At Women Who WP’s Orange County Meetup 1-17-18, I gave a tour — a basic overview — of the features of Gutenberg and published a post live at GutenBridget.com.
Last year at WordCamp Europe, Gutenberg was announced as an editor replacement. In the final phase, it will be much more than that but as of now, it will be an editor replacement in WordPress 5.0.
It’s 2018, it’s time for WordPress to change it’s editor experience.
Instead of metaboxes, there will be blocks.
[bctt tweet=”Gutenberg changes how you interact with WordPress. Try it. Study. Test it for yourself. ” username=”youtoocanbeguru”]
Here is the video of the Live Stream from Facebook.
Posted by Women Who WP on Wednesday, January 17, 2018
What is Gutenberg?
Gutenberg, eventually will change how you interact with WordPress. In it’s first inclusion into Core, will be a new editor experience.
“Gutenberg has three planned stages. The first, aimed for inclusion in WordPress 5.0, focuses on the post editing experience and the implementation of blocks. This initial phase focuses on a content-first approach. The use of blocks, as detailed above, allows you to focus on how your content will look without the distraction of other configuration options. This ultimately will help all users present their content in a way that is engaging, direct, and visual.
These foundational elements will pave the way for stages two and three, planned for the next year, to go beyond the post into page templates and ultimately, full site customization.” Gutenberg Team
Blocks Replace Meta Boxes
Instead of meta boxes, you interact with your content in blocks. Content includes video, images, headings, quotes, and, of course, text.
Highlights:
The plus sign allows you to add more boxes. Sometimes you have to hover to see it.
Plugins make their own types of blocks.
Themes control how a block looks. This is an opportunity for theme developers.
Blocks are determined in the code with CSS Commenting so you know what’s in block.
Even though paragraphs are in different blocks, each paragraph is output with paragraph tags and shouldn’t interfere with SEO implications.
Contextual Formatting
This means every block has its own control. Every plugin can create settings for their blocks. You may not see settings in the sidebar anymore. They may be in the settings.
"You can actually go into individual elements and control them individually." @mor10#WCUS#Gutenberg
“Gutenberg tries to identify all of these types of content properties so we can control it. It’s all based on blocks and block context.” Morten Rand-Hendriksen
The big news is the Gutenberg “editor” (it is way more than just an editor) will be coming out with 5.0 in April (I’ve been saying this since June so I felt a bit vindicated in my analysis).
If you want to keep informed on it, I’d start with following Kevin’s tweets. It is iterating (changing) quickly.
Here's why #Gutenberg is different: Past #WordPress changes like CPTs, Customizer, and REST API could be used or ignored on a per-plugin basis. To each their own. But Gutenberg, more than any other change, tangles the fates of independent plugins together. #WCUS#StateOfTheWord
You can order your own swag thanks to James Tryon and Wapu.us here.
She’s more than a mascot, she represents a traditionally underrepresented minority in tech: women. We didn’t think she’d be part of a global movement, but it is trending that way.
Contributor Day was the real reason for me to attend this camp; it’s an all volunteer work day for Making WordPress. Though some people are “sponsored volunteers,” we are volunteers nonetheless. WordPress is created by you for you.
I’m honored to be a Marketing Team Rep and this CD was smooth, efficient, and fun. We had over 20 new people contributing. I couldn’t have done it without Dwayne McDaniel of Pantheon. He even gave out I Make.WordPress.org stickers. It was epic.
Thanks to GiveWP for paying for my airfare and Jen Miller for sponsoring my meals and lodging. With the recent change in my career, I wouldn’t have had enough time to save for the trip.
If I can think of every person I was so excited to have chatted with at #WCUS this past weekend, I will reach out.
On November 4, I was on the Women in WordPress panel in Seattle; on the 18th I gave the keynote in Rochester.
My passion is to help business owners understand how to use social media, how to build relationships, and improve their ability to encourage others. I’m grateful to be invited to be part of a panel for WordCamp Seattle and to present the keynote at WordCamp Rochester.
Personal Thoughts
When I attend WordCamp US in two weeks, I will have attended 11 camps in 2017. This was a huge part of our strategy at Give to promote relationships and the product. Though I’m freelancing now, I was glad they sponsored these two trips.
After WordCamp US in 2016, Jason Knill and I decided to see part of the cities we were visiting. All I saw of Philadelphia at US was the convention center. So, I took that attitude toward these two solo trips.
In Seattle, I walked to the camp instead of rideshare. The city was under construction. It spoke to me. Even established, thriving, and beautiful places like Seattle are under construction. I am, too. Going into business for myself is scary, but I have a foundation beneath me to support this venture. It was good to be reminded of that.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbE9893lvcU/
In Rochester, once I realized how close we were to the Erie Canal, I ditched camp early enough to spend some time looking at it. It’s amazing to think that a very small man-made canal (I was surprised at how small it is) impacted history so greatly. It wasn’t even in use for very long, but it allowed Chicago to become the city it is today. Small things — even for a short period of time — can determine fate — fate bigger than itself. Think of that in our personal lives.
