WordPress is an open source project, meaning anyone can contribute to the software, regardless of skill level. You probably first think of writing code, but it goes beyond that: whether you’re submitting patches, translating content, or organizing events, your contributions matter and are essential to the ongoing success of the WordPress project. 

This collective effort ensures WordPress remains accessible, secure, and innovative. Plus, it’s a chance to work alongside passionate individuals who share a love for WordPress and the open web.

When you contribute, you not only get that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with giving back, but you also get a virtual badge on your WordPress.org profile. Today’s post is going to explore the ins and outs of these meaningful additions to your WordPress C.V.  

What are WordPress.org profile badges?

In the WordPress community, badges aren’t just for scouts—they’re symbols of contributors’ dedication to the power of the open web and professional achievement. No matter your role in the WordPress ecosystem, profile badges highlight your contributions to the open source project that powers over 40% of the web.

If you’ve been part of the WordPress open source project in any capacity, you have a WordPress.org profile that looks something like this (you can find Daniel’s, which is pictured below, here: https://profiles.wordpress.org/danielbachhuber): 

Note: this is your WordPress.org profile, not your WordPress.com profile. 

What may be different about your own profile are all those cool badges—or lack thereof. If you don’t have (m)any, you’re probably thinking, “Those are cool! How do I get those?” 

Think of these badges as your WordPress resume. They are visual markers that help showcase your contributions to the core WordPress project. As you can see, these badges appear on your WordPress.org profile, giving others a glimpse into your involvement and expertise.

Badges are earned for a number of contribution types—in fact, there are 30 different badges you can show off. Whether you’re writing code, answering questions in the forums, helping translate WordPress into other languages, or organizing meetups and WordCamps, there’s a badge for nearly every type of contribution.

Beyond just being a fun visual, though, profile badges are a way to build your reputation within the WordPress ecosystem and signal to others that you’re an engaged, knowledgeable, and reliable member of the community.

Why badges matter 

Profile badges are more than just digital stickers—they come with a few tangible benefits: 

Get recognized for your efforts: Whether you’re a plugin developer or an accessibility contributor, badges are a public way of being recognized for your hard work. It’s a way for the community to say, “Thank you!” 

Build credibility: If your career is related to WordPress, your badges are a symbol of your expertise and commitment. Potential clients or hiring managers can see your dedication to the platform, which can set you apart from other providers or job candidates.

Increase your networking opportunities: Badges can also serve as a way to connect with others who share similar interests. If you’re active in the WordPress community, your badges show that you’re invested, making it easier to forge connections with others who are just as passionate.

Badges are a reflection of your journey within the WordPress community.

All the possible WordPress.org profile badges. 

How to earn WordPress.org profile badges

Earning WordPress badges is all about getting involved. All you need to do is create your profile (if you haven’t already) and start contributing. Here’s a breakdown of some common badges and how you can earn them:

1. Core Contributor

The Core Contributor badge is awarded to those who contribute directly to WordPress Core. This can include submitting code patches, testing new features, or reporting bugs during development cycles.

To earn this badge, you don’t have to be a coding wizard—there are plenty of ways to contribute to WordPress core, even if you’re just getting started with development. Testing, providing feedback, and reporting bugs are all valuable contributions that can help you earn this badge.

2. Meetup Organizer

If you’re passionate about building local WordPress communities, organizing a meetup is a great way to get involved. To earn this badge, you’ll need to officially register your meetup group through WordPress.org and organize regular events. It’s a fantastic way to contribute to the community and make connections with fellow WordPressers in your area. 

Don’t forget about WordPress.com’s free hosting offer for any local meetup website. 

3. Accessibility

This badge is awarded to contributors who help ensure that WordPress remains inclusive and usable for everyone. Work in this area includes testing themes and plugins for accessibility compliance, contributing code that improves accessibility features, and helping write documentation and best practices. Your efforts here make WordPress more user-friendly for all. By working towards this badge, you’re playing a crucial role in making the web a more accessible place, one improvement at a time. 

4. Polyglots (Translation) 

WordPress is a global platform, and the Polyglots team is responsible for translating it into hundreds of languages. If you’re multilingual, contributing to translations is an incredibly valuable way to give back to the community.

To earn this badge, you can join the Polyglots team and start translating WordPress Core, themes, and plugins into your native language. Every contribution counts, whether it’s a single string or an entire project.

5. Support 

The WordPress support forums are a lifeline for users around the world, and those who actively help others solve their WordPress problems can earn the Support badge. Whether you’re answering questions, providing advice, or sharing your knowledge, this badge is for those who make the forums a valuable resource.

Earning this badge is simple: Get involved in the support forums and help other users navigate their WordPress questions.

This is just a sampling of what’s available. Remember, there are 30 total badges to earn! 

Show your commitment to the WordPress community 

While digital trophies are fun and all, WordPress.org profile badges are more than that—they’re a visual and visible reflection of your commitment to the WordPress community and open source project. No matter the type of contribution you’ve made, every badge tells a story of how you have helped make WordPress what it is today. 

Whether you have one badge or all thirty, every contribution pathway is meaningful. Make it your own and go deep, go wide, or do both in contributing to this one-of-a-kind project and community.

No matter your skill level, there’s always more to do in this grand quest of democratizing publishing for the entire world. Get involved, make a difference, and show off your badges with pride. 

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Your online presence is paramount to the success and well-being of your future self. Whether it’s for sharing your latest creative project, building an impressive portfolio, or simply expressing your ideas, owning a personal website gives you the power to control your online identity. It’s a space where you can showcase your work, share your story, and set yourself apart in a sea of digital noise.

A simple website can, in fact, change the world. 

You are the future of the web 

At WordPress.com, we know that students are at the forefront of driving online culture. Michael Dell founded Dell while he was a student at the University of Texas. Google came to life when Larry and Sergey were at Stanford. Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he started Facebook. We could keep going. 

To kickstart your own world-changing ideas, we want to give you a free website. 

Starting this week, university students can get a free Premium WordPress.com website for one year. We’re offering this opportunity to the first 1,000 students who sign up.

