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Insights, thoughts, and tips on product, design, and development. Pick a topic and start exploring.

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  • Automattic, one year later

    One year ago today, I joined Automattic as a product manager focused on WordPress.

    Automattic is as unique as they come. As a distributed company with a flat organizational structure and a healthy culture of synergistic innovation—ideas, thoughts, and feedback come from anyone, anywhere, and anytime.

    This environment generates a jet stream of knowledge, information, and experiences—kindly referred to as the “chaos” internally—that you, as a high-functioning team member, choose how to absorb. You communicate extensively; it’s an expectation. And just about everything is recorded in some form or fashion, for anyone else to digest.

    So yes, there is a bit of chaos… and I like it.

    rich.blog

    5 replies

  • Playa del Carmen, 2023

    A few favorite shots from my recent Automattic meetup in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I explored, ate great food, but most importantly, worked with teams to plan, prioritize, and execute on what’s next for WordPress. A solid time all around.

    We’re looking for senior hands-on contributors with a deep enthusiasm for their craft. If that’s you, work with us.

    Vibrant beachscape with a foreground of soft, pale sand leading to dark rocks covered in bright green moss. Waves crash gently against the stones under a dynamic sky of fluffy white clouds. The turquoise sea stretches to the horizon, inviting and serene, in contrast with the lively dance of the clouds above.
    A sun-drenched view of the iconic El Castillo pyramid at the Chichen Itza archaeological site. Sun rays filter through lush leaves in the foreground, casting a bright, warm light over the scene. The grand pyramid stands central against a clear blue sky dotted with clouds, while tourists appear as small figures at its base, emphasizing the monument's scale. The well-manicured green grass in the foreground completes this picturesque setting.
    View from a cenote with the ceiling dominating the frame, featuring rich, earthy tones of brown and orange. Sunlight streams through an opening, creating a bright contrast with the shadowy interior. Long roots or vines dangle from the ceiling near the cave's mouth, adding a touch of greenery to the rugged scene.
    Angled view of a tall, ancient stone wall under a clear blue sky. A prominent stone ring is affixed to the wall, which is pitted and weathered, telling of its age and historical significance. The wall appears to be part of a larger structure, possibly a ruin from a Mesoamerican civilization, with its sheer size suggesting it could be part of a game court or ceremonial area.

  • WordCamp US 2024 in Portland, Oregon

    WordCamp US is an annual large-scale event that gathers enthusiasts, developers, designers, and users from around the world, to talk, learn, and share WordPress experiences.

    I’ve never been to Portland, but I’m looking forward to it!

  • The road towards WordPress 6.5

    WordPress 6.5, scheduled to land on March 26th, 2024, is actively underway. My friend Anne shared Roadmap to 6.5 on the Make WordPress blog, detailing the ambitious goals for the first major release of next year.

    The marquee planned additions are the font library, colorways, patterns for classic themes, data views for templates and patterns, more robust revisions, the Interactivity API, custom fields, and block binding APIs. Lots to look forward to!

    make.wordpress.org ↗

    6 replies

  • Exploring color and typography presets

    I recently worked with Ben Dwyer on an exploration to surface a WordPress block theme’s existing colors and typesets within the site editor. He made a video detailing the effort—give it a watch, it’s pretty cool.

    What I like best is that any theme using variations inherit this capability right off. Folks can then choose any combination of color or typography among the variations.

    What do you think?

    3 replies

  • Tiny details

    Like the nuanced brushstrokes of a painting or the delicate notes of a melody, tiny details often go unnoticed, yet they play a key role in profoundly shaping creative outcomes.

    In the realm of design and product, these tiny details are essential catalysts for curating thoughtful experiences.

    Subtle animations, uniform copy, cohesive design metrics, and harmonious micro-interactions all come together seamlessly to level-up an application into a delightful user experience.

    You might not see tiny details, but you certainly feel them.

