What’s Exciting about WordPress 6.1?

11/10/22 • 48 min

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Press the Issue

Top Takeaways

Brian and Teron recall their impressions of 6.1 from the WCUS Q&A with Matt Mullenweg
They discuss stand out features, accessibility, and what’s going on under the hood.
Also determined – to what extent does this release move WordPress forward?

Press These Links

Episode Transcript

Monet Davenport: Welcome to Press The Issue, a podcast for MasterWP, your source for industry insights for WordPress professionals. Get show notes, transcripts, and more information about the show at masterwp.com/presstheissue.

With every new version of WordPress comes an array of changes, updates, and adjustments. Understanding each and every change and how they affect your sites can be daunting. So join Brian and Teron as they discuss the most exciting things coming to WordPress in 6.1.

Teron Bullock: How you doing today, Brian?

Brian Coords: I’m doing good. How are you doing today?

Teron Bullock: I’m well. I’m excited. I know we have a great conversation today. We’re going to talk about WordPress 6.1, and I’m excited to jump into it.

Brian Coords: Yeah, I’m excited too. This is kind of a pretty cool release, and I feel like there’s a lot to talk about coming out with WordPress 6.1.

Teron Bullock: All right, so let’s get right into it. So, I want to paint the picture for everyone. We were both at WordCamp US in San Diego, and we were sitting outside the conference doors, and we were all waiting for Matt Mullenweg to come in and give us this announcement, as he normally does to end the WordCamps. Do you know what they call it, his address? I can’t remember the exact name, but I know-

Brian Coords: Yeah, so it used to be that he would give a speech called the State of the Word, where he would talk about the full year, but in the last few years they’ve separated that. So the State of the Word usually happens now in December, and so he’ll probably do a small presentation then, and this one was really mostly a Q and A with just a short presentation at the beginning. And I think they just called it Q and A with Matt Mullenweg.

Teron Bullock: Right. So we’re waiting on this Q and A from Matt, and it seemed like the anticipation in the room was surreal. It’s weird because on one hand, you had ... It was like almost had a fever pitch, you had so many people who were just chomping at the bits trying to figure out, can we get in the room? What is he going to say? What’s going to happen? But then you had other people who were kind of like, “All right, here’s another conversation, here’s another address,” yada, yada, yada, like, “What can we expect?” So you had the people who were super excited, but then you had other people who were almost waiting to be disappointed.

And I found it, because this is my first WordCamp US, and so I found it to be really intriguing. I was one of the people that was on the side of like, okay, I’m expecting to see Elvis, Tupac, and Michael Jackson on stage or something, because it just was like really motivating to see as many people who were waiting to hear what people had to say about WordPress. And so I’m wondering, what was your experience before we even got into that room?

Brian Coords: Yeah, well it comes at the end of the conference, so you’ve been there for a couple of days, and like every conference, it’s very exciting, but it’s also very exhausting. So you’re, a lot of socializing, a lot of talking to people, a lot of walking around, a lot of late nights, those sorts of things. So I’m sure I came into it a little bit exhausted and worn down, but also, it’s your one chance to see the defacto leader of WordPress sort of engage with the community. He’s a very busy person, so he has a lot of other companies and social platform to run, so I think people just like to see where his head’s at, what he’s thinking about, what he’s focusing on, because it’s kind of your one opportunity, apart from the State of the Word and apart from sometimes he does another Q and A at the WordCamp Europe, but that’s really in the US that one opportunity to see, what is he going to talk about? What are people going to ask him about? What is the topic of conversation in WordPress?

Teron Bullock: Absolutely. So we get into the room, we all sit down, and then it’s like a quiet comes over the room, and he’s addressed or announced. And then like you said, this presentation shows up on the screen, and it’s WordPress 6.1. And when that presentation first rolled out, what was your initial thoughts?

Brian Coords: Yeah, well the first thing I remember seeing, and I have a pretty terrible memory, but what I remember w...

Top Takeaways

Brian and Teron recall their impressions of 6.1 from the WCUS Q&A with Matt Mullenweg
They discuss stand out features, accessibility, and what’s going on under the hood.
Also determined – to what extent does this release move WordPress forward?

