Matt Mullenweg delivered the State of the Word in Nashville, Tennessee this past weekend. The speech was almost immediately following the release of WordPress’ new editor, Gutenberg. The editor’s progress and release have been much anticipated by the WordPress community. This State of the Word was the first time Mullenweg had addressed the WordPress community since Gutenberg’s release just two days earlier.
Mullenweg began the talk by offering the audience a perspective. “With so much going on, I’d like to give WordPress a chance to reintroduce introduce itself,” he said. “WordPress isn’t a physical thing, it’s not a set of code. It’s kind of an idea. It only exists in...
With regards to Genesis, the good news is that it has no substantial backwards-compatibility issues with Gutenberg. The main focus of updates to the StudioPress themes are focused on adding styles for the new Gutenberg blocks. However, what we’re most excited about are the brand new features we
WP Engine employees are rarely hungry. Our office kitchens are fully stocked with cereal and snacks, and lunch is catered Monday through Thursday, every week, for the entire team. Unlike the 46,000 people who rely on Central Texas Food Bank for food assistance every week, our employees don’t have
As we continue to showcase a sample of the amazing StudioPress themes now available to WP Engine customers, we’re extra excited to bring you this new StudioPress Theme: Breakthrough Pro, which is the first new theme to be launched since our acquisition of StudioPress in June. Breakthrough Pro
Freewheeling Freelancers will Dominate the Future Jobs Market
Freelancers are at particular risk of exploitation from employers. In some cases, the scope of their work can be increased with no new pricing negotiations, they could be left waiting for weeks to be paid, and they typically don’t enjoy the same health or retirement benefits that in-house
9 Blockchains Transforming the Way We Pay, Play, and Work
Look past digital currencies’ nosebleed pricing volatility, and you’ll discover a robust, decentralized, secure database. Brands and technologists are quickly figuring out how to put this powerful ledger to good use. Here are several real-world examples that demonstrate cryptos’
5 Tips for Protecting Your FinTech Data Assets
Coinbase cryptocurrency VP of Operations Dan Romero recommends disabling SMS account recovery as an additional defense against phone porting attacks. He also recommends using a coin vault and enabling two-factor authentication for sending funds off of the exchange. When it comes to discussing
The Impact of Tone of Voice on Users' Brand Perception (Nielsen Norman Group UX research)
We selected these three factors as the most important aspects of users’ impressions that we expected to be influenced by the tone of voice used in the writing. Of these three, desirability is the most important: a user’s indication of willingness to recommend a brand is a strong predictor of
recapping the state of the word 2018
UX Research Cheat Sheet
When deciding where to start or what to focus on first, use some of these top UX methods. Some methods may be more appropriate than others, depending on time constraints, system maturity, type of product or service, and the current top concerns. It’s a good idea to use different or alternating
Centered Logos Hurt Website Navigation
Based on these observations, it’s clear that left-aligned logos are better than centered logos for supporting user navigation to the homepage. Note that the left-logo sites in this study still caused some homepage-navigation errors (although far fewer than the centered-logo sites). This is
Why Personas Fail
The truth is; Yes, they do already know a ton about customers, so it’s sometimes hard to justify doing research on a body of people you have been working with for years. In these situations, it is beneficial to think of personas and present them as an alignment tool rather than a research
Radio Buttons: Always Select One?
