Hello WordPressers!
It’s a civic holiday, our summer is in full swing, and the heat is very much on. So there’s not a whole lot happening in terms of local events. That said, there’s a lot to share from around the web this week.
First up, in WordPress: 4.9.8 just dropped, bringing us a new Gutenberg prompt in the dashboard. If you’re not ready for Gutenberg yet, use the Classic Editor plugin to keep the existing editor, or use Gutenberg Ramp to enable Gutenberg for specific post types. If you haven’t tried Gutenberg yet, the official info page on WordPress.org now includes a front-end demo.
From around the web: We’re sharing a bunch of resources for front-end design and development, ranging from free icons and email inspiration to UX case studies and in-depth guides.
Like what you see? Have something to add in our next update? Drop a comment below, or get in touch.
Jump to a section:
Upcoming Meetups & Events
Local WordPress meetups
- West End: Users’ Choice – Wednesday, August 15th
- North End: Fix Your Site – Monday, August 20th
- Central: September, date TBD (see “Help Wanted” below)
Friends of WPToronto
Upcoming web & tech events
- General Assembly: Intro to HTML & CSS – August 7th
- Kids Learning Code: Digital Design Camp – August 13th
- Digital Lit (literacy + coding skills for teens) – August 13th
- Ladies Learning Code: HTML & CSS for Beginners – August 18th
- Girls Learning Code: Summer Webmaking Camp – August 20th
- HTML & CSS for beginners (Toronto Public Library) – August 30th
Nearby WordCamps
- WordCamp for Publishers: Chicago, IL (August 8-10)
- WordCamp Niagara 2018: Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (August 11)
- WordCamp Montreal 2018 (August 11-12)
Check out the full listing of upcoming WordCamps happening around the world.
Help Wanted
Looking for WordPress help? Let us know and we’ll add you to our next update.
- We’re looking for volunteers
If you’re interested in hosting, organizing, or speaking at a future WordPress meetup, please join our volunteer mailing list. It’s a great way to give back to the WordPress community. - We’re looking for presenters
Our presentation-focused meetups, formerly known as WordPress Weekend, will reboot in September as a weekday evening series. As long as your idea is connected to WordPress, chances are it’s a fit. Interested? Get in touch and let us know what you’re interested in presenting. - WordCamp Rochester is looking for speakers
#WCROC is taking place on October 13th this year. It’s a short roadtrip south of the border. Check out their call for speakers announcement for more details. Submissions close on August 20th.
WordPress News
A quick roundup of trending WordPress and WordPress-related news from the past week.
- WordPress 4.9.8 is live, includes new Gutenberg callout
- Nominations are open for the 4.9.9 release lead
- The Gutenberg info page includes a new front-end demo
- An essay on the long-term vision and value of Gutenberg in WordPress
- Podcast interview with WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg
- Gutenberg will make an appearance at the DrupalEurope conference
- The small business WordPress developer code of honour
- Meet the marginalized voices of the WordPress community
- Theme developer Foxland made all of their products free
- Justin Tadlock of Theme Hybrid celebrates 10 years of business
- WordPress maintenance biz WP Buffs shares their SaaS tool stack
- WordPress.com partners with Pexels for free stock images
Extra Stuff
Interesting articles, tools, and resources from around the web.
- What is “smart” writing, anyway?
- Check out ReallyGoodEmails on Pinterest for inspiration
- Feather is a beautiful collection of open-source icons
- An introduction to Google Optimize
- The rules of mobile SEO (podcast)
- A front-end development guide for large teams
- Guide: Building production-ready CSS grid layouts
- Create free product mockups with Smartmockups
- Moz’s guide to building the best eCommerce product page
- UX case study: Instilling confidence in online shoppers
- UX case study: Don’t combine two buttons in one
- UX flowchart cards for hands-on workshops
- The mid-sized nonprofit’s modern tech stack
That’s it for this week. Press on!
Featured image credit: Semevent via Pixabay