November 29, 2023 — In this installment of Developer Hours, we explored how to extend core WordPress blocks and why this approach can be preferred over creating a custom block. Extension techniques also allow you to curate the editing experience within WordPress beyond simply adding new functionality.

The session began with a presentation on the fundamentals of block extension. Then, we covered practical examples of adding new features to existing blocks, utilizing hooks for advanced extensions, and modifying block behavior to suit your unique site requirements.

Presentation Slides »

November 2, 2023 — WordPress 6.4 is set to launch on November 7, 2023, and with it, a new default theme for the upcoming year. This discussion focused on the development and design of the new Twenty Twenty-Four theme. Jessica Lyschik led the presentation, which was followed by a Q&A session.

The presentation included a demo/walkthrough of Twenty Twenty-Four, showing what the theme is capable of. We also shared some background information and tips and tricks on the new features and how to make it your own.

July 26, 2023 — Styling blocks: empowering users with CSS custom properties

It’s important not to be too prescriptive when developing blocks, and to allow users to have as much control as possible over the look and feel of the blocks on their websites.

In this edition of WordPress Developer Hours we talk about CSS custom properties (also known as CSS variables) and look at how you can leverage them in blocks to give users more control over the styling and presentation of their sites.

First up, Michael Burridge presents a solution to a common problem, i.e. how to allow users to have control over the styling of inner elements in blocks which have complex markup. While it’s relatively simple to allow users to style a block at the root level, this presentation looks at how you can assign the values stored in block attributes to CSS custom properties and use them to apply user-defined styling to child-elements in both static and dynamic blocks.

Then, for the second presentation of the session, Justin Tadlock shows you how to integrate CSS custom properties into your block stylesheets that play nicely with themes. The technique used integrates block plugins and theme.json while still giving preference to user choice.

Whether you’re just starting out with block development or have built dozens of blocks already, this WordPress Developer Hours session is for you, and you’re sure to learn a ton.

June 30, 2023 — This Developer Hours session showcases extensibility methods that empower builders to extend and customize the WordPress editing experience.

– What is Editor extensibility and why is it important
– What extensibility methods are currently available in WordPress and how to use them
– What is missing in WordPress in terms of extensibility, particularly related to blocks and the Editor