Investing in yourself—here’s what you get with a WordPress.com premium plan  

A website is more than a tool. It’s an investment in your future. As the job market becomes increasingly competitive, having an online space where you can display your work, write about your passions, and connect with like-minded people is invaluable. From resumes to portfolios to blogs, your WordPress.com site will grow as you do.

Here’s what’s included when you take advantage of this free website offer: 

Free custom domain name for the first year: Choose a personalized domain that reflects your identity.

Premium themes: Kickstart your site with professionally designed, fully customizable templates.

13 GB of storage: Plenty of room to host your photos, videos, and other media, with ownership that’s entirely yours.

SSL certificate: Your site is secure and protected by industry-standard encryption.

Ad-free experience: Build and manage your site without ads distracting your visitors.

No matter what you’re creating, WordPress.com’s Premium plan gives you all the tools you need to succeed.

How to secure your free website 

Here’s how you can grab this amazing deal:

Submit the interest form ASAP: Head over to our campaign landing page and fill out the form with your details. Be quick—only the first 1,000 students will get the free site!

Verify your student status: After you’ve submitted the form, you’ll receive an email asking you to verify your student status through VerifyPass. This step ensures that our offer goes to real students.

Claim your free website: Once your student status is verified, you’ll receive a unique coupon code that allows you to create a new Premium plan website for free.

Build your site: Choose your domain, select a theme, and start building! 

This offer is perfect for students looking to stand out in their personal and professional journeys. Don’t miss out on this chance to create a space that’s truly your own.

Get started right away  

Having your own website is a game-changer in an online world increasingly controlled by social media algorithms. You’ll stand out by breaking the mold and announcing yourself as an individual, unmoved by the platform of the moment. 

WordPress.com is here to help you take that leap.

Take control of your digital identity. Sign up now and claim your free website while spots are still open!

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Since we launched the Automattic for Agencies program earlier this summer, we’ve helped agencies save thousands of dollars and countless developer hours.

Today, we’re making it easier than ever for agencies to connect with potential clients by presenting the new WordPress.com Partner Directory. This directory lists top-tier agencies for our customers who are looking for a partner for their web development projects.

If your agency’s growth is top of mind, there’s no better time to join Automattic for Agencies. In addition to saving time and money, your company could be eligible for a listing in our official partner directory, paving the way for more qualified leads and, ultimately, happy clients.

Get your agency in front of eager customers 

When someone needs a professional website, it can be hard to find the right agency to work with. Sifting through search engine results and going through credentials takes a lot of time and energy, which can leave them exhausted before they even get to your digital door. With the launch of the partner directory, we’re making it easier for consumers to find and connect with vetted, talented agencies—like yours.

When you apply to the agency directory, your application will be reviewed to assess critical areas like security, performance, and adherence to different business requirements. Accepted agencies can showcase their profile across the Woo, Jetpack, and Pressable brand directories via a single listing.

Visit our knowledge base for information about detailed application steps and criteria for inclusion as well as agency tiering and benefits.

Join Automattic for Agencies today

In addition to our curated directory, the Automattic for Agencies program brings together powerful hosting and a professional suite of plugins and tools in a flexible platform that allows your team to focus on building beautiful and functional websites.

At its core, Automattic for Agencies allows for the bulk purchasing and reselling of WordPress.com hosting plans (along with WooCommerce and Jetpack plugins). Our platform also equips you with direct referrals and invoicing, license management, and monitoring tools to assess security and performance needs across all your sites.

As an added bonus, Automattic for Agencies gives your agency access to volume discounts for your clients. Your first WordPress.com site starts at $30 per month; but with ten or more sites, the price drops to just $10 per site, per month. (All WordPress.com sites purchased through the agency program are on our powerful Business plan.)

Those savings coupled with our referral incentives make Automattic for Agencies a potent combination for growing your agency’s offerings and profitability.

Get started today and connect with new clients

Ultimately, our goal is to funnel more business your way, so that you can keep doing what you do best.

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You created your website for a reason. Whether it’s showing off your art, passing on family recipes, or selling boutique high-performance yo-yos. (That may or may not be Doc Pop’s example.) You created your website to reach an audience and to communicate directly with that audience.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was an easier way for you to connect with them and make it easier for them to follow you and engage with your content online? In this final episode of the Fediverse Files, ‪Doc Pop walks you through how to connect your WordPress site to the Fediverse using ActivityPub.

Federate your website today and get 25% off a WordPress.com Business or Commerce hosting plan by using coupon code federate25—or click below:

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When I stepped in to run WordPress.com while Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg was on sabbatical, my mission was to make WordPress.com the best and fastest host for WordPress developers and agencies. We cheekily called this initiative “Developers, Developers, Developers,” a reference to a certain point in tech history (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Since then, we’ve shipped a number of developer-focused features like GitHub deployments, a full hosting dashboard, and Studio, an open source local development environment. It’s been awesome to see the feedback rolling in:

WordPress.com has been crucial to my agency’s growth. Its intuitive UI allows me to quickly create sleek, functional websites for my clients, and their reliable hosting and support enable me to rest easy, knowing my sites are in good hands. —Brian Lalli, President @ moonrooster.com

WordPress.com really stands out with its exceptional performance and strong security. It’s a versatile platform that’s great for users at any skill level, and their support team is always incredibly helpful. For managed sites, we definitely think WordPress.com is the way to go. —Sonia Gaballa, Partner @ nudge.design

We aimed to provide clients with a reliable hosting service we could endorse without hesitation, ultimately resulting in satisfied clients. We found that service with WordPress.com. —Ajit Bohra, Founder @ lubus.in

As we round the corner into the final quarter of 2024, I’d like to offer a sneak peek into three themes guiding our work: performance, augmentation, and workflows. We hope you’re just as excited about them as we are, and we welcome you to join us in the journey by testing and providing feedback.

Answers for the age-old question: “Why is my site slow?”

WordPress sites should be fast, and it’s not always an easy thing.

When writing custom code, incorporating third-party libraries, or inheriting an existing site, it can be difficult to track down what’s causing poor performance and low scores. Is it a certain plugin, large photo sizes, slow code, or a combination of the three?

