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Finding open design systems
I just gave a talk at Web Directions Developer Summit and as part of that needed to find out statistics around open source design systems. As with many things this spiralled a bit and ended up in a new project being released. So, I would like to introduce Design System Diff, a comparison tools for…
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Abilities explorer
WordPress 6.9 is coming and with it a few Core AI goodies including the Abilities API. New Abilities API: A unified registry of callable WordPress capabilities with defined inputs and outputs, built for AI integrations and developer automation. This has a lot of potential for use, however in order to start that exploring, being aware…
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September in WordPress
Another month has turned just like the leaves as autumn settles in. I was lucky enough to get time to focus thanks to sponsors, here is what I did within WordPress. August reflections It’s worth noting I am aware that August didn’t have a month post, this was due to travelling back from being at…
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Why Gentle Leadership Builds Better Products
We’ve all seen it. A product launches, a feature ships, a choice gets made. And within hours, the not-so-hot, more grumpy takes arrive. Threads dissecting every misstep. Social media posts stating how they’d have done x or y better. Statements across the web cataloguing failures. Commentary that positions the critic as the one who would…
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The Sparkle Paradox: How AI Signalling Undermines Adoption
You must have seen the sparkles either as a button or beside the words ‘Enable AI’. Those glittering stars that have become the universal symbol of AI-powered. Like the ‘Intel inside’ of today. They sit next to text inputs, lurk over buttons and fall all over interfaces like it’s a star storm in Animal Crossing.…
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July in WordPress
Another month has turned and it saw a great time to focus on contributing to WordPress. I was lucky enough to get time to focus thanks to sponsors, here is what I did. Areas of contribution My split this month was clearly between triage, program work and feedback. In core editor there was a lot…
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Optimizing triage with AI starting points
Back in June, I wrote about how triage and reviews in WordPress could be optimized with the help of AI. Since then, discussions have taken place, and last week, James LePage released the Trac MCP Server, which is now capable of interacting with Claude and ChatGPT. A demo of the MCP server is available here.…
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First props and contribution journeys
This post was inspired by the awesome posts from Jonathan Desrosiers and Felix Arntz, who celebrated their contribution anniversaries with reflection. It made me muse on how critical those first points, the initial steps in a contribution journey, are. I began reflecting on my own ‘firsts’ and the people who helped me achieve them. Reflecting…
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Redesign Notes
This site has been updated, and while things are still being finalised, I wanted to share some of the changes I’ve made so far. My goals for this redesign were to create a strong foundation for future growth while also incorporating a sense of fun and playfulness. This site is my experimentation space; things may…
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What if we paused default themes?
Before I begin this post, I am writing it not expecting change, but rather sharing my opinion. It is the opinion of someone who has themes both default and working with them from agencies to exploration, threaded through their life. I say this with a passion for what themes were, are, and I see evolving…