WordPress Gutenberg, Contributing and Community

Birgit Olzem:
Hi, welcome back. I’m your host Birgit, and we are here with another “The WordPress Way,” where we dive deep into the heart and soul of WordPress, exploring the cutting edge and the current with the incredible people shaping its future. And I’m very pleased to have Birgit as my guest today since I’m the other Birgit. So, dear Birgit, please let our audience know what’s the fuss about this “the Birgit and the other Birgit,” and tell the audience a bit more about you.

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
Well, Birgit, thank you so much for having me on the show. So my name is Birgit Pauli-Haack. And it’s spelled exactly the same as Birgit, also as a first name. Yeah. And we had both probably a hard time teaching people how to pronounce our name properly. I came to WordPress through a whole different nonprofit organization. They needed a new—it was a nonprofit internet service provider, and they wanted to give other nonprofits a place for their websites. And that was in 1995 or 1998, so very, very early. I’ve been a volunteer with that organization since ’98, and 10 years later, in 2009, I became the president. All of a sudden, I noticed, okay, that content management system that we had is highly outdated. You can only access it with Internet Explorer. So, yeah, how come is that? And so we were looking for a new content management system, and I discovered WordPress after we tested, I dunno, 20 or 25.

Since then, 2009–2010, I’ve been working in WordPress. We also switched our company’s content management system, what we base our websites on, to WordPress. And in 2017, so yeah, big jump forward, I saw in WordCamp Paris the new thing—the new Gutenberg thing, the block editor in its first version, which was highly experimental back then. But I saw the potential. And in January 2018, I founded Gutenberg Times. It was a newsletter where I kind of looked at what the space was doing around the block editor, about React, about JavaScript, and what creativity was sparked with this new thing. It was very interesting to see how all of a sudden there came these new plugin methods and the new way to create content. Gutenberg Times is now in its seventh—or will become its seventh—anniversary. It has always been quite inspiring to me to put a weekend edition together every week, almost every week unless I’m traveling or on vacation.

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
In ’19, we also started a podcast called the Gutenberg Changelog, which is now in its 111th episode. So yeah, that’s what I mostly do. In 2021, there was this whole thing that changed the world for everybody quite a bit, especially online. I got burned out with my company that was, at that time, 18 years old, and I kind of said, okay, maybe I don’t want to do this anymore. I applied for Automattic, which had a position for developer advocate, and that’s what I’m doing now. So they pay me for my time that I spend in the community doing what I think would be helpful for everybody to learn about the new—not so new anymore, right? 2018 was also the year when the block editor made it into WordPress Core. So that’s what I do most of the time. I go to WordCamps, I speak at them, I do MCing if it’s needed, and otherwise, I talk with a lot of people about their work with WordPress. That was a long introduction. I’m sorry.

Birgit Olzem:
No, I love it. And I love always, when we have the occasion to meet each other in person, it is always a pleasure. And I’m still in awe about how you approach this—Gutenberg bringing the block editor and accompanying and writing about the changes, staying on top of the fast and rapid movement this project takes. I sometimes get a bit burned out just by reading the change logs. When the Gutenberg plugin and the editor were getting introduced into Core, I just felt a bit behind. I was doing training in WordPress for clients and small companies, and since the block editor was introduced, I just felt, okay, that is not where it should be at that point. Back then in those days. Nowadays, I’m a total fan. Okay, not a big fan, but I now know how to use it properly. But yeah. How do you stay organized with all the Slack messages, all the GitHub, all the Trac tickets when contributing to WordPress? It feels kind of really overwhelming, especially for someone who might not be familiar with all the terms and information overload. How do you structure your life and your content to stay on top?

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
Yeah, well, I totally get this, and I have that too—the overwhelming feeling and missing things. But you just need to kind of say, okay, what’s important for me? Or what do I find important for the readers, the subscribers, or the listeners? So I start out by keeping on top of the Make blogs that are around Gutenberg. I started in 2020 by maintaining a “Keeping Up with Gutenberg” index page on the Core Handbook, and that’s now in its fourth year. I’m going to switch over to 2025 pretty soon. That helps me to go almost every day or every other day to look at things that are published about Gutenberg. And you can’t only do this on a daily basis. Not everybody has time for that, so that’s why I’m here—so you don’t have to do it. And then I also have, with Andy Fragan together and a lot of communication help from the core contributors, on the Gutenberg Times, you can get a Gutenberg nightly.

