WP Builds

Nathan Wrigley interviews James Welbes, about his journey in the WordPress space, his early frustrations and eventual embrace of WordPress, and the transformative impact of AI on web development. They discuss the rapid evolution of AI, its effect on productivity, and the culture shifts occurring as people interact more with AI tools. James shares his experiences building apps with AI, the changing value of WordPress, and trends of developers moving away from traditional platforms. The episode explores the societal and psychological aspects of AI while reflecting on the fast-changing tech landscape.

This episode covers the delay of WordPress 7.0 due to performance concerns with collaborative editing, the introduction of a new contributor tool for WordCamp events, insights from the latest State of WordPress Agency report highlighting increasing challenges and agency burnout, and a new initiative at Automattic allowing selected staff a month to pursue independent projects. Additional topics include recent community events, a new theme launch, and issues with WooCommerce subscriptions auto-renewals impacting revenue. The discussion get into the need for specialisation, adaptability, and proactive evolution within the WordPress ecosystem.

In this episode, Nathan interviews Lucas Santos Junqueira from Brazil, about his innovative tool and WordPress plugin, Tilbuci (pronounced "Chabousi"). The plugin enables users to create interactive, animated “movies” inside the WordPress dashboard, similar to museum exhibits or advanced infographics. Lucas explains its origins, features, and versatility, including collaborative creation, export options, and interactivity. They discuss its complexity, available tutorials, challenges like accessibility, and design considerations for responsiveness and touch interactions. Lucas shares resources and support options for users wanting to explore or get help with Tilbuci.

In this episode, Nathan interviews Brian Gardner about his pioneering work in WordPress theming, the rise and impact of the Genesis Framework, and the shift toward block-based themes. They discuss the promise, challenges, and slower-than-hoped adoption of block editing, as well as its design flexibility through patterns. The conversation also explores the influence of AI tools like Miles on WordPress design, the evolving theme business landscape, and the future of web creation with AI-generated patterns and themes integrated into WordPress workflows.

In this episode, Nathan chats with WordPress educator Jonathan Jernigan about Cloudflare, what it is, how it works, and why it's valuable for website owners. Jonathan explains Cloudflare’s role as both a firewall and content delivery network, enhancing security and performance by blocking threats and replicating sites globally. They discuss practical use cases like reducing spam, setting firewall rules, and leveraging free Cloudflare features. The conversation also touches on Cloudflare’s business model, single points of failure, backups, and Jonathan’s course for beginners looking to learn more about Cloudflare’s capabilities.