Tim Nash’s Post  ## Metadata - Author: [[Tim Nash]] - Full Title: Tim Nash’s Post - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: [OpenSourceAdvocacy, WordPressCommunity, ContributorEngagement] Author: Tim Nash Source: LinkedIn Post Reference: [LinkedIn Post](https://lnkd.in/eFF64a_S) date created: 2024-09-12 10:15 --- # Title: Automattic’s Block Editor Update: A Potential Game-Changer ## 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) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ## 📝 Summary: Tim Nash expresses renewed excitement about WordPress' block editor after Automattic's latest update. While acknowledging that the update still needs polish, Nash highlights its potential to simplify workflows, especially with custom post types and fields. ## 📖 Main Content: Tim Nash, a seasoned WordPress professional, recently discussed an update to the block editor released by Automattic. Although previously fatigued by block editor developments, Nash was impressed by how quickly and intuitively he could create a custom post type with fields and layout in about 45 seconds. While the interface still requires refinement, he believes this update signals a significant shift, especially for users and developers who rely heavily on Advanced Custom Fields (ACF). Nash noted that the release could pose competition to ACF, though he remains optimistic about how ACF will evolve in response. Other WordPress developers echoed his sentiments, noting that features like JSON export and custom post types might enhance the user experience. ### 🗒️ Notes - **Tim Nash’s excitement**: Renewed interest in WordPress block editor after Automattic’s update. - **Automattic's release**: A significant update that simplifies creating custom post types and fields. - **Potential ACF competition**: Automattic’s update could challenge ACF but also push innovation. - **Community feedback**: Other developers shared similar excitement about the update's potential. ## 📖 References: - LinkedIn Post: [Tim Nash's Post](https://lnkd.in/eFF64a_S) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. Tim Nash had become somewhat disengaged from the development of the block editor due to fatigue, but Automattic's latest update re-sparked his interest. The ease and speed with which he could create custom content types and layouts impressed him, even though the interface still needs refinement. 2. Other WordPress developers in the comments highlighted how these updates, especially features like JSON export, could improve workflows for developers. The excitement around this update indicates it could significantly influence how developers approach custom content creation in WordPress. ## 📰 Newsletter: In our latest WordPress roundup, there's a buzz in the community about Automattic's recent block editor update. Tim Nash, a well-known WordPress consultant, shared his excitement about how quickly he could create custom post types and layouts with the new feature. While the UI still needs work, Nash believes this is a game-changer for those who have been relying on Advanced Custom Fields (ACF). Developers are eager to see how this update influences the future of WordPress development. Stay tuned for more on this and other WordPress news in our upcoming issue! ## ✅ Action Items: As a Developer Advocate deeply involved in open-source advocacy, this article aligns with my focus on simplifying tools for contributors and making WordPress more accessible to a broader range of users. The update to the block editor directly impacts contributor engagement, as it streamlines the process of creating custom post types and layouts. This simplicity encourages more users to get involved, even those without extensive development experience. ## 🧪 Hypotheses: 1. If Automattic continues refining the block editor, it could reduce the reliance on ACF, leading to more widespread use of built-in WordPress features. 2. Developers who have been hesitant to use the block editor might reconsider once they see the improvements in ease of use. ### 📊 Methodology: Future research could involve conducting surveys with WordPress developers and users to gauge how the update affects their workflows. A comparative analysis between ACF users and those who have adopted the updated block editor could reveal shifts in user preferences. ### ❓ Questions: - How will this update impact the use of Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)? - Will Automattic continue to prioritize ease of use in future block editor updates? ### 🔮 Future Research: 1. Investigating how this update affects ACF adoption rates. 2. Exploring how quickly new contributors can onboard with WordPress using the updated block editor. ### 💡 Implications: Future research could influence how WordPress prioritizes development in the block editor, potentially leading to a more streamlined experience for all users and contributing to greater community engagement. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment: 1. **Visual Learners (Spatial)**: - **Present**: The visual interface of the block editor supports visual learners. - **Improve**: Adding more drag-and-drop capabilities and visual tutorials could enhance understanding. 2. **Aural Learners (Auditory-Musical)**: - **Present**: None. - **Improve**: Providing an audio guide or walkthrough video would benefit auditory learners. 