Our upcoming speed test tool innovates upon existing approaches to offer a set of performance recommendations tailored to your unique WordPress site. It will be totally free to use, and you’ll be able to sign up for regular updates. These notifications will come in handy as you change plugins, properly size photos, and optimize code because you’ll be alerted if anything changes unexpectedly.

In the not-so-distant future, the speed test tool will also be directly integrated into your WordPress.com dashboard. You’ll be able to see your performance across all of your sites, and better understand correlations between site changes and performance.

Interested in a free site performance consultation? Connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter / X and I’d be happy to give you a demo!

Giving developers cybernetic powers

Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming all types of knowledge work. Was that sentence written by me or ChatGPT? You’ll never know!

At WordPress.com, we think of LLMs as a powerful way to augment developers’ work and give them superhuman-like powers. They’re great at doing things for people—writing blog post outlines, generating code, and creating images—but we think they’re also great for teaching and educating. 

As one practical example, Studio is getting an AI assistant. The Studio Assistant is trained on WordPress-specific documentation and has access to a bunch of context about your site. When you ask it for help, like “update all my plugins using WP-CLI,” it will put together an answer based on your site specs as well as provide an explanation for the answer. 

Download Studio for free today, connect your WordPress.com account (free or paid), and hit me up on on LinkedIn or Twitter / X to get a sneak peek!

Speeding up your daily grind

When you’re developing on an open source platform like WordPress, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of different tools and workflows you can use to develop and ship websites. We’re focused on fostering quick and easy end-to-end workflows that help you deliver results that your clients love.

For example, you can now easily import sites into or export sites out of Studio. This is our first step towards a full, one-click WordPress.com syncing mechanism. Site cloning and a GitHub integration are also on our radar.

You also may have caught my tweet yesterday about our new Create Content Model prototype, which allows anyone to define custom post types and fields natively in the Block Editor.

“GAME CHANGING!” and “Incredible!” were two of the dozens of positive reactions. We hope that our prototype spurs productive conversations within the core community.

We’re also making it easier for you to make money. For example, through our Automattic for Agencies program, freelancers and agencies can create a custom cart with a hosting plan and/or plugins, and then send the link to the client to check out. No need to worry about handling client credit card information or billing clients separately—it’s all done within a slick, easy-to-use interface.

What do you want to see next?

This is just a quick preview of some of the big, impactful improvements you’ll be able to use soon as someone who hosts WordPress sites on WordPress.com. We’d love to know what other pain points you’d like to see us solve or features you’d like us to build! Either:

Leave a comment below.

Come see us at the WordPress.com booth at WordCamp US next week.

Connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter/X.

Original illustrations from David Neal (aka Reverent Geek). Come get a free avatar from him at the WordPress.com booth at WCUS next week!

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John Kostak has been building websites for longer than most social media networks have even been around. So splashy features don’t interest him much—he’s far more into performance, reliability, and compatibility. Which is why he and his company, Web Development USA, have been using WordPress.com from the start. 

In this fun Q&A, John shares more about his WordPress journey, what matters most to him as a developer, and a few of his favorite sites (in spite of the fact that it was like making him pick his favorite child). Note: The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

If John’s love for WordPress.com has you reconsidering your current hosting environment, you can learn more about our specs and get started at WordPress.com/hosting. 

Jeremy: How long have you been using WordPress and WordPress.com?

John: I have been building websites for about 15 or 16 years and started in a corporate environment for a large company. We never had an internal digital team and we basically created our own digital agency within this big corporate company. And that was pretty innovative back then. 

Then out of that, I spun off and started Web Development USA. That began in 2015, and so next year will be our 10th year, which is crazy to think about. But it went quickly because we really do enjoy this. And we look for people who find this to be a passion, as we do. 

Jeremy: Have you been using WordPress.com the entire time?

John: Yes we have. We started doing some testing with SiteGround and Elementor hosting, but we still like WordPress.com the best. You know you can go through a McDonald’s three miles away or 10,000 miles away on the other side of the planet and your lunch is going to be reasonably what you expect. That’s what WordPress.com feels like with its consistency and the familiarity of the UI and getting around. 

Jeremy: What do you like most about WordPress.com? Is it about ease of use on your side as a builder? Convenience for the customer? Both?

John: Resiliency. With Jetpack at the core and all the updates that it does, we just don’t have that much of a risk of things exploding, especially when we bring contractors in and out. We can always fall back to a previous state, and we have an exact record of it. We can get into PHP code. We can get into the very, very back end if we want. We can really be dangerous if we want, without being too afraid of it. 

Overall, it is certainly the all-around performance, security, and cadence that you use for backing up sites. 

Jeremy: What are some of your favorite features when building sites on WordPress? Do you have go-to themes, blocks, plugins, etc.?

John: Well, it’s changed over the years. We used to use standard old-school wireframe and theme templates that were very basic. And then we went into more “custom designer” mode, I would say, with templates and flashy designs. We graduated from Walmart t-shirts to Gucci t-shirts. And, you know, we enjoyed that for a while. 

Now we’re going back to robust wireframes and doing more from scratch. What’s more important now is really the entire stack, including performance and compatibility. You know, we just don’t have time to troubleshoot when we have some whizzy feature on the site. We don’t have time to go in and look for why the thing is down. So, we are sort of simplifying certain things and then standardizing on a certain stack.

Jeremy: What excites you about the future of WordPress.com? Are there any new features you’re especially excited to try out and use?

John: Honestly, we just don’t have time to get into a lot of that. We don’t look much to experimental features or anything like that. We’re trusting that by the time the feature or tool makes its way into being a standard of WordPress, it will be tried and true. We’re not looking for early adopter types of things anymore. 

The reality is that our value add is more about custom coding for integrations—maybe for a particular reservation system that has to shake hands and stay for a while on the site before it goes out to a third-party point of sale. It takes some custom coding there. That’s where our focus has really been—managed services and then a lot more programming. We’ve been onboarding more programmers in the last 18 months than we did the first eight years of the company.

Jeremy: Do you have a few favorite client sites that you can share?