Press These Links

Episode Transcript

Teron Bullock: How you doing today, Brian?

Brian Coords: I’m doing good. How are you doing today?

Teron Bullock: I’m well. I’m excited. I know we have a great conversation today. We’re going to talk about WordPress 6.1, and I’m excited to jump into it.

Brian Coords: Yeah, I’m excited too. This is kind of a pretty cool release, and I feel like there’s a lot to talk about coming out with WordPress 6.1.

Brian Coords: Yeah, well the first thing I remember seeing, and I have a pretty terrible memory, but what I remember w...

Previous Episode

The Importance of Pay Transparency

Top Takeaways

Allie and Topher swap stories about times talking about pay was awkward – it’s something ingrained in both of their workplace histories.
They discuss the history of limiting this information, particularly for woman and people of color.
Together they unpack why sharing pay information is helpful and fair.

Episode Transcript

When the conversation around pay is obscure and taboo, everyone loses. But when the lines of communication around pay are open and honest, employers and employees benefit. In this episode of Press The Issue, Topher and Allie talk about their experience with pay transparency and how they think changing this narrative benefits us all.

Allie Nimmons: Hey, Topher, how are you?

Topher DeRosia: Super awesome today.

Allie Nimmons: Awesome. Super glad to hear it. Well, I’m really excited to chat with you today on the podcast, and we’re going to talk a little bit about pay transparency, which is a kind of a spicy topic, but one that I’m really eager to dive into with you.

Topher DeRosia: Excellent. Let’s do it.

Allie Nimmons: Yeah. Awesome.

Topher DeRosia: So I have some questions for you.

Allie Nimmons: Cool. Awesome.

Topher DeRosia: I remember the first time I learned that you’re not supposed to talk about what you make. I was at a job where when we got a raise, it happened about April, but they back-filled it to the beginning of the year. But they didn’t tell me I got a raise. I just had a really fat check and I thought, oh, that must be a mistake. So I went to accounting and I said, “Something’s wrong with my check.” And the lady looked at me really funny, and she’s like, “You need to talk to him.” So I went into a guy’s office and he said, “You don’t ever talk about your pay to anyone but me ever.” I was blown away.

Allie Nimmons: Wow.

Topher DeRosia: I’m like, “What? What is this all about?” And that was my first experience knowing that you just don’t talk about pay. But nobody ever told me, even then. He didn’t say why. I just said, “Oh, yes sir.” And went back to my desk and hid. So why is it important? Why do people care? Why don’t people want to talk about this?

Allie Nimmons: Yeah, so I don’t really know. That is a crazy story. I’ve never had an experience like that. I don’t really ever remember anyone telling me. It was just kind of always that unspoken thing, it’s like, you know, you don’t talk about, I don’t know, your private life at work. Or there’s certain things that are private. And I think maybe a lot of it too was just watching my mom. And she and I never talked about money as I got older. To this day, I don’t know how much money my mom earns or has earned in any job that she’s had. She never talked about it with me. She never talked about it around me. It just was this sort of taboo thing.

And I think people care, I mean, I say I don’t know because I don’t actually know, but I have some suspicions as to why people care so much about it not being talked about. If you want to go the tin foil hat route, I do think that it’s a method for men to, or I should say, I think it was in the past when women started to enter the workforce, a method for men to control that narrative. If you had a man that ran a company that employed women and men during a time where women were seen as less or even more less than they are seen now in society, paying the women less and encouraging them not to speak about it meant that you could get away with paying them less.

Topher DeRosia: Sure.

Allie Nimmons: I mean, I genuinely believe that that’s true. I feel like there’s some people who might think that’s a little conspiratorial, but we live in America. I think that there’s an element of judgment that we want to avoid in society. We want to avoid making anyone feeling uncomfortable.

Topher DeRosia: Sure.

Allie Nimmons: So if we each make a different amount, but we do the same job and we talk about how much we make, there might be an issue of judgment of, “Oh, well why do they make more than me? I’ve been here longer,” you know?

Topher DeRosia: Right.

