Tim McGiven's Blog, page 29

A New Home for WordPress.com Courses

We’re excited to announce that our WordPress.com courses are now available at wordpress.com/learn, with no registration or purchase needed. 

The world-class educational offerings available in the new learning hub include:

Get StartedCreate Your SiteIntro to SEOIntro to BloggingIntro to Podcasting

And there are more courses to come! 

This learning hub also provides quick access to our live webinars (and replays) where you can join us for demonstrations, instructions, and Q&As. Get registered today for our March sessions:

Site Editing: Custom HeadersSite Editor vs. Page Editor: Editing your entire site in WordPressCompelling Homepages: Custom layouts using the WordPress block editor

Be sure to check the webinars page each month for new topics.

Finally, wordpress.com/learn allows for one-click access to our support documentation, forums, and YouTube channel. 

It’s worth repeating: there’s no registration or login required to view any of our materials! It’s as easy as clicking the button below to get started today. 

Start Learning!

There’s never been a better time to learn the ins and outs of creating a new site, blogging like a boss, podcasting like a pro, and optimizing your content! Join us at wordpress.com/learn to get started on the path towards pursuing your dreams. 

Changing the Narrative: New Black x Tech Stock Photo Collection

Ask and most small business owners or bloggers will tell you how difficult it can be to find high-quality, openly licensed stock photography for their websites. If a campaign or website calls for diverse and inclusive stock photography, you’ll more than likely come up short. 

That’s why WordPress.com is excited to announce the release of the Black x Tech stock photography collection! The Cocoamattic ERG, an employee resource group at Automattic, partnered with Nappy.co to release a collection of 90+ beautiful photos of Black people interacting with technology. Nappy, a company on a mission to increase the representation of Black and Brown people in openly licensed stock photography, was a natural fit to collaborate on the initiative. Nappy co-founder Jacques Bastien is a long time WordPress user, and shares the same passion for open source. 

Cocoamattic ERG co-lead Santana Inniss said of the collection, “Cocoamattic is a group that represents Black/African diaspora employees working at Automattic. Part of our mission is to increase representation of Black folks in tech. We know how impactful representation can be, and seeing yourself represented in media about technology can be the jumping off point for getting into a career in tech.” 

Seeing that representation of Black folks creating or engaging with technology was sorely lacking in stock photography, Cocoamattic wanted to tackle the problem head on. Santana continues, “Getting a beautiful, authentic collection of stock photos representing Black folks onto WordPress.com was so important to us. We selected Nappy for the synergy of mission, but also because photos on Nappy.co are now indexed through Openverse.org.”

Openverse, an aggregator of openly licensed media, makes the Black x Tech photos accessible from your WordPress.com website via the Media Library, or the Image and Gallery blocks.

Adding images via the Image Block Adding images from the Media Library

If you’re looking to add diverse and inclusive photos to your WordPress.com site, that just got a whole lot easier with the Black x Tech photo collection, brought to you by Cocoamattic x Nappy. You can also view the collection directly on Nappy.co.

Design Like a Pro in Just a Few Clicks

Our latest batch of design tools empower you to create a consistently compelling style across your entire website with just a few clicks. Today we’d like to zoom in on the “Styles” settings, which allow you to make sitewide changes and create new style defaults right from the Site Editor. 

Professional design without a designer  

From basic options like colors and typography, to more advanced parameters like content dimensions, padding, and block-specific settings, you’re sure to find our style customizations useful no matter your level of design expertise (or lack thereof!).  

Though a number of themes come with style variations that you can test out, using custom Styles gives you even more freedom and flexibility to experiment and play around with various design pieces. 

Utilizing these settings creates new default styling for elements on your site, such as headings, paragraphs, and buttons. This means that any new pages or posts created will automatically inherit these styles, making the entire process much more efficient. Additionally, any changes you make will be reflected across the entire site, ensuring a consistent look and feel.

Our Site Editor design tools are perfect for those who want to save time and effort while maintaining a consistent look and feel across their website.