John: Well, Jeremy, it’s like asking you who’s your favorite child. 

Jeremy: Depending on the week, I can give you a pretty good answer.

John: Yeah, that’s a good point! Sure, I have a few:

TuckMusic.com

appalachian-air.com

kdmconsults.com

Get started at WordPress.com today 

Even though WordPress.com provides the freedom and tools to create stunningly beautiful and innovative websites, that’s not why developers choose us. Folks like John Kostak rely on WordPress.com because we have the most performant, secure, and compatible infrastructure out there. If you made it this far, you already know that you don’t have to take our word for it. 

Learn more about our top-notch hosting and get started: 

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Since moving PostSecret to WordPress.com in 2013, Frank Warren’s iconic platform has empowered millions to share their secrets in a safe place. In the last ten years, that simple mission has propelled PostSecret to become one of the most highly trafficked ad-free blogs on the planet. In this video, Frank dives into the origins of his project and how Automattic’s tools help bring the mission to life.

Learn more about PostSecret and get an exclusive coupon when you click below:

Or, apply coupon code PostSecret15 at checkout for 15% off any plan.

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Dika Fei, like most founders, had a couple ideas that failed before hitting just the right note when he started his web development company, Jelly Pixel Studio. With a team of seven, Jelly Pixel Studio specializes in crafting unique and illustrative websites for a variety of clients worldwide. 

I had the chance to talk with Dika about why he loves WordPress.com, a few of his favorite tools, and examples of projects he’s most proud of. 

If Dika’s high praise convinces you to give WordPress.com another look, you can learn more about our specs and get started at WordPress.com/hosting. 

1. How long have you been working with WordPress and WordPress.com?

I’ve been working with WordPress for about 10 years now. When I first started, it was a bit like jumping into a lake and hoping there were no crocodiles! Back then, it wasn’t as obvious which CMS to choose. Joomla and Drupal were still pretty big, and it wasn’t clear that WordPress would be the best option. But we chose WordPress because it seemed more straightforward, and I’m so glad we made that decision. It was the right one. 

2. What do you like most about using WordPress.com for your clients?

If I knew nothing about it, I’d say WordPress.com works like magic! The uptime of websites on WordPress.com is often 100%, which really surprised me, especially compared to other hosting servers. It’s incredibly stable and scalable at a price point that’s hard to beat. 

Jelly Pixel is also part of Automattic for Agencies, and it’s impressive how the system scales, like running 10 CPUs that can go up to 100 when needed.

It’s a true “set it and forget it” experience in the WordPress industry. Let me know where you get your magic pixie dust from! 

3. What are your favorite tools or themes to use in your projects?

I love using GeneratePress and Advanced Custom Fields (ACF). 

GeneratePress is a lightweight theme that supports different approaches to web development, including full site editing. It’s a great starter theme for developers. 

Advanced Custom Fields is a well-known plugin, and I particularly appreciate how it now allows you to create Gutenberg blocks easily, handling the backend UI for you.

4. What recent WordPress features or updates are you excited about?

I’m really excited about the Interactivity API enabling more dynamic and interactive site features, akin to what we see with React. It’s still in its early days, but I think we’ll see more adoption soon.

5. What’s most important to you when building a WordPress site?

Stability and security are my top priorities. One of the biggest factors there is having a secure hosting environment. Many security issues come from improperly configured hosting, but with WordPress.com, you don’t have to worry about that. The secure server setup handles every vulnerability for you, which is a huge relief.

6. Can you share a few of your favorite client sites? Why do they stand out to you?

Ambient Lounge Japan, for its amazing product customization feature.

Workprint LA, for its overall design.

CNIB Access Labs, as a fully accessible and beautifully designed site. 

Get started at WordPress.com today

Beyond our customization options and extensability, what keeps Dika Fei and Jelly Pixel Studio using WordPress.com are our rock-solid security and performance specs. Those foundational aspects of developing and hosting sites can get overlooked amidst glitzy marketing campaigns. If you’re as impressed with our uptime as Dika, get started building today: 

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The WordPress.com team is always working on new design ideas to bring your website to life. Check out the latest themes in our library, including great options for dog lovers, engaged couples, and interior design aficionados.

Bark

Bark is a pawsitively perfect theme for pet care pros, striking the perfect balance between professional and playful. With sections tailored to showcase your services, testimonials, and even a map of your service areas, Bark helps make your business the leader of the pack. The typography adds a touch of modern charm, while the warm color palette and rounded corners brings comfort to every page. And with four color schemes available, Bark has all the tricks to make your site fetch some serious attention.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Vows

Vows is the perfect theme for engaged couples who want to tie everything together in style. Inspired by the timeless elegance of wedding stationery and photography, Vows acts as a sleek, all-in-one link hub, making it easy to coordinate your big day. From centralizing information to sharing event details and visual themes, this theme does it all with grace. With sophisticated font pairings and style variations, Vows sets the perfect tone for your celebration.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Cottage

Cottage is the perfect theme for anyone who wants to share the warmth and charm of their home or interior design sensibilities with the world. Inspired by the cottagecore aesthetic, this theme wraps your content in an earthy, cozy color palette that feels like a warm cup of tea on a rainy day. With a stunning gallery page to showcase your space and a delightful background pattern that adds a touch of whimsy, this will be your go-to design for all things homey and beautiful. Whether you’re blogging about decor or sharing your latest design inspiration, Cottage makes your site feel like home.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Hola

Hola was built for bloggers and newsletter creators who want their words to shine. A sleek variation of the Hey theme, Hola keeps it simple with a text-forward design that highlights your latest posts in a clean, straightforward layout. The striking header is created by adding a black-and-white image to a Cover Block with a preset duotone—an effect also applied to featured images, avatars, and the site logo.

The theme’s expanded color palette and four unique style variations bring a bit of personality to the mix, whether you’re vibing with cool blues, the vibrant magenta, or earthy tones. No matter your aesthetic, Hola offers a minimalist canvas with just the right pop of flair.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

To install any of the above themes, click the name of the theme you like, which brings you right to the installation page. Then 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 available to use at no extra charge for customers on the Personal plan or above. Partner themes are third-party products that can be purchased for $99/year each on the Business plan and above.

