April 9, 2024 — WordPress Events such as WordCamps, Meetups, do_action, etc. come in various flavours powered by local communities around the world each year. But how do we ENSURE they’re all as open, inclusive, and accessible as possible?

In this engaging, interactive presentation Joe will discuss creating shared baseline practices to help remove common obstacles every event faces and address. We’ll also cover questions like:

– What criteria should your organizing team leverage when deciding on a location and venue for your event?
– Is the physical layout of your venue, entrances, meeting, stages, dining, and networking areas navigable by attendees who use canes or motorized devices?
– Are your maps and wayfinding/signage usable by sighted and non-sighted attendees to navigate the event weekend?
– How to leverage quiet or low-capacity rooms for attendees who need a moment to themselves amongst the hustle and bustle of an event;
– Is your event messaging on websites, or social media created to be consumed by all users, even those who use assistive technology?
– Can compelling design and branding be accessible and beautiful?
– Working with Make community team members and other a11y advocates to continually hear and empower new ideas and voices in the process; and
– More challenges and wins you’re invited to share.

April 9, 2024 — Ensuring contributors feel appreciated is essential to the success of any open source project. In its 20+ year history, there have been over 5,400 unique contributors listed on the Credits pages for each version released. But even as one of the largest current FOSS projects powering 43%+ of the Internet, this number is inaccurate and low.

Have you ever considered what a contribution actually is? Where does it come from? Who is contributing and how? How are contributions tracked? What does recognition mean to contributors? And why is the number above lower than it should be?

Come learn about the types of recognition the WordPress project currently has, where the blindspots are, what the challenges are at scale, and what’s being done to overcome these obstacles in order to ensure every contributor feels appropriately recognized to create a more stable supporting community.

April 9, 2024 — In this talk I’ll share how being part of the WordPress industry enabled me to pursue my two passions: family and professional development.

My story begins with the founding of a WordPress development agency, a venture born out of a love for web development and the endless possibilities offered by the WordPress platform. I’ll share the highs and lows of entrepreneurial life—tackling client projects, navigating industry trends, and building a team—all while balancing the responsibilities of a growing family.

Selling the agency after thirteen years paved the way for a new venture: Strattic. This new direction brought with it new challenges, and demanded I learn the ins-and-outs of the startup business model. We’ll dive into the dynamic landscape of startup life within the WordPress space. After being acquired by Elementor, I had to learn to transition from being a founder and CEO for seventeen years to being an employee. This brought its own challenges, and demanded that I adjust while learning a lot about myself.

Central to this narrative is the unparalleled experience of being an active participant in the WordPress community. I’ll share the demands it places on time and resources but, more importantly, how it gives back in so many meaningful ways. The WordPress community has been a transformative force, exposing me to diverse perspectives, introducing me to individuals beyond my immediate circles, and immersing me in rich and varied cultures.

Working in the WordPress space has been a unique experience—one where the lines between work and passion blur. I’ll delve into why contributing to the WordPress community doesn’t feel like traditional work but rather a collaborative journey of knowledge-sharing and enablement of personal goals.

April 9, 2024 — The Interactivity API was recently released in WordPress 6.5. Now is the time to experiment with the API and incorporate interactions into your custom blocks, but where should you start?

Often, the best way to learn is through real-world examples. In this Developer Hours session, Damon Cook from WP Engine demonstrates how he built a form submission block that leverages the API. This example will teach you how to kickstart a custom interactive block using the Create Block package, use directives to assign critical attributes to your HTML markup, create the store, and hook up the client-side JavaScript.

Resources:

Damon’s demo plugin: https://github.com/colorful-tones/feedback-block
Interactivity API documentation: https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/packages/packages-interactivity/
Tutorial on building a custom block: https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/getting-started/tutorial/

April 9, 2024 — Ready to empower your WordPress experience with both design and inclusivity in mind? Dive into the world of Universal Creativity, where Accessibility, Community, and User Experience meet! Whether you’re a freelancer, small business owner, or someone passionate about inclusive design, this talk is your gateway to a future of endless possibilities.

In this presentation we’ll explore:

– Accessibility Unveiled: How to make WordPress accessible for everyone, including BIPOC communities and those who face barriers to tech.
– Community and Culture: Strategies for active engagement and how you can contribute to a sustainable WordPress ecosystem.
– Design with a Purpose: Introducing Universal Themes and how they disrupt the traditional template market, offering multi-functional, high-performance inclusive designs for all.