As I walked from the canal to the after party, it began to rain. It struck me as awesome that just two weeks ago, I was rained on in Seattle. Now, on the other side of North America, I was also being rained upon. I walked a mile in the rain and couldn’t have felt more content, happy, joyful, or at peace in my entire life. That moment filled my heart with courage.
Back to the main reason for this post.
A brief Recap of Seattle and Rochester
Rachel Cherry and Miriam Goldman both submitted Women in WordPress panels for Seattle so they were combined. What a great group of women. Wow. We covered the entire spectrum of feminism. The panel was informative and controversial — just the way I like it.
My favorite part of the panel was when a man asked how he could better advocate for women in the workplace.
I was happy to answer for him, for that audience, and for you, my readers.
It is very important how you characterize the concerns of women on your teams.
Let me repeat that.
[bctt tweet=”To advocate for women in the workplace, be mindful of how you characterize their concerns.” username=”bridgetmwillard”]
Adjectives matter. If we bring up that we’re offended it doesn’t mean we’re “mad.” If we have an intentional word choice, we don’t have a “tone.” Think about that. It determines how we’re seen by our peers and this effects our ability to rise in organizations both in structure, position, and salary.
The keynote was a special invitation. I was honored to be invited to travel to Rochester to share my passion for building community. Rochester has a great community.
Seeing the faces light up as I spoke, knowing they “get it,” reassured me that my passion is teaching. I not only want to work that into my business, I need to. I’m not fully me without teaching.
I felt a bit lost, honestly, until I met a woman in the bathroom. She has a cluster of stars that looks like a galaxy as a bracelet tattoo. That made it all click for me. Small encounters mean everything. That is how I pulled the talk together.
"Being brave doesn't mean there is no fear. I would say it's impossible to be brave w/out fear….you have to muster up your inner Braveheart Figure out who resonates with you. Be brave." @YouTooCanBeGuru#wcroc
"Bravery means we make ourselves vulnerable when we're talking about building community. You can't build community w/out building relationships." @YouTooCanBeGuru#wcroc
I know your time is valuable. Thanks for being part of my community.
Love,
Bridget
Special Notes:
Special thanks to GiveWP for sending me to both camps. It’s the most robust plugin for online donations.
I use Postmatic to send these posts via email and to respond to comments. I’m on the $20/month plan. Check it out. (It does not support embedded content in email, to see the tweets, you’ll have to click over to the actual blog post. Thanks)
Since October of 2016, when I was asked to speak at WordCamp Cincinnati I have traveled to quite a few camps. In the last 12 months, I’ve grown professionally and personally. To me, this deserved an epic recap.
Yes. That’s ten WordCamps in 12 months. For the balance of 2017, I will also be going to Seattle, Rochester, and US in Nashville.
Let’s get to what I learned.
Lesson 1: You have friends everywhere.
Yes. These people are your friends. Connect on social media. Meet in person. Or meet in person and connect on social media. Either way, meeting people, having great conversations, and keeping that relationship going is good for your mental health and for referring people. We all live off of referrals.
Take selfies. Follow people on Twitter. Stay connected. People matter the most. I promise.
Honestly, before attending WordCamps, I never hung out at a bar. Ever. So, thanks for making me feel comfortable in a bar, WordPress. (This lesson is debated whether it’s a good thing but for the purpose of this blog post we’ll say yes.)
If the bar has craft beer, the food is even better. If they brew their own, they may even have their own root beer!
From March when I had to fly and Uber and check into the AirBNB by myself to going on my first international fight — alone — to Paris — I learned that I can baby step my way into confidence. That was huge. And I knew, that if anything happened, I had a whole community of people who would have helped me.
Lesson 5: Cherish your co-workers when you work remotely.
I love the freedom of remote work. That said, traveling with your coworkers helps so much. There’s more to relationships than weekly hangouts and slack messages can provide. Seriously.
I’ll never forget jamming on guitar with Ben in San Diego or checking out dinosaurs with Kevin in Philadelphia.
I really enjoyed all of the time I got to spend with Ben and Kevin this year, in addition to the local crew: Jason, Devin, and Matt.
People matter. Some days you realize that’s all that matters.
Lesson 6: Slides are great; audience participation is better.
We love slides. But engaging the audience is how they learn best. That’s all that matters. They are the reason you’ve traveled. Make the talk relevant to those people. They’ll remember it.
This is a big one for me. I didn’t ever want to order something and not like it and then go hungry. Traveling to WordCamps has helped me realize that a) I can try something; and b) I can order something else if I need to.
Lesson 8: Go to talks above your skill level or from a different discipline.
We forget about the value of exposure. No, I can’t write in PHP or work with an API or even use ACF. But I understand some of the concepts now. That helps me understand my job and, more importantly, have empathy with my friends and co-workers.
You’ll be surprised from what you do learn. I promise.
I felt bad I had to cancel speaking at WordCamp Sacramento but was glad for a few things. Namely, Matt Cromwell was able to speak for me and I was staying in a great hotel. Room service is the best when you’re sick. And Jen Miller brought me a tea. The thing is we have a team for a reason. It worked out wonderfully.