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 you can click below:

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Remember when commenting on blogs and interacting with other commenters was one of the core pieces of enjoying the web? Matthias Pfefferle is making commenting cool again with ActivityPub for WordPress, a plugin that seamlessly connects your WordPress website to the fediverse. 

In this interview, Doc Pop and Matthias talk about fediverse applications that apply beyond social media—and where the ActivityPub protocol can go in the future. 

Will you be one of those people? Federate your website today and get 25% off a WordPress.com Business or Commerce hosting plan by using coupon code federate25—or click below:

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We’re back with Part 2 of our “Building Studio in Public” series! Today, we’re diving into the challenges we faced while optimizing Studio’s performance. This post will be especially valuable if you’re developing an Electron app and dealing with performance issues or if you’re simply curious about how the Studio app functions behind the scenes.

If you’re following the series, be sure to check out our first post: Using WordPress Components and Tailwind CSS in our Local Development App.

As a reminder, Studio is our free, open source local development app. It’s based on Electron (the focus of today’s post!) and is currently available for Mac and Windows.

Overcoming the challenges of running local development sites

Running a local development site can be complex, often requiring the setup of multiple tools. A typical approach involves using multi-container applications like Docker and Docker Compose in addition to setting up a web server with a WordPress installation and a MySQL database. This process can become even more challenging when managing multiple sites simultaneously.

Studio was designed to simplify this process, allowing users to set up sites quickly without any prior configuration. This capability is powered primarily by the WordPress Playground project, which enables anyone to run a fully functional WordPress site within a browser or Node.js environment. 

For each site created with Studio, we run a basic web server using ExpressJS to handle web requests and use WordPress Playground to process them.

Initially, this was implemented in the Electron-based Studio app without noticeable performance issues.

Keeping the main process lightweight

As we delved into these performance issues, we discovered that running sites within Electron’s main process was the primary cause of the slowdown. Processing web requests and executing the associated PHP code for WordPress in the main process added extra load, which negatively impacted other operations, aka that UI slowness we were seeing.

Electron’s documentation is incredibly valuable for addressing performance issues, particularly those related to blocking the main process. It was clear that maintaining a lightweight main process is crucial, and avoiding heavy or blocking operations in this context is essential. However, this realization presented a new challenge: how do we detach the running sites from the main process?

Spawning dedicated processes

To tackle the performance issues, we adopted the tried-and-true strategy of “divide and conquer.” 

The idea was to run Studio’s sites in dedicated processes, separate from the main one. Since Electron is built on Node.js, spawning child processes seemed like a plausible solution. However, Electron also offers a utilityProcess utility, which behaves similarly to Node’s child processes, but operating at the browser level and aligning more closely with Electron’s app model.

While this approach promised to alleviate the load on the main process, it also introduced additional complexity. We had to manage these new processes and handle communication between the main and dedicated processes via messages. Additionally, we encountered challenges related to the build configuration and using Webpack for building the application.

Below is a full example of implementing this approach (click to expand each example to see the full code):

Dedicated Process Manager (process.js):

Dedicated Process Logic (process-child.js):

Run example (main.js):

Note: The code above has been adapted for use in a generic example Electron project. You can test it using Electron Fiddle.

Build configuration and Webpack

Our project build setup relies on Forge and Webpack. Implementing dedicated processes introduced extra complexity, as we initially bundled all the code into a single file. 

However, since dedicated processes require their code to run in isolation from the main process, we needed to separate the bundles. After adjusting the Webpack configuration, we successfully set it up to produce the necessary files.

Below is an example of the changes we applied (click to expand each example to see the full code):

Before:

After:

Note: The code above is directly from Studio, written in TypeScript.

Bonus tip: avoid blocking file system operations

We also noticed performance issues when using synchronous file system operations when building Studio, specifically when using the synchronous versions of functions, which can block the main process. To prevent this, it’s best to use the promise-based or callback versions of these functions.

For example, instead of using:

Use:

Ready to build?

If this information has piqued your interest, or if you’re developing WordPress sites, start leveraging the power of Studio today. It’s free, it’s open source, and it seamlessly integrates into your development workflow.

After downloading Studio, connect it to your WordPress.com account (free or paid) to unlock features like Demo Sites.

Want to contribute to Studio? Here are some GitHub issues you can dive into:

php_curl missing and curl_exec deactivated

Total and free size of filesystem reported in sites doesn’t match actual values 

Permission issues using a theme that uses composer
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If your WordPress website is hosted somewhere other than WordPress.com, we’d love for you to ask one simple question: Why? 

Maybe you started there because of a stellar pricing deal on hosting and just stayed put for years. Maybe their offering was cutting-edge at one time, but now it seems outdated. Are all those paid add-ons starting to look a little bloated? 

The WordPress.com of 2024 is vastly reimagined from what you may have encountered a couple of years ago. Our SEO tools, security features, unlimited bandwidth, and developer tools are world-class and built right in at no extra cost. 

And for a limited time, we’ll move your existing WordPress site from any host to WordPress.com for free. 

Let us do the work for you. We’re here to help and ensure that you’re getting the very best WordPress experience out of the box. 

How it works

The migration process takes only a few minutes, with no downtime involved. (Read those last four words again, because they’re very important!) Once your site is migrated, you’ll connect the domain and your site will be ready to go. Here’s how it works:

Head to WordPress.com/move and enter the URL of the WordPress site to migrate.

Select the option to create a new site, or select the existing WordPress.com site where you’ll move the old site to. 

Select “Migrate site” to move all of your site’s content, themes, plugins, users, and customizations. (This selection requires our Business plan. More on that below.)

Select “Do it for me” to get our team to review and handle your migration for you. Again, this option is 100% free for a limited time. 

Why move to WordPress.com?

Migrating to WordPress.com enhances your entire online presence with better security, improved performance, unlimited visitors and bandwidth, and reliable support. Here are some of the benefits:

Rock solid reliability: With a 99.999% uptime guarantee, your site will always be available, fostering more trust, sales, and peace of mind.

