Episode 32 Bud Kraus - CourtneyR.dev's 2nd Brain

Episode 32: Bud Kraus ![rw-book-cover](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0dI3nce6G_c/maxresdefault.jpg) 🔗 **Source:** [Episode 32: Bud Kraus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: [community-and-code, wordpress-community, block-editor, podcasting, ai-and-creative-work, elementor] > author: Bud Kraus > source: Community & Code > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c > date created: 2026-09-22 > > > [!info] Generated analysis — not the author's words. Sections below are machine-written > > from the captured source. Only text inside `> [!quote]` blocks is verbatim from the author. > > Do not quote or attribute any other line to the named author. > > # 🏷️ Title: Episode 32: Bud Kraus >  ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### 🔗 References - [Episode 32: Bud Kraus (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c) - [Seriously Bud podcast](https://seriouslybud.com) — URL as spoken; not visited - [Joy of WP](https://joyofwp.com) — Bud's professional site, URL as spoken; not visited ## 📝 Summary - **What happened:** Chris Reynolds (host of Community & Code; says he works at Pantheon) interviews Bud Kraus (captions spell it "Krauss"), a WordPress educator and "content creative" in the community since 2009 per the intro, who now hosts the weekly Seriously Bud podcast (episode 110 due "this Friday"). The 50:46 conversation covers how the show started, Bud's route into tech and WordPress, a WordPress-vs-Drupal ownership theory, science fiction as a technology forecast, AI, and a sharp critique of the block editor's direction. - **Why it matters:** two community veterans say out loud that the block editor has regressed on simple tasks and that Elementor's reach is a market signal core hasn't answered. Chris offers a governance explanation: WordPress runs as a project, not a product, so it has no product roadmap or customer advisory loop. - **Key stakeholders:** WordPress core and Gutenberg contributors, site builders on block themes, page-builder vendors (Elementor), content writers and educators facing AI, podcast hosts in the WordPress community. - **Risks and tradeoffs:** market-share and layoff figures for Elementor come from the speakers' memory, not sources; the critique rests on one navigation use case. Bud says he doesn't want to criticize the people working on the project while he criticizes the result. - **Bottom line:** the episode's durable ideas are (1) hands-on control creates the sense that "WordPress is mine," and (2) a feature that was easy in classic themes and is hard in block themes is a regression, whatever else improved. ## 📖 Main Content - **Seriously Bud's origin.** Bud says the whole show (format, music, his daughter's intro) came to him in an Uber leaving WordCamp US 2023 in Washington, DC; only the name came later, from his designer. He had earlier mocked Bob Dunn for podcasting. A 19-day Amtrak loop around the US in 2017–18, talking to strangers, built the interviewing habit. The show avoids WordPress shop talk and asks about guests' lives. - **Stories as the only barrier to speaking.** Chris argues the only difference between people who call themselves speakers and people who don't is believing their stories are worth telling. - **Route into tech.** Original 1960s Star Trek. Bud calls himself a technology user more than a builder ("I don't need to know how the microwave works"). He taught HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, WordPress, and some JavaScript in New York City classrooms and learned that a mix of entertainment and education keeps a room's attention. - **Route into WordPress.** A client at the Grand Central Oyster Bar told him to learn it and lent a login. Building a child theme on the Thematic framework produced the "this is mine" moment; he then taught WordPress classes to long waitlists (he dates this 2011–13). He now mentors in the WP Credits program. Note: the transcript says the Oyster Bar lunch was in "2019," which conflicts with the 2009 start and 2011–13 classes; treat as a caption or speech error, unverified. - **Ownership theory (Chris).** Drupal sites often have a configuration layer run by specialist site builders so editors never touch content types; WordPress admin is simple enough that the owner does the configuration, and doing it yourself creates ownership. Chris calls this a possible factor in WordPress's success, not a proven cause. - **Sci-fi as forecast.** Next Generation-era tablets, the smartwatch, Get Smart. Bud predicts airports will become "teleports" and argues "impossible" is a claim that expires ("it was impossible to fly over the ocean"). Color TV adoption, per Bud, was marketed around NFL Sunday broadcasts (his claim; unverified here). - **AI.