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Happy Friday! It's August 2 and we're covering Automattic’s new AI deal, Learn WordPress’ fresh coat of paint, and much more.
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Psst: We want to know what you think. Take our annual survey for a chance to win one of two $150 Amazon gift cards. Survey closes August 11.
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Two big headlines
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1. Automattic partners with Perplexity to pay users for AI search results
Automattic has joined Perplexity's new publisher partner program, which could see bloggers paid a share of revenue if their content appears in AI search results.
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Launched in 2022, Perplexity is trying to create a Google competitor that's an "answer engine" rather than a "search engine."
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According to WordPress.com, users whose content is referenced in Perplexity search results where the company earns advertising revenue will be eligible for a share. Just how much in unknown, but as Automattic CEO Matt Mullengweg told The Verge this week, "It's a much better revenue split than Google, which is zero."
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"The amount, I don't know! Probably small to start because they don't make much revenue now, but if Perplexity is the next Google, which I think it has a chance of being, these numbers could become meaningful and we're looking to help publishers get paid in every way we can," Mullenweg also said.
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Automattic's deal with Perplexity comes after the company made headlines in March when 404 Media revealed WordPress.com and Tumblr were finalizing deals with OpenAI and Midjourney to use users' data to train AI tools.
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2. Learn WordPress unveils revamped site with streamlined pathways and new courses
First launched in 2020, WordPress.org's educational platform offers free resources to help users learn WordPress. A year ago, members of the training team recognized the need to better serve learners with a clear, structured, and user-friendly approach to presenting Learn WordPress content and kicked off a project to overhaul the site.
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Following research and consultation with the WordPress community, the site's structure has been simplified, streamlining the information architecture and content types, according to Automattic-sponsored training contributor Kathryn Presner. The new focus is on lessons, courses, and online workshops rather than developing content for educators.
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A big focus of the redesign has been the Learning Pathways project, which guides learners from beginner through to intermediate and advanced levels in the area of WordPress that's most relevant to them, including using and developing WordPress. Presner says the training team's next priorities will include making courses available in multiple languages and exploring ways to reach new learners.
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In other news
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WordPress project
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> Gutenberg 18.9 was released this week and brings new features to data views, consolidates design tools across blocks, and improves usability in editing and applying font size presets (Make WordPress Core)
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> Block themes saw a modest regression in performance in WordPress 6.6, according to Google-sponsored performance contributor Adam Silverstein (Make WordPress Core)
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> WP-CLI v2.11.0 is scheduled for release on August 6, 2024. Maintainer Alain Schlesser says in addition to bug fixes and compatibility updates, there'll be a few command and parameter changes as well as a "large swath" of documentation fixes and improvements (WP-CLI)
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> Automattic's Anne McCarthy, who was the test lead WordPress 6.6, is calling on folks to help test data views, including upcoming updates to the media library (nomad.blog)
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> The WordPress Community Team wants to use Playground to demo WordPress to first-time meetup attendees (Make WordPress Community)
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WordPress community
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> WordPress is thriving in Nigeria, where a strong mix of students and professionals actively participate in meetups and events, according to agency owner Emmanuel Eluwa. He says WordPress powers 65% of websites in the country (The WP Minute+)
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> Long-time core committer Aaron Jorbin has published an open letter to new committers, describing the role as both an honor and a burden (aaron.jorb.in)
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> Estela Rueda is the latest recipient of the Yoast Care Fund for her work contributing to and translating WordPress documentation (Yoast)
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Business, enterprise & acquisitions
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> Stripe has acquired Lemon Squeezy, an ecommerce platform for payments, tax and subscriptions. Lemon Squeezy was launched in 2021 by three veterans of the WordPress community: JR Farr (former CEO and co-founder of MOJO Marketplace), Gilbert Pellegrom (former Senior Software Engineer at Delicious Brains) and Orman Clark (founder of ThemeZilla) (Lemon Squeezy) | For some history on Clark's involvement in the WordPress community (fun fact: he was one of the first ThemeForest authors to make a million dollars), Post Status founder Brian Krogsgard shared his insights back in February 2016 after Pixel Union acquired ThemeZilla (Post Status) | For more, Farr joined Matt Medeiros on the Matt Report in April 2017 to share what it feels like to have your company acquired (in this case, MOJO Marketplace) (YouTube)
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> Ollie co-founder Mike McAlister has documented the product's first 30 days and says even as a successful WordPress product owner in the past, he's finding it tough to build a business in the "new era" of WordPress. He highlights three key issues: knowing if the software in its current form is stable enough to support a core-adjacent business model, zeroing in on an audience because of how polarized the community is around blocks, and speculating on where WordPress is going (Ollie)
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> WooCommerce's Head of Engineering, Beau Lebens, says the ecommerce platform's future is block-based and it’s time for developers to "embrace blocks and modernize your approach." In his blog post detailing the company's plans for the rest of 2024, he says other initiatives for his team this year include a revamped developer blog, improvements to documentation, and a developer-focused newsletter (WooCommerce)
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Security
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> Windows users ran into issues with WordPress 6.6.1 after its release last week when Windows Defender flagged it for trojan malware following an update. Core contributors say the virus alert was a false positive (Search Engine Journal)