Learn more about StylesHow to DIY design, with ease 

From the Site Editor (on the left sidebar, navigate to Appearance → Editor), click the “Edit” button at the top left of the page, and then the Styles icon on the top right. A sidebar will come up with a number of options to explore. (Note: This option may not appear if the theme you’re using isn’t compatible with the Site Editor.)

The best place to start is with the Style Book. Using Style Book, you can explore the various color and typography schemes and get a sense for what different blocks will look like before implementing them: 

Once you’re out of the Style Book, you can click “Browse Styles,” which allows you to preview what those style elements look like on your actual site. Remember, nothing is set in stone until you hit the “Save” button. 

From there, you can experiment with specific settings for typography, colors, and layout. You can also fine-tune design aspects for specific blocks. For example, if you tweak the color or text size in the Heading Block, it’ll change every heading on your site as well as become the new default for any new headings.

When you set a block-specific style from the Site Editor, any changes you make on specific pages or posts will only apply to that placement – though you can hit the “Apply globally” button to incorporate them across the entire site. 

Learn more about Styles

Styles tools are available on Premium plans and above.

Switch to the New Jetpack Mobile App

Last month we introduced you to the new Jetpack mobile app. Today we’d like to share information on some upcoming changes to the WordPress app and dig into the key differences between the WordPress and Jetpack apps to help you decide which one is right for you. We’re here to help you make an informed decision. 

What’s changing in the WordPress app? 

Until now, the WordPress app has included a range of Jetpack-powered features focused on managing, growing, and keeping tabs on your site. In early March 2023, we’ll be streamlining the WordPress app to focus on the writing and publishing basics. As part of that update, Jetpack features will be removed from the WordPress app and only be available in the Jetpack app. To continue using your favorite Jetpack features, switch to the Jetpack app today. 

Why are there two apps?

WordPress comes in more than one flavor and is used for everything from newsletters to blogs, enterprise apps to high-traffic publishing networks. After listening to feedback from a diverse range of users and the wider WordPress community, it became clear that there are two main sets of expectations about what a mobile WordPress experience should look like. 

With that in mind, we set about rethinking and designing two distinct ways for you to use WordPress on the go:

The Jetpack app is intuitive, free-to-use, and puts the full WordPress experience in your pocket, whether you’re new to publishing on the internet or a seasoned veteran. You get all the essential tools that come with the WordPress app, plus a suite of features for growing your site. Discover new content and communities with the Reader, track your site’s performance on Stats, and get notified about comments and reactions with Notifications. You can download the Jetpack app today.
The updated WordPress app will focus on the basics of writing and publishing. If you’re only looking for the essential tools you need to publish on the go, with support for offline editing and the ability to upload media straight from your phone’s camera roll, this might be the best app for you.

We’re excited to hear from you and will continue updating the apps to meet your needs. Please feel free to comment on this post with any questions or feedback.

Which app should I use?

Here’s how the two apps compare, feature by feature:

FeaturesWordPress appJetpack appPostsxxPagesxxMediaxxCommentsxxSite SettingsxxStatsxReaderxNotificationsxActivity LogxJetpack SocialxJetpack BackupxJetpack ScanxMenusxPeoplexThemesx

With the new Jetpack app, you’ll still be able to focus on publishing, but you’ll also have the added benefit of powerful site management and growth tools. The app is free to use. Once you make the switch, you’ll find all the same features that you enjoy with the WordPress app right there, at no extra cost.

How do I make the switch to the Jetpack app?

To make a seamless switch to the Jetpack app from the WordPress app, follow these steps:

Make sure you have the latest version of the WordPress app installed. Download the Jetpack app for iOS or Android.Open the app, and you’ll be “auto-magically” logged in with all your data and settings in place, including locally stored content, saved posts, and other in-app preferences.

After you’ve installed the Jetpack app, we’d advise you to delete the WordPress app. Managing your site across both apps is currently unsupported and may lead to issues such as data conflicts that are best avoided.