** Bud says AI makes him "dumber" and "smarter" at once and prefers "reskilling" to "deskilling." He expects the next phase to be agentic: the assistant does the task instead of listing steps. He likes AI that's invisible inside a tool (he names Wispr Flow) and dislikes not knowing whether content is AI-made, especially content that influences decisions. He says he has no "AI radar" and doubts most people do. His career advice: bring your authentic self, because AI can't reproduce that. - **Block editor critique.** Bud's test case: a navigation label that isn't a link, with a dropdown under it, on Twenty Twenty-Five. In classic themes you'd add a custom link with `#` and remove the URL; on the block theme he calls it "torture," even with AI help and JavaScript. His rule: if something was easy in the past and isn't now, that's a bad situation. He says WordPress "has lost its way," that the Gutenberg four-phase plan had no room to change course, and that the block editor-as-universal-language vision (other platforms adopting it) won't happen. - **Elementor as signal.** Chris recalls Elementor's team telling him Elementor powers about 33% of WordPress sites; Bud notes it was 10% not long ago and that Elementor recently laid off a third of roughly 300 staff. Both figures are the speakers' recollections, not verified here. Chris: any other company would put its resources behind the dominant flavor, but WordPress is "a project but it's not really managed like a product." - **Drupal and Gutenberg (Chris).** Chris says the Drupal community evaluated Gutenberg as its editor, came close, backed out, and built its own, which he thinks does what full-site editing should have. Unverified; which Drupal tool he means isn't named. - **7.0 and real-time collaboration (Bud).** Bud says real-time collaboration was the headline for WordPress 7.0 and didn't ship. Attributed to Bud; not checked against release notes. - **Uncertain proper nouns (auto-captions):** "Bington Weineberg," "Marcus Bernett," "Jackie Goldstein," "Angie" (Elementor AI product), "Thesis/Thematic" themes — spellings unverified. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=18s) Cold open - Chris Reynolds previews: Uber ride out of WordCamp US became a 100+ episode weekly podcast; Bud in the community since 2009; teleports; AI; ownership; block editor; Elementor at a third of the web. #### ⏱️ [01:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=90s) Who Bud is - "Content creative": writes articles and educational material for WordPress businesses; sees that work shrinking with AI. - Seriously Bud drops Fridays at 8 a.m. Eastern; conversations about guests' lives, not WordPress. #### ⏱️ [04:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=261s) Stories worth telling - Chris: the only thing separating speakers from non-speakers is feeling your stories are worth telling. - Bud: at 15, a friend predicted he'd love storytelling. Chris: people who start speaking "against type" often get hooked after a couple of talks. #### ⏱️ [07:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=425s) Talk radio to podcasts - Bud falls asleep to talk radio; always wanted to host a talk show. Chris: podcasts are talk radio now, and voices in your ears are an intimate form of connection. - Low barrier to entry: "everybody can do it. Not necessarily well." #### ⏱️ [09:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=540s) The Uber idea - Used to tease Bob Dunn for podcasting. Leaving WordCamp US 2023 (Washington, DC), the whole format arrived at once. Name came from his designer. - Plan: friends first, then acquaintances, then strangers worldwide. #### ⏱️ [11:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=682s) The Amtrak loop - 2017–18, 19 days around the US by train; asking strangers questions built the interviewing skill. Episode 110 due that Friday. #### ⏱️ [13:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=788s) Star Trek and teaching code - Original Star Trek sparked the interest; he likes using tech, not knowing how the microwave works. - Taught code in NYC; learned the entertainment-plus-education formula; his wife knew class went well when "they laughed at all the jokes." #### ⏱️ [16:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=975s) How he found WordPress - Oyster Bar lunch; a client said learn WordPress and shared a login. Bud: "I'm a rage against the machine kind of guy." - Thesis and Thematic themes; Thematic taught child themes. "Oh, this is mine." Classes had people lining up; now mentors via WP Credits. #### ⏱️ [19:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=1154s) Ownership: WordPress vs Drupal - Chris (Pantheon, works in both): Drupal has a professional