Talk for WordPress meetup - sunday 25 november 2018 - Cafe Tibet, McLeod Ganj, India, World, Universe, Eye of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ClassicPress at WordPress Meetup in McLeod Ganj, India Subject: "ClassicPress is Coming!" - general introduction to ClassicPress rev. 25 nov 2018 IST * https://www.meetup.com/Dharamshala-WordPress-Meetup/events/256172023/ * https://www.facebook.com/tibetanitech/ * https://twitter.com/tometaxu/status/1062300360830803968 Keywords: Web. Open source. Communication. Interoperatibility. Ethics. Service. ....................................................... Summary: * All my biz sites and client sites are being migrated to classicpress. * It’s not an issue of change breeds resistance. It’s the code world that you live in with Gut. Don’t want it. Not interested. * If someone does want it, I tell them to head to WIX as it’s already where WP wants to be, down the road. * In addition, the more I read the words of Matt, the less I want to be in a world headed by that personality/behavior. * I thought WP was a community. I stand corrected. It’s Matt’s world and he does not exhibit the behavior of someone who cares about community more than he cares about his investors. -- @nwwoman https://wordpress.org/support/topic/please-support-classicpress-for-mainwp/#post-10966865 Full copy, with bullet points added. This completely sums up my opinion and decision. No point to write it twice! Thank you @nwwoman :) ============================================================================ So - i wasn't able to make it to the talk. spewing mucus everywhere, coughing and fever. demmit. don't want to pass it on to people. So here's the info and i will keep it updated! ....................................................... First - to help me know how to direct my talk: * how many here use Web? (No, not Facebook/social media. Web. Websites!) * how many here build Web? * how many here use WordPress -- for adding content to websites? -- for building websites? * How many are aware that a new major version of WordPress, 5.0, will be coming out in late November, with a completely new "editor" (actually, a whole new system)? Do you know if your plugins will be compatible with it? Do you know how to use this new "editor"? If a developer, do you know how your code will work with it? OK more in a minute! ....................................................... * Who am i? James Walker "Cyberwallah to Tibet and Thai dhamma" Been making Web since the Web was born. Been in McLeod Ganj since 2001 -- this is my service, teaching how to make Web. "I don't do, i only teach" ... But since i can't teach anything if i don't do, and keep up with the changes, (and since i love making Web) ... Currently build/manage 21 WordPress websites, plus a few others. Here's my style: https://www.webwalker.to/samma-kammanta/ I am here to talk about ClassicPress ....................................................... * What is it -- a fork of wordpress: o a copy of wordpress with all gutenberg and react code removed. o It's an alternative to WordPress without Gutenberg and React.js. "A modified and enhanced version of WordPress that serves the business website market" also "A maintained fork of WordPress 4.9.8 without Gutenberg, focused on community-led development." * Why is it: For people who don't want a page-builder as their cms. 9 WordPress is replacing the TinyMCE content editor with a React.js-based "editor" -- really a page-builder -- called Gutenberg. "It brings a new paradigm – a so-called “Block” to WordPress. Each component such as Paragraph, Image, or Headings is now a block built with React.js." -- https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/classicpress-alternative-to-wordpress-without-guternberg-and-reactjs/ * Why is it: For people who are fed up with WordPress/Automattic's high-handed ways of dealing with their loyal users. * But ... but ... what's the problem with Gutenberg? It's cool! o Yeah it is, it's cool. but ... o Technical: - Gutenberg is not accessibility/disability-friendly, and they aren't even trying to fix that. It violates the WCAG gudelines that they themselves subscribe to. - Gutenberg will require a lot of extra coding on the part of them and plugin developers. - Gutenberg will require a lot of client re-training, that won't be able to be billed for. - Gutenberg is based on react.js -- one survey said that only xx% of the developers had even tried react.js much less use it competently. (what is react.js? "ReactJS is a framework for building user interfaces, built by Facebook initially for internal use on Facebook and Instagram, and later open-sourced.") -- https://wpshout.com/best-javascript-framework-learning-reactjs-goes-better-expected/ - Accessibility/usability by website users: * can the website content be seen in a text-based browser like elinks/ * can the website content be heard in a screen reader? * is it fully accessible in other assistive technology? - Archiving and the long term. * When the website is viewed in archive.org, is everything there? * Is your website's content accessible and parsable by search engines and other content scrapers/parsers? * Can your website's content flow into whatever new technoogy comes up? - Maybe you don't care about these things. Maybe yours is an e-commerce website, or very arty cutting-edge, or whatever. That's fine. But it's not Web. The tools you need to do those things, shouldn't be forced upon the