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> Following the supply chain attack that impacted several plugins hosted at WordPress.org in June, Wordfence security researcher Marco Wotschka says more malware variants were detected in the wild and a new technique, credential exfiltration, was also uncovered (Wordfence)
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> Patchstack has doubled its monthly bounty pool available to security researchers to $8,000, and valid Zeroday vulnerability reports now fetch up to $14,400 (Patchstack) | Patchstack has also launched Patchstack Academy, a learning platform for ethical hacking (Patchstack)
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> BigScoots says a successful security audit of its proprietary caching plugin conducted by Patchstack validates its strong security protections against vulnerabilities (BigScoots)
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Conferences & events
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> The first batch of WordCamp Asia 2024 tickets went on sale yesterday. Next year's flagship event will be held from February 20-22 in Manila, Philippines (WordCamp Asia)
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> WordPress Accessibility Day organizers have open calls for sponsors and volunteers. The 24-hour event will be held on October 9-10, 2024 (WordPress Accessibility Day)
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> Crocoblock is seeking experienced developers to speak at its agency summit on September 27, 2024. This year's second annual virtual event will focus on fast dynamic sites (Crocoblock)
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> WordSesh 2024 recordings are available to watch for free today (Friday) until 11.59pm UTC. The virtual conference, held on Tuesday, featured seven speakers whose sessions were broadcast across three time zones (WordSesh)
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> WP Engine and The Webby Awards' latest "Crafted Future" event featured insights from WP Engine Web UX Design Manager Nicholas Tilley and others on aligning accessibility principles with good design and the potential for AI to enhance these efforts (WP Engine)
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WP Community: Abdul Rahman (aka Pomy)
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This week, what's inspiring Abdul Rahman, founder and CEO of WPKitchen, a program with a mission to provide 1,000 subsidized homemade lunches daily to WordPress freelancers across Asia.
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A podcast worth listening to: Although I have a strong preference for Urdu and Hindi podcasts, when it comes to gaining in-depth insights into website development, I turn to the ShopTalk Show. The detailed transcripts they provide are incredibly useful, ensuring that I thoroughly grasp the nuances of each discussion.
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A social media account worth following: I started following Katie Keith @katiekeithbarn2 when she was new to Twitter/X. In just a few months, she not only gained thousands of followers but also earned the title of WordPress celebrity on Twitter. I highly recommend following her for valuable WordPress insights.
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An article worth reading: As an avid reader and WordPress professional who follows industry news, I found Benek Lisefski’s article, When Success Makes You Lazy, Blame Your Cognitive Bias really interesting. His story about how his successful business fell apart gave me valuable insights into how cognitive bias can affect us.
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A concept worth understanding: Definitely, the concept of Full-Site Editing (FSE) is the future. It allows you to use the block editor to customize your entire site, from header to footer. It facilitates design through block-based themes and global styles, enabling easy and dynamic site customization.
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A habit worth forming: Digital fasting, or taking breaks from screens, is a habit worth forming. By setting aside dedicated times to disconnect, individuals can enhance their focus, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being. Finding a routine that fits your lifestyle is crucial, with weekly and monthly breaks often proving to be the most effective.
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Forget the headache of complicated email campaigns. With Omnisend, getting better sales is as simple as a click, drag and drop. Make email marketing easy.
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Help diverse voices in WordPress be heard! Support Inclusion in Tech removes barriers for speakers at WordCamps. Donate and empower SiNC.
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Want to hear WordPressers talk about their lives beyond WordPress in an unexpected conversation? Subscribe to Seriously, BUD? and get a fresh episode every week.
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Got a something to promote? Our classifieds are seen by the most influential people in WordPress each week.
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Meanwhile...
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Read
👾 Ethical hackers explain how malicious hackers choose their targets, the process behind their attacks, and the consequences (Patchstack)
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⏳ Vertigo Studio SA founder Ionut Neagu, who runs ThemeIsle and WPShout, has published 10 years of user survey data on WordPress hosting gathered from 2014 and 2024 (Google Docs)
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📓 AaronJorbin continues to document his monthly contributions as an independent core committer (aaron.jorb.in)
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🏗️ WordPress.com is sharing how it built Studio, a local development environment built on WordPress Playground, as part of a new "Building Studio in Public" series (WordPress.com)
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🚨 WordPress VIP Senior Software Engineer Nick Daugherty on how the company mitigated the impact of the recent Polyfill.io supply chain attack (WordPress VIP)
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Listen
📈 Crowd Favorite CEO Karim Marucchi and Human Made CEO Tom Willmot discuss the buyer's perspective, in particular, how enterprise customers perceive WordPress (Do the Woo)
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🕸️ Alex Moss on co-founding his 10-year-old agency with his wife, his role as Principal SEO at Yoast, and the volatile NFT market (WPBuilds)
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🤗 Birgit Olzem on how she learned HTML while caring for her children to becoming a pivotal contributor and advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in WordPress (Do the Woo)
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🧏🏼♂️ Elena Panciera, a freelance consultant specializing in inclusive and accessible languages, and Chiara Pennetta, a special needs educator on building the web for people who are deaf (WP Tavern)
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The Repository is a weekly email for the WordPress community by Rae Morey. Mike Johnston is our proofreader. Thanks to Kinsta, our hosting sponsor, and MailPoet, our email sponsor.
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Send your feedback to [email protected] and help us provide high-quality news written entirely by humans that matters to the WordPress community.
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