configuration layer; WordPress admin is simple enough that owners click the buttons themselves, which may create ownership. - Bud: pages, posts, media, links — then a child theme that worked, and "my head exploded." Functions file came three years later; `@import` stylesheets nostalgia. #### ⏱️ [22:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=1355s) Sci-fi that stopped being fiction - Next Gen tablets; Bud says Steve Jobs cited Star Trek (unverified). Teleports replacing airports; "impossible to fly over the ocean, too." - Codec/packet-switching riff on teleporting; Chris cites Clarke's "sufficiently advanced technology" line. #### ⏱️ [27:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=1620s) Everyday tech from the future - Chris: Apple Watch, Get Smart, Jetsons. Bud: parents had an ice delivery before a refrigerator; color TV sold via NFL Sunday games; NBC peacock. #### ⏱️ [29:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=1792s) AI: dumber and smarter - "I can't tell you" where it's going. Deskilling vs reskilling. Next phase: agentic AI that does the task. - Too many companies "sticking" AI into products; prefers invisible AI (Wispr Flow). - Rate of change over 25 years disrupts society; not knowing what's AI-made bothers him; no "AI radar." #### ⏱️ [35:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=2130s) Anxiety in web communities - Chris: if a robot does my job faster, where does that leave me? Bud: reinvent yourself; bring your authentic self; Seriously Bud's brand is something AI can't reproduce. #### ⏱️ [37:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=2258s) The block editor has "lost its way" - Bud isn't excited about WordPress design direction. Non-link nav label with dropdown on Twenty Twenty-Five is "torture"; in classic themes it took a `#` custom link. - "Is it any wonder that Elementor now accounts for a third" of WordPress sites. #### ⏱️ [40:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=2428s) Elementor's reach and core governance - Chris recalls a livestream with Miriam Schwab on Elementor's AI product ("Angie"); Elementor cited ~33% of WordPress sites. - Chris: WordPress is a project, not a product — no product roadmap, no consumer advisory boards. - Bud: Gutenberg's four phases had no off-ramp; he saw Elementor early at an NYC meetup and thought "game changer"; wondered why WordPress didn't buy it. #### ⏱️ [44:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=2670s) Drupal passed on Gutenberg - Chris: Drupal evaluated Gutenberg, backed out, built its own, and did it better (his view). - Bud: the block editor as a cross-platform language "is just not going to happen"; project "rudderless"; real-time collaboration missed for 7.0 (his claim). #### ⏱️ [46:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=2810s) Wrap-up - Role reversal: Bud asks Chris who he wants as guests; Chris has a growing list. - Find Bud at seriouslybud.com (archive, newsletter, guest application) and joyofwp.com; Twitter/X and Make WordPress Slack as joyofwp; Post Status; Facebook. Generational platform joke: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. ## 📚 References - [Episode 32: Bud Kraus — Community & Code](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c) — primary source - [Seriously Bud](https://seriouslybud.com) — Bud's podcast (spoken URL, unverified) - [Joy of WP](https://joyofwp.com) — Bud's professional site (spoken URL, unverified) - [Gutenberg roadmap phases (WordPress.org)](https://wordpress.org/about/roadmap/) — for the "four stages" claim - [Twenty Twenty-Five theme](https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwentyfive/) — the theme Bud tested ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Chris opens by saying Bud's Seriously Bud began as an idea in an Uber after WordCamp US and grew past 100 episodes, and previews Star Trek, teleports, AI, ownership, and block-editor frustration. - Bud describes himself as a content creative whose writing market is shrinking because of AI, and his podcast as life stories, not WordPress talk. - Both agree the barrier to speaking or podcasting is believing your story is worth telling, and that podcasts are today's talk radio. - Bud traces his interviewing to a 19-day Amtrak loop and his tech interest to Star Trek; teaching code taught him that entertaining people keeps them listening. - A client pushed him to WordPress; building a child theme made it feel like his, and Chris ties that feeling to WordPress admin being simple enough to configure yourself, unlike Drupal. - On AI, Bud doesn't know where it's heading, expects agents that act rather than advise, wants AI to be invisible or disclosed, and tells worried creators to lean on what's personal. - Bud says the block editor made easy things hard, points to Elementor's reported share as proof, and Chris explains the gap as a governance issue: an open-source project has no product roadmap. ## 📰 Newsletter - **"If you can do something from the past and you can't do it easily in the future… that is a bad situation."