September 3, 2025 — Gutenberg excels at crafting beautiful static content, but what if you could empower anyone to build dynamic, interactive web experiences directly within the block editor? This session dives into Block Composability, a powerful concept that enables the creation of rich, interactive content using blocks, making advanced web development accessible to even less technically inclined users. Join Seth Rubenstein (Head of Engineering, Pew Research Center) and Max Schmelling (Engineering Team Lead, WordPress VIP) as they showcase real-world applications of Block Composability, including: Large census-like databases Quizzes used by universities and schools across the country Pivot tables Discover practical methods to empower your users to create their own interactive web experiences. Explore new APIs like Block Bindings and a sneak peek at Block Bits, along with tools that connect the concepts of Block Composability and remote data using WordPress VIP’s Remote Data Blocks.

October 10, 2024 — This past spring, the Pew Research Center launched a new digital news platform entirely built with blocks to power their condensed multisite at http://www.pewresearch.org. This initiative goes beyond the mere use of blocks for content and page layout, building upon the Center’s work in drag-and-drop web app creation using the block editor found in their Chart Builder and Quiz Builder plugins. Every system, feature, and functionality on pewresearch.org is a block, from the external user accounts system and login forms to the facets on post archive pages, interactive charts, media downloads, the legal acceptance form for specific media downloads, and newsletter signup forms.

The presentation will cover the key features of the platform, including Block Context Wrappers and Atomic Interactive Blocks. These innovations enable scalable interactivity for blocks, not just from a performance perspective, but also from a developer workload and support standpoint. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the possibilities of blocks and the new WordPress Interactivity API.