Allie Nimmons: And there are so many different... We don’t have a universal system of pay. Every company gets to decide how much they pay their employees and why. I mean, we have minimum wage to keep things above that amount, but every owner of any company can say, “I decide that I give raises based off performance.” Or, “I decide I give raises based off of how long you’ve been here.”

Topher DeRosia: Sure.

Allie Nimmons: And so in order to eliminate that conversation of, “Well, why does that person make more than me?” And then havi...

Next Episode

All Things Open

The All Things Open event just passed, and MasterWP's own Nyasha Green attended. In this chat with Allie Nimmons, Nyasha shares what makes this event so special, what other event organizers can learn from the event, and her own personal highlights.

Top Takeaways

Nyasha attended the All Things Open conference recently, which focuses on the tools, processes and people making open source possible.
Highlights for her included the sense of community, the prioritized diversity, and the unique programming – like the Shark Tank-esque competition
Allie and Nyasha discuss the results of a conference like this: learning about buying power, connecting with sponsors, and feeling seen at a tech conference.

Press These Links

Episode Transcript

Monet Davenport: Welcome to Press the Issue, a podcast for MasterWP, your source for industry insights for WordPress professionals. Get show notes, transcripts and more information about the show at Masterwp.com/presstheissue. The All Things Open event just passed and MasterWP’s own Nyasha Green attended. In this episode, Nyasha chats with Allie Nimmons to share what makes this event so special, what other event organizers can learn from the event and her own personal highlights.

Allie Nimmons: Hey, Nyasha.

Nyasha Green: Hey, Allie. How are you?

Allie Nimmons: I’m great. I’m so excited to be talking with you. We haven’t had time to catch up in a minute so I’m super glad that we’re on the podcast together today.

Nyasha Green: Yes, I’ve been excited all week. So yes, me too.

Allie Nimmons: Nice. Well, I wanted to ask you about something that you just did that is super big and fun and exciting. You went to All Things Open, which is an event I’ve never been to and I’m so curious to hear all about it. You did write an article for it for the MasterWP blog, which I’ll definitely link in the show notes of this episode, but I wanted to hear even more about your experiences. Can you tell me and everybody listening just a little bit about what All Things Open is and just describe the event a little bit?

Nyasha Green: Yeah. So All Things Open is a tech conference and it is dedicated to all things open-source. So they are the biggest one on the East Coast and we have companies that come from all over, smaller companies, but also the big names as well. So Google sponsors the event, IBM, which has a campus in Raleigh, North Carolina as well. Oh yeah, it takes place in Raleigh, North Carolina every year.

Allie Nimmons: Yeah, we should say it was a in-person event, you actually got to go, it wasn’t an online thing.

Nyasha Green: Yeah. And you could watch it online too if you couldn’t attend. But yeah, it definitely was in-person and this conference means a lot to me because it was the first ever tech conference I ever went to years ago.

Allie Nimmons: Wow.

Nyasha Green: The company I was working for at the time who taught me WordPress, they were actually there, we got to hang out as well. They sent me there and they were like, “You need to get used to tech conferences.” And I was a newbie and I was like, “Well, I guess.” It’s like a networking event and I’m an extrovert so I’m like, “Yeah, I’ll go.” And I was just in love with it, All Things Open is diverse, there are so many people that look like me there, which you don’t see a lot at a lot of tech events. It’s something that just blew my mind the first time I saw it, just the different people, people are so friendly. And that’s subjective and people are friendly or not friendly everywhere, but I don’t know if it’s the North Carolina spirit or just how awesome the conference is, the people are friendly, it’s large, it’s a lot to do, but it’s also extremely organized. So it is just an amazing, diverse ode to open-source type of conference.

Allie Nimmons: Nice. That’s so cool. Yeah, I remember hearing about it in previous years and being really interested in it and I’m always fascinated because my introduction to tech conferences were WordCamps for sure. And I feel like I’ve only been to one in-person, non-WordPress event, that was the Grace Hopper celebration in Texas a few years ago. And I’m always so curious about what other tech conferences do that are different from WordPress events. If you could bring your experience back from ATO and sit down with a bunch of WordCamp organizers, what would you bring to that table to say, “Hey look, WordPress events are great, but here’s what ATO is really blowing out of the park tha...