** Bud Kraus tells Chris Reynolds on [Community & Code episode 32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c) that a non-link menu label with a dropdown took one `#` in a classic theme and turned into an afternoon of "torture" on Twenty Twenty-Five. Block theme builders: that's a concrete test case worth reproducing and, if it holds, filing. - The better idea is Chris's: WordPress feels like *yours* because you click the buttons yourself, where Drupal often hands configuration to specialists. That's a testable claim about why people stick with WordPress. - Want a WordPress podcast that isn't about WordPress? Bud's [Seriously Bud](https://seriouslybud.com) drops Fridays at 8 a.m. Eastern. ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Developer advocacy: reproduce Bud's non-link navigation label with a submenu on Twenty Twenty-Five and publish the steps, or the gap. - Education: borrow the entertainment-plus-education formula for workshops; measure it by participation, not just completion. - Developer experience: a "classic-to-block" equivalence table for common navigation patterns (custom `#` link, label-only parent item). - Developer marketing: not applicable to this source — no campaign content. - Community management: podcast guest pipelines — Bud's friends → acquaintances → strangers progression as an onboarding model for new hosts. - Internal/external/cross-project: talk with Drupal contributors about why they passed on Gutenberg (Chris's claim) and document the reasons. #### OSPO - Policy & Governance: Chris's project-vs-product point — define who owns product decisions and course corrections in a contributor-run project. - License Compliance: not applicable to this source. - Security Management: not applicable to this source. - Software Inventory: not applicable to this source. - Developer Support: not applicable to this source. - Community Engagement: user advisory input channels for open-source projects that lack a product owner. - Strategic Alignment: track plugin-ecosystem share (page builders) as a signal for core priorities. #### Community - Maintainers: publish off-ramps in multi-phase roadmaps so a phase can be dropped or reordered. - Contributors: first-time speakers — Chris's "your stories are worth telling" framing for speaker mentorship. - Sponsors: not applicable to this source. - Ecosystem: page-builder and core teams comparing usability findings on the same tasks. #### WordPress - Core: triage "things easy in classic that are hard in block themes" as regressions. - Core Performance: not applicable to this source. - Core AI: disclosure norms for AI-generated content, per Bud's discomfort at not knowing. - **Core Program Team:** a feedback loop resembling a customer advisory board for editor direction. - Mobile: not applicable to this source. - Playground: a Playground blueprint that reproduces the label-only navigation item on Twenty Twenty-Five. - Community: podcast and meetup formats built on life stories, like Seriously Bud. - Training: Learn WordPress lesson on label-only submenu parents in the Navigation block. - Marketing: not applicable to this source. - Support: forum FAQ for the non-link navigation parent item. - Design: usability study comparing Navigation block tasks to the classic Menus screen. - Documentation: HelpHub note mapping classic menu tricks to Navigation block equivalents. - Photos: not applicable to this source. - TV: caption review for Community & Code uploads (auto-captions garble guest names). - Polyglots: not applicable to this source. - Accessibility: label-only navigation parents need correct button semantics for submenu toggles; check the block's output. - Meta: not applicable to this source. - CLI: not applicable to this source. - Hosting: not applicable to this source. - Tide: not applicable to this source. - Openverse: not applicable to this source. - Themes: default themes should cover a label-only parent menu item in their demo content. - Plugins: study why page builders hold share; which tasks drive adoption. #### The WPOCC - Programs: mentorship like WP Credits for learners entering WordPress through academic programs. - Projects: a community "regression list" sprint collecting classic-easy, block-hard tasks. - Funding experiments: not applicable to this source. ### FAIR - Technical independence: not applicable to this source. - Policies and covenants: not applicable to this source. - Productized governance artifacts: a lightweight