You are probably wondering how anyone could muster enough words for an entire article about the humble, ubiquitous radio button—and specifically, whether the designers should choose one of the options to be selected by default or not. Before you hit the Back button, think of the old adage "the
The Need for Speed
Research on a wide variety of hypertext systems has shown that users need response times of less than one second when moving from one page to another if they are to navigate freely through an information space. Traditional human factors research into response times also shows the need for
The Mobile Checkout Experience
While the details we display in the order summary, (including subtotal, taxes, fees, discounts, and shipping charges) are important for any checkout flow, we must pay extra attention to the placement of the order summary for mobile checkout. Due to limited screen space, these extra fees may appear
recapping the state of the word 2018
UX Responsibilities in Scrum Ceremonies
Since UX is typically working a sprint or more ahead of the engineering team, it is already a challenge to keep the team aligned. It is for this reason that attending daily standup and clearly and concisely communicating what UX is doing are so important. Additionally, UX should listen to other
The State of Ecommerce Search
We no longer recommend supporting complex-search operators, because few users know or use them these days. And they shouldn’t have to know them — the search engine should be smart enough to return good results without forcing people to use unnatural language. Perhaps the one exception here is
UX Stories Communicate Designs
In contrast, UX stories are specific; they have developed characters, context, and well-formed plots. The audience leaves with a clear understanding of the user’s goals and motivations. While other methods of storytelling are valuable, these stories — ones that communicate the value of the
Microinteractions in User Experience
Microinteractions shouldn’t be fluffy and should always serve a purpose — but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t embody a brand. If your branding is fun and colorful, it’s okay to let that show in your microinteractions. Alternatively, if your brand is professional and reliable, using
Killing Off the Global Navigation: One Trend to Avoid | Nielsen Norman Group
The temptation to put navigation menus into a drop-down is understandable: it allows much more flexibility to adjust categories in the future, and also means you don't have to clutter up your design with a menu bar. Plus, it’s an easy solution if you want to use the same design across multiple
Has Martech Made Things Too Complicated?
Jebbit’s worked with brands like Cathay Pacific Airways. Cathay Pacific Airways ran several Jebbit experiences to capture where visitors might want to go next to give them personalized sets of routes Cathay Pacific runs. The airline went beyond consumers’ searched destinations into discovery
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
She explained that the original design of the Internet was driven more by considerations of interoperability rather than security, and as a result we are now faced with almost insurmountable issues. Some examples include online criminals who steal our information, mass bandits who have the ability
Why There’s a Bright Future in a Cyber Security Careers
If you’re searching for your next career a great place to look is for a job in cyber security. Why? Because the demand for cyber security experts is going up, up, up. Keeping digital assets secure is a vital skillset. As our world grows ever more dependent on the Internet and digital
7 Best Free Tools for Bootstrapped Startups
The free version of SurveyGizmo lets you have three surveys open at a time. You can collect up to 100 responses per survey and ask questions with a variety of answer styles (multiple choice, short answer, rating scale, etc.). Again, this tool is better suited to businesses with smaller customer
recapping the state of the word 2018
Building a Startup Culture that Encourages Wellness
Doesn’t matter if you’re a janitor or a member of senior management, everybody likes when they feel respected and their ideas worthy of someone’s time. If your company has a reputation of a prison camp, where bosses bark orders and everyone else is keeping their mouth shut, that’s bound to
Is Artificial Intelligence Still Relevant for Startups?
The company is probably not a scam — they may be “bragging.” Many companies are just using the term “articifial intelligence” because they plan to use this technology at some point. They just can’t afford actually to do the work AI entails – now. Due
Recapping the State of the Word 2018 | Web Page Footers 101: Design Patterns and When to Use Each
Web Page Footers 101: Design Patterns and When to Use Each
Some companies are so massive that they own or preside over dozens of other companies. Some use universal navigation to connect these child companies with the parent one. It can also be helpful to include a list of subsidiaries and brands in the footer to reinforce awareness of other brands or
Minimize the Need for Customer Service to Improve the Omnichannel UX
Design channel and device solutions that align with channels’ roles in the customer journey and with context of use and users’ expectations. Support transitions between channels: every time a user must change channels during a task, there is an opportunity for failure (as shown above in the Air
Flat Design: Its Origins, Its Problems, and Why Flat 2.0 Is Better for Users
Apple’s homepage in 2012 (via WayBack Machine). The tabs metaphor is gone, but the navigation bar still appears glossy and rounded (an example of realism rather than skeuomorphism). The new search tool has inset shadows to make it appear hollow (a more elegant visual effect than the appearance of