We’re here to make the switch from the WordPress app to the Jetpack app as smooth as possible. Thanks for your continued support, and let us know if you have any questions.

Ready to take off? Download the Jetpack mobile app today.

An Open Source Approach to Creating Company Events

Serendipitous connections, like discovering a shared interest with someone in line at the coffee shop, look slightly different in distributed organizations. This year, leveraging the values of open source, Automattic shared the planning and organization of a company-wide 24-hour online event among the entire company, in order to create space for serendipitous connections. 

What followed was energy, diversity, and abundant creativity!

The Purpose: Intentional Random Connections

As we welcomed 2023, this event was an invitation to connect across divisions, timezones, and geographies across 90+ countries: 

Intentional: We scheduled a date one month in advance so that people could create space to join at times that were convenient to them and their team.Random: We invited any and all wonderful ideas to the agenda. We believe that great ideas can come from anywhere and anyone.Connections: Communication is the oxygen of a distributed company and our intention was to create space for connections to form.The Invitation: Open-Sourcing the Agenda

Rather than deciding the agenda up front, we entrusted the agenda to the whole company. We invited people to contribute what they’d like and then join any sessions that interested them. (This structure is built on the values of Open Space by Harrison Owen.)

Hosting a session was simple — all one had to do was choose a topic and add it directly to a shared Google Calendar which we created for the day. All that was left from there was to arrive on the day at their selected time to host their session with the folks who chose to join. 

Movement among sessions was welcome and everything was optional. 

The Outcomes: Abundant Creativity!

In total we had 38 sessions hosted over 24 hours (both synchronous and asynchronous). The creativity, energy, and diversity that was created far exceeded what any one person could have planned on their own.

We had cat parties, dog walks, asynchronous virtual raves, collaborative poem writing, role playing games, lego sessions, language lessons, art parties, parenting discussions, muffin making, company trivias, children’s book readings, open mics, musician parties, walks around the globe, and a lot of games! For the full list of sessions see the bottom of this post. 

While many companies report difficulty getting engagement in online company events, the survey feedback from this event showed that:

100% of participants would recommend future events like this95% of participants met with someone they’d never met before100% of people who hosted would host a session again

For a 2,000-person company, these are pretty staggering results. The value of distributed ownership and co-creation speaks for itself!

We hope these results convince you to try this out in your own organization!

A Peek Into Some of the SessionsFull List of Sessions

Synchronous:

Hidden Identity Games x2Automattic TriviaTypeRacer Mandarin Conversation: 中文聊天網聚  Tabletop Roleplaying Games 101Cat’s PartyDungeons & Dragons for Newbies Children’s Book Reading and Conversation Bavarder en Français: French Conversation LEGO AFOLs UnitePlay Pokemon Cyberpunk 2077 Roleplaying SessionMake Banana Muffins with Greg Defuse a Bomb x2 Drawful GameVirtual Dog Park Charla en Español Art PartyParenting Teens ConversationBrazilian Portuguese Conversation: Papo Farofa Open Mic Power Yoga Play Gartic PhoneAutomusician ConnectionCat Party Let’s Speak Italiano! Tales from the Table Open Screenshare Animal Crossing Parade of HomesSilly Games and Snacks Casual Hangout

Asynchronous:

Intentional Random Virtual Rave A Walk Around the Automattic Globe Poetomattic

What’s New on WordPress.com: Tools to Make Designing Your Site Easier Than Ever

At WordPress.com, we’re always adding features and pushing our blocks and Site Editor to do more so that you can create, design, and publish amazing things with ease. Our newest features are largely design-focused, giving you the confidence to explore a variety of styles and then easily apply them across your entire site. 

Let’s jump in and see what’s new. 

Browse Mode: An easier way to navigate the Site Editor 

Browse Mode allows you to easily explore, navigate, and edit your site’s templates and template parts, including adding new templates right from this interface. To play around with Browse Mode, simply click your site’s icon from the Site Editor. 

