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Eric Karkovack: Hi everyone, and welcome
to another episode of the WP Minute.

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I'm your host, Eric Karkovac.

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Today, we'll discuss the beauty of
quote unquote boring WordPress features.

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You know, the ones that don't receive much
attention but still improve the software.

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We'll look at how such features
benefit WordPress professionals,

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and why we'll likely see more
of them to come in the future.

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Enjoy!

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Why boring features benefit
WordPress professionals.

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As consumers, we are trained to
crave what's new and improved.

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It's all about that massive
feature launch or the illusion

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of getting more for your money.

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I can understand the appeal.

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Having the latest and greatest
product gives us bragging rights,

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and maybe more productivity.

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That's why a new iPhone
comes out every few months.

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Who wouldn't want that?

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Well, bigger isn't always better.

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I believe that theory applies
to the evolution of WordPress.

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Big changes can be clumsy
and require us to adapt.

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That can temporarily negate any
advantage we're supposedly gaining.

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Think about the switch from the classic
editor to Gutenberg and WordPress 5.

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0.

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Everyone from users to developers
to product makers felt the impact.

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You could cut the anxiety with a
chainsaw, not to mention that it

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took years for many of us to adapt.

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Things are great now, but still.

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It does offer a renewed
appreciation for the smaller,

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aka boring, improvements, though.

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The little things that enhance
accessibility, performance,

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security, and stability.

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That's what professionals need.

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They help us get more done
and provide peace of mind.

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Let's discuss how these little things can
add up and why we may see them more often.

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Small changes that quietly
make things better.

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The big features tend to get
all the publicity when a new

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version of WordPress ships.

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However, it's often the small,
under the hood changes that

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make the biggest difference.

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The thing is, we don't always notice them.

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One such change recently caught my eye.

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It was announced that WordPress 6.

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8 will encrypt user passwords via bcrypt.

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The move promises to improve security
by making passwords harder to hack.

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It's a great example of an important
feature that is anything but sexy.

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This is even more impressive considering
how long the change has been in the works.

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The original track ticket is from 2012.

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This is a win for anyone
concerned about security.

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Freelancers tired of cleaning
up hacked websites come to mind.

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But you don't have to know that this
change exists in order to benefit from it.

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It also shows that sometimes these
features get put on indefinite hold.

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There may be technical reasons for that.

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A lack of resources can also play a role.

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However, it's probably not
exciting to the average user.

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That may make it a lesser priority.

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Nevertheless, those of us who
work with WordPress should

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celebrate such improvements.

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In this case, better security
makes our lives easier.

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More of that, please.

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A shift in contribution means
more polish for WordPress.

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The Automatic vs.

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WP Engine saga has greatly
impacted the WordPress landscape.

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For example, Automatic has
reduced its contributor hours

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to the WordPress project.

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The side effect is that new versions
have been scaled back in scope.

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Core contributor Jonathan Deroges
recently posted on the Make

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WordPress blog that, quote, there
will likely be fewer features.

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Ready to ship when compared to
other recent major releases.

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As a result, WordPress 6.

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8 will focus primarily on being
a polish and bug fix release.

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Now, regardless of the reason
for the shift, let's look at this

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as a glass half full scenario
for developers and power users.

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A slowdown in new feature
development means some small

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and potentially longstanding
issues will receive attention.

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It's a chance to clean up WordPress
and make it leaner and more efficient.

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We already have a security
benefit to cheer about.

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Maybe we'll have a better
user experience as well.

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The other hidden benefit is keeping
the status quo in our workflow.

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New features are nice.

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But there is always a learning curve.

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We have to teach
ourselves and our clients.

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A little break from this
cycle isn't such a bad thing.

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Perhaps this means that boring
has entered the spotlight.

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I won't complain.

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Let's make the most popular
CMS the most stable one.

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Shiny new gizmos are great.

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WordPress will need them to
keep up with competitors.

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But I hope that's not the primary
focus of every release moving forward.

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We don't always need a
new toy to play with.

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Setting the priorities for an
open source project the size

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of WordPress can't be easy.

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There are only so many
contributors and so much time.

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Thus, aiming a bit lower
isn't just a relief for us.

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It's also practical.

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Focusing on the big ticket items means
too many small or behind the scenes

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improvements get lost in the shuffle.

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I hope WordPress 6.

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8 sets a precedent for releases that
strengthen the software's foundation.

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It could be a renaissance of refinement.

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After all, stability is important
for the software's long term future.

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It's something that the lucrative
enterprise market demands.

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Dedicating a few releases toward
that end will boost their confidence.

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Besides, tools like the block and
site editors have plenty of features.

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You can expand their
capabilities via plugins.

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A continued effort to squash
bugs and make them more user

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friendly can only help the cause.

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WordPress still has many advantages
over other systems, but a drop in

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reliability could tighten the gap.

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The solution may be to embrace the
boring stuff every now and then.

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Thanks for listening to my
take on why boring is beautiful

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when it comes to WordPress.

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As a long time freelancer, boring
means I don't have to relearn how

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to do a task or retrain my clients.

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It also means improved stability.

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All good things in my book.

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I hope you enjoyed this week's
episode of the WP Minute.

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Please check us out over at thewpminute.

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com slash subscribe to receive
our newsletter, become a member,

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find us on social media, and more.

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And as always, we welcome your feedback.

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Thanks for listening, and
we'll see you again soon.