Hallway Hangout: Extending blocks with custom design tools

In a few weeks, @greenshady and I will host a casual conversation about how you can create custom design tools for blocks from a theming perspective.

Based on Justin’s latest article series for the WordPress Developer Blog, you will learn when to move beyond the BlockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. Styles APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. and create your own custom controls, such as an emoji-based icon picker for the Separator block!

An emoji-based icon picker for the Separator block.


We will also discuss the current limitations of theme development and how block development can be used to extend block themes.

If you’re interested in joining, the Hallway Hangout will happen on Thursday, August 17, 2023, at 1:00 PM CST (18:00 UTC). The meeting link will be shared through the Learn WordPress MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. group. RSVP for the event to access the link. Everyone is welcome, but if you have begun building block themes for clients or are interested in block theming, this session is especially for you.

Recording

Notes

The Hallway Hangout was attended by 44 community members, including facilitators @ndiego and @greenshady

Justin gave a presentation on his “Beyond Block Styles” article series, followed by a brief Q&A. Questions were asked and answered throughout. The following resources were shared during the event:

Props to @greenshady for review.

#block-based-themes, #hallway-hangout

Hallway Hangout: Let’s chat about WordPress 6.3 and block theming

Next week, @greenshady and I will host a casual conversation about building blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. themes with a special focus on enhancements coming in WordPress 6.3 and those planned for 6.4. We will also discuss common challenges and pain points, review existing solutions, and hopefully identify new improvements to WordPress that would make block theming easier for developers and users alike.

To get the conversation started, the session will begin with a brief demonstration of the changes coming to the Site Editor in 6.3, notably page management and new editing flows.

Discussion Topics

  • How WordPress 6.3 will impact block theme development
  • Ways to add functionality to block themes beyond what’s available in CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.
  • Pain points and other challenges inhibiting block theme adoption

If you’re interested in joining, the Hallway Hangout will happen on Thursday, June 15, 2023, at 1:00 PM CST (18:00 UTC). The meeting link will be shared through the Learn WordPress MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. group. RSVP for the event to access the link. Everyone is welcome, but if you have begun building block themes for clients or are interested in block theming, this session is especially for you! 

Props to @greenshady for review.

#block-based-themes, #hallway-hangout

Hallway Hangout: Curating the editor and building block themes for clients

Next week, @greenshady and I will host a casual conversation about building blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. themes for clients and ways you can curate the Editor experience in WordPress. We will also discuss common challenges and pain points, review existing solutions, and hopefully identify new improvements to WordPress that would make block theming easier for client work. 

To get the conversation started, the session will begin with a brief demonstration of new curation techniques available in WordPress 6.2 and how to build a starter block theme.

Discussion Topics

  • Editor experience curation techniques, including a new client-side filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. in WordPress 6.2
  • How to create a starter/boilerplate block theme for your business
  • Pain points and other challenges inhibiting block theme adoption for client work

If you’re interested in joining, the Hallway Hangout will happen on Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 12:00 PM CST (17:00 UTC). The meeting link will be shared through the Learn WordPress MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. group. RSVP for the event to access the link. Everyone is welcome, but if you have begun building block themes for clients or are interested in block theming, this session is especially for you! 

Props to @greenshady for review.

#block-based-themes, #hallway-hangout

Block-based Themes Meeting Notes: January 5, 2022

These are the meeting notes from the blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.-based themes meeting on January 5, 2022. 

The meeting agenda can be found here. Thank you @jeffikus for preparing the agenda. The meeting was facilitated by @danieldudzic, and the notes were taken by @mikachan. You can read the full transcript on our #themereview channel.

Block-based themes issues for WordPress 5.9

There are no critical issues remaining relating to block themes for WordPress 5.9. Here’s a link to the WordPress 5.9 Must-Haves.

@kjellr confirmed that just about all of the critical issues Twenty Twenty-Two encountered have made it in already.

There was one issue around site padding that we were unable to find a good solution for in GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/, but for now, we have included a solution in the theme that works pretty well until we find a way to handle it in Gutenberg.

This issue is still a little up in the air and is a common issue to all block themes. If folks have any thoughts on that, it would be great to get some perspective on the issue. Please join in the discussion over on GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/.

The future of block theming

There have been a lot of discussions happening around the topic of theme developers and the next stage of block theming.

We discussed the future of block theming, covering the following ideas, thoughts, and questions:

  • What would a premium block theme look like? The biggest value from the premium space is in custom patterns, global style variations, block styles, templates, and support.
  • Themes are going back to being just ‘themes’, i.e. only incorporating the styling, rather than needing to include further functionality that should really be provided by a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party
  • Themes will be easier to switch between, as there will be less to configure, move, or potentially lose during the switching process.
  • If a theme only includes styling, does the word ‘theme’ cause any legacy problems?
  • Are base theme files still important if they are becoming more and more similar?
  • The next stage of block theming involves figuring out ways to improve the integration process of themes into Gutenberg coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., and developing tools that allow for better management of this process.

We don’t have many answers yet, but it’s great to start thinking about these things now. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the discussion!

#block-based-meeting, #block-based-themes

Block themes meeting Notes — Dec 8

Location: #themereview, the full transcript begins here.

Facilitated by @jeffikus

GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ + Themes Updates

  • Directory names have changed for templates and template parts. Learn more here.
  • There’s a PR in progress that would add the ability to export a site’s global style settings into a theme.jsonJSON JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML. file.

BlockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. Themes in the Theme Repository

The group discussed future ideas for displaying block themes in the Theme Repository. Some ideas were:

  • Figuring out a way to highlight patterns that have been provided by the theme.
  • Allowing users to mix & match patterns to build their own theme.
  • This would likely be a longer-term project. It would be great to arrange a coordinated design effort around refreshing this area.

Also discussed was how to identify block themes. Themes should use the full-site-editing tag if they support Full Site Editing. It should not be used if the theme leverages theme.json but does not support Full Site Editing.

#block-based-meeting, #block-based-themes