When to use this feature: You want to see how all the pieces of your site fit together — and to jump between your templates and template parts for easy editing.  

Clearer access to your advanced block settings

With more powerful blocks comes the need for easier, more intuitive access to advanced settings for those blocks. To that end, we’ve split block settings into two tabs within the sidebar. On the left side, you’ll find standard customization options like color, typography, and spacing. On the right side, you’ll find more advanced options, like layouts, custom CSS, and a button to apply changes across your entire site (more on that below).  

When to use this feature: You’re working on your navigation menu and need more customization than just color or typography options. Go over to advanced settings to change the orientation of the menu from horizontal to vertical — among other things! 

Preview style options with the Style Book 

A number of themes, including staff favorite Twenty Twenty Three, now come with styles, which change the look and feel of your site — color, spacing, etc. — within the overarching design aesthetic of the theme. 

With the newly launched Style Book, you can now see how various styles affect different blocks. You’re able to preview colors, typography, embeddable media, and more. 

When to use this feature: You’re curious about switching up the colors or typography on your site, but you want to know what it’ll look like, especially within specific blocks, before committing. 

Apply design changes across your entire site  

When working and designing in the Site Editor, it’s easy to find yourself having created a certain style that you really like and want emulated across your entire site. With our new “Apply globally” button, you can do just that. 

When to use this feature: You’ve spent some time styling a heading (or other block) on your homepage or a page template, and you want that look to carry over across all the headings (or whichever block you’re working with) on your site. 

In Case You Missed It 

In the midst of holiday season business, you may have missed some of our other recent and exciting updates:  

Boost your traffic with Blaze

Learn how to turn your posts and pages content into clean, compelling ads that run across millions of sites on WordPress.com and Tumblr.

Explore new themes   

We introduced five beautiful new designs in January, including our new default theme, Twenty Twenty Three. 

Grab yourself a .link domain 

A .link domain name and Link in Bio page supercharges your social media by giving you a place to host all of your links.

Insert chapter breaks on your videos 

Chapter breaks offer a quick, convenient way for viewers to navigate longer videos or see the outline of a video’s content at a glance. 

Share your work-in-progress website

With Site Previews, you can generate a unique link for your in-progress Business or eCommerce site that allows your team or clients to access and explore the site without needing to log in. 

Supercharge Your Social Media With a New Link in Bio Page

Social media is a great place to build and connect with your audience while promoting your offerings. However, you don’t own your social profiles or traffic. Creating a Link in Bio page with w.link enables you to truly own your content and traffic while tailoring it to increase your engagement and conversion rates across all of your social channels.

You can also embed Paypal, Amazon stores, an e-commerce store, and other features that allow you to continue earning money.

As a creator, we know how much effort and time goes into finding the right audiences and perfecting your offering. We know you already manage multiple deadlines and channels, with increasing competition everywhere you look. We wanted to make it a lot easier for you to handle your operations while making sure you can link to all your available channels and revenue streams.

Get your .link domain today! Set up your Link in Bio with ease

Once you’ve picked a URL at w.link, simply choose your design, upload your profile image, tweak your site info, and add your links. You’ll be launching your Link in Bio site within minutes!

Once you add your unique link to your social profiles, you’ll be able to monitor traffic and stats from your WordPress.com dashboard.

We don’t limit the number of links you can have, so any time you have a new product, offering, or site to share, you can swap out a link and we’ll preserve your old links and traffic. Alternatively, you can add as many new links as you need to your Link in Bio site.

A domain that comes with unparalleled performance

Link in Bio sites powered by w.link are optimized  for the best performance across web and mobile, with spectacular load times. We know social media is a 24/7 job, so our never-sleeping servers ensure that business goes on (even while you sleep!) and we can handle the traffic with ease when your content goes viral.

Helping content creators win

Get started today with a free .link domain with any paid plan, or for just $0.99 for a new .link domain registration. We’re committed to investing in creators! Win it with w.link!

