Feliz Navi-Dashboard

Welcome to DEV, your fortnightly sleigh-full of WordPress news.

While you were all nestled snug in your beds, visions of 6.9 dancing in your heads, we’ve been wrapping up the latest tools, shiny updates, dazzling dev tricks and community creations, just for you. 🎁❤️

Stick around to the end to see if you can spot the cat hiding in plain sight.

In today’s edition:

• 6.9 “Gene” just dropped: Dive in for a 60-second, 10-minute, or 45-minute taste of what the new version has inside.
• Get into the holiday spirit: WP Gives a Hand is back to spread the love to those who need it.
• James Farmer on WP Legends: How “just playing around” grew into WPMU DEV, CampusPress, Edublogs… and a legacy of making cool stuff and giving it away for free.

Hot Off The Presses: What’s New?

(This is exactly how it feels writing this newsletter, tbh.)

As the year winds down and you’re getting ready for curl-up-on-the-couch season, hopefully you’ve been enjoying the half-chewed memes and other tidbits we’ve been proudly dragging into your inbox this year.

Once again, we’ve hunted down the latest in WordPress for you, to kick off the purr-fect holiday season.

Oh, hold on.. there are some very dazzling ornaments at the bottom of the tree that are just asking to be smacked around… brb.

Everyone’s Getting Gene-uinely Excited About 6.9

Whether or not you tuned into State of the Word on December 2nd, you’ve probably already had a peek at the long-anticipated WordPress 6.9 “Gene.”

So… what do you think?

Gene is the culmination of more than 400 Core Trac tickets, over 125 of which are enhancements and feature requests… plus more than 250 pesky bugs squashed. It’s receiving positive feedback for its focus on collaboration, performance improvements and developer-centric features.

If you’ve already updated, did anything break? Have you had any trouble with emails sending? (apparently it’s a thing.) What new features have you been playing with?

Or, are you still waiting a bit longer to unwrap it, just to be safe?

Notes? Some people have, well, notes.

WordPress 6.9 introduces Notes, a new block-level feature that lets users comment, reply and resolve threaded notes right inside the post editor.

Previously known as block commenting, it’s a pretty big update to the way teams review, edit and create content in WordPress.

What are your thoughts on this feature?

While some are incredibly stoked about this and plan to use it to replace Google Docs, others are not impressed and don’t think it’s necessary.

Got time to get to know Gene a bit more?

Here are some helpful guides, organized by how much time you have to spare:

⏱️ If you only have a minute, here’s a 60 second highlight reel from Webhive Digital’s Kate Smoothy.

⏳ If you have 10 minutes, here’s a more comprehensive overview by Pascal Claro from WP Roads.

🕓 If you have 45 minutes, here’s a juicy deep dive from Jakson.

Have fun diving in and giving it a spin!

P.S. This version’s namesake? The legendary jazz pianist Gene Harris, a guy who tickles the ivories with the kind of joyful skill that makes even non-jazz people go, “okay fine, this slaps.”

WP Legends Spotlight: James Farmer on Building a WordPress Legacy

This week on WP Legends, our very own founder James Farmer joined Gautam Khorana to unwrap how “just playing around with giving people sites” somehow grew into WPMU DEV, CampusPress, Edublogs… and millions of users.

A few highlights from the chat:

🤖 AI site builders? *insert eye-roll emoji here*
He predicts most will fade in 3–5 years.

🎤 Why company retreats beat trying to squeeze team-building between WordCamp events.
Nothing creates camaraderie like goofing around at karaoke.

📈 Why “users” is the KPI that gets him the most stoked.
He still gets a “massive buzz” when people use the stuff we build.

🎁 “Make good stuff, and give it away for free.”
It’s giving Ebenezer Scrooge after he got spooked by all those late-night ghosties.

Despite the bleary-eyed pre-dawn hour, Gautam called it one of the most inspiring conversations he’s recorded. So, it’s definitely worth a listen!

👉 Watch the full WP Legends episode.

Commit to Kindness: WP Gives a Hand

WP Bakery’s WP Gives a Hand is back again this year, and it’s a beautiful thing, in the “oh wow, I didn’t expect to feel feelings in a WordPress newsletter today” kind of way.

This seasonal charity movement has raised over $58,000 for good causes like UNICEF, SOS Children’s Villages Latvia and Hope Community Village in Kerala, India, impacting the lives of people all over the world in a positive way.

The TL;DR of how it works:

• From December 22nd–28th, participating companies, agencies, freelancers and developers donate a portion of revenue to a charity of their choice.
• Participants write blog posts, social media updates and newsletters about the event, spreading the word further.
• When the campaign ends, the results of the donations raised are revealed. (And everyone’s heart grows at least three sizes.)

Wanna be part of it?

Everyone’s invited to the giving party, even if you’re reading this from your cave overlooking Whoville with a sneer on your face. ’Tis the season, after all!

👉 To get involved, click here.

Mind Bloggling Facts & Stats

• So far this year, 100k+ WordPress nerds just like you gathered at a total of 81 WordCamps, in 39 countries put together by 5,200 organizers. That’s a lot of sessions attended, hangovers survived and sponsor stickers plastered on laptops. (Source)
• Over 1000 plugins have joined Patchstack’s free mVDP platform, strengthening their security and making sure they meet Cyber Resilience Act requirements. (Source)
• According to the State of Open Source Software, organizations don’t just invest in open source projects out of the goodness of their hearts – 72% believe it makes them more competitive. (Source)

Blogs & Resources You Shouldn’t Miss

A simple glance at all the info that’s being sent by your browser. It’s a LOT more than you might think. 😱

If the thought of installing another plugin makes you want to take a nap, this one’s for you.

Cloudflare down? Here’s how to handle service outages and calm your clients before your inbox fills with panicked emails.

Hover. Click. Boom. 💥 Add instant expandable tooltip popovers to your content with this very snazzy plugin from Joop Laan.

How Devin Walker plans to help Jetpack blast off towards a bright future. 🚀

Fediverse feedback just got a lot more quotable with some pretty cool new features in ActivityPub 7.7.0.

Want to build a body of work, not just a résumé? You’ll find Topher DeRosia’s approach really inspiring.

Coffee Break Distractions

Office for Budget Irresponsibility? How a predictable URL on a UK government WordPress site led to a major fiscal whoopsie.

Here’s a big list of things developer Terence Eden disables right away on every WordPress site.

Why use AI to make meaningless comments? BobWP says don’t bother.

Normal people have chocolate advent calendars. Devs? Well…

Feeling artsy? Why not try your hand at creating a Mumbai-inspired Wapuu design for WordCamp Asia?

Totally on-brand: Ke$ha uses WordPress to make a throwback MySpace-style site, complete with a glitter-generator. ✨

The collected works of cats stepping on keyboards, as curated by Matt Rose.

And finally…

Can you see him?

Love this mix of nerdery and nonsense? Forward it to your favorite WordPress weirdo. 💗