List of episodes

EP484 – Whose WordPress is it anyway?

EP484 – Whose WordPress is it anyway?

On this episode, Jason Tucker and Sé Reed discuss the concept of who “owns” the WordPress open-source project and the broader question of who controls WordPress, highlighting the tension between the open-source community’s ideals and the reality of centralized control. The episode concludes with a call for transparency and accountability in the WordPress community, particularly within project leadership.

EP481 – Lies, Damned Lies, and Analytics

EP481 – Lies, Damned Lies, and Analytics

On this episode of WPwatercooler titled “Lies, Damned Lies, and Analytics,” the discussion revolves around the complexities and alternatives to using web analytics tools for website management. The hosts, Jason Tucker and Jason Cosper, delve into the fallout from changes to Jetpack stats, prompting users to consider paying for previously free services. They explore the […]

EP476 – Free as in Piracy

EP476 – Free as in Piracy

This week on WPwatercooler, we’re tackling the issue of nulled WordPress plugins and themes. The GPL says that all software distributed under its license can be freely redistributed, but do null plugin shops re-selling proprietary software cross the ethical, or legal, line into piracy?

EP471 – Reflecting on the State of the Word 2023

EP471 – Reflecting on the State of the Word 2023

On this episode of WPwatercooler, we’re diving into the State of the Word 2023, the much-anticipated annual keynote by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg. For the first time ever, the event steps out of North America, embracing the vibrant Spanish WordPress community in Madrid, Spain. And don’t worry if you didn’t make it to Madrid – the event was streamed live and made available on YouTube.

EP469 – Synching WordPress

EP469 – Synching WordPress

Synching WordPress: Navigating the Data Synchronization Maze. The episode features in-depth discussions on tools like Airtable and Salesforce, data mapping techniques, and the evolving role of WordPress as a CMS. Join Jason Tucker, Sé Reed, and Jason Cosper for insightful perspectives.

EP467 – WordStressed

EP467 – WordStressed

This week on WPwatercooler WCUS 2023 organizer Tom Finley will be joining us to delve into the stress factors shaking up the WordPress community. From software updates that disrupt our workflows to seismic shifts in community dynamics, our community is going through a lot right now. Add in global and economic issues, radical changes in social media platforms, and an industry being rocked by AI, and we’re all feeling the pressure. What does it all mean for the world of WordPress?

EP466 – The Media Library ends its silence

EP466 – The Media Library ends its silence

This episode of the panel dives into the complexities and shortcomings of WordPress’ media library. William Bay leads the conversation by suggesting features like the ability to view all used images and the option to toggle between infinite scroll and pagination for enhanced user experience. Alongside him, Sé Reed and Jason Cosper emphasize the need […]

EP461 – Ten Years to Launch

EP461 – Ten Years to Launch

Suzette’s Quest to Simplify Contribution – A decade ago, Suzette recognized the challenges people faced in finding ways to contribute to the WordPress project. Determined to improve this, she opened a ticket called “Add a ‘Contribute’ tab to the About page.” Though the ticket lay dormant for 9 years, it was eventually picked up and assigned to Olga. Just 4 months later, the content was finalized, and the ticket closed, marking the successful conclusion of Suzette’s long-standing mission to enhance community involvement.

EP456 – Gutenberg: More Than WordPress

EP456 – Gutenberg: More Than WordPress

On this week’s episode of WPwatercooler, we delve into the ever-expanding influence of Gutenberg, the innovative website-building block technology. Known for its role in revolutionizing WordPress, Gutenberg is stepping beyond its birthplace and finding applications in an increasing number of places. We’re exploring the power and versatility of this tool as it transforms not just the WordPress ecosystem, but the broader web development landscape.

EP451 – Accelerating WordPress w/ Jonathan Wold

EP451 – Accelerating WordPress w/ Jonathan Wold

This week on WPwatercooler Sé Reed and Jason Cosper will be talking with Jonathan Wold about some of the economic and development problems facing plugin-based businesses in the WordPress ecosystem, and his new plan to help. https://guildenberg.com Summary In EP451 of WPwatercooler, titled “Accelerating WordPress w/ Jonathan Wold,” hosts Sé Reed, Jason Cosper and Jonathan […]

EP450 – Phase 3 of the WordPress Enigmatic Gutenverse

EP450 – Phase 3 of the WordPress Enigmatic Gutenverse

We’ll discuss a variety of features designed to enhance the user experience and foster seamless collaboration. Our conversation will cover real-time and asynchronous collaboration, improving publishing flows, refining the post revisions interface, and polishing admin design. Additionally, we’ll delve into the introduction of a global search and command component that aims to streamline content management.