Lesson 10: The “little things” matter; even in Paris.
My favorite part of Paris wasn’t the architecture, museums, or even the food. It was seeing a sunset over the Seine and explaining to Heather and Devin Walker why it moves me so much.
No matter what happens in the day; it starts over. A sunset is redemptive.
Learn things. Make friendships. Life can be hard. Remember to celebrate the little things because they truly do mean the most.
Because of the extreme weather in Minnesota, people don’t walk on the streets outside in the winter. Instead, they walk from building to building in closed pedestrian walkways called skyways. Without people walking outside, there was a lack of community interaction.
Not unlike most groups of people, the Hmong came from a village life. A village life bustles with community. Community interaction starts with the little things you say when you’re passing by and engaging in chit chat. You know, small talk. Because of the weather, there was a real effect on the men of the Hmong community. They were prematurely dying in their sleep.
They proactively built up their community with Hmong grocery stores, law offices, and the like to facilitate community bonding. Now, with over 40,000 people, it’s one of the largest Hmong settlements outside of southeast asia.
The moral to the story is that isolation is dangerous — not just to mental health — but to physical health, too.
Community and Remote Workers.
So, back to our demographic: WordPress enthusiasts.
Many of us, because of the independence that we’re afforded by the power of the silicon chip and Internet, work remotely.
In other words, we work alone.
So, we’re not getting all of that chit chat.
I know what you’re saying. Your team does Zoom hangouts and you have a Slack channel. But if you look into your heart of hearts, can you really say that it’s the same?
Sure, you’re productive when you are zoned out listening to house music and working on your code. But are you okay?
Isolation and Silence
Prisons have tried isolation and silence as methods of both punishment and reform. The famous, now abolished, Auburn system believed silence was necessary part of that reform.
“Silence was the biggest factor in the line of rules the prisoners had to follow. John D. Cray, a deputy warden at the Auburn Prison, demanded that the prisoners be completely silent to take away the prisoners’ ‘sense of self’. When the ‘sense of self’ was taken away, many convicts became compliant and obedient to the warden’s wishes.” Wikipedia
The fact that your sense of self is taken away because of complete silence should alert us — as remote workers. We aren’t meant to live in silence. By no means should online conversations over Slack, Twitter, et al replace in-person community.
We are wired for connection, conversation, and community.
This is one of the main reasons why being an active member of your local WordPress community is so important.
Don’t Self-Isolate
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” CS Lewis
Maybe friendship isn’t as necessary as food or water, but it’s right up there with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: love and belonging.
“According to Maslow, humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance among their social groups, regardless whether these groups are large or small. …Many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and clinical depression in the absence of this love or belonging element. This need for belonging may overcome the physiological and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure.” Wikipedia
We need friendship. Don’t self-isolate. Our world is already isolating enough.
The WordPress Community
The WordPress Community is not just an ethereal thing. It’s just not the atmosphere that holds in oxygen. It’s people.
You will find that being part of a WordPress Meetup is much more than just discussing the latest release candidate, the best events plugin, or what IDE is the best.
Recently at SMMOC, another Meetup I attend, the organizer asked the following question:
“How do you rate the information we shared today from 1-10?”
Of course, I replied:
“It’s not about the information. It’s about the relationships we build while discussing the information.”
There was kind of a moment there, where we all realized this is true. If we focus on the quality of information, then if you “already know” the subject, maybe it’s “too boring” for you.
But community meetings are not meant to be informational only. It’s about building relationships from friendships to business partnerships.
It’s never something you regret attending. It’s something you regret not attending.
Walking the Talk
This should be called driving the talk. I live in Dana Point. The WordPress Meetups near me are 26 miles and 32 miles away. I have to drive everywhere.
Not only am I a co-organizer of Women Who WP, but I have made the commitment to attend the OC General Meetup every month. I’ve also been going to the Developer Day Meetup every so often, too. So, with the social media Meetup on Saturdays, I could potentially go to four Meetups a month but always attend a minimum of two.
Because of traffic, to go to my WordPress Meetups, I leave at 5:30 p.m. and I get home after 10:00 p.m.
So, for me — and I’m sure it’s the same for many of you — attending a Meetup can be a commitment as long at five hours. And I hire my dog sitter.
Is it worth it?
You bet your bottom dollar it is.
You are not alone.
Seriously. You have friends waiting for you — at the Meetup. We’ve been through the same things you have. We want to connect. We want to learn with you. We believe in community. We believe in you.
But [Insert Your Excuse Here]
I’ve heard a lot of reasons why people don’t attend Meetups. In the last 13 months, I’ve made it a priority. There is absolutely no way I would have mentally survived living alone and working alone without it.
I’d like to challenge you to attend at least three consecutive meetings. Every Meetup is different. Some cities break it down by design and dev or beginner and advanced. Even if it’s too advanced, go anyway.
If there’s a WordCamp within driving distance, go to that, too. I promise you will not be disappointed.