product-direction charter for projects without a product owner. ## 🧪 Hypotheses - H1: Site owners who configure their own WordPress sites report higher ownership and retention than sites configured by a third party. - H2: Common navigation tasks take longer in the Navigation block on Twenty Twenty-Five than in the classic Menus screen. - H3: Page-builder adoption among new WordPress sites correlates with block-editor task difficulty on layout tasks. - H4: Most readers can't distinguish AI-written from human-written WordPress tutorials above chance. - H5: Workshops that mix humor with instruction get higher attention and completion than lecture-only sessions. ## 📊 Methodology - H1: survey plus retention data from hosts, split by who did initial configuration; control for site size. - H2: moderated usability test, 10–15 participants, timed tasks including a label-only parent with submenu, on both editors. - H3: public site-scan data (e.g. BuiltWith-style detection) over time against editor release dates; correlational only. - H4: blind classification study with paired human/AI tutorial excerpts. - H5: A/B workshop sections with attention checks and follow-up assessments. ## ❓ Questions - Does a label-only navigation parent with a submenu work in current Twenty Twenty-Five without custom code? - What source does the 33% Elementor share figure come from, and what denominator? - Why did Drupal pass on Gutenberg, and what did it build instead? - Who in WordPress can decide to drop or reorder a Gutenberg phase? - Does "reskilling" describe what writers displaced by AI are doing, or a hope? ## 🔮 Future Research - Governance of open-source products without a product owner: how Drupal, WordPress, and others set direction. - Ownership psychology in CMS adoption. - Disclosure and detection of AI-generated technical writing. ## 💡 Implications - **Practice:** block theme builders should keep a list of classic patterns and their block equivalents; gaps become tickets. - **Policy:** multi-year roadmaps need explicit decision points to change course. - **Security:** not applicable to this source. - **Education:** WordPress teaching gains from the "this is mine" moment — let learners build something they control early (a child theme then, a block theme or pattern now). - **Funding models:** writers and educators in the ecosystem report shrinking paid work; community programs may need to fund education directly. ## 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment - Reading level estimate: conversational transcript, roughly Flesch-Kincaid grade 6–8 (estimated, not computed); heavy filler and crosstalk. #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: video interview; frames weren't checked, so no claims about visuals. - Improve: chapter markers and a screen recording of the navigation problem. #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: full audio conversation. - Improve: audio-only podcast feed and a 3-minute highlights cut. #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: stories (Uber, Amtrak, Oyster Bar) and analogies (microwave, teleports). - Improve: a written episode summary with links. #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: none. - Improve: a reproducible Playground demo of the navigation task. #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: the "easy then, hard now = regression" rule; project-vs-product argument. - Improve: sourced numbers for Elementor share and layoffs. #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: two-person conversation; guest recommendations exchange. - Improve: a discussion thread for listener navigation workarounds. #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: reflection on stories worth telling. - Improve: prompt: "What made WordPress feel like yours?" #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: none. - Improve: not applicable to this source. ## 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: not assessable from transcript. - Improve: episode description with headings and links. #### Keyboard navigation - Present: not assessable (YouTube player). - Improve: not applicable to this source. #### Contrast and readability - Present: not assessable; frames weren't checked. - Improve: not applicable to this source. #### Text resizing and reflow - Present: not assessable. - Improve: not applicable to this source. #### Media and captions - Present: auto-captions exist (this transcript); they garble names ("Krauss," "Bington Weineberg"). - Improve: edited captions and a published transcript (WCAG 1.2.2 Captions, 1.2.8 Media Alternative). #### Forms and interactions - Present: none. - Improve: not applicable to this source. #### Standards reference - Main gap: caption accuracy under WCAG 1.2.2. Content-side: Bud's navigation case touches submenu toggle semantics (WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value). ## 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: US-centric (NYC, Amtrak, NFL, US TV); Bud mentions guests "from around the world." - Improve: note non-US contexts for WP Credits. #### Inclusive language - Present: casual; "guys had to have it in color" and "men would want to buy this" describe 1960s marketing. - Improve: define references (Star Trek, Get Smart) for younger listeners, which Bud himself notes. #### Neurodiversity support - Present: meandering structure; no chapters. - Improve: timestamps and chapter titles. #### Representation - Present: two men; references to Miriam Schwab and other community members. - Improve: not applicable to this source beyond guest diversity across the series. #### Psychological safety - Present: age teasing handled with humor; Bud separates critique of the product from respect for contributors. - Improve: not applicable to this source. ## ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Regression criterion (~39:05): a task possible and easy before, hard now, is a measurable regression — a clear, testable standard. - Ownership mechanism (~21:00): Chris proposes a mechanism (who does configuration) and labels it "a factor," not the cause. - Governance explanation (~42:20): links lack of product roadmap to inability to follow the Elementor signal. #### Fallacies - **Hasty generalization** — one navigation task supports "WordPress has lost its way" (~39:30). Fix: list several tasks. - **Unsourced statistic / appeal to popularity** — "a third of all WordPress sites use Elementor. What does that tell you?" (~40:15). Share doesn't prove the block editor is at fault; many Elementor sites predate it. Fix: cite the data and compare new-site adoption. - **Argument from possibility** — "If the human brain can think of it… we're probably going to get there" (~26:15). Fix: frame as optimism, not inference. - **Appeal to AI authority** — "I've asked AI how to build it and… AI says it can be done" (~24:10). Fix: cite physics sources. #### Tone of voice - Warm, joking, self-deprecating ("cut that out"); turns frank and disappointed in the block-editor section. ## 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: none identified. - Attack: none identified; Bud explicitly declines to blame contributors ("so many smart people that work on the project"). - Reverse victim/offender: none identified. - Not applicable to this source — a friendly interview with product criticism, no accusation or dispute. ## 🎯 Conclusion - Bottom line: Bud Kraus and Chris Reynolds name two things worth testing: that self-configuration makes WordPress feel owned, and that classic-easy, block-hard tasks explain part of page-builder adoption. - Next step: reproduce the label-only navigation parent on Twenty Twenty-Five; if it's still hard, file it with the classic-theme comparison. ## 🔄 Refactor Appendix — Episode 32: Bud Kraus ### 📚 Literature Atoms (H3) #### [H1] Control turns WordPress into "mine" > [!quote] ID:rw_01m34hzafk7bkc03gmcc0f2b4y > there comes a point for people that get hooked on this thing that WordPress is theirs **Context & use**: - ⏱️ 18:08, after building a Thematic child theme - The onboarding moment worth designing for in WordPress teaching. **Tags**: #xref **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hzafk7bkc03gmcc0f2b4y)  #### [H2] Doing the configuration yourself creates ownership > [!quote] ID:rw_01m34hzbkfn59nmx6g2nv42bz2 > you wouldn't feel that level of ownership if you weren't the ones that are clicking all the buttons **Context & use**: - ⏱️ 21:13, Chris Reynolds contrasting WordPress with Drupal - Mechanism claim for WordPress adoption; testable. **Tags**: #xref #articleseed **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hzbkfn59nmx6g2nv42bz2)  #### [H3] Easy-then, hard-now is a regression > [!quote] ID:rw_01m34hze6er6pf1dd91q1cv9r6 > If you can do something from the past and you can't do it easily in the future like or that is a bad situation **Context & use**: - ⏱️ 39:08, label-only nav item on Twenty Twenty-Five - A usable triage rule for block-editor gaps. **Tags**: #xref #aphorisms **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hze6er6pf1dd91q1cv9r6)  #### [H4] WordPress runs as a project, not a product > [!quote] ID:rw_01m34hzf8hxtdazwvmnb773zdy > WordPress is a project but it's not really managed like a product um because it's it's open source anybody can contribute **Context & use**: - ⏱️ 42:25, Chris Reynolds on why core didn't follow Elementor's signal - Governance frame for FAIR and WPOCC discussions. **Tags**: #xref **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hzf8hxtdazwvmnb773zdy)  #### [H5] Authenticity is what AI can't do for you > [!quote] ID:rw_01m34hzck5312jv9hnw2ctfdmh > bring your authentic self to whatever you do because AI can't do that for you. **Context & use**: - ⏱️ 36:28, Bud's answer to AI job anxiety - Career advice for writers and educators; a claim, not evidence. **Tags**: #xref **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hzck5312jv9hnw2ctfdmh)  ### 🧠 Permanent Candidates (H4) #### [P1] Ownership comes from doing the configuration **Claim** (one sentence, Courtney's voice): People stay with a tool when they configured it themselves, so any product that hands setup to specialists trades away the feeling that it's theirs. **Evidence pointer**: [[#[H2] Doing the configuration yourself creates ownership]] **Scope & conditions**: holds for self-serve tools; weaker in enterprise settings where configuration is a job. Counterexample: managed WordPress sites set up by agencies. **Links**: - [[IKEA effect]] — because extends - [[WordPress vs Drupal]] — because contrasts on who configures  #### [P2] A regression is a lost easy path **Claim** (one sentence, Courtney's voice): If users could do something easily before and can't now, it's a regression even when the new system is better overall. **Evidence pointer**: [[#[H3] Easy-then, hard-now is a regression]] **Scope & conditions**: applies to user tasks, not internal APIs; needs a named task to be actionable. **Links**: - [[wp-release-party]] — because applies-in release testing  ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue - [F1] Does a label-only Navigation parent with a submenu work in Twenty Twenty-Five without code? — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=2308s #fleeting #inbox - [F2] Source for "Elementor powers 33% of WordPress sites" and the Elementor layoff figure — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=2440s #fleeting #inbox - [F3] What did Drupal build after passing on Gutenberg? — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI3nce6G_c&t=2690s #fleeting #inbox ### → Things 3 (max 2 actions) - [ ] Reproduce Bud's label-only nav dropdown on Twenty Twenty-Five in Playground — block-editor regression check #things  📄 **Full text:** [[Full Document Contents/Articles/Episode 32 Bud Kraus.md|Episode 32: Bud Kraus by Bud Kraus]] ## Highlights - is that if you did it the right way, sort of like a mixture of entertainment and education, they will listen to you and you can talk about anything. It doesn't matter. You have their ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hz9dy8qraz7ggqbntnb5x)) - Note: Bud's teaching rule from NYC code classes: entertainment plus education holds attention. - Tags: atom/literature/h3 - this is mine." Because there comes a point for people that get hooked on this thing that WordPress is theirs in the sense that you could do whatever you want to do with this. And that's ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hzafk7bkc03gmcc0f2b4y)) - Note: The ownership moment: building a child theme turned WordPress into "mine." - Tags: atom/literature/h1 - easy to understand. And I I I think that like yeah, that that that thing there of of of ownership. I think that you wouldn't feel that level of ownership >> if you [snorts] weren't the ones that are clicking all the buttons and ticking all the boxes, right? ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hzbkfn59nmx6g2nv42bz2)) - Note: Chris Reynolds' WordPress vs Drupal hypothesis: hands-on config creates ownership. Candidate permanent note. - Tags: atom/zettel/z1 - >> it can't it can't and what you know, it can't do it for you. And what that really means, as far as I can tell, is bring your authentic self to whatever you do because AI can't do that for you. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hzck5312jv9hnw2ctfdmh)) - Note: Bud's answer to AI job anxiety for writers and devs: reinvent around what's personal. - Tags: atom/literature/h2 - I mean, and now I can't see. If you can do something from the past and you can't do it easily in the future like or that is a bad situation ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hze6er6pf1dd91q1cv9r6)) - Note: Regression framing: a non-link nav label with a dropdown was trivial in classic themes (custom link, # removed), hard in Twenty Twenty-Five. - Tags: action/h1 - whatever because WordPress is a project but it's not really managed like a product um because it's it's open source anybody can contribute which means that there's no product roadmap there's no you know like like there's user testing ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01m34hzf8hxtdazwvmnb773zdy)) - Note: Chris Reynolds on why core didn't follow the Elementor signal: project vs product governance. - Tags: atom/literature/h3