The Future of WordPress

A presentation at WPCampus 2020 Online in July 2020 in by Francesca Marano

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The Future of WordPress

Title slide

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Hello!

My name is Francesca

  • WordPress Community & Partnership Manager SiteGround
  • Release Co-Lead 5.3 and 5.4 WordPress.org

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Release Coordinator

I was the release coordinator of WordPress 5.3 + 5.4

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How do changes happen

Stakeholders and driving forces

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Tentative schedule

Before the end of 2021 there will be at least 6 more released

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Coming up Next

WordPress 5.5 August 11 2020 WordPress 5.6 Mid December 2021

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Security Improvements

Auto updates for plugins and themes: expose the UI of an existing function

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Don't fear the auto-updates

It Can Be Done!

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More security improvemebts

  • Auto-updates for major Core releases
  • Drop PHP 5.6 + Support PHP 8.0
  • Updating jQuery Version shipped with WordPress

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Speed Improvements

Introduction of images lazy-loading

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Why speed matter

Even if you are not an eCommerce

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Accessibility improvements

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The WP Campus Gutenberg Accessibility Audit

Driven by the community

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The results of the audit report

Bad. But also some good news.

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WCAG compliance

For higher education

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SEO Improvements

Native XML Sitemaps

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SEO Improvements

Example of an XML Sitemap

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Wait! There is more

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Gutenberg (WordPress) Phases

  1. The Editor - Completed
  2. Full Site Editing - In the Works
  3. Collaboration
  4. Multilingual

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Gutenberg (WordPress) Phases

  1. The Editor - Completed
  2. Full Site Editing - In the Works
  3. Collaboration
  4. Multilingual

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Full Site Editing

My personal concerns

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Full Site Editing Concerns

Is the timeline doable?

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Full Site Editing Concerns

What will happen to theme shops?

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Full Site Editing Concerns

What does it mean for old themes?

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More questions than answes

But also a lot of resources at work

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Stay in the Loop

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Beyond 2020

A bit unknown but yet so exciting

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Phase 3

Collaboration

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Phase 4

Multilingual Support

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The Future is Bright

But

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WordPress needs us all

To contribute selfishly & generously

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The Cathedral and the bazaar

Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer’s personal itch

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Let’s continue the conversation

Thanks!