Blazing fast performance: Our 28+ location CDN ensures your site loads at lightning speed, leading to happier users and higher conversion rates. Plus, WordPress.com is the top WordPress hosting provider per Google’s Core Web Vitals.

Top-tier security: Our advanced protection measures keep your site safe from hacks and DDoS attacks, protecting both your business and your customers.

Always up-to-date: You’ll always have the latest WordPress, PHP, and plugins, complete with new features and security updates.

Complete control and customization: Use our extensive library of themes and design customization options to create a site that truly reflects your brand.

Scalability and support: Ready to grow? We’ve got your back with advanced scaling to handle traffic spikes at no added cost. Plus, our managed hosting means we take care of updates and maintenance, allowing you to focus on what you love.

Get all of this and more by choosing the hosting platform built from the ground up by WordPress Core’s biggest contributors: WordPress.com.

The best place to WordPress

Our Business plan supercharges your WordPress website with plugins, third-party (or custom) themes, and everything else you need to host a professional website:

Plugins: Access over 50,000 plugins or upload/build your own.

Third-party themes: Upload any WordPress theme or custom design.

SEO tools: Access advanced SEO options and install plugins like Yoast Premium.

Custom code: Add custom JavaScript, iframe, and header code for services like Google Adsense and Mailchimp.

Backups: Ensure site safety with daily backups and easy one-click restorations.

Uninterrupted performance: Improve user experience and load times with our multi-data center support, real-time replication, and global caching.

Enhanced security: Use Jetpack Scan for malware and security threats.

Advanced developer features: Use the development tools you know, love, and rely on like staging sites, WP-CLI, GitHub deployments, SFTP/SSH, database access, PHP version switching, and more.

How do those features translate to a better experience for you? Here’s what Michael P. had to say about the experience of migrating to WordPress.com::

“After migrating to WordPress.com our site is faster, easier to use, more secure, and technical support is nearly instant. The level of competency and understanding is a far cry from GoDaddy’s WordPress offering. It was a relief to work with a company that really knows how to manage WordPress!”

Want to migrate three (or more) sites?

For those of you who are managing multiple sites for others, our new Automattic for Agencies program may be a good fit for you. 

Through Automattic for Agencies, you can access agency pricing, referral earnings, premier support, and cutting‑edge tooling like WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, and more. Joining is free, and signing up today will grant you early access and provide you the opportunity to shape the program.

Make the move

Being part of Automattic, the primary driver of the WordPress project, we are a uniquely positioned host to the core software development. Our commitment to the open-source community is unparalleled, with substantial engineering time and expertise dedicated to enhancing WordPress. As a WordPress.com customer, you directly benefit from this relationship through exceptional reliability, early access to innovative features, and support from the most skilled systems team in the industry.

Move your site to WordPress.com today, for free.

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Automattic recently welcomed Beeper, an all-in-one messaging app, to our umbrella of life-improving apps. (If you haven’t yet, check out Day One, Pocket Casts, and Tumblr, too!)  

Since Beeper joined a company best known for its world-class WordPress hosting and plugin solutions, we knew our special projects crew would love creating a shiny new blog for the messaging team. 

With blog.beeper.com, our team showed off what can be quickly done with a minimalist framework. In this post, we’ll give you a short tour of the new site, including some design inspiration as well as before and after shots. 

Take a look at Beeper’s new blog and remember to download the app today on iOS, Android, or desktop. 

Maintaining Beeper’s clean and colorful aesthetic

Beeper’s design sensibility has always been fun and playful, featuring a blue-purple color palette, simple icons, and friendly imagery and messaging. We knew we didn’t need to reinvent the wheel on that front, so we maintained the overall aesthetic while giving the new blog a clean background that’s ideal for reading and absorbing content. The Beeper homepage, in comparison, offers a colorful, sparkly background that’s perfect for immediately drawing in visitors. 

Rather than complicate the design with a noisy layout, the team quickly decided that a one-column, minimalist structure using the popular Livro theme would be best for this project. The only custom flourish we’ve added is a simplified “Featured” section that the Beeper team controls and edits.     

Breaking free of Substack’s constraints  

Beeper’s old blog at Substack is shown on the left, and at WordPress.com on the right. The first iteration of Beeper’s new blog didn’t include the featured section at the top. With WordPress, a design can always be reimagined and improved, even after launch day.

We transferred Beeper’s 7,000+ subscribers and all their archived content from Substack to WordPress.com. Our system beautifully handled those moving pieces and even ensured that all the links worked properly at their new home. 

Moving Beeper off of Substack and onto WordPress made this project unique for our team. Along the way, we realized some of Substack’s constraints, like styling and layout restrictions, and were glad to be able to move beyond them.

On the design front, for example, Beeper appreciated having more freedom than Substack’s pre-built, busy-looking magazine layout. And while there was some customization available, little details like the “Subscribe” box or even a “Download” button couldn’t be styled with Beeper’s branding aesthetic. These details do a lot to present a distinct and cohesive message. 

While it’s a subjective measure, we’re comfortable in saying the new design just feels better and more authentic to Beeper. 

Start using WordPress.com today 

If you’re impressed by what our team did with Beeper’s blog, consider moving your blog or newsletter to WordPress.com today. With our convenient importer tool, you can click a button, sit back, and dream about just how high your content can fly when not constrained by a platform’s built-in limitations. 

And if you’re curious about using WordPress.com to build sites for your clients, click below to learn more about our world-class hosting and development features:

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In this episode of the Fediverse Files, ‪‪Doc Pop talks with Bart Decrem, the co-creator of Mammoth, an open source Mastodon app for iOS.

Doc and Bart discuss how the walled gardens of modern social media platforms are finally getting some real competition from a better, and more open social web. The rise of the fediverse signals a return to the original promise of the web: that anyone can find a home, their own place on the internet, and connect with whomever they want without getting trapped in a single platform. 

Whether it’s through a newsletter, a podcast, or a publisher’s website, Bart’s goal is to get a million websites and a hundred million people onto the fediverse.