3. **Verbal Learners (Linguistic)**: - **Present**: The article includes descriptive language and explanations of how the update works. - **Improve**: Add more detailed examples of how to use the features in different scenarios. 4. **Physical Learners (Kinesthetic)**: - **Present**: The block editor is interactive, allowing hands-on experimentation. - **Improve**: Offer a step-by-step guide for users to follow along with while using the editor. 5. **Logical Learners (Mathematical)**: - **Present**: The structure and flow of creating custom post types are logically laid out. - **Improve**: Adding a logical breakdown of how the update compares to using ACF could appeal more to these learners. ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment: - **Screen Reader Compatibility**: Ensure that the new block editor update is compatible with screen readers and that all elements are navigable. - **Keyboard Navigation**: The block editor should support full keyboard navigation for users with disabilities. ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment: - **Cultural Relevance**: The update should be accompanied by diverse tutorials that include examples from various global communities. - **Inclusive Language**: Automattic’s documentation should use gender-neutral language to foster inclusivity. - **Neurodiversity Support**: Offering clear, structured guidance for users with ADHD or ASD would make the block editor more accessible. ### ✅ Logical validity: The argument that the new block editor update simplifies workflows is valid and well-supported by both Tim Nash’s experiences and other developer feedback. The conclusion logically follows from the evidence presented, especially given Nash’s background as a WordPress consultant. **Logical Strengths**: 1. **Sound Deductive Reasoning**: Nash’s conclusion about the block editor’s potential logically follows from his experience using it. 2. **Causal Reasoning**: The update directly causes a simpler workflow, supporting Nash’s excitement. ### 🔍 SEO Evaluation: 1. **Keywords**: Keywords like "WordPress block editor update" and "custom post types" are well-placed but could be more prominent in headers. 2. **Meta Description**: The post could benefit from a short meta description summarizing the update and its impact. 3. **Headers**: The post uses informal headings, but adding more structured headers could improve readability and SEO. 4. **Image Optimizatio - Document Tags: [[ciso]] [[security]] [[tim nash]] [[wordpress]] - Summary: Very few things recently have gotten me excited about the block editor. I think it's a little bit of development fatigue. So when we were talking about… | 16 comments on LinkedIn - URL: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7238912353407307776/ [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 2d Edited Very few things recently have gotten me excited about the block editor. I think it's a little bit of development fatigue. So when we were talking about data-bindings on WPBuilds I went, oooh but meh they sound niche and painful to use. Today Automattic released what amounts to the first warning shot across ACF bow. [https://lnkd.in/eFF64a\_S](https://lnkd.in/eFF64a_S?trk=public_post-text) It needs polish. It needs a lot of polish. However I made a custom post type, with custom fields and a custom layout in about 45 seconds. It was fairly intuitive, ish, maybe, the UI needs work 😂 But I'm genuinely excited for the first time about the block editor. I'm excited by this, and hopefully what ACF will do too. Video by the folks over at Automattic. [Mark Simchock](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mfsimchock?trk=public_post_comment_actor-name) Opinions are purely my own; not AI, not hyped-up or watered down to increase engagement, add followers, etc 2d The question is, how is that stored? What bothers me the most about Blocks is the content and presentation/markup is too tightly coupled. On the other hand, with ACF (via flexible content) you can deliver a UI / UX that's content-first. That is, no blocks. No out-the-wazoo block settings, etc. Just the content. There are plenty of projects there this isn't only nice to have, it's required. The idea that EVERYONE wants to work with a page builder - especially large sites - is a false assumption. Once all these blocks-based sites are in need of a redesign, the content and layout / design being so tightly coupled is going to be a problem. A big - listen to the client swear - problem. [Roger Williams](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerwilliamsmedia?trk=public_post_comment_actor-name) I help agencies and developers focus on building websites that build businesses | Community at Kinsta 1d This looks promising. This would increase custom post type usage which would make for a better user experience to those adding content to a site. [Anthony Vickery-Hartnell](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/anthonyvickery-hartnell?trk=public_post_comment_actor-name) Freelance WordPress developer. 