WordCamp US concluded this weekend after gathering nearly 2,000 attendees in National Harbor, Maryland, for the Community Summit, Contributor Day, and main conference days. For the majority of people in the WordPress world who were unable to attend, the recordings of the presentations from project leadership will give you an idea of what to expect in the near future and beyond. These videos were published right away and are embedded below.
WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomposy spoke on “The Future of WordPress,” with an emphasis on how the project can continue to thrive, build resilience, and outlast its current contributors. She encouraged the community to be proactive about expanding their learning and connections. She also reaffirmed the importance of the project’s mission to democratize publishing and the impact that can have in the world.
WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg capped off the event with a presentation titled “What’s Next for Gutenberg,” followed by a Q&A. He highlighted a few features coming in 6.4, including font management, an image lightbox, and the new Twenty Twenty Four default theme.
As WordPress is moving into the Collaboration phase of the Gutenberg project, which will enable multiple authors to edit simultaneously, Mullenweg highlighted the importance of redesigning the admin. This will be the first major redesign since MP6 and is also aimed at improving workflows for administrators.
Mullenweg announced that WordPress has launched a new LMS (Learning Management System) working group. He commented on the benefits and drawbacks of having multiple plugins in the ecosystem that do the same thing. Although the competition can encourage more innovation, it can also lock users into one solution if they aren’t built to be interoperable.
Representatives from Tutor LMS, Learndash, LifterLMS, and Sensei met to discuss using common data models so users can easily switch between solutions. They are working in a new #LMS slack channel to establish industry standards that will preserve user freedom and choice through practical interoperability changes to their products.
Mullenweg also said he would like to see more plugins, such as those handling SEO or site builders, to agree on some data models so that products can operate in a more standardized and performant way, serving users better in the long term.
Check out the presentation below, along with the Q&A that followed. There were more than 80 questions submitted, and those that were missed during Q&A will have answers published to in a future post on WordPress.org.