October 15, 2023 — This technical talk is about WordPress plugins and the pitfalls to avoid building plugins.

Each example will be punctuated with demonstrations of the “why”, along with relevant anecdotes from the speaker’s 30 year experience working within support.

October 15, 2023 — In this workshop, learn how to adapt a shortcode-based plugin so that it also renders content in a custom block for use in the WordPress editor. The plugin will therefore no longer need to rely on the build-in Shortcode Block.

Starting with a scaffolded project, you will go on to build out a dynamic block that works with a CPT (Custom Post Type) and a CT (Custom Taxonomy). Learn how to use the hooks provided by the @wordpress/core-data package to pull content into the editor while also ensuring that the content is correctly rendered in the front-end. You will also learn how to use block attributes both in the editor and in the front-end.

You will learn how a dynamic block differs from a static block and the use cases for each.

If you already have, or are thinking of building, a plugin that uses a shortcode to render content, and would like to learn how to also render that content in a block, this workshop is for you.

October 15, 2023 — The WordPress.org plugin directory requires that all plugins must be compatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL) and recommends GPLv2 or later as the same license as WordPress itself.

This includes third-party libraries, code, and images. With today’s modern development practices and easier contributions on git-based systems like GitHub, you may not even notice a dependency being added to your project.

This talk explains how to use GitHub Actions to scan your current codebase and ensure that all future pull requests and commits similarly ensure that all third-party libraries (aka dependencies) are GPL-compatible.

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.

January 6, 2023 — In this online workshop, we’ll be looking at one of the most vital but overlooked aspects of developing plugins for WordPress, and that’s ensuring your plugin’s code is secure!

We will look at why this is important and learn how to implement a security-first mindset as you add functionality to your plugins, using real-world examples.

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October 19, 2022 — This lightning talk explains the importance of internationalization in WordPress, and why it’s essential for themes and plugins. Learn how to make themes and plugins translatable, with practical tips and real code samples.

August 30, 2021 — This talk encourages tool creators to ensure that their work and their tools enable accessibility.

As creators of themes, plugins, and code that might be used by millions, tool creators have a significant responsibility to ensure that accessibility is a consideration in everything they build.

When a platform improves accessibility, the change can be powerful, trickling down to millions of websites that were built using it.

June 1, 2021 — En esta oportunidad tendremos a Pablo Hernandez desde Ecuador, donde nos va a contar todo lo relacionado sobre el desarrollo de plugins, y lo mas importante siguiendo unas buenas practicar a la hora de desarrollar.

May 28, 2021 — This talk offers a deep dive into the architecture, development decisions, and release process behind the “Must-Use” (MU) plugin that runs on every WordPress site across the Nexcess Managed Applications platform.

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May 8, 2021 — Vamos a poder aprender como desarrollar un plugin totalmente desde 0 siguiendo una buena estructura de archivos y código que nos permitirá hacer de nuestro plugin un proyecto escalable y fácil de mantener en futuras versiones.

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