1d This looks really interesting Tim, I need a few weeks to just test all the new features out. I still prefer to register custom post types in code rather than ACF but the JSON export looks like a really nice feature. The speed at which new updates are coming to WordPress at the moment is astonishing and I only just read about the block bindings API and it's being demoed right here in the video. [Brian Coords](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianallencoords?trk=public_post_comment_actor-name) Modern WordPress Developer and Educator 2d Thanks for sharing and very much agreed on the polish, this was just a two-week prototype actually. [Tony Ciccarone](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciccarone?trk=public_post_comment_actor-name) Coder, Builder & Designer since ‘04 | Custom WordPress | AI Makes Me Really Efficient | {PHP, CSS, JS, HTML, SQL} | Pianist & Songwriter & Juggler 2d Haha, I was literally just showing my wife this video 30 seconds ago saying “oh man, no more ACF baby!” [David Hoy](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/davidjameshoy?trk=public_post_comment_actor-name) Web and WordPress expert with 20 years experience. 2d 🤯 [Elliott Richmond](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/elliottrichmond?trk=public_post_comment_actor-name) WordPress Theme & Plugin Developer | HTML | CSS | JavaScript | PHP | MySQL | SSH && WordPress Meet-up Organiser 2d Game changer for sure! [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 1d Stop being such a \*\*\*\*ing ar\*\*hole, you piece of \*\*\*\*. That was the email I received from a client’s, now ex-developer. I often talk about review culture and how to overcome the "us vs them" mentality, making reviews a collaborative affair. But that's not always my role. Sometimes, I'm brought in as an auditor, and that requires a different skill set. My job is to review processes and decisions to give a business owner an independent understanding of what they are being told. Now, overwhelmingly, these engagements are positive. If there has been friction between a client and their development team, it's nearly always due to a combination of misunderstanding and a lack of a sufficiently defined scope. But occasionally, very occasionally, I walk into what can only be described as a disaster of a project. We often try to skirt around it, but sometimes there are unpleasant individuals involved, and you end up with exploitation on both sides. In this case, the development team had taken tens of thousands of pounds, delivered almost nothing, hushed up several security issues, and then ghosted the client. The client had reached the legal stage and requested an independent audit, that’s where I came in. It was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done: trying to write a purely factual report, without emotion, without stating outright that these people were conmen. I had to separate what I wanted to say from what I could prove. We all have that client story, the one we have to tell carefully, the one that sounds almost implausible. What’s yours? [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 5d Last night, I was chatting with a team who had booked a call with some questions about implementing stricter permission controls for WordPress. This morning, I’m writing a new Filesystem class for WordPress. This is how Open Source works: ideas spark ideas, which spark code. Not everything has to be about driving market share or even about how to fund it. Sometimes, things are done simply because they’re an interesting challenge or just fun. Want to encourage more people to contribute to open source? Make it enjoyable for them. [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 1w It's really great to see mandatory 2FA and the use of application passwords being rolled out to the WordPress plugin repository. [https://lnkd.in/ec9tmEui](https://lnkd.in/ec9tmEui?trk=public_post_main-feed-card-text) One of the biggest hurdles we have to update adoption I feel now is around trust, and this will provide just another layer so updates are coming from Plugin authors. 🎉 [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 1w Starting in September going to try something new, and stream on a Thursday afternoon here on LinkedIn. [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 1w Some days, the weather just works for you! I wanted to talk about the importance of clarity. As business owners, it’s possibly the most important thing you can seek. If you don’t know what is coming out of the fog, how can you prepare? So, it’s apt that today I woke to a world bathed in fog, my usual office view obscured, yet I could still hear the sounds, eerie sounds. As an agency owner, you hear sounds too. They are the tales of others, what went wrong when they ventured into the fog by themselves. It’s the voices of people saying, “Well, yes, but…” when you ask questions they are not entirely sure how to answer. The fog heightens all of our senses; we hear more, but we can also feel more. Walking in fog feels different, it makes you jumpy, reactive. You can’t help it; the shapes moving in the fog make you react. Too often, this translates to businesses pivoting or redirecting resources where they didn’t need to because a looming shape in the fog turns out to be just a tree. It doesn’t matter if it’s accessibility, security, finance, or development pipelines. Every business needs clarity over all aspects. So, with the start of autumn and the fog rolling in, join me and many others in allocating time for clarity. Where is the biggest fog in your business? [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 1w I know you are getting bored of hearing about it! But today is workshop day 🎉 🎉🎉🎉 You can still book on the workshop right up till 2.30pm BST it starts at 3PM! If you can't