Nearly three months after laying off a third of its staff and publicly admitting that its previous ad-based revenue model was broken, Medium has introduced a new $5 per month subscription program. The internet speculated freely about Medium’s next move after CEO Ev Williams said the company would be taking “a different, bolder approach” to…
I maintain a website with active user registration and a common support question I’m asked is, “How do I change my profile picture?” The answer is not easy as it should be. WordPress’ profile image system is powered by Gravatar, an Automattic owned service. It replaced the old method of uploading a profile picture in…
I’m in favor of WordPress collecting more anonymized usage data that could help make informed decisions on changes or improvements to core, such as tracking changes to the WordPress user interface, which buttons or settings are used most often, etc. A good example of when this data could have come in handy is the recent…
When we wrote about why plugins sometimes disappear from the WordPress plugin directory, it generated a healthy discussion in the comments. One of the topics of discussion brought up is whether or not users should be notified when a plugin disappears and if so, how? Currently, when a plugin is hidden on the directory, users are not…
In October 2016, Matt Mullenweg called out Wix for using GPL-licensed code from the WordPress mobile app and distributing it in its proprietary app. After identifying a path for Wix to comply with the license, Mullenweg confirmed he would be willing to go to court to protect the GPL. Wix CEO Avishai Abrahami’s response to…
When a friend of mine asked for suggestions on what he should use to create a new site, I suggested WordPress. It is well supported, has an amazing community, and a ton of free themes and plugins to choose from. After getting WordPress installed on a new webhosting account, I left him be to see…
When Matt Mullenweg, co-creator of the WordPress open source project, announced that design would lead the way for WordPress development in 2017, utilizing user research and mockups, the first thing that came to my mind was WordPress 2.7. That release was the culmination of effective leadership and effort from Jen Mylo and Liz Danzico. In…
Over the weekend WordPress co-creator and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg called out Wix for copying GPL code from the WordPress mobile app and distributing it in its proprietary app. He identified two repositories that Wix forked in order to bring the GPL-licensed WordPress Rich Text Editor into its app. “If I were being charitable, I’d…
HeroPress is a wonderful site where each week, someone from the community publishes an essay that describes how WordPress changed their life, made them a better person, or gave them a new perspective. Most of the stories have a happy ending and if you’re a regular reader of the site, it’s easy to assume that…
WordPress.com is a service that doesn’t allow users to install plugins to add functionality. Because of this, users are at the mercy of WordPress.com and the tools it offers for managing SEO. These tools have expanded with the ability to create custom meta descriptions, custom title formats, and live previews now available to WordPress.com Business Plan…
For the past several months Hyun Supul, new owner of Aesop Interactive LLC, has been diligently improving Aesop Story Engine and today he’s released version 1.9. This release includes a new gallery type by Paul Eiche called Hero. Users can configure the Hero gallery type to fill the window or container vertically or horizontally. You…
In the last two years, I’ve had many private conversations with people in the WordPress community about WordPress core’s leadership. A phrase I’ve often heard during these conversations is, [I just don’t want to get crucified by insert name of core developer here.] It doesn’t matter who is saying or thinking it, it only matters…
WordPress 4.6 is scheduled for release on August 16th. This release streamlines the installation, activation, and update process for plugins, uses native system fonts for the WordPress backend, and improves the post editor. It also includes a number of enhancements under the hood. Outside of the improvements to the plugin and theme management process, there’s not…
Gravatar, acquired in 2007, is a service owned and operated by Automattic that allows you to assign profile images to email addresses. These images are used automatically when registering an account on sites or services that support Gravatar. Support for Gravatar was added in WordPress 2.5 “Brecker”. The other day, I registered an account on a new gaming site that uses…
Before the first inaugural WPCampus took place last weekend, the organizing team conducted a survey to learn how WordPress is used in higher education. A total of 486 people responded to the survey. Modern Tribe has not only made the survey results available to the public, they have also published an in-depth review of the data. There are a…