EP447 – What’s New in WordPress 6.2?

EP447 – What’s New in WordPress 6.2?

On this episode of WPwatercooler guest Courtney Robertson is joining Jason Tucker, Sé Reed, and Jason Cosper will be discussing the upcoming release of WordPress 6.2. The release is just around the corner, and it’s packed with exciting new features that are sure to delight users. One of the most significant changes is the Full Site Editor coming out of beta, which will provide users with a seamless editing experience.

EP444 – WordPress and the Beginner’s Mind

EP444 – WordPress and the Beginner’s Mind

This week, we will delve into the world of WordPress and explore new ways of approaching problems and maintenance through the lens of the beginner’s mind. Discover how embracing a Zen-like approach can help you tackle complex WordPress issues and find innovative solutions. Tune in now to learn how to cultivate a beginner’s mindset and approach WordPress with a fresh perspective.

EP440 – Year in review and forward at 2023

EP440 – Year in review and forward at 2023

On this episode of WPwatercooler lots of topics were discussed looking back at 2022 and what’s to come in 2023. Topics include the use of artificial intelligence in WordPress, Sé and crew launching the WP Community Collective, the possibility of a rewrite of the Media Library, the implementation of collaborative editing in WordPress, and the future of the WordPress mobile app.

EP439 – State of the Word 2022 Recap

EP439 – State of the Word 2022 Recap

This week on the show we’ll be recapping the recent State of the Word 2022 event that occurred in New York City on December 15th at 1 pm local time. An in-person audience was in attendance and the video was streamed on YouTube for the community to watch if you couldn’t claim and seat and make the trek. Much like in previous SotW events Matt answered questions that were emailed in and asked by the on-site audience.

EP436 – A New Dimension of WordPress

EP436 – A New Dimension of WordPress

This week on WPwatercooler, we explore the exciting new development of bringing the metaverse, or virtual reality, into the WordPress platform. We see how easy it is for content creators, artists, and scientists to create and participate in the metaverse using WordPress, thanks to its accessibility. By using the native Gutenberg experience, users can easily […]

EP434 – Diversity and Inclusion in the WordPress Community with Jill Binder

EP434 – Diversity and Inclusion in the WordPress Community with Jill Binder

This week on WPwatercooler Jill Binder will be joining us to talk about the #WPDiversity initiative. As part of the Diverse Speaker Training Group on the WordPress.org Community Team, Jill has been hosting an ongoing series of workshops around the world, focusing on new speaker training and diversity awareness for WordCamp organizers.

EP432 – Solutions to the Active Growth Problem

EP432 – Solutions to the Active Growth Problem

This week on WPwatercooler we will continue our discussion with John James Jacoby and Matt Cromwell from EP23 of Dev Branch about the WordPress plugin repo’s Active Install Growth Chart. In this episode, we’ll focus on the effects of the removal of the chart on the community, including how the data was used by the wider WordPress ecosystem and the community’s response to the removal.

EP426 – Why does it burn when I WebP?

EP426 – Why does it burn when I WebP?

This week on WPwatercooler we’re going to be discussing the WebP file format and native support for it in WordPress. With support for WebP being added in 2021, it is now merged into core with the intention of being the default image format for WordPress moving forward. We’ll be discussing this with Jon Brown of 9seeds, a longtime friend of the show who is overdue for a return visit.

EP425 – WordPress Naming – Banana-fana fo-fordPress

EP425 – WordPress Naming – Banana-fana fo-fordPress

Does WordPress have a naming problem? Is everything just going to be called JetPack in a few years? What about WordPress.com? Full Site Editor? Site Builder, Page Builder, Cosmic (we’re pulling for you Paul), Page Builder, GutenPage? We think WordPress has some naming issues we need to get addressed and the community is taking different […]

EP424 – Staging the Future for WordPress FSE

EP424 – Staging the Future for WordPress FSE

This week on WPwatercooler we’re continuing our discussion on Full Site Editor and will be talking with Daniel Schutzsmith and Vikas Singhal to talk about the development cycle and the future of staging sites as it relates to FSE. There are a few interesting solutions to doing a staging environment while continuing to build your website with block and the Full Site Editor, we’ll be discussing these.

