- \n
- Why can\u2019t the web be both weird AND accessible, at the same time?<\/li>\n
- The 6.8 Release Squad is assembled and ready to roll out.<\/li>\n
- \u26a0\ufe0fContent Warning: There\u2019s a really dumb knock-knock joke in this one. Watch out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Hot Off The Presses: What\u2019s New?<\/h2>\n
\n![\"Humorous](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/relatable-funny-work-memes-1-2-24-17.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMy Resolution is to Stop Procrastinating. Gonna Start Tomorrow for Sure.<\/h3>\n
Welcome to 2025, you gorgeous thing. Missed you! How ARE you? You look great. \ud83d\udc95<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve finally emerged from our festive roast potato coma and we\u2019re in full New Year mode. Everyone\u2019s \u201ccircling back\u201d and \u201ctouching base\u201d and \u201cputting their left foot in and shaking it all about\u201d or whatever. We\u2019re just gonna simply join in and pretend we know what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
We were<\/em> going to quit all of our bad habits this year but hey\u2026 no one likes a quitter.<\/p>\n
So instead let\u2019s start this year full of energy and potential, like a goofy kid at the top of a waterslide, ready to flail screaming, hair flying, swim trunks flapping, into 2025!<\/p>\n
Knock knock.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s there?<\/em><\/p>\n
Radio.<\/p>\n
Radio who?<\/em><\/p>\n
Radio not, it\u2019s a new year, baby! <\/strong><\/p>\n
Ooof\u2026 okay sorry about that. But anyway\u2026<\/p>\n
In The Words of Shania Herself, “Let\u2019s Go Girls!”<\/h3>\n
The WordPress community team has proposed hosting women-centric events<\/a> on International Women\u2019s Day (March 8th) throughout local WordPress communities around the world.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re talking networking sessions, workshops, learning activities and talks and all that awesome, collaborative stuff. The initiative, proposed by Pooja Derashri<\/a>, aims to \u201cspark meaningful conversations and encourage more women to join, lead and contribute to WordPress.\u201d We love to see it!<\/p>\n
Keen to host an event? Apply via the Creative WordPress Events Form<\/a>. Want to help out by designing banners, logos and female Wapuu designs<\/a>? Comment on the post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake the Web Weird Again!\u201d<\/h3>\n
In a recent blog post<\/a>, Nick Hamze raises a call to arms to all us creative little freaks out there to \u201cmake the web weird again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lamenting the samey and monotonous look of many websites, Nick wants us to embrace quirky and distinctive designs that truly reflect our \u201cunique voice and vision.\u201d He even put together a collection of the kind of wacko themes that he has in mind, including a pretty bitchin\u2019 80s vaporwave aesthetic theme that we wish<\/em> we had a reason to use.<\/p>\n
Of course, we\u2019re totally<\/em> big fans of creativity, thinking outside the box and strange, personality-packed websites. But as Amber Hinds points out<\/a>, accessibility is important too.<\/p>\n
And when it comes to that, we\u2019re with the Old El Paso<\/em> kid when she says, \u201c\u00bfpor qu\u00e9 no los dos?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/why-not-both-both.gif\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAs Amber points out<\/a>, \u201cThemes can be both accessible and<\/strong> weird. They\u2019re not conflicting goals.\u201d As Steve Jones adds to the conversation, \u201cAccessible isn\u2019t a type of theme. All themes should aim to be accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s room for personal expression AND inclusion on the web. Thinking about how to make your sites accessible and easy-to-use for all is part of the creative challenge.<\/p>\n
As the W3C Statement on Ethical Web Principles<\/a> states, \u201cthe web is for all people.\u201d But, unfortunately, at the moment that\u2019s far from reality. A new report<\/a> reveals that no U.S. state website fully meets the upcoming Department of Justice accessibility requirements<\/a>. Over 96% of the world\u2019s top one million web pages are not accessible to WCAG 2 standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Does accessibility restrict the possibilities of your design? Well, yeah of course it does. There are certain limits on what you can build and still have it accessible.<\/p>\n
But does that hinder your creativity? Not necessarily. Sometimes, restrictions can enhance creativity<\/a> and provide opportunities for brilliant problem solving.
