Hosting Contributor badge with a purple cloud icon inside a circle next to the text Hosting Contributor
This year I got the chance to join WordCamp US 2025 Contributor Day remotely, and I’m really happy to share that I was able to contribute to the Hosting Team. Even though I wasn’t there in person, it honestly felt like being part of the action. The collaboration, support, and energy from everyone made it a great experience.
What I Worked On
I focused on improving documentation for the Hosting Handbook and the Advanced Administration Handbook. These updates may look small on the surface, but they help make the docs easier to follow and more reliable for anyone who depends on them. And the best part — all of the pull requests I worked on got merged during Contributor Day itself!
Contributing like this reminded me why I love being part of the WordPress community. It’s not just about code — it’s about people helping each other and building something bigger together. Seeing my contributions merged right away gave me that extra motivation boost. And it’s proof that no matter where you are in the world, you can still make an impact on WordPress.
It’s a monthly update that highlights everyone who helped push WordPress Core forward, and it feels good to be included again.
Most of my work in August was about testing, reviewing, and sending patches to make WordPress a little more stable and easier to use. I spent time writing test reports so bugs could be reproduced and fixed properly, digging into tickets around performance, editor stability, and form handling, and even helping clean up documentation to make things clearer for new contributors. I also joined a few discussions about improving the developer experience — things like better error handling and stronger test coverage.
All in all, I picked up 8 props for my contributions to WordPress 6.9 so far. Each prop might look small on paper, but behind it are hours of troubleshooting, testing, and collaborating with other contributors.
Representing the Philippines 🇵🇭
Something I’m especially proud of is that I was the lone Core contributor from the Philippines in this report. While it’s great to represent, I really hope more kababayan jump in and get involved with Core in the future.
That said, I want to acknowledge that many Filipinos are already contributing in other meaningful ways within the WordPress community, whether as meetup organizers, WordCamp organizers, volunteers, or speakers. The WordPress project grows stronger when more voices are part of the conversation, and I’d love to see more Filipinos on that list.
This keeps me motivated to keep contributing, learning, and sharing. With WordPress 6.9 on the way, I’m looking forward to being part of the work that shapes its release.
Excited to share that my latest WordPress block theme, Chronicle Journal, officially went live on the WordPress.org Theme Directory on August 31, 2025.
Why I Built Chronicle Journal
The idea behind Chronicle Journal was simple: to create a theme that feels timeless, elegant, and ready for long-form storytelling. With so many websites focusing on fast snippets and quick reads, I wanted to bring back a design that celebrates articles, essays, and thoughtful content.
The theme is designed with journalists, bloggers, writers, and editors in mind. Its layout emphasizes clean typography, a spacious reading experience, and strong visual hierarchy—perfect for anyone who wants their words to take center stage.
Key Features
Full Site Editing (FSE) Ready – Complete block theme with Site Editor support.
Journal-Focused Design – Optimized for news, blogs, and content-heavy websites.
Professional Animations – Smooth hover effects and interactive elements.
Custom Block Patterns – 9 pre-built patterns designed for journal layouts.
Responsive Layout – Mobile-first design with flexible block layouts.
Developer Friendly – Well-documented code, with detailed functions.php references for easy customization.
Block Patterns Included
Chronicle Journal ships with 9 pre-designed block patterns to help you build pages quickly:
Hero Posts Section
Latest Posts Grid
Brand Highlights
Newsletter Signup
Featured Section
Promotions Layout
Team Member Cards
Brand Partnership
Latest Posts with Categories
These patterns give you ready-made layouts for common needs, so you can start publishing right away without building everything from scratch.
Built for Storytelling
I chose the name “Chronicle Journal” because I wanted the theme to feel like a home for stories worth telling. Whether you’re a solo writer, running a personal blog, or managing a multi-author publication, the theme adapts to different storytelling needs.
Available for Free
Like all themes in the WordPress directory, Chronicle Journal is completely free to use. You can download, install, and start publishing right away.
I’m grateful to the WordPress Theme Review Team for their support and feedback during the submission process, and to the wider WordPress community for always inspiring me to contribute.
This is just the start—I’ll continue refining Chronicle Journal based on user feedback, accessibility improvements, and WordPress core updates.
After months of dedication, I’m thrilled to announce that my new WordPress block theme, MonoFrame, is officially live on WordPress.org!
MonoFrame is a sleek, clean, and modern block theme built specifically for Full Site Editing (FSE). It offers a minimalistic canvas designed for creators, bloggers, and professionals who appreciate flexibility, simplicity, and performance.
With carefully crafted global styles, responsive layouts, and accessibility-ready features, MonoFrame provides an intuitive