Crossword: Recent Episodes
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In today's episode of cynic versus fanboy, (uh, I mean Crossword ) Luke and Jonathan discuss the gap between WooCommerce and Shopify plus the opportunities in the ecosystem.
10 Across: Open this on GitHub
Luke and Jonathan talk about Guildenberg, why Luke doesn't love the name, WordCamp Asia, and the downside of hosts buying WordPress plugins.
Luke and Jonathan talk about cricket, look back at WordPress in 2022, touch on ClassicPress, and look ahead to 2023.
9 Across: Stringify JSON
Luke and Jonathan talk about remote work, then jump into State of the Word, sharing highlights, exploring Luke's reawakening interest in WordPress, and finding something to disagree on in the end.
3 Down:5.9
Luke and Jonathan discuss a particular update in WordPress 6.1, why we'd like to see morehosting providers, and the voice of WordPress.
7 Across: WCEU22 was in…
Luke and Jonathan discuss rebuilding a WordPress web-app as a standalone SaaS using the FKIT stack.
2 Down: A built-in post type
More on FKIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFP7rUYtOOg
Luke and Jonathan talk about hosts, free riders, and plugin monetization, then take a sharp turn into murder mysteries in WordPress.
4 Across: Days since the last…
Links:
https://jonathanwold.com/hosts-and-the-free-rider-problem/
Jonathan and Luke discuss how the “reverse chronological order” orientation of WordPress affected the web, and a “Digital Gardening" metaphor that might help fix it.
1 Down: Home of GiveWP, LearnDash, and RCP
Links:
https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history
Luke and Jonathan open Season 5 debating nostalgia, discussing the 5 minute install, and announcing an acquisition.
1 Across: Serverless compute
Links:
https://yesterweb.org/
In the last episode of Season 4, Luke and Jonathan discuss Clarity and what a better future might look for ads in the WordPress admin.
Luke and Jonathan wax lyrical about broken pipes, skiing, the current state of the WordPress community, and the WordPress 2022 release cycle.
Luke reflects on the 2021 State of the Word, while Jonathan holidays on a Mexican beach.
Luke and Jonathan talk about the Facebook, the Metaverse, WordPress, and the Open Web. Luke begins to change his mind about Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Forget multi-site, we want multi-user! Luke and Jonathan look beyond the (unfailingly distant) full site editing horizon, toward a day when we can edit a post, nay, design an entire WordPress site collaboratively, contiguously, and concurrently.
Aaron Gustafson is a Principal Program Manager on the Microsoft Edge team, focused on their work on Progressive Web Apps and developer UX. He's also a spec editor at the W3C and Editor-in-chief of A List Apart. Aaron joins Luke and Jonathan to talk about the Open Web and share his perspective (and some guidance) with the WordPress community.
Jonathan attempts a no-code FSE site build, and Luke is skeptical about FSE landing this year.
Luke starts off with a surprise. Then we talk about Andrea Middleton, WordPress acquisitions, and whether we're still in the early days of WordPress.
Luke and Jonathan talk about themes, an ugly web, and Gutenberg / Classic Editor reviews.
We're back, baby! Luke and Jonathan discuss the recent Yoast acquisition, and compare it with ACF's new home.
Luke and Jonathan catch up after an unplanned hiatus and jump right into enjoying the WP Tavern buffet.
Kicking off with Season 4, Jonathan and Luke chat about the new Wix ad campaign. Then, they disagree about the future of comments in WordPress.
Andrea Middleton is a Community Organizer for the WordPress project. She shares how she first got involved with WordPress and how she ended up working with Community. We cover WordCamps, Meetups, COVID-19, and what it all might mean for the future of WordPress and the WordPress Community.
We wrap up Season #3 with some poignant reflections, then jump into our favorite topic for the moment: Full Site Editing. Luke changes his mind and Jonathan is looking forward to Season #4.
Jonathan and Luke discuss the recently published timeline for Full Site Editing, and compare it to the rollout of Gutenberg. Also in this episode: GameStonk and Clubhouse.
Recent events have called into question our Open Web idealism. Should we have an outlet valve for some of the worst of the web? How should the Web be legislated and policed? Should it be possible to access illegal content? And importantly… what role does Open Source have in all of this?
We discuss WordPress.com and their recent announcement of a "website building service." Luke thinks it's a bad idea and questions Automattic's intentions. Jonathan tries to take his Automattic hat off and share his perspective.
Kent is a philosopher, oral historian, experiential journalist, and the host of the Voices of VR podcast. He joins Luke and Jonathan to chat about WordPress and what the web might look like 10 years from now, reimagining the 2D browser window as a 3D canvas.
You can find Kent Bye on:
- VoicesOfVR.com
- Patreon
It seems we just can't get away from talking about Full Site Editing. In this episode, Luke and Jonathan announce the first Crossword livestream, as well as theme quirks in Twenty Twenty One and the Customizer.
Live coverage of the WordPress 5.6 launch! Luke and Jonathan discuss their willingness to press that Update button, then shift track to explore what it might be like to apply the constraints of time and space to the Web.
We talk about weather and wine, then jump into themes. Why is it still so hard to choose a theme? What are we using for our own projects now? What might themes look like in a year?