rest of the Web world. (At 30% of all websites, WordPress is a big part of the "rest of the Web world"). o Philosophical: - a CMS should not be a page-builder. - If there is a page-builder, it should be a plugin, not in core. - javascript should be extra. the website front-end should still be functional without it -- unless it is a very specialised site like online shopping or a museum. (on the back end, sure. that's what it's for.) - React.js is not compatible with GPL. - Facebook (owns React) is not compatible with anything. o wordpress management of it - basically shoving it down our throats. - response to people's concerns in tickets: 'no fix' - pushing it out right before (westerners') holidays. Really thoughtless. o The James personal opinion: WordPress is going off the rails. - I don't really get what WordPress thinks it is doing, actually. - Page-builders are great, even awesome, for the people who need them. There's already WIX and Weebly and SquareSpace and more ... do we really need another one? - If WordPress really feels they need to enter that sphere, it seems to me that WordPress.com is the right audience for that. WordPress.org is people who are installing themselves, may not be coders but at least are expecting to use different plugins, may want to mess with theming, on and on. - I took up WordPress in 2010 after trying out several CMSs in live websites. I chose WordPress because it was lean and mean, because you could code with it, you could make it what you wanted. You could be beginning PHP and CMS, and learn bit by bit and grow with your website. I used it to teach webdev. It isn't that any more. - Heavy gui crap - JetPack. Gutenberg. - Future reliance on React means that only experienced devs will be able to code for WordPress. No gateway for learners. - Automattic's "support" for developer's problems, is basically "my way or the highway". Well hey that's fine, that's my attitude too. But i run my own websites and i am The Boss of my little world -- i'm not trying to serve a diverse public in the millions. - When you get all successful and are supporting a whole ecosystem, you have obligations: to be ethical. to listen to your people. to do Excellent Work Always. * "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." * "With great power comes great responsibility." ....................................................... * Why we don't want Gutenberg in particular o 7 Reasons to Not Switch to the Gutenberg WordPress Editor "Forget about 'distraction-free writing'. Gutenberg is 'distraction heavy' writing." https://www.wp-tweaks.com/reasons-switch-gutenberg-wordpress-editor/ WP Tweaks 12 August 2018 A lot of good and clear comments at the end of this, which are still going on -- the latest as of this writing are two on 14 November. o Why I Chose to join the ClassicPress Project A detailed discussion by a WordPress developer on dissatisfiction with WordPress from technical and collaboration views: https://daniele.tech/2018/09/why-i-chosen-to-join-the-classicpress-project/ ....................................................... * Who ClassicPress might be useful for; what it is addressing that WordPress is not. o So, ClassicPress intends to "serve the business website market" -- it is for coders. it is for people who want an information-based website. not for casual bloggers. (Although it will still be just fine for that!) o ClassicPress also intends to run a democratic development process (i'm not wording that right -- when i find their pages i'll modify this!) o There are other improvements, this article summarizes: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/classicpress-alternative-to-wordpress-without-guternberg-and-reactjs/ * is it stable (probably, alpha is just out so far). https://dev.to/scotty_bowler/classicpress-launches---alpha-version-ready-for-testing-594k 25 oct 2018 * Will the wordpress plugins and themes work with it (probably -- except for any that need gutenberg!) The ClassicPress people are doing a lot of work and a lot of outreach to make sure they will. * is it reliable - I think so -- i will be converting all my WP websites to it! - To my mind, WordPress is no more reliable! So *anything* else is an improvement. - It is being built by people very experienced with CMS and WordPress -- including people who have done extensive time as developers for WordPress itself. - there is a migration plugin to convert a wordpress site to classicpress https://github.com/ClassicPress/ClassicPress-Migration-Plugin (WordPress so far has refused to host it, even thought it fits all their requirements.) ....................................................... * But but i don't have time to mess with ClassicPress now! Or Gutenberg either! What to do what to do? no worries! You can hide Gutenberg, or even just freeze your WordPress until you have time to try out ClassicPress. o if you don't want to deal with Gutenberg that will be forced on you in WP 5.0 , there is a plugin that turns Gutenberg off: https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/ (This is a plugin made by WordPress. It is not a long-term solution, as eventually this React and "block" paradigm is going to spread throughout WordPress. Kinda like a cancer. This thing is not just about the editor.) o Also you can just not update to 5.0. Make sure you don't have automatic updates on. Those of us who don't want this mess are just running our sites on 4.8 until the dust settles. (4.9 has some