    Tiny details are not just embellishments; they are the cornerstone of design. And it’s in these seemingly insignificant tiny details that we transform mediocrity into excellence.

    Such attentiveness to detail is absolutely vital, as the antithesis of tiny details is carelessness—which leads to outcomes that feel unfinished and unintuitive.

    So, sweat the tiny details; they matter more than you think.

    4 replies

  • Behind the scenes of Twenty Twenty-Four

    I had the pleasure of working with so many great folks to bring the Twenty Twenty-Four default WordPress theme to fruition.

    In this post shared on automattic.design, I chatted with designer Beatriz Fialho and code wrangler Maggie Cabrera on how Twenty Twenty-Four was designed and engineered to be the most best out-of-the-box WordPress experience to date.

    Introducing the Twenty Twenty-Four theme automattic.design ↗

  • Fail Fast

    Failure is a vital part of the iterative process. An invitation to introspection. An indispensable role in exploration and creativity. 

    To fail is to learn—provided one seeks to learn. When we fail, we face an opportunity to sharpen our focus, unearth solutions, and gradually inch closer to our goals. 

    Software development (i.e. problem solving) is centered on eliminating variables, i.e. failing. Failing as many times as it takes, until a solution in narrowed into view.

    That’s just how it works. That’s how most things work. Rather than a symbol of defeat, failure represents a testament to progress. 

    Don’t fear failure; invite it in. These are the moments where you—and your team—become better. 

    Fail often. Fail fast.

  • Evolving the command palette

    My friend and colleague Anne McCarthy recently published a guide on what’s landing in this next iteration of the command palette. This next iteration of the WordPress Command Palette is looking so nice. New commands, a polished interface, and more accessible — what more can you ask for?

    And if you’re a plugin developer, lean into Riad Benguella’s WordPress Command Palette API post to add your own commands, and peruse the core commands, straight from the source. Some days it feels like WordPress 6.3 just landed, but 6.4 is shaping up quite nicely. Onward!

  • WordPress 6.3

    WordPress 6.3 is packed with new features and loads of enhancements to help you publish faster with WordPress. Here’s my take on the most interesting parts of this release.

    rich.blog

  • Build something that matters

    In creativity and innovation, there’s a tension between pursuing meaningful work and getting stuck on trivial tasks. These distractions disguise themselves as progress, creating fake productivity where small, unimportant details actually prevent us from making a real impact.

    Focus on true progress—the kind that comes from clear purpose—control distractions, and build something that matters, like WordPress.

  • Why WordPress

    I ran into this Twitter thread on “how WordPress is all wrong for your SMB site in 2023”. Well, here’s my counter. If you’re not using WordPress for your site in 2023, you’re probably doing it wrong. Here’s why WordPress is probably right for you.

    rich.blog

  • Build blocks with AI

    I made this video to showcase building a dynamic Gutenberg block with the help of artificial intelligence using ChatGPT.

    I run through how to scaffold a block using the wordpress/create-block package, structuring a dynamic block, building the block, and using ChatGPT to write an accompanying PHP function.

    youtube.com ↗

  • Colorways

    Consistency. That’s the name of the game when it comes to designing a website. And having a way to design, and apply, like-styling to whole sets of blocks is a huge step towards publishing pages with consistency and speed.

    So I explored an idea I’m calling Colorways — a “simple mode” for stylizing page content. You design a few “mini themes” essentially, where background, heading, text, and button colors are established. This would happen within the custom theme.json object (for now), providing a group of CSS variables for applying styles to these groups of blocks.

    rich.blog

  • WordPress as a design tool

    Last week I challenged myself to take one pattern, from one theme, and morph it multiple times—only using the design controls block editor. It’s kind of like CSS Zen Garden, but without CSS—just out-of-the-box WordPress design tooling. 

    One theme. One pattern. Seven ways.

    No additional blocks, nor custom CSS between scenes—just designing in the good ol’ WordPress block editor.

    WordPress as a design tool rich.blog