April 9, 2024 — The web has brought a wide range of free services and capabilities to users such as email, social media, online shopping, streaming video, and many others. These services rely on an economic model that depends on tracking users and identifying audiences for targeted advertising.

Today, increasing concerns about user privacy, data breaches, and the misuse of personal information have led to a growing demand for enhanced privacy protections. Such demands have prompted significant changes in how the web operates, including the imminent deprecation of Third-Party Cookies (3PC).

With major web browsers phasing out support for third-party cookies, businesses, developers, and marketers face the need to reimagine their strategies. In this talk, I will delve into the impact of the impending 3PC deprecation for the and explore practical strategies for preparing and adapting to this transformative shift.

The talk will consist of two parts. The first part will have four brief sections. (1) We will begin with a brief overview of Cookies as a State Management mechanism, understanding the properties of cookies which makes them vulnerable to misuse, and understanding what exactly will change when 3P Cookies are deprecated; (2) we will then discuss how existing and new Web Platform capabilities can be used to refactor implementation that rely on 3P cookies today; (3) next we will review the tools and resources available to help developers navigate the transition to a web platform without 3P cookies; (4) we will give the audience a scripted approach they can follow to prepare and get ready for the deprecation of 3P cookies.

The second part of the talk will explore the importance of embracing privacy-centric technologies which offer a privacy-first approach to ad targeting and measurement, allowing businesses to reach their target audiences without sacrificing user privacy.

The countdown to the 3PC deprecation has already begun, and it is essential to be proactive in our approach. This talk seeks to equip attendees with the knowledge and tools needed to be at the forefront of embracing change and safeguarding user privacy while ensuring business continuity.

April 9, 2024 — Performance is essential for user experience and is becoming increasingly important for search engines through core web vitals. Just as WordPress democratizes publishing, it can also play a significant role in making good performance accessible to everyone.

This presentation highlights recent improvements made by the WordPress core performance team and upcoming new features that the team is working on. Developers will learn about existing and new tools available to them to identify performance issues in plugins and themes.

The presentation also depicts a future where site owners do not have to worry about performance thanks to a faster ecosystem, transparent performance ratings, and helpful AI assistants that can help analyze websites, identify potential performance issues, and provide custom-tailored solutions.

April 9, 2024 — In the constantly evolving landscape of software development, the quest for bug-free code remains a pinnacle challenge for even the most seasoned developers.
This talk aims to transform the way we approach this challenge, not just as a technical hurdle, but as an opportunity to elevate the entire coding process. In this session, we delve into the core principle that most bugs are born from unchecked assumptions. By identifying and questioning these assumptions, we can implement a proactive strategy to prevent bugs before they occur. This talk will guide attendees through effective methodologies to critically analyze their code, fostering a deeper understanding of how assumptions can lead to errors and how to mitigate them.

We will explore several key areas:

– The Psychology of Assumptions in Coding: Understanding how easy it is to make assumptions and how they can lead to bugs.
– Practical Techniques for Assumption-Proofing Your Code: Implementing strategies such as rigorous type-checking, automated testing, and peer code reviews to safeguard against bugs.
– Real-World Examples: Analyzing case studies where assumption-led bugs caused major issues and how they were resolved.
– Transforming Coding Philosophy: Shifting from a reactive to a proactive mindset in coding, emphasizing prevention overcorrection.
– Attendees will leave with not just an understanding of common pitfalls in coding but also armed with practical tools and strategies to enhance their coding practices. This talk is ideal for developers, team leads, and anyone passionate about elevating the quality of software development through mindful and strategic coding practices.

April 9, 2024 — Ben’s session will tell the story of Stratechery and the development of creator-centric businesses, and how WordPress made that possible. Ben will also introduce Passport, the WordPress plugin that powers Stratechery, and why it can unlock new use cases and business models for creators of all types.

April 9, 2024 — Design is more than the way things work; it’s the essence of purpose, intention, and human connection. A transformative craft that weaves functionality and meaning into the fabric of being. Let’s journey through the intricate art of design and embark on an expedition of its multifaceted, ingenious nature. Join me, and a community of fellow design enthusiasts who, like you, are passionate about how design shapes our world, and let’s explore the nuances of what design is.