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Issue #43
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This week in WordPress

Matt Mullenweg is not a fan of Jamstack, ignites rivalry with tech CEOs

Matt Mullenweg and Jamstack community leaders have "forged a new rivalry" over the past two weeks, writes Sarah Gooding for WPTavern, after the WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO told The New Stack he sees Jamstack as a "regression for the vast majority of the people adopting it."

In Matt Mullenweg and Jamstack Community Square Off, Making Long-Term Bets on the Predominant Architecture for the Web, Sarah covers how Matt's provocative remarks set off a chain of open letters from the CEOs of Jamstack-related services. "They are convinced that the LAMP stack is on its way out and that Jamstack is on the precipice of replacing its incumbent as the most dominant architecture of the web," Sarah writes.
Matt clarified his original Jamstack Remarks at the Tavern while also doubling down on his original comments, saying "there isn't a vast number of people adopting Jamstack in the first place, and those who do are probably fully aware of the tradeoffs."
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Matt believes WordPress provides a better experience for users in terms of performance, security, scaling, and developer experience. But as Stackbit co-founder and CEO Ohad Eder-Pressman points out, web technologies have to start somewhere.

In An Open Letter to Matt Mullenweg: What folks often get wrong about Jamstack, he says Jamstack is "disruptive innovation" that "isn't broken or incomplete, just relatively low level and new" compared to a 17-year-old product like WordPress.

"Matt Mullenweg is having a go with the Jamstack community. Honestly, the team at WPTavern is doing a better job than I will digging into all the details, so go check out their great write ups," says Brian Krogsgard in the latest Post Status newsletter.

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W3C drops WordPress, opts for more "accessible" CMSs

While Matt debates with tech CEOs about WordPress's superiority, elsewhere online the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has dropped WordPress from consideration for its redesign, narrowing its CMS shortlist to Statamic and Craft CMS. Again, Sarah Gooding has the story for WPTavern.

Sarah reports that Studio 24, the digital agency chosen for the redesign, has cited Gutenberg, accessibility issues, and the fact that the Classic Editor plugin will stop being officially maintained after 31 December 2021 as its main concerns. Coralie Mercier, Head of Marketing and Communications at W3C, tells the Tavern the agency has concerns about the longevity of WordPress "as we use it."

"Hey @w3c not choosing WordPress is fine, but at least don't choose a proprietary CMS… 😒" tweets WordPress Core Team rep and WHODUNIT CEO Jb Audras.

DIYthemes owner and Thesis creator Chris Pearson tweets, "A more honest headline: W3C drops WordPress from consideration because of concerns over Gutenberg. FULL F'ING STOP. I predicted this in December 2018." Meanwhile, anonymous Tom comments on Tavern's post, "Thanks for the heads up about the Classic Editor going away…"

First look at Twenty Twenty One default theme

So, what else is going on? "Well, friends, it's time for what I'm sure you've all been waiting for: an announcement about the next WordPress default theme!" writes Automattic designer and WordPress 5.6 Default Theme Design Lead Mel Choyce-Dwan, introducing Twenty Twenty-One with some stunning visuals.
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WP Tavern's Justin Tadlock picks the theme apart in his First Look at Twenty Twenty-One, WordPress's Upcoming Default Theme. He notes it's a fork of Automattic's Seedlet theme and he's "… getting the good kind of vibes from some of the more earthy-tones from a couple of the color palettes expected to ship with the theme."

A top-notch team of contributors is working on the default theme. As well as Mel, the team includes Elma Studio co-owner Ellen Bauer, freelance developer and Theme Team rep Carolina Nymark, and long-time front-end developers Beth Soderberg and Jessica Lyschik.

Mel describes Twenty Twenty One as "a blank canvas for the block editor" adding once the theme is stable after the first beta, the team will start exploring full site editing support.

"The new WordPress default theme in 5.6 brings us some block-centric pastel cottagecore goodness," tweets GoDaddy Pro Senior Community Manager Andy McIlwain.

Automattic now offsetting data center power emissions produced from non-renewable sources

Some good news for the planet: Automattic is reducing and offsetting its data center power emissions produced from non-renewable sources. As data scientist Yanir Seroussi shares, this means the servers running WordPress.com, WordPress VIP, Tumblr, and other Automattic services now contribute net zero carbon emissions to the atmosphere.

"At @automattic (and that also means @WordPressVIP), we now offset our data center power emissions produced from non-renewable resources. This means our services contribute net zero carbon emissions. It's a step," tweets Nick Gernert, head of WordPress VIP.

Meanwhile, freelance WordPress developer and Green Tech South West co-founder Hannah Smith tweets: "🙌🏼 Delighted to see wordpress.com realise that powering data centers with renewable energy, or offsetting emissions if that's not yet possible, is a vital thing to do. Now I wait with baited breath to see if another big #WordPress player, @wpengine, will follow suit 🧐."
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