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
Not everybody wants to download 2.7 gigabytes of NPM modules just to build a plugin zip file in between normal releases. So I do that, and it’s on Gutenberg Times. It’s called “If you need a zip file from Master or from Trunk, then you can get it.” There’s a link to use it with Playground. That also gives me a daily look at, okay, how much has been added to the Gutenberg plugin or merged. So I’m mostly interested in merged things, merged PRs of course, because they make it into the release. Sometimes, I go into GitHub and look at the insights and skim the list of PRs that were merged in the last two or three days or the last week. It’s more like a triage process.

With the things that I do every day, like working on the Gutenberg nightly and “Keeping Up with Gutenberg,” I at least get the most important things on my radar. Then I have a feed to multiple websites that publish about Gutenberg, and I keep track of YouTube videos. I must say, in the last two years, there have been quite a few changes. The official developer blog and the official WordPress YouTube channel now have more content and more streamlined content. It’s really interesting to see how all that comes together.

In the Gutenberg Changelog, I go through every Gutenberg plugin release to review the enhancements, bug fixes, and sometimes documentation updates. That keeps me up to date with what’s happening.

Birgit Olzem:
That is so interesting, and I’m very thankful for you and others who contribute by sharing summaries of everything that’s happening. It really helps keep track without diving into GitHub and dissecting what’s new or what’s done. When I was part of the release team for WordPress 6.4, I was also in the test team, and we were tasked with the call for testing. We needed to distill everything and pick out what was relevant to create guidelines on how to test new features. I was so overwhelmed by that—even though I’m good at research, with a technical background and understanding, it was still quite a challenge.

How would you say someone interested in contributing to the Gutenberg project or block editor itself should begin? Where should they go first to get involved? Because I think there’s still so much that needs to be done.

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
For those who need to stay up to date without contributing, like agencies or developers, I think the best place is to subscribe to the developer blog or use the RSS feed for the monthly roundup posts. Every month, on the 10th, there’s a “What’s New for Developers” review. This has been happening since February 2023, so it’s almost two years now. It’s focused on developers rather than the user interface, so that’s a great starting point for those who want to stay informed and pick what’s relevant for them.

For contributing, I’d suggest starting with testing. Becoming part of the triage team for Gutenberg is a great way to see what’s coming in, where the bugs are, and what issues need testing. Testing new issues has a high impact because it helps pinpoint problems within the vast codebase. It’s also helpful to test solutions from different angles to ensure reproducibility and get deeper insights into ongoing issues.

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
I know that core contributors also handle these tasks, but they list good first issues and good first reviews in the repository. These are excellent starting points. Issues involve solving or initiating conversations about the best approach to tackle a problem, and the community will help figure it out in the discussions.

If you’re not yet ready to contribute code, you could review other people’s PRs. This requires some skills, such as understanding React and the Gutenberg codebase architecture. The Gutenberg Handbook, available on developer.wordpress.org, is beneficial. It provides details about APIs, guides, and how to contribute through code, design, or documentation.

Documentation is another fantastic way to start. If you find sections that aren’t clear or have typos, you can improve them. Even small contributions like fixing a typo help familiarize you with the process of forking a repository, locating files, making changes, and submitting pull requests. Going through these steps builds muscle memory and prepares you for larger contributions.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend diving straight into Gutenberg for someone brand new to WordPress contributions. It’s a steep learning curve. For beginners, contributing to documentation or testing is more accessible and allows them to learn gradually. The contributor guidebook in the Gutenberg Handbook is a great resource to understand the rules and processes, which also saves reviewers time.

Birgit Olzem:
Yeah, it is quite a steep learning curve, absolutely. Still, the WordPress project offers entry points with lower barriers, making it more accessible for those unfamiliar with code contributions.