Get your .link domain today!

Want to learn more before jumping in? Read this article about all the tips and tricks we have ready for you.

Say Hello to the New Jetpack Mobile App

As we settle into 2023, we’ve been thinking about ways to help you get the most out of your WordPress site throughout the year. That’s where the new Jetpack mobile app comes in! 

We know inspiration doesn’t wait for you to be sitting at your desk. It can strike anywhere. With the new Jetpack mobile app, you have the freedom to snap a photo to post while out on a walk, begin drafting your Bloganuary entry on your morning commute, or make tweaks to your content while on your lunch break.

Inspiration, we’re ready for you!

What’s more, the app brings the tools you need to manage and grow your site right to your fingertips: 

Understand how your content is performing and know what’s resonating with your audience using Stats and Insights.Reply to comments on the go, see when your traffic is booming, and keep engaged with your audience with Notifications.Discover new bloggers and catch up with your favorite sites using the Reader.Ready to take off? Get the new Jetpack app today!

We’re constantly working on new ways to improve the Jetpack app and make it the best possible way to WordPress on the go. Daily blogging prompts to help spark different content ideas are an example of one recent feature we’re excited to continue iterating on. In addition, you can now use the app to log into WordPress.com on your computer simply by scanning a QR code.

Have ideas for features or improvements you’d like to see within the app? We’re all ears! Let us know in the comments below.

FAQWhat’s the difference between the WordPress and the Jetpack apps?

Your favorite Jetpack-powered features from the WordPress app – including Stats, Notifications, and the Reader – have a new home: the Jetpack app! These features will soon be removed from the WordPress app so that its focus will be on essential user and publishing tools. With the Jetpack app, you can expect the same attention to core features like managing and editing content, as well as next-level tools to grow your audience on a trusted platform.

How do I migrate my data and settings from the WordPress app to the Jetpack app?

If you have the latest version of the WordPress app installed, your data and settings will be automatically transferred to the Jetpack app. Data that will be transferred includes locally stored content, saved posts, and other in-app preferences.

Simply download the Jetpack app and you’ll be “auto-magically” logged in with all your content in place.

Is there an additional cost?

The Jetpack app is free to download and you can continue to use the same features that you enjoy with the WordPress app, at no additional cost.

Why are there two apps, and which should I use?

WordPress comes in more than one flavor and serves a diverse range of site administration needs. After listening to a lot of feedback around varying expectations, we settled on creating two options for you to WordPress on the go:

The WordPress app will focus on WordPress’ core functionality. If you’re looking for the essential tools you need to publish on the go, with support for offline editing and the ability to upload media straight from your phone’s camera roll, then this may be the app for you.The Jetpack app is the premium mobile publishing experience for our super-connected world. With it, you’ll get all the essential tools that come with the WordPress app, plus a suite of features for growing your site. Track the performance of your content with Stats, get notified about comments and reactions with Notifications, and discover content and join communities with the Reader. Whether you’re new to publishing on the Internet or a seasoned veteran, have a WordPress site already or want to start a new one — download the Jetpack app today for a great set of tools to start or grow!

Either app is available for you to use. Once you’ve decided which app is best for you, please delete the other. Managing your site across both apps is currently unsupported and may lead to issues like data conflicts.

We’re excited to offer different apps to suit different needs and will be sharing further details over the coming weeks. In the meantime, we want to hear from you! Please feel welcome to comment on this post with any questions or feedback you may have.

Get the new Jetpack app today!

Introducing Blaze: A New Way to Ignite Your Growth on WordPress.com

At WordPress.com we’re always looking for ways to make building and running your web site simpler and more impactful (and more fun!).

One of the biggest challenges for any site owner is finding your readers, fans, customers, or subscribers. Until now, promoting your WordPress.com web site required multiple tools, online accounts, professional design and marketing skills, and – yes – lots of money.

That’s why we’re excited to announce Blaze, a new tool allowing anyone with a WordPress blog to advertise on WordPress.com and Tumblr in just a few clicks. How? By turning your site content into clean, compelling ads that run across our millions-strong network of blogs.

