The roadmap for WordPress 5.0 has finally been set - but the chosen release date is not to everyone's liking. And the accessibility of the Gutenberg editor has been criticized by the accessibility team. We're also starting to prepare for the Christmas season and we'll show you how you can get involved with WordPress without any programming knowledge.
Contributing to WordPress: 3 steps to becoming a WP contributor
Many - if not most - WordPress users are unaware that WordPress.org is an open source project that is maintained and developed by thousands of voluntary contributors worldwide. Behind the regular WordPress updates, which e.g. close security gaps or integrate new features into the core, there is an incredible amount of unpaid work. As WordPress would not exist without contributors, we will show you how you can contribute to the WP community even without programming knowledge.
WordPress
WordPress 5.0: Team and deadlines are set
Since last week, the uncertainty has come to an end: the team and the roadmap for WordPress 5.0 have been set. The target release date is November 19 - plus up to eight days if necessary. Should this be too tight, there is an alternative release date in January. Our colleagues at Gutenberg Times have summarized the most important information.
Voices against Gutenberg release in November
In the reactions to the announcement of the roadmap for WordPress 5.0, WordPress users from the USA in particular have criticized the chosen release date. The reason for this is that November 19 is shortly before Thanksgiving and the Christmas season. The fact that an increased volume of support is to be expected after the update is just one of the points of criticism.
How accessible is Gutenberg really?
RianRietveld - lead of the WP accessibility team - has resigned from her position. Rietveld justifies her decision with the laborious and often unsuccessful attempts of her team to contribute to the accessibility of the Gutenberg editor: "The [testing] results indicated so many accessibility issues that most testers refused to look at Gutenberg again."
Web design
Improve the UX with microinteractions
Microinteractions are small pieces of dynamic content that are triggered by a specific action of your website visitors. Our colleagues at ThemeIsle explain how these small animations improve the user experience and which simple tools you can use to integrate dynamic content into WordPress.
Do you need to know React for Gutenberg?
With the upcoming Gutenberg merge, as a web designer you are probably wondering whether you need to know the JavaScript framework "React". According to Josh Pollock, this is not absolutely necessary: "None of this matters unless you want to make your own blocks. If you just want to use the blocks provided by core or plugins, you never need to make your own block types."
Business
Attention store owners: Christmas is 72 days away
October has only just begun and you're already supposed to be thinking about the Christmas season? - Definitely! This is especially true if you run an online store. Our colleagues at Yoast have some valuable content tips for you and can tell you how to prepare for the Christmas business now.