Since you’ve been involved with WordPress for so long, how do you see the project evolving generationally? Many of us are not getting younger, and there seems to be a gap in bringing younger generations into the contributor roles. This is vital for the sustainability of a large project like WordPress. Besides code, areas like documentation, testing, and more also need helping hands. How do you think we can attract younger generations and make the project more inclusive?

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
Well, I have a few thoughts on that. It’s true—we’re seeing a generational shift. Some WordCamps tend to have attendees with an average age over 40, but there are others, like WordCamp Asia, that attract a younger crowd. When I look at the engineers, product teams, and leadership in Asia, many are younger compared to their counterparts in Europe or North America.

At Automattic, I’ve noticed a good mix of younger professionals in the WordPress ecosystem. However, contributing to WordPress isn’t something most people do right out of college. Young professionals are often focused on building their careers, securing housing, and providing for their families. These challenges make it difficult for them to find the time to contribute to open-source projects.

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
There are some great efforts to make WordPress more accessible to younger generations. For instance, the training team has created learning paths for beginners to become developers, theme builders, or plugin developers. This is an excellent foundation for making a living with WordPress.

However, contributing code to the WordPress project requires experience. It’s not something you can jump into right after attending a coding bootcamp. That’s why I’m hesitant to say we need younger contributors immediately. Instead, we should focus on introducing WordPress as a tool for building websites and fostering an interest in the ecosystem.

Onboarding needs to be easier. Hosting companies experimenting with AI-driven website creation are taking steps in the right direction. Making WordPress as intuitive as platforms like TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube could attract younger users. Right now, WordPress onboarding is not as seamless as it could be.

Birgit Olzem:
Yes, and lifting the creativity block for those building websites professionally is equally important. As someone who has built websites for a living, I know how challenging it can be to design layouts with just the core block editor. For example, WooCommerce blocks often have limitations, especially when trying to customize shop pages. While there are plugins and themes that offer a better block-building experience, there’s still much room for improvement.

I think it’s crucial for WordPress to focus on making it easier for people to use WooCommerce and the block editor to build custom pages. Younger generations want tools that help them make a decent living, and WordPress needs to provide the technical foundation to support that. What are your thoughts on WooCommerce adapting to the block-based approach, and how can agencies or freelancers better leverage this?

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
The WooCommerce team has made an excellent move by hiring Ellen Bauer, a long-time theme developer based in New Zealand. She’s now a product manager for block themes and has extensive experience creating WooCommerce sites. Ellen is leading efforts to identify and address what needs to change in WooCommerce to work seamlessly with block themes.

She has started a series with the developer experience team to discuss block themes and open conversations about what’s missing in WooCommerce blocks. One challenge is that some WooCommerce blocks predate the introduction of standardized design tools in WordPress Core, so aligning everything with modern standards will take time.

The team is taking an iterative approach, engaging freelancers and agencies to ensure the solutions meet their needs. While WooCommerce already has a decent onboarding experience, improving the integration with block themes is the next step. The recent milestone of reaching over 1,000 block themes in the WordPress repository shows that the movement toward block themes is gaining momentum. This shift makes it much easier for site owners to change the look and feel of their websites.

Birgit Olzem:
Yeah, definitely. And especially with all the patterns already created, which make it easier to build a website in a short amount of time. You mentioned using AI to generate a basic skeleton for building on top of. With all the evolution of WordPress, what trends do you foresee for WordPress and WooCommerce? What should agency owners start preparing for?

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
For agency owners and developers, I think the block bindings API is worth watching. It’s now in its third release, having started in 6.5 and evolving through 6.6 and 6.7. We now have a user interface to add custom fields to a page or a template for specific block types. This evolution will likely lead to tools for creating custom post types and custom fields via the UI in 2025.

At this point, you still need a developer to register custom post types and fields. However, once that’s done, site owners or designers can integrate everything directly in the site editor without additional coding. That’s a significant leap forward for simplifying customization.

Another exciting development is the interactivity API, which is progressing rapidly. It enables fast-reacting sites with less reliance on server reloads, moving toward JavaScript-powered single-page applications. This concept is now making its way into WordPress Core, which will create smoother user experiences.