Francesca leads the WordPress Core Team at Yoast, and is serving as an advisor for the all women / non-binary all-star team behind WordPress 5.6. Francesca shares her WordPress journey thus far, especially in the realm of contributing to core, and we dive into topics such as open-source organizational structures, selfish vs. selfless contributions, gatekeeping or siloing in the project, and her vision for a unified WordPress Admin.
We talk about our recent experiences with the Plugin Review Team and postulate about the next 10 years of WordPress and the web.
We discuss the current state of full site editing and our uncertainty about what happens next. We bring up headless, brainless, and the opportunity for more vertically focused businesses built on WordPress.
Someplace, in an alternate timeline, our beloved WordPress editor never received its most controversial update. In a parallel universe Gutenberg never happened, and the WordPress editor is still "Word in a box". In this episode, Jonathan and Luke consider what life would be like for the poor souls who live there.
What happens to the WordPress community without in-person WordCamps? Jonathan and Luke reflect on their virtual event experiences to-date, and imagine what that experience might look like a year from now.
In a frazzled restart to the show, Luke and Jonathan lament the complexities of podcasting setups, discuss the state of virtual WordCamps and meetups, then discuss the WordPress 5.6 release.
Peter Saint-Andre works on Strategic Partnerships at Mozilla. He shares his perspective on WordPress and what "Open Web" means. We talk about creativity and accessibility, risks and opportunities for both WordPress and the Open Web, the importance of democratizing commerce, and the role of community. Also, Peter shares a personal story about Matt.
We discuss the acquisition of Restrict Content Pro by iThemes, the ecosystems being built by WP Engine, GoDaddy, and Liquid Web, and our sense that no one is doing it well - yet.
WordPress is our go-to tool for building new sites, in part because it doesn't restrict creative expression. Even if that means we can publish horrid designs. In this episode, we discuss the idea of an ugly web, and whether the future of WordPress will make the web more self-same, or even uglier?
Marieke van de Rakt, CEO of Yoast joins the discussion. We talk about Yoast, advertising mistakes, growing a plugin business, and the opportunity for a WordPress "App Store".
We talk about the recent controversy over the WordPress app in iOS. Luke expresses his frustration about Automattic's ownership of the app and we discuss the challenges of contributing to funded "Open Source" projects.
Jonathan and Luke explore the implications of Astra's delisting on the WordPress Theme and Plugin Directory. We bring up old ideas for directory listings that might better balance "Free as in Beer" against more sustainable innovation.
Ryan Singer, Head of Strategy at Basecamp, joins us to talk about his book, Shape Up. Luke loves the book. Jonathan, apparently, has a "problem" with it. Ryan shares his perspective on WordPress and we discuss how the concept of shaping could work for the WordPress project.
We discuss our conversation with an upcoming guest, premiering later this week. Then we jump into the release of P2, which we're both excited about, and Luke laments its currently non-public code base.
Matt Mullenweg's review of the new Unsplash WordPress plugin has made waves. Who doesn't love a little #WPDrama? We skip the licensing issue and instead discuss whether a one-star plugin review is the right way for a leader, and maybe a competitor, to express their concern.
From time to time, we might address a little bit of Crossword meta. A quick update from us on getting in touch and the fifteen minute limit.
We discuss retargeted advertising, whether or not it should exist, and the implications of the current directory guidelines on innovation in the Block Directory.
What does Hamilton have to do with WordPress and the Open Web? We discuss Luke's lack of knowledge regarding United States history, the connection between writing and code, and our own growth as writers.
What's the equivalent of TikTok in the WordPress world? We discuss WordPress as the go-to publishing tool for creativity, and compare Jetpack's sordid privacy record with Chinese social media.
Luke rants about Google. Then we talk about the recent history between WordPress and Google and what we both think about their involvement in the WordPress project.
We discuss some proposed changes to the WooCommerce Dashboard design, the trend for WordPress plugins to embrace their own design language (separate to the WP Admin), and the idea of creating a Design System for WordPress.
Season #2 premier - episodes now 15 minutes long! We jump straight into a discussion of WWDC, Hey.com, and the WordPress plugin directory.
We discuss Season #1 and explore the wide range of topics we're interested in covering in Season #2.
We discuss COVID-19 (and how Luke was wrong), the opportunity for virtual events, the recent introduction of full screen editing on by default in WordPress 5.4, and gradients in Gutenberg.
Jonathan Bossenger joins us to discuss the WP Notify project and better ways of introducing new features in WordPress.
We discuss the cancellation of WordCamp Asia and then, to happier matters, the first "Future of Themes" meeting, including what an easier-to-use WordPress means for the builder ecosystem.
We discuss the idea of "Democratizing Commerce" and what it actually means. Also, we're looking forward to WordCamp Asia.
We discuss the upcoming Block Directory for WordPress and the guidelines regarding premium and "freemium" submissions.
We discuss the "WP Notify" proposal and the impact of notifications through the lens of WordPress as an Operating System.
We discuss ecosystems and marketplaces in WordPress, looking back on 2019 and ahead to 2020. Where are the opportunities? What might it mean for the Open Web?
A review of the WordPress Core projects scheduled for 2019 and a discussion of what's to come in 2020.
"Black Friday" offers a chance to discuss ads in WordPress and what improving the experience might look like.