’t.

WordPress 6.1 RC5 • WP-CLI 2.7.1 • Help Test Plugin Dependencies Feature Plugin
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WordPress 6.1 RC5 • WP-CLI 2.7.1 • Help Test Plugin Dependencies Feature Plugin

ByCourtney Robertson

WordPress 6.1 rolls out on November 1. Help test 6.1 Release Candidate 3 — and the Rollback feature plugin. Be sure to look over the 6.1 DevNotes, Field Guides, and Team Updates.

What AI and Automation Are — and Aren’t — Good For
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What AI and Automation Are — and Aren’t — Good For

ByMichelle Frechette

Thoughts on how AI and automation can be enabling to individuals and help us all be part of our communities where human-to-human interaction is the best and most vital part. • We love our community on Twitter, but maybe that’s not where our community will be in the future. • Nev Harris is in our Member Spotlight. • Our Black Friday deals are live — and you can still add yours. WordPress Accessibility Day, WordFest, and WP Wealthbuilder Summit are coming right up, and so are WordCamps! We’d love to see you at one of our EU/US weekly Huddles.

WordPress 6.1 RC2 • 6.1 Sneak Peek with Nick Diego • WP-CLI 2.7.1 • Help Test Plugin Dependencies Feature Plugin
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WordPress 6.1 RC2 • 6.1 Sneak Peek with Nick Diego • WP-CLI 2.7.1 • Help Test Plugin Dependencies Feature Plugin

ByCourtney Robertson

Get a sneak peek at WordPress 6.1 with Nick Diego. Help test 6.1 Release Candidate 2 — and the Plugin Dependencies feature plugin. Be sure to browse the 6.1 DevNotes, Field Guides, and Team Updates. WP-CLI 2.7.1 is available now.

Five takes on helpful plugin stats and insights
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Five takes on helpful plugin stats and insights

ByDan Knauss

Good ideas for the future of data disclosed to plugin authors using the wordpress.org repository:

1) Identify surges of unhappy users reacting to a bad release — and the opposite, happier outcome.

2) Use pageview analytics to estimate total potential user interest and conversion rates.

3) Assess a plugin’s performance with the .org search algorithm, the quality of releases, and plugin incompatibility as well as PHP compatibility issues.

4) Collect significant user behavior data anonymously without phoning home.

5) Just reveal all the raw data with privacy options for individual authors — no interpretive analysis on wordpress.org.

BONUS: Let’s take this discussion somewhere else!

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November: Register to speak at WordFest Live — and come to WordPress Accessibility Day

ByDan Knauss

Coming up on November 18, WordFest Live will once again “support and promote positive well-being and mental health within remote working communities.” REGISTER → And don’t forget WordPress Accessibility Day on November 2-3! REGISTER → Then on November 21, it’s Alicia St. Rose of WP With Heart giving a Meetup talk on Being an A11y…

Does WordPress.org Data Belong to the WordPress Community? Should It?
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Does WordPress.org Data Belong to the WordPress Community? Should It?

ByDan Knauss

Today WP Watercooler sought Solutions to the Active Growth Problem. In a pointed but respectful conversation moderated but Sé Reed, the Watercooler crew got one new detail from Otto about the decision to remove the active install charts: it was made months ago. How should the data collected by WordPress.org be understood, as a basis…

Over, Under, Around, and Through
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Over, Under, Around, and Through

ByDan Knauss

This week Alex Denning (Ellipsis) draws on Iain Poulson‘s historical, high-level plugin data at WP Trends to offer some thoughtful, somewhat contrary, but practical and grounded perspectives on the value of Active Install Data. At the WP Watercooler and elsewhere, a realization seems to be setting in that the data is not open source and not the property of the WordPress community. Like last week’s episode of Post Status Draft with Katie Keith of Barn2 Plugins, Till Krüss (Object Cache Pro, Relay) offers a lot of lessons this week about less travelled paths to success in the plugin business even as a very small company or company of one. Performance, testing, and support are key, interrelated parts of Till’s success and probably the most important ones to borrow in your own life and work if they resonate.

Active Install Data Story Update: Not a breach but abuse of an endpoint
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Active Install Data Story Update: Not a breach but abuse of an endpoint

ByDan Knauss

John James Jacoby has been the main source of (unofficial) information about the removal of active install statistical tracking for plugins in the WordPress.org repository. On Friday, he provided more technical details on the WPwatercooler podcast.

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