WP Builds

In this episode of "This Week in WordPress" #340, Nathan Wrigley, Michelle Frechette, Tammie Lister, and Piccia Neri discuss community news and updates, including the gamification of WP World, a new accessibility podcast, and the maintaine.rs open-source story collection. They cover WordPress project news, calls for contributors for versions 6.9 and 6.8.2, responses to the Matt Mullenweg / WP Engine controversy, and the launch of a WordPress contribution internship program. The panel also highlights independent WordPress events, a proposal for phased plugin updates, and growth in block-based themes like Ollie, along with broader tech and community reflections.

In this episode of WP Builds, Nathan Wrigley talks with Katie Keith, founder and CEO of Barn2 Plugins, about their new partnership with Setary, a SaaS bulk editing tool for WooCommerce products. Katie shares the story behind the partnership, how Setary streamlines bulk product edits through a spreadsheet interface, and its time-saving benefits for both technical and non-technical users. They also discuss plans for a Shopify version and upcoming features like scheduling. Katie touches on integration with custom fields, pricing, and special offers for existing Barn2 customers.

In "This Week in WordPress #339," Nathan Wrigley is joined by Zach Stepek, Tim Nash, and Remkus de Vries to discuss new educational WordPress courses on security and performance, as well as Nathan’s new Podcaster Plus plugin seeking beta testers. The panel covers the upcoming WP Awards, lower-than-expected WordCamp US ticket sales, and the paused Tumblr-to-WordPress migration. They highlight updates to the WordPress developer blog, a new plugin called Better Loops, and whether default themes should be paused. We also have a lively debate on event sponsorships, AI’s impact on content, and practical WordPress community updates.

On the podcast today we have Daniela Soibelman from Elementor, but we're not talking about the Page Builder, we're talking about a new plugin for website accessibility. It's called Ally, and it's a new web accessibility plugin. Daniela explains her journey at Elementor, the inspiration behind Ally, and how the plugin helps WordPress users create more accessible websites with features like usability widgets, compliance statements, and future plans for AI-powered accessibility scans and remediation. Ally works with any WordPress site, not just Elementor-built pages, aiming to make web accessibility simpler and more achievable for everyone. Whether you’re running a small blog or managing sites for clients, this episode will help you understand not just what Ally offers right now, but where it’s headed, making accessibility a shared, achievable goal for everyone working on the web.

In this episode, I talk with Ben Sibley and Andrew Mead, creators of the Independent Analytics WordPress plugin. We discuss how the plugin offers privacy-focused, GDPR-compliant analytics entirely within your WordPress dashboard, no external servers, tracking, or cookies involved. The plugin is designed for simplicity and deep WordPress integration, providing easy-to-understand reports on visitors, referrers, devices, and more. We cover features, performance, third-party integrations, support, upcoming roadmap items, and pricing, emphasising user privacy, straightforward setup, and responsive support from the small team behind the product. Listen in for practical advice, behind-the-scenes details, and plenty of inspiration for putting privacy and simplicity first in your WordPress analytics workflow.