Plugin developers can now register templates for the site editor, allowing designers and site owners to modify them without extra hurdles. This feature, introduced in the last three WordPress releases, is a game-changer for streamlining workflows.

There’s also progress in how styles and patterns are managed. Patterns are becoming more sophisticated, with support for style variations tied to color palettes. This opens up enormous creative possibilities for theme developers.

The “Create Block Theme” plugin is another noteworthy tool. It bridges the gap between theme files and user customizations stored in the database, enabling seamless integration with version control. These advancements, combined with tools like Playground—which lets you test WordPress in a browser without a server or database setup—will revolutionize how developers and agencies work with WordPress.

Birgit Olzem:
That sounds incredible! When I think back to the early days of WordPress, it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come. You mentioned you travel a lot as part of your job. Having lived in the U.S. for a long time and now being back in Germany, how do you see the global and multi-generational nature of the WordPress community? How can we improve collaboration and knowledge sharing across different regions, cultures, and age groups? The project still seems heavily influenced by North America, but you’ve mentioned the vibrant communities in Asia.

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
What I’ve learned from over a decade of contributing to WordPress is that local meetups are an invaluable resource for building communities. Supporting local organizers, especially post-pandemic, is essential. Many meetups paused during the pandemic, and we lost a lot of organizers. It’s encouraging to see some meetups restarting, but more support is needed to rebuild that network.

For example, in Uganda, there’s an initiative involving local governments to introduce WordPress in schools. Teachers are using WordPress as a tool to teach digital skills, such as writing online and collaborating on community projects. These kinds of efforts need more visibility and support from the broader WordPress community.

At WordCamp Europe, there was a talk by Abraham White highlighting initiatives in Africa. Similarly, companies like Multidots in Asia have made significant contributions to Gutenberg, such as their work on block-based comments. By contributing their plugins to Core, they’ve integrated new developers into the community, and these skills will carry over even as people move to different companies.

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
We need to broaden our efforts to help companies participate in contribution initiatives, such as the Five for the Future program. This program encourages companies to dedicate resources—either funding or employee hours—to the WordPress project. However, onboarding contributors within these companies requires structure. It can’t just be a vague “contribute if you have time” approach; it needs to be a project with clear goals and guidelines.

Birgit Olzem:
For over 10 years, I’ve debated how the WordPress project could establish a financial host or structure to collect funds. For example, during major releases, we could adopt a donation model similar to Wikipedia’s: a simple message saying, “If you use this software for free and can donate, here’s where to contribute.” Even small contributions, like $1 or €1, could add up to support contributors who need more financial stability to dedicate their time and knowledge.

I also think it’s important to help companies find ways to contribute financially or through human hours, ensuring the sustainability of WordPress. Since we’re running out of time, I’d love to continue this discussion, but before we wrap up, can you share where the audience can meet you at upcoming events? Where can we connect and possibly share a hug?

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
I’ll be at WordCamp Asia, where I’m hosting a workshop on creating demos with Playground. It’s geared toward product builders and theme developers. I’ll also be participating in Contributor Day and hanging out in the hallway track.

I’ve applied for the CloudFest Hackathon and am waiting for confirmation. There’s also a small WordCamp happening in Konstanz, and others scheduled in Borås and Zürich, which I plan to attend. WordCamp Europe in Basel is, of course, on my schedule. Additionally, I’m planning to attend WordCamp US next summer. It’s been three years since I’ve seen my American friends, and I miss them dearly. WordPress hugs are the best!

Birgit Olzem:
Birgit, thank you so much for everything you’re doing for the WordPress project—keeping us informed about Gutenberg, Playground, and the broader community. I also want to thank our audience for tuning in to this episode of “The WordPress Way.”

We hope today’s conversation has sparked new ideas and inspired you to engage more deeply with our vibrant WordPress community. Remember, diversity isn’t just about numbers or age—it’s about making real changes that foster a sense of belonging and respect for everyone.

Keep the conversation going by sharing this episode, and join us again as we explore important topics and meet the leaders driving this change, like Birgit. Don’t forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you’ll never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing the envelope and doing WordPress the right way.

Birgit Pauli-Haack:
Talk to you later!