Create an ad today!How Blaze works

If your website is hosted on WordPress.com, then head to wordpress.com/advertising and select your website — you’ll see a list of recent posts and pages you can promote. If your WordPress site isn’t hosted on WordPress.com, you can take advantage of Blaze through the Jetpack plugin.

Alternatively, when viewing the post or page list in your WordPress.com dashboard, click the ellipses (three dots) next to any individual post/page to bring up a new menu, then click “Promote with Blaze.”

Now you’ll be in the Blaze Campaign Wizard.

Step 1: Design your ad. The wizard automatically formats your content into a beautiful ad, but you can adjust the image and text however you like.

Step 2: Select your audience. Want to target the whole world? Only people in certain areas? Folks who are reading content about a specific category, like movies or sports? As you adjust these settings, you’ll see our estimate of how many people you’ll reach.

Step 3: Select your dates and set your budget. Run your ad for 6 months or for just a few days — it’s up to you.

Step 4: Finish and pay. We may offer the lowest ad prices in the industry, but we also protect your content with a system backed by Verity and Grapeshot. So rest easy knowing that your ads will only show up where they’re supposed to — and nowhere you’d feel strange about.

Once your ad is running, you can check how it’s doing in the “Campaigns” tab of the advertising page.

Our campaigns are billed weekly based on how many times your ad is shown, so you’ll only ever pay for what you signed up for. As always, you can find even more details about this tool on our support page.

This feature is currently only available to users with “English” set as their primary language, but we’re working hard on bringing it to other languages as well.

Try Blaze todayLet us know what you think about Blaze!

We’re excited to launch this powerful new feature, and we’re eager to get feedback. If you have any questions about it, challenges while using it, or ideas to make it better, please share them with our team. We’ll make sure a real person reads through all of the feedback, and we’ll be working tirelessly to make sure that this tool is something valuable for you.

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Hot Off the Press: New WordPress.com Themes for January 2023

The WordPress.com team is always working on new design ideas to bring your website to life. Below you’ll find the four newest themes that we’ve added to our library, with beautiful options for food-based businesses, podcasts, and bloggers.

To install any of the below themes, click the the name of the theme you like, which brings you right to the installation page. Then simply click the “Activate this design” button. You can also click “Open live demo,” which brings up a clickable, scrollable version of the theme for you to preview.

Premium themes are free to use for any user on a Premium plan or above, or can be purchased individually by those with free sites or Personal plans.

You can explore all of our themes by navigating to the “Themes” page, which is found under “Appearance” in the left-side menu of your WordPress.com dashboard. Or, just click here:

All WordPress.com ThemesTwenty Twenty-Three

Twenty Twenty-Three is designed to take advantage of the new design tools introduced in WordPress 6.1.

With a clean, blank base as a starting point, this default theme includes ten diverse style variations created by members of the WordPress community.

Whether you want to build a complex or incredibly simple website, you can do it quickly and intuitively through the bundled styles or dive into creation and full customization yourself.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Tazza (Premium Theme)

Tazza puts the spotlight on your products and your customers. This theme leverages Woo Commerce to provide you with intuitive product navigation and the patterns you need to master digital merchandising.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Calyx

Calyx is a minimalist theme designed for single-page websites. Featuring a coming-soon pattern on the homepage, Calyx is a perfect choice to spread the word about the upcoming opening of a cafe, restaurant, or bar.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Muscat

Muscat is a simple blogging theme with grid post templates and a centered post layout. Its geometric sans-serif typography contributes to a delightful, comfortable, and modern reading experience.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Loudness

Loudness is a bold opinionated theme created with music education in mind. Use Site Editor tooling and relevant patterns to create a unique experience.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Stay tuned for more updates about new themes, patterns, blocks, and other exciting product updates! And be sure to click below to take a look at the entire showcase of themes we offer:

All WordPress.com Themes