Have a news tip or upcoming event you’d like to see in our weekly WordPress roundup, write us at [email protected]. News Highlights: Help name this column – Looking around the web we’ve noticed there are already a few “This Week In WordPress” columns. We thought it’d be fun to find a new name for our weekly WordPress column and would love your help! Share your ideas for a new column name in the comments and if we use your idea we’ll send you one of our hot new Torque mugs. WPezDeveloper – In an effort to keep WordPress tutorials current and open, Mark […]
This Week In WordPress: 04/27/2015
Have a news tip or upcoming WordPress event you’d like to share, write us at [email protected]. News Highlights: Inside Automattic’s hiring process: How Automattic hires most of its remote employees without a single voice conversation. WP Engine search: WP Engine Labs takes a crack at solving search on WordPress sites. m.website.com: XKCD’s take on mobile optimized sites. First impressions for 4.2: WordPress 4.2 is here. Here are some of our early impressions. WordPress 4.2 stored XSS: Just a couple days into its release, and researchers have discovered an exploit in which WordPress commenters can leave malicious JavaScript to take control of a server. WordPress 4.1.2 security release: A […]
Interview with Lori McLeese, HR Lead at Automattic
I first met Lori McLeese at the speakers’ dinner for WordCamp Montreal in 2013. We spent a fair bit of time that evening talking about the culture at Automattic. Not only had Lori traveled to Montreal for WordCamp but she was staying afterwards to attend one of the team meetings, or working sessions, that was happening in the city right after WordCamp. She also (unfortunately for her) sat through my session that weekend. So when I emailed her to ask if she would answer a few questions she willing agreed. She also provided some background info on the hiring process at Automattic. The hiring process Every resume […]
All WordPress.com Subdomains Encrypted By End 2014
Last week, Automattic’s General Counsel Paul Sieminski announced that all *.wordpress.com subdomains will be served over SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) by the end of 2014. Sieminski wrote: In the face of intrusive surveillance, we believe that everyone in the tech community needs to stand up and do what they can, starting with their own sites and platforms. For us, that means working to secure the connection between users and our websites. We’ll be serving all *.wordpress.com subdomains only over SSL by the end of the year. It’s been a year since whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked files revealing the National Security […]
Automattic Raises $160 Million in Venture Funding
It’s confirmed, Automattic has officially hit the billion dollar mark! The company just raised $160 million in venture funding, placing its new value at $1.16 billion. A blog post by Matt Mullenweg reported that the financing round was led by Deven Parekh of Insight Ventures, with other investors including Chris Sacca, Endurance, Tiger, and Iconiq. Mullenweg indicated that several other investors expressed a high-level of interest, but he focused on finding the best partners. The new funding is further validation of Automattic’s future plans for growth. Mullenweg said: This is obviously a lot of money, especially considering everything we’ve done so far has been built on […]
The Possible Effects of Automattic’s Auquisition of Scroll Kit
To add to its list of recent acquisitions, Automattic snatched up New York startup Scroll Kit last week, and added its creators to the WordPress.com product group. If you haven’t heard of it, Scroll Kit is a visual website building tool, with a snappy drag and drop interface. Their platform features simple WYSIWYG tools that allow users to create a simple one-page website simply by dragging images and text around a page in pre-configured templates. These tools were able to recreate the NY Times “Snowfall” website in just under an hour, and allow people to create a series of “scrolls” […]
Photoblogging Made Easier with Postbot
Photos are an important part of the WordPress.com blogging experience. They can illustrate, emphasize, and sometimes even narrate the stories we want to tell. Photos provide an artistic element to millions of WordPress blogs. Some blogs are even centered entirely around photographs, rather than text. These are called photoblogs. Whatever your interest, it’s likely that you can find a photoblog that is captivating to you. If you’re a blogger using WordPress.com then it’s likely you’ve gone through the process of individually uploading and scheduling photos for your blog. To help facilitate this process, Automattic has developed a favorable panacea—Postbot. This application enables […]
Automattic’s Newest Addition
Longreads provides a breath of fresh air for readers, acting as a centralized source for quality-content stories on the web. For 5 years, Longreads has cultivated a strong community of writers, readers, and publishers. It has provided a global haven for publishers and writers to share in-depth stories, naturally establishing itself as trusted source for stories of 1500 characters and longer. Yesterday, Automattic announced their acquisition of Longreads. A practical reason for the acquisition could be the complementary nature of Automattic (and WordPress.com) and Longreads. In a recent blog post, founder of Longreads Mark Armstrong discussed his deep respect for the principles […]
Finding the Right WordPress Backup Plugin
Trust me, it’s best to think about WordPress back-ups before there’s a problem. Afterwards won’t do you much good. So as you’re looking for a proper WordPress backup plugin, here are a few things to consider. What Do I Need to Back Up? First things first, it’s important to understand what “backing up a WordPress install” means. Your average WordPress site has a lot of moving parts, some of which are essential, and others that are not. In general, WordPress can be divided into three types of content. The first is WordPress core files, the second is site-specific files and […]
Managing a Distributed Team: Is It for You?
It’s certainly not uncommon in the WordPress ecosystem for team members to work remotely, but is it right for you? And, if so, which rookie mistakes should you try to avoid? In this post I’ll share some of my experiences working on, and managing, a distributed team. From an outsider’s perspective, the novelty of having a virtual (non)office is probably one of the most talked about characteristics of companies like Automattic. However, even in 2014, I get the sense that much of the business world still has hangups about this concept. Many people still seem to believe that if you can’t walk […]
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