\nWant to learn more about making WordPress more accessible?<\/p>\n- \n
- This recent episode<\/a> of the WP Tavern Jukebox podcast featuring accessibility consultant Elena Brescacin is a very insightful listen.<\/li>\n
- A great article by Vanessa Preast: \u201cDigital Accessibility Myth #1: Accessibility Kills Creativity<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n
- Try WebAIM\u2019s color contrast checker<\/a> next time you\u2019re choosing font colors.<\/li>\n
- Oh, and whatever you do\u2026 don\u2019t use AccessiBe, the bogus AI accessibility startup that was just fined a million bucks by the FTC for misleading claims<\/a>. \ud83d\ude2cYikes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
6.8 Release Squad\u2026 Assemble!<\/h3>\n
The lean, mean, release machine of WordPress 6.8 was just announced a few days ago. The tight team is focused less on new features this time around and more on fine-tuning and bug-fixing, to make sure everything is as polished as possible.<\/p>\n
The squad is helmed by Matt Mullenweg, with Jeffrey Paul<\/a> and Michelle Frechette<\/a> coordinating efforts.<\/p>\n
In addition to Mullenweg and the coordinators, we\u2019ve got:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Tech Leads<\/strong>: Joe McGill<\/a>, Jonathan Desrosiers<\/a>, George Mamadashvili<\/a><\/li>\n
- Triage<\/strong>: Jb Audras<\/a><\/li>\n
- Design<\/strong>: Tammie Lister<\/a><\/li>\n
- Performance<\/strong>: Felix Arntz<\/a><\/li>\n
- Testing<\/strong>: Krupa Nanda<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So, why so minimalist? This smaller crew continues the experiment that started with 6.7 of merging together the Marketing and Communications Lead with Release Coordination in order to gather more feedback on that experiment.<\/p>\n
Turns out, after reviewing ongoing initiatives, the team decided fewer features were ready for primetime. That means WordPress 6.8 is laser-focused on stability and performance. But hey, if something shiny is ready to go, we\u2019re sure they won\u2019t hold it back.<\/p>\n
Key Dates to Remember<\/h4>\n
- \n
- Beta 1<\/strong>: March 4, 2025<\/li>\n
- Release Candidate 1<\/strong>: March 25, 2025<\/li>\n
- General Release<\/strong>: April 15, 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Want to get involved? Although the release squad has already been chosen, it takes a village to raise a new version of WordPress. If you want to roll up your sleeves and take part, you can join the #core channel in Slack, where the next weekly chat is happening on Wednesday January 15th at 8pm UTC.<\/p>\n
One Last Dumb Joke for You\u2026<\/h3>\n
Did you hear about the guy who was caught shoplifting a calendar on New Years?<\/p>\n
He got 12 months. <\/em><\/p>\n
Mind Bloggling Facts & Stats<\/h2>\n
- \n
- According to the Cloudflare Radar 2024 Year in Review, Global internet traffic rose more than 17% in 2024. That might sound crazy, but it\u2019s actually a slow down from last year when traffic grew by 25%. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- Over 41% of that traffic came from mobile devices. Plus, there are nearly 100 countries where mobile traffic is the majority! For example, over 77% came from mobile devices in Syria, Cuba and Sudan. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- In 2024, there were approximately 4,740 enhancements and fixes across all areas of WordPress between the three major new releases. Talk about a glow-up! (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- Can you believe we\u2019re on the 200th release of Gutenberg already? And that it\u2019s been four years since the 100th release? Time flies, man. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Blogs & Resources You Shouldn\u2019t Miss<\/h2>\n
A LOT happened in the WordPress world in 2024. Martin Dubovic over at Themeisle recaps it well in this post<\/a>. | The 2024 WP Awards have been well, awarded\u2026 and you can check out the full results here<\/a>. | Stefana offers some smart advice on the art and strategy of building a community<\/a>. | \u201cSheep are not like ideas.\u201d Seth Godin muses on the magic of the commons<\/a>. | Love the free tools Meta Box offers for custom fields and dynamic content? Now there\u2019s a Lite version<\/a>. | On this episode of the Seriously, Bud? Podcast<\/a>, Bud Kraus has a fascinating conversation with Anna Hurko from Kherson, Ukraine about running Crocoblock while trying to stay safe during the war. | Karol Krol figured out a FREE way to export all your WordPress posts to Google Sheets<\/a>\u2026 automatically. Say whaaat? Now that\u2019s clever.<\/p>\n
Coffee Break Distractions<\/h2>\n
The viral dress will turn 10 this year?! Find out where your own personal blue-black\/white-gold threshold lies.<\/a><\/p>\n
In this surprising hard challenge, you\u2019ve gotta guess which clickbait headline got the most clicks. You won\u2019t believe #3!<\/a><\/p>\n
Oohh this little song maker gadget is so fun\u2026 could waste a LOT of time on this one.<\/a><\/p>\n
Or you could play the simple but addictive old-school Minesweeper.<\/a><\/p>\n
- Over 41% of that traffic came from mobile devices. Plus, there are nearly 100 countries where mobile traffic is the majority! For example, over 77% came from mobile devices in Syria, Cuba and Sudan. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- Release Candidate 1<\/strong>: March 25, 2025<\/li>\n
- Triage<\/strong>: Jb Audras<\/a><\/li>\n
- A great article by Vanessa Preast: \u201cDigital Accessibility Myth #1: Accessibility Kills Creativity<\/a>\u201d<\/li>\n
- This recent episode<\/a> of the WP Tavern Jukebox podcast featuring accessibility consultant Elena Brescacin is a very insightful listen.<\/li>\n