10up Releases WordPress GitHub Actions To Streamline Plugin Deployment

Helen Hou-Sandi on November 18

According to GitHub, developers have contributed more than 1,200 Actions to GitHub Marketplace since GitHub Actions was released in beta last year. Our mission to craft tools for content creators — including developers — and our passion for open-source contribution led us to make a solution that uses GitHub Actions to radically streamline and simplify WordPress plugin release management.

Automating Your Workflow With GitHub Actions
GitHub Actions enables you to create custom software development life cycle (SDLC) workflows directly in your GitHub repository. You can write individual tasks, called actions, and combine them to create a custom workflow. Workflows are custom automated processes that you can set up in your repository to build, test, package, release, or deploy any code project on GitHub.

As a WordPress core lead developer and Director of Open Source Initiatives at 10up, I immediately saw the opportunity to use GitHub Actions to make specific tasks easier for WordPress plugin developers, like deploying a plugin and its assets/readme updates to the official WordPress.org plugin repository.

We previously introduced early versions of these Actions, and now they’re ready for primetime following the announcement of general availability of GitHub Actions — an announcement that took the time to spotlight our “WordPress publishing” solution:

WordPress GitHub Actions Mention on the GitHub Blog

Leveraging New Relic to Keep Content Flowing

Vasken Hauri on September 27

New Relic Guest Post By Vasken Hauri

When discussing website performance, most people zero in on page load speed and the front-end user experience. This approach, however, ignores a critical subset of people interacting with the website—content creators working in the content management system (CMS). In a guest post published on the official New Relic blog, I share how 10up leveraged New Relic tools to better support content creators and empower them to work more efficiently through back-end performance improvements.

10up uses New Relic’s performance monitoring to acquire real-time and trending data that can be used to troubleshoot performance challenges and diagnose problems quickly, which in turn, saves time and reduces cost.

Analysis of CSS in JavaScript Applications Featured on CSS-Tricks

Dominic Magnifico on July 17

Article Screenshot The Many Ways to Include CSS in JavaScript Applications

There are several ways to handle CSS architecture within JavaScript applications. While considered a controversial topic among front-end developers, it’s important to remember that each method, whether in a React, Vue, or Angular application, has its own merits and inefficiencies. In a recent article for CSS-Tricks (one of the leading digital publications covering web technologies), I explore CSS architecture and the many ways to include CSS in JavaScript Applications—from using an external stylesheet, to creating CSS Modules, or writing CSS-in-JS.

John Eckman on July 11

At 10up, we believe the best talent isn’t found in a single zip code—from New York City, to the wilds of Idaho, to a dozen countries across the globe, our model empowers us to bring in the best strategists, designers, and engineers, wherever they may live. In a recent conversation with Boye & Company, I share important considerations for organizations exploring a distributed team model, challenges a remote work environment can create for growing companies, and insights on how we make remote work successful within 10up.

Get Started With Gutenberg

Sarah James on June 12 • 2 Comments

Get Started with Gutenberg Books

I recently contributed an article to Get Started With Gutenberg, a free publication produced by Heart Internet. Jumpstart Your Gutenberg Designs With SketchPress provides a detailed tutorial on using SketchPress: a library of WordPress admin interfaces, symbols, and icons for use with the popular design toolkit, Sketch. With SketchPress designers can create high-fidelity mockups of custom blocks and other editorial interfaces for both Gutenberg and classic versions of the WordPress admin. SketchPress and other open-source projects from 10up are available on GitHub. You can pick up a copy of the book at WordCamp Europe or download the digital copy.

John Eckman on March 20

At 10up, we believe that the web is better when we prioritize equal access to digital content, regardless of age, size, ability, or disability. Over the last several months, our Director of Front End Engineering, Tim Wright, has been working to resolve accessibility challenges in the new WordPress content editor, code-named Gutenberg. In addition to contributing code to the new editor, Tim joined the vendor selection committee for an accessibility audit sponsored by WPCampus, adding agency representation to a committee largely comprised of higher education advocates. An audit overview and update were presented as part of WPCampus Online 2019.

Mike Bal on July 17, 2018

I recently joined 10,000ft – makers of some popular collaboration software – for a conversation about communication and culture in remote teams. The interview, which is part of their “two beers” series, is now available on their blog.

Thorsten Ott on June 29, 2018

My story about contributing to Google’s AMP project was published on Google’s official Open Source Blog. I received a Google Open Source Peer Bonus for my contribution, which added MathML support to AMP.

Transforming text into a natural sounding podcast with Amazon Polly

Gabe Karp on February 9, 2018

Earlier this week one of our partners, WP Engine, released a plugin that leverages Amazon Polly to transform written content into lifelike speech, directly from WordPress. Being dedicated to helping our clients deliver great digital content experiences, we were eager to help pilot this integration with WP Engine by finding a launch partner. Collaborating with POLITICO in Europe, we transformed their daily political newsletters – Brussels Playbook and London Playbook – into engaging podcasts.

Here’s what POLITICO had to say about their new integration, in WP Engine’s press release:

“Our readers are digesting news and stories through their mobile and voice-driven devices more and more,” said Johannes Boege, Chief Product Officer at POLITICO in Europe. “This is a great opportunity for us along with our agency 10up to test the distribution of our content with voice technology. We are excited to use Amazon Polly to reach more people in new ways.”

Engineering challenges: Caching under high load

Ivan Kruchkoff on July 25, 2017

What’s wrong with this piece of code?

function get_foo() {
	$cache_key = 'fookey';

	$data = wp_cache_get( $cache_key );
	if ( false === $data ) {
		sleep( 10 );
		$data = 'foodata';
		wp_cache_add( $cache_key, $data, '', HOUR_IN_SECONDS );
	}

	return $data;
}