make the live the recordings will be available, shortly after. Do yourself and your organisation a favour and book yourself on it, this is the last guarenteed way to get access to the recordings. Head to [https://lnkd.in/erxGfCxV](https://lnkd.in/erxGfCxV?trk=public_post_main-feed-card-text) to book on! See you later!!! p.s: If you can like and share this post, I want to give everyone that last chance to book on! [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 2w A few months ago, I started thinking about how I could create "Tim on Demand." Originally, it was "CISO/Security Lead as a Service," but while that is essentially what a retainer offers, "an on-demand security person for your company", to be blunt, I'm much more than that. I know WordPress inside and out, and I’ve probably been using it longer than most of your colleagues. I’m also an experienced system administrator and developer. Hiring me even part-time is beyond the budget of most small to medium-sized agencies, and I’m best utilised in small bursts of high-intensity work, so consider bringing me on a timeshare basis. Tim on Demand I want to help you with all things security and provide additional DevOps support. What does that look like? Well, I have two "packages" that might suit you: my Block Mentorship (buy blocks of my time, usually in batches of 10 hours), which might appeal to you. However, the one I really want you to consider is the Retainer option. It’s not revolutionary; it’s like any other retainer. You pay a monthly fee for a set number of hours, usually five but sometimes as few as three. Where it stands out is that you get me properly integrated: - I’m in your Slack channels (no, seriously, I’m already there 👋 ). - You bring me into your stand-up meetings (not all of them, just occasionally). - You involve me in pitching and product development when needed. - You use me to help teach your team and improve their performance by getting them to think differently. And if something goes wrong, if a site gets hacked, a server goes down (not literally, that's best left to the fire brigade), or you can't make head nor tail of a log file, I'm there. If a bug is infuriating and you need a rubber duck, I’m there too. I call these incident responses, which sounds fancy but really just means I will help you diagnose and fix the issue. Finally, I’m here to help you understand and diagnose those weird CVEs (the announcements of security vulnerabilities) that inevitably get released on a Friday afternoon and advise you on whether it can wait until Monday or if it's a "NO, WE MUST TEAR EVERYTHING DOWN!" situation. I generally lean towards the former. So, that’s the sales pitch for Tim on Demand! Not quite sure if it’s for you? Take the first month with no commitment. That means your invoice will be £600, and let's make those five hours work for you. My goal is that, by the end of the month, you’ll see the value in your investment. All I need from you is an open mind and a willingness to invest in your agency’s and your clients’ security. At the end of the month, we’ll assess how we've done and decide whether to continue to a retainer. Slots are super limited. I know people say that, but there is a finite amount of me. I can help transform your business's security and DevOps pipelines for the better. If you’re ready for that, DM me, and we can jump on a call. [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 2w Did you know you can hardcode the capabilities of a WordPress role, as well as the roles on the site? Yes, you heard that right, no more SEO Manager needed, and you don’t even require a plugin or WP-CLI to achieve it! Let’s get technical for a moment... The function that checks which capabilities and roles exist on your site does so by first checking the presence of the $GLOBALS['wp\_user\_roles'] global variable. What is this? It’s an array that contains each role, its name, and its capabilities. This array is typically generated from the database, but if we hardcode it either in an MU plugin or by including it directly in [wp-config.php](http://wp-config.php?trk=public_post_main-feed-card-text), we can bypass the database and define the capabilities we want to assign manually. Just be careful: plugins can still add capabilities to roles, and if you don’t modify your code to account for this, your site might not work as expected. And remember, even though we’re hardcoding roles, it doesn’t mean that plugins won’t keep adding data to the database, nor does it mean they’ll clean it up! Image: Slide from my WordPress User Security Workshop (details in comments) [](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-image) [Tim Nash](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tnash?trk=public_post_main-feed-card_feed-actor-name) Consultant | Educator | Mentor | Geek | Professional Doomspeaker. Helping organisations like yours keep your WordPress sites safe, and you tucked up sleeping soundly at night. 2w Yes it's being recorded! You can get access by booking your place. My WordPress user security workshop is on Thursday the 29th of August. You can still book your tickets. If you haven't already you should! No seriously go book them. Even if you can't attend live we are recording the session and you will have access to the workshop. It will be the best £75 you spend! EVER (probably, maybe, possibly), Tim Nash’s Post, Tim Nash, 01j7hkp6k69nwx3g31zqksns2r.