Build Mode Live: November 2022 Sessions

November was a big month for the WordPress community, with the highly anticipated WordPress 6.1 “Misha” releasing on November 1st.

Summary

This month we hosted three Build Mode Live calls. During these calls we discussed the stability of future WordPress releases, what it means to be a WordPress developer today, and what builders still want to see brought into WordPress core.

Key Takeaways

• The idea of being a “WordPress Developer” has shifted – there are some feelings within the community about not feeling qualified enough to be referred to as a “developer” anymore
• There are nuanced differences between the terms: users, developers, builders, and clients – and how they interact with WordPress
• Builders have a lot of feature requests to improve WordPress core including:
  • being able to set a default featured image
  • media replace
  • the ability to create a quick post (like this plugin)
  • SVG support
  • folders for pages
  • simple page ordering
  • reordering columns on mobile (and other smaller responsiveness features)
  • forms
  • accessibility by default

Resources & Links

We share a lot of resources during these sessions, here are some of the most valuable references made this month:

• What a Semantic Patterns in WordPress? by Nick Diego
• TT3 default theme: Announcing style variation selections on WordPress.org
• Create Block WordPress Block Editor Handbook
• Genesis Blocks by StudioPress
• An Introduction to Spacing Presets by Brian Gardner
• AinoBlocks by ElmaStudio
• My Eyes are Up Here WordPress plugin for smart image cropping

What’s Next for Build Mode

As we approach the end of the year, we will focus on more human-centered topics during the December Build Mode sessions.

• Business focused conversations such as how to book projects this year that you start next year.
  
• A conversation about mental health as a WordPress builder or developer
  
• Marketing and lead generation as a freelance WordPress expert

If you are interested in attending an upcoming Build Mode session, you can sign up using this link and join us.

Here’s the list of December 2022’s sessions. All calls are at 11 am ET:

• December 2, 2022
• December 9, 2022
• December 16, 2022

Let us know you’ll be there by tagging or DM-ing us on Twitter, @hellosammunoz and @bgardner. You can also follow along with topics and feedback with #BuildModeLive on Twitter.

Until next time, start building! 🛠