EP423 – Converting your site to FSE

EP423 – Converting your site to FSE

This week on WPwatercooler we’re continuing our series on the Full Site Editor and are joined by Nick Diego who is a Developer Advocate at WP Engine and developer of Block Visibility. We’ll be talking with Nick on his journey through using FSE and how people should approach converting their sites to FSE after making the decision to do it.

EP413 – Full Site Editor for Agencies

EP413 – Full Site Editor for Agencies

The tangled Web we WordPress. This week on WPwatercooler we’re continuing a discussion we started last week on episode 412 which made its way onto Twitter where we discussed with Brian Gardner and Bill Erickson on using WordPress Full Site Editor and if it’s ready for Agencies to use. Are we really storing all this in post_content & post_meta? Where do we go from here?

EP408 – Selecting the right solution for your project

EP408 – Selecting the right solution for your project

On this episode, we will be discussing the methods we use to find the right solution to a problem we face on a project. Is it a SaaS intregration? WordPress plugin? We’re going to walk through knowing what questions to ask and identifying what features are the best fit for the project and for the budget you are working in. We’ve all been there and there is 100 ways to approach this, here are a few from us.

EP407 – A Second Helping of Governance: The PHP Foundation

EP407 – A Second Helping of Governance: The PHP Foundation

This week on WPwatercooler, Morten Rand-Hendriksen will join us to talk about governance with the PHP Foundation and the many aspects of the WordPress Foundation. We spent time on the program discussing the PHP Foundation, what they are doing well, what they are doing wrong, what we can learn from them, and how we might do something similar.

EP405 Forms and Functionality WPwatercooler Intro 1

EP405 – Forms and Functionality

This week on WPwatercooler were going to be discussing the form and functionality of… forms! Panel Jason Tucker – jasontucker.blog Steve Zehngut – zeek.com Sé Reed – sereedmedia.com Jason Cosper – jasoncosper.com Show Sponsors Check out InMotion hosting for 24/7 support and affordable prices, learn how you can launch your website in minutes at inmotionhosting.com Are You Looking For Brand […]

EP395 What makes a good WordPress plugin WPwatercooler

EP395 – What makes a good WordPress plugin

On this episode of WPwatercooler we’re going to be discussing what makes a good WordPress plugin? Obviously, over the 8 years we’ve been doing this show the answers have changed a bit but many have stayed the same. Is it a good user interface, one that looks like it’s supposed to be there? Is it good support? New features added all the time or what?

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EP394 – WordPress 5.8 “Tatum”

This week on the show we’re discussing the new WordPress version 58 release named “Tatum”. WordPress 58 Development Cycle – Make WordPress Core News – WordPress 58 Tatum – WordPress.org What’s New in WordPress 58 (Full Site Editing, WebP Images, Global Styles and Settings, and Much More) WordPress 58 – Yoast WordPress 58 “Tatum” – […]

EP391 Dealing with set it and forget it WordPress websites

EP391 – Dealing with set it and forget it WordPress websites

This week on WPwatercooler we’re discussing set it and forget it websites, you know the website you built for your friend and they never logged into it since the day you handed over the password. That website you build for a company in your city that uses it but has never logged into it.

We’re going to discuss the pitfalls of these websites and what solutions are there for sites like these.

EP389 Securing WordPress Users and Devs WPwatercooler

EP389 – Securing WordPress Users and Devs

On this episode of WPwatercooler we will be continuing our discussion from EP388 – Securing WordPress: Bots and Hackers but this time talking about how you can secure your WordPress from people you know such as developer and contractors building the site and your users if they are logging into the site at any point. There is a lot to talk about in this episode!

EP388 Securing WordPress Bots and Hackers WPwatercooler

EP388 – Securing WordPress: Bots and Hackers

On this episode of WPwatercooler we will be discussing how you can secure your WordPress website to defend against bots and hackers. This is a question that comes up all the time at our local WordPress Meetups and at our WordCamps and we thought we’d share with you the best methods to do so as well as understand what the information you get out of these tools should mean to you.

