This has been an interesting month for WordPress, as a bold move on the JavaScript front brought the WordPress project to the forefront of many discussions across the development world. There have also been some intriguing changes in the WordCamp program, so read on to learn more about the WordPress community during the month of September.
JavaScript Frameworks in WordPress
Early in the month, Matt Mullenweg announced that WordPress will be switching away from React as the JavaScript library WordPress Core might use — this was in response to Facebook’s decision to keep a controversial patent clause in the library’s license, making many WordPress users uncomfortable.
A few days later, Facebook reverted the decision, making React a viable option for WordPress once more. Still, the WordPress Core team is exploring a move to make WordPress framework-agnostic, so that the framework being used could be replaced by any other framework without affecting the rest of the project.
This is a bold move that will ultimately make WordPress core a lot more flexible, and will also protect it from potential license changes in the future.
You can get involved in the JavaScript discussion by joining the #core-js channel in the Making WordPress Slack group and following the WordPress Core development blog.
Community Initiative to Make WordCamps More Accessible
A WordPress community member, Ines van Essen, started a new nonprofit initiative to offer financial assistance to community members to attend WordCamps. DonateWC launched with a crowdsourced funding campaign to cover the costs of getting things up and running.
Now that she’s raised the initial funds, Ines plans to set up a nonprofit organization and use donations from sponsors to help people all over the world attend and speak at WordCamps.
If you would like to support the initiative, you can do so by donating through their website.
The WordCamp Incubator Program Returns
Following the success of the first WordCamp Incubator Program, the Community Team is bringing the program back to assist more underserved cities in kick-starting their WordPress communities.
The program’s first phase aims to find community members who will volunteer to mentor, assist, and work alongside local leaders in the incubator communities — this is a time-intensive volunteer role that would need to be filled by experienced WordCamp organizers.
If you would like to be a part of this valuable initiative, join the #community-team channel in the Making WordPress Slack group and follow the Community Team blog for updates.
WordPress 4.8.2 Security Release
On September 19, WordPress 4.8.2 was released to the world — this was a security release that fixed nine issues in WordPress Core, making the platform more stable and secure for everyone.
To get involved in building WordPress Core, jump into the #core channel in the Making WordPress Slack group, and follow the Core team blog.
Further Reading:
- The WordPress Meetup program hit a significant milestone this month — there are now 500 meetup groups in the official chapter program.
- The SWFUpload library will be removed from WordPress Core in version 4.9, scheduled for release in mid-November.
- Matías Ventura put together some useful videos on how theme developers can integrate Gutenberg into their work.
- Apply Filters, the popular WordPress development podcast, will go on hiatus after the upcoming 83rd episode.
- The WordPress Plugin Directory has added the ability for plugin owners to assign plugin support representatives.
- After a couple of slower development weeks, Gutenberg v1.2 is out and it’s looking better than ever.
- The third Global WordPress Translation Day took place this past weekend — keep an eye on the Polyglots team blog for updates.
If you have a story we should consider including in the next “Month in WordPress” post, please submit it here.