Will you be one of those people? Federate your website today and get 25% off a WordPress.com Business or Commerce hosting plan by using coupon code federate25—or click below:

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In this episode of the Fediverse Files, Doc Pop talks with ActivityPub co-creator Evan Prodromou. ActivityPub is a fediverse technology that’s akin to what RSS is for podcasts and blog feeds; it’s the foundational element that connects platforms and allows them to communicate with each other. 

Doc Pop and Evan discuss the past, present, and future of ActivityPub and the fediverse.

Ready to take the leap? Federate your website today and get 25% off:

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Gravatar, short for Globally Recognized Avatar, is a powerful service from Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. For over two decades, Gravatar has been the driving force behind billions of avatar views across the web. Beyond WordPress, you’ll find Gravatar powering user profiles on platforms like ChatGPT, GitHub, Slack, and many more.

But Gravatar is far more than just a profile pic that follows you around the web. Let’s dive into seven key features that make Gravatar an indispensable tool for WordPress users.

From a WordPress avatar to a profile for everywhere

When Gravatar was first integrated into WordPress way back in 2006, it solved two critical problems:

WordPress lacked native image editing capabilities.

Most servers hosting WordPress sites struggled with image resizing and performance.

Gravatar elegantly addressed these issues while offering users the convenience of uploading their avatar just once for use across multiple sites and blogs. Today, you’ll find Gravatar profiles integrated across the web.

It was, and still is, a win-win!

Put a face to a comment

Gravatar is what provides profile pictures on all the lovely comments on your blog. That simple addition—a photo where there might otherwise be a bland icon—dramatically increases reader engagement. Users with Gravatars are more likely to comment, and their contributions tend to be of higher quality. This can lead to more vibrant discussions on your blog, fostering a sense of community.

Increase engagement with hovercards 

Hovercards are an often-overlooked feature that can also significantly enhance user interaction. When enabled, hovering over an avatar reveals a snapshot of the user’s profile information.

To activate hovercards:

Go to Settings > Discussion in your WordPress dashboard

Look for the “Gravatar Hovercards” option and enable it

Note: If you’re not on a WordPress.com hosted site, you’ll need the Jetpack plugin installed

Get verified 

Gravatar’s Verified Accounts feature lets you link your profile to services and social media platforms like Instagram, GitHub, TikTok, and Threads. This verification process confirms your ownership of these accounts, adding a layer of authenticity to your online presence and making your interactions more trustworthy.

Your link-in-bio solution

Did you know that Gravatar was the original link-in-bio service? Every Gravatar account comes with a free, customizable profile page that’s perfect for sharing:

Your bio and interests

Important links

Social media accounts

Payment options

Contact information

It’s a versatile hub for your online identity, all in one convenient location.

Own your name on the web

Instead of using gravatar.com/username, you can now have a custom web address that truly represents you. This personalized domain isn’t just for vanity; it opens up new possibilities, such as using it as your username on emerging platforms like Bluesky.

To kick off custom domains, we’ve partnered with .link to offer you a free domain for the first year. This limited-time offer lets you personalize your Gravatar profile URL, making it more memorable and shareable.

Here is a video about why you should own your name as a domain and what it can unlock. 

More TLDs and domain options will be available in the months to come.

Innovate with profiles-as-a-service

For developers looking to enhance user experiences, Gravatar’s new REST API offers exciting possibilities:

Enrich customer profiles

Customize onboarding processes

Add delightful touches to user interactions

The best part? It’s completely free to use. 

WordPress site owners, keep an eye out for an upcoming WordPress plugin that will add even more Gravatar integrations to your site.

Get your free domain now

Don’t miss out on these powerful features and our exclusive domain offer. Visit the Gravatar blog to learn how to set up your custom domain and take control of your online identity. 

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At WordPress.com, writing isn’t just a task. It’s how we think. Automattic is a globally distributed company, which means our work is almost always done asynchronously. For us, written communication is oxygen. But that communication is not built around email. Instead we use a homegrown internal blogging tool. Since every piece of our writing lives as a blog post that will stay published and searchable forever, we need to write clearly and succinctly. 

The team at Jetpack AI started wondering if there was a writing tool that could help everyone at Automattic, from right inside the WordPress editor. Rather than search externally, we built one. And today we’re excited to share it with you. Say hello to Write Brief with AI from Jetpack.

Meet Write Brief with AI

Internally, we called this tool Breve—Latin for “brief.” It started as a hack week project and caught on across the entire company. In fact, we saw just how useful and beloved it quickly became and decided to release it into the world. Write Brief with AI is available for free (while in beta) for all WordPress.com plans and users.

What can Write Brief with AI do?

Measure readability. Check how readable your writing is with a simple grade score. Our research shows you should aim for a score of 8-12 for the highest readability. (The lower the number, the better.) The tool calculates your score as you type.

Tell you about long-winded sentences. Long sentences tire readers. Write Brief with AI highlights those examples so you can break them down. You can even ask Jetpack AI to simplify them for you.

Boost your confidence. Writing needs to be strong and clear. This tool highlights words that sound uncertain, like “possibly,” “might,” or “could.” Replace them with more assertive alternatives to make your point confidently. Or, ask Jetpack AI to remove them for you with one click.

Simplify your vocabulary. Complex words can bog down your message. The tool highlights complex words like the ones found in plainlanguage.gov and suggests simpler alternatives, keeping your writing clear and direct. 

Seamless WordPress.com integration

Write Brief with AI works right within the WordPress editor, handling blocks, nested blocks, patterns, and more. It’s an editing tool built to streamline your writing process directly in your familiar workspace. Write, edit, blog, directly from WordPress.

Simply click the Jetpack icon on the top right of your screen, and Write Brief with AI will get to work based on what’s check or unchecked in the sidebar.

We’re just getting started

We’re constantly improving and refining our platform based on your feedback. Write Brief with AI is just one step in our journey to make writing with WordPress even better. We’re excited for you to join us in this new chapter. Try it out in the post or page editor today and let us know what you think. Or click below to learn more. 

For this release, Write Brief with AI is available exclusively in English. We’re working hard to expand language support in future updates.

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You’ve probably seen it on social media and in headlines around the web in the last few years: the fediverse. But what is it, really? A Boba Fett theme park? A Kevin Federline production? Some sort of cheese pun? In this first episode of our new YouTube series, the Fediverse Files, designer, illustrator, and fediverse expert ‪Doc Pop‬ explains exactly what the fediverse is so that you can jump in today to start building community and sharing content.

To kickstart your efforts, we’re giving you 25% off your first year on a Creator or Entrepreneur plan.

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At WordPress.com, our goal is to provide the best tools for WordPress developers and agencies. 

We built Studio for that reason. Our free local WordPress development environment launched a few months ago; it’s based on Electron and is currently available for Mac and Windows. Plus, we have big exciting updates coming for Studio users soon.

One of the unique things about Studio is that it’s an open source tool, and it has been since day one. This directly aligns with the Automattic Creed, the driving force behind what we do at WordPress.com (and all of our other Automattic brands):

I know that Open Source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation.

For this reason, we love building in public. In our new Building Studio in Public series, we want to share some of the learnings and insights we gained from building Studio, and our hope is that some of the lessons can help you build better products.

If you want more in-depth articles about why we chose Electron, why this is an open source project, or any other question you have about Studio, leave a comment below, and we’ll make it happen.

First up in this series, we’ll explore how we decided to use Tailwind CSS to style the WordPress components that make up Studio and why that decision gave us extra flexibility for the future of Studio.

WordPress components everywhere

Components allow developers to create reusable pieces of code that can be composed together to build complex user interfaces. They encourage a modular and declarative approach of building UIs, where each component is responsible for a single piece of functionality or user interface element.

WordPress components are a great example of that. These components allow core and extender developers to create organized, separate, and interconnected parts of the WordPress admin interface. Not only do components make development easier and more streamlined, but they are also predictable and familiar across all WordPress users.

Do not confuse WordPress components with Gutenberg Blocks. While the latter are used to build WordPress frontend websites, the former are designed for building the admin interface of the WordPress site editor. They are React-based, making them versatile and applicable in any WordPress plugin or theme admin interface. They also come in handy for building different apps beyond WordPress; the only requirement is that the project uses React.

WordPress components offer a consistent style and behavior that match the WordPress admin interface out of the box, so using them in other projects outside of the WordPress ecosystem gives a familiar look and feel to the interface and user experience. 

Not only that, the components are accessible and receive constant updates and improvements. They are implemented in JavaScript as React components, which means they can be integrated into any project. Plus, by using WordPress components in Studio, developers can more easily contribute back to this open source project because Studio is using a technology they’re already used to. 

To quickly find the right component and experiment with them, you can use the WordPress Storybook, an open source tool for developing system designs and creating components in isolation. Storybook even gives you sneak peeks and allows you to interact with new components like DataViews, a component intended for future use in managing lists of posts, pages, and media uploads.

Components in Studio

By integrating WordPress components into Studio, we ensure a familiar user experience for WordPress users––you’re building WordPress with a tool that looks and feels like WordPress. 

Most buttons, dropdowns, and menus will be familiar to WordPress users, and because Studio is an open source tool, anyone with Gutenberg experience will find it much easier to understand Studio’s code and contribute if they are interested.

If you’re developing a different application, you might want to adapt the WordPress component styles to fit your design. In the case of Studio, we’ve utilized Tailwind CSS for this purpose.

Tailwind CSS is a popular, utility-first CSS framework that we use to customize the styles of WordPress components using only CSS classes. 

Utilizing the power of WordPress components and Tailwind CSS future-proofs the Studio app; it’s easy to reuse these components for new features and app updates because they’re already imported into the project in a style that suits the app.

If a screen needs a new button, we already have loads of Studio-styled buttons to choose from; we don’t need to design from scratch each time a new button is needed.

Here’s how we used WordPress components and Tailwind CSS to build Studio (and how you can use them for your own projects, too):

Step 1: Set up Tailwind CSS and install WordPress components

After setting up Tailwind in your project, you’ll need to install WordPress components. Simply run the following command:

Step 2: Import WordPress component styles

You’ll need to import WordPress component styles to inject the CSS that is built into the components by default. This speeds up the process of building your project’s interface.

In your main CSS file, import the Gutenberg component styles:

Step 3: Customize Components with Tailwind CSS

Use the className property to apply Tailwind CSS styles. Sometimes, the ! modifier is needed to mark the style as important and override existing WordPress styles.

Take Studio’s Header component, for example:

We’re using:

@wordpress/react-i18n for translations.

@wordpress/icons to display the icons.

The default from @wordpress/components with our own additional styling to ensure that all of Studio’s buttons are consistent with one another.

To use Tailwind CSS in WordPress components, you need to pass in the utility classes to style the elements into the className React prop. Sometimes you’ll need to force an overwrite to the existing WordPress styles, and that’s where you can use the exclamation mark (!).

Step 4: Accessing nested elements for use across your project

With Tailwind CSS, you can use sophisticated selectors to target user interactions and nested elements within a component. This will allow you to dynamically change stylings across your project based on user and app behavior.

For example, in Studio’s Demo Sites area, we change the style of the nested element’s site name and badge to a grey color when the demo site expires.

To dynamically style this component, we use [&_.badge]:text-red, where & means current element and _ means any child element. You can apply specific styles to a direct child element by using the greater-than operator, like this: [&>div]:text-red.

Ready to build?

By leveraging WordPress components and customizing them with Tailwind CSS, you can significantly enhance your development process, providing a seamless and professional user experience. 

This decision allowed us to create an app that looks and feels like the WordPress interface in a way that benefits users and speeds up our development time. That’s a win-win, in my book. 

If you’re building WordPress sites, start developing your WordPress sites locally with the power of Studio today. It’s free, it’s open source, and it will effortlessly fit into your development workflow. 

Once you download Studio: Be sure to connect Studio to your WordPress.com account (free or paid) to access features like Demo Sites.

And if you want to help us build Studio, here are some GitHub issues that you can contribute to right away:

php_curl missing and curl_exec deactivated

Total and free size of filesystem reported in sites doesn’t match actual values 

Permission issues using a theme that uses composer
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