EP386 Customizing the WordPress dashboard

EP386 – Customizing the WordPress Dashboard

The WordPress dashboard, it’s been the same since the beginning. Can you customize the WordPress dashboard? What plugins can you use to do this? Why would you you want to? White Label CMS – WordPress plugin | WordPress.org Adminimize – WordPress plugin | WordPress.org Ultimate Dashboard – Custom WordPress Dashboard – WordPress plugin | WordPress.org […]

EP385 WordPress 5 7 WPwatercooler

EP385 – WordPress 5.7

On this episode, we will be discussing the release of WordPress 5.7. This release is named after Esperanza Spalding, a modern musical prodigy. As with all WordPress released, we will break down the latest changes to the release and what we have noticed about it. Full Site Editing Pre-Merge Overview – Team Updates Early Thoughts […]

EP384 Move Slow and Fix Things WPwatercooler

EP384 – Move Slow and Fix Things

This week we’re discussing WordPress releases and moving slow and fixing things. Making WordPress Releases Easier – Make WordPress Core The Four Seasons of WordPress Core Updates-2021 How Can WordPress Core and Plugin Development Maintain A Healthy Working Relationship? Panel Jason Tucker @jasontucker https://twitter.com/jasontucker​ Jason Cosper @boogah https://twitter.com/boogah​ Sé Reed @sereedmedia https://twitter.com/sereedmedia Show Sponsors Desktop […]

EP380 Working in WordPress to code or not to code

EP380 – Working in WordPress: to code or not to code

This week on WPwatercooler we’ll be discussing working in WordPress, to code or not to code. Show Sponsors Desktop Server – ServerPress https://www.servepress.com WPsitesync https://www.wpsitesync.com Cloudways – Cloudways is a managed WordPress hosting provider that offers 5 best-in-class cloud providers, giving you freedom of choice and flexibility to build amazing WordPress websites. It comes with […]

EP373 Why you should test your WordPress website in staging WPwatercooler

EP373 – Why you should test your WordPress website in staging

Does your webhost have a staging server? Have you ever run an update on your WordPress website and have it fail on you? Staging servers can save you in the event of an issue like this, we’ll explain how to add one to your workflow. In this episode we’re going to show you how using a staging server for updates to your WordPress website can be quite handy and save yourself some time and frustration. Watch the episode or share it with a friend if they would get something out of it.

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EP372 – Cloudflare APO for WordPress

This week we’re discussing CloudFlare’s Automatic Platform Optimization for WordPress Panel Jason Tucker @jasontucker Steve Zehngut @zengy Sé Reed @sereedmedia Jason Cosper @boogah ????Check out Bridget’s new book “Keys to Being Social: Being Real in a Virtual World” https://amzn.to/2HZELOq Sponsor Desktop Server – ServerPress https://serverpress.com

YouTube EP340 – WordCamp Long Beach Recap – The Future of WordPress

EP340 – WordCamp Long Beach Recap – The Future of WordPress

This week on WPwatercooler we talk about WordCamp Long Beach #WCLB and if we uncovered the Future of WordPress.

Join us on this episode of WPwatercooler by visiting our Participant guidelines page.

WPwatercooler network is sponsored by ServerPress makers of DesktopServer. Be sure to check them out at https://www.serverpress.com

EP319 – WPwatercooler Live at WordCamp OC 2019 #WCOC

EP319 – WPwatercooler Live at WordCamp OC 2019 #WCOC

This week on WPwatercooler we streamed live from WordCamp Orange County 2019. The majority of our regulars on WPwatercooler are local to Southern California and many of us attended WordCamp OC. The WordCamp organizers were gracious in giving us a timeslot just before their legendary Plugin-a-palooza event they do each year. As we most WPwatercooler episodes we didn’t have a topic planned and asked the audience what we should talk about. Here is the result!

EP302 – Replacing social media with your own website – WPwatercooler

EP302 – Replacing social media with your own website – WPwatercooler

On this episode of WPwatercooler, the panel delved into the evolution of personal websites and the challenges they face in the era of dominant social media platforms. The discussion kicked off with the team reminiscing about their early days on the internet, from building on platforms like Geocities to starting with basic HTML sites. As […]