What’s Trending in WordPress

Be it the code or the community, WordPress remains in a constant state of iteration. It lives, breathes, and evolves. Learning experiences are everywhere, with each month an opportunity to level up your WordPress knowledge.

Let’s take a look at some of the hot WordPress topics from the past few weeks.

WordPress Security Updates and the REST API

Each WordPress Core update can impact users in a wide variety of ways. From one perspective, an update means the active development community is looking out for its users and how they’re using the software. Updates to such essential software shouldn’t frighten you; for example, I never hesitate to update iOS on my iPhone. Regardless, in late January, some vulnerabilities were discovered including one in a REST API endpoint. Updating to 4.7.2 was strongly recommended. In an article about update signing and addressing WordPress Security, Matt Mullenweg wrote:

“Everyone involved [in WordPress Security] takes their responsibility very seriously, and the growth of WordPress has meant many thoughtful, hard-working people have gotten involved and think of the security of WP sites holistically, from every angle.”

WordPress Weekly Mastermind by The WP Crowd

The WP Crowd, a group of open-source advocates, has now added a non-recorded mastermind session. If you want to chat about strategy and tactics in WordPress and related spaces, this is the place for you. Signups are open to pretty much anyone, meeting on Sunday nights at 6:00 p.m. Pacific. This is very much a discussion (not a tutorial) so be prepared!

Community, Diversity, and Company Culture

LoopConf, a developer-centric conference, always brings out some heavy hitting speakers. Andrew Norcoss gave a twenty minute talk called “Create the Community You Crave”. If you are interested in the topics of community, company culture, and/or diversity, this is a must listen. Sometimes we forget that WordPress and its community are two sides of the same coin – one side’s success leads to the other.

WordPress in Higher Ed

WPCampus.org, a community focused on higher education, recently offered an online-only conference in late January. If you use WordPress in college and university applications (or even enterprise) this conference is for you. Luckily, their sessions are recorded and available at your fingertips.

Making Your Contribution to Open Source

Contributing to Open Source or to WordPress as a whole can often seem daunting, like crossing a moat to enter a castle. Personally, I was recently encouraged to contribute on the Marketing Team which continues to be a great experience. (I didn’t know you could do that.) But if code is up your alley, check out the guide to contributing to open source published by GitHub. Being an advocate for mentorship, this quote especially struck me: “Working with others on a shared project means you’ll have to explain how you do things, as well as ask other people for help. The acts of learning and teaching can be a fulfilling activity for everyone involved.”

Whether it’s higher ed, masterminding, contributing to Open Source, learning to embrace community, or keeping your sites secure, there’s something for everyone to read, digest, and level up.