react etc code in it, to get ready for gutenberg) [I think - gotta clarify on this - 15 nov 2018] "WordPress 5.0 was branched from 4.9.8 so this release has been tightly wound to the previous one to allow for a more seamless transition." -- https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-0-release-date-update-to-november-27 Details about disabling Gutenberg at https://www.webwalker.to/samma-kammanta/process-website-wp_all-disable_gutenberg.txt https://web242.com/wordpress-5-how-to-disable-gutenberg/ ....................................................... When is WordPress 5.0 coming out? It was originally to be released on 19 November. As of 9 November, it has gotten pushed back to 27 November to resolve issues, and allow businesses time to prepare. https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-0-release-date-update-to-november-27 https://wptavern.com/calls-to-delay-wordpress-5-0-increase-developers-cite-usability-concerns-and-numerous-bugs-in-gutenberg https://joost.blog/wordpress-5-0-needs-a-different-timeline/ https://mrwweb.com/wordpress-5-0-is-not-ready/ "If WordPress misses the updated November 27 release date, it will be pushed back to the secondary target date of 22 January 2019." -- https://wptavern.com/wordpress-5-0-release-date-update-to-november-27 We can only hope. _______________________________________________________ Here are links to classicpress.net and all the websites and twitter accounts i have found useful so far: Will keep adding as i find them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ClassicPress * ClassicPress website https://www.classicpress.net * get ClassicPress https://www.classicpress.net/download/ * ClassicPress forums https://forums.classicpress.net/ * ClassicPress on GitHub https://github.com/ClassicPress/ https://github.com/ClassicPress/ClassicPress/issues * Help form ClassicPress direction: "share and upvote suggestions that you'd like to be included in ClassicPress v2.0.0. Any suggestions that reach the Support Threshold (50 upvotes) will be put to a vote for the wider community." https://petitions.classicpress.net/ * ClassicPress' democratic process https://www.classicpress.net/democracy/ * ClassicPress documentation https://docs.classicpress.net/ * ClassicPress on Slack https://classicpress.slack.com/messages/support * ClassicPress on Twitter https://twitter.com/getclassicpress https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClassicPress * ClassicPress on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicPress/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/search?q=classicpress&restrict_sr=1 * ClassicPress Migration Plugin https://github.com/ClassicPress/ClassicPress-Migration-Plugin with screenshots. looks good! * and then there's ... CalmPress! https://calmpress.org/difference-from-wordpress/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ClassicPress people * ClassicPress: a hard fork of Wordpress without Gutenberg -- Scott Bowler, founder of ClassPress 20 aug 2018 https://medium.com/@scott.bowler83/classicpress-a-hard-fork-of-wordpress-without-gutenberg-1eeb62dd879c * The "scared of change" fallacy -- Scott Bowler, founder of ClassPress 13 nov 2018 https://dev.to/scottybo/the-scared-of-change-fallacy-3aa3 * Why I have chosen to join the ClassicPress project A lot of good points here. -- Daniele Scasciafratte - WordPress and Mozilla developer 28 sep 2018 https://daniele.tech/2018/09/why-i-chosen-to-join-the-classicpress-project/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other people's take on ClassicPress * WordPress update - Colin Newcomer - 31 aug 2018 section: Scott Bowler forks WordPress into ClassicPress https://www.wpsuperstars.net/wordpress-update-august-2018/ * ClassicPress: Alternative to WordPress without Gutenberg & React.js https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/classicpress-alternative-to-wordpress-without-guternberg-and-reactjs/ -- Thoriq Firdaus 31 oct 2018 * ClassicPress: Gutenberg Not Included Jeff Chandler 21 aug 2018 Extensive comments. https://wptavern.com/classicpress-gutenberg-not-included * Find more through EvilGoogle: https://www.google.com/search?q=wordpress+classicpress+-classipress * Find more through DuckDuckGo: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=wordpress+classicpress+-classipress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other people's take on Gutenberg * Gutenberg is not ready https://www.imagely.com/defer-gutenberg/ 14 nov 2018 * Some non-complimentary comments on Gutenberg and on WordPress' process https://twitter.com/polevaultweb/status/1062839396951580672 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Getting ready for WordPress 5.0 * WordPress 5.0. What You Need to Know! from Web242 https://web242.com/wordpress-5-what-you-need-to-know/ 10 aug 2018 comments are still coming in as of nov 2018 * WordPress 5.0. A message to our clients from Web242 https://web242.com/wordpress-5--a-message-to-our-clients/ 22 nov 2018 * Web242 blog I will be keeping an eye on this one as they seem to be always updating with good info; https://web242.com/blog/ * Excellent step-by-step for preparing for WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg WordPress 5.0 – Everything is About to Change! from Business2Community.com https://www.business2community.com/blogging/wordpress-5-0-everything-is-about-to-change-02142202 23 nov 2018 _______________________________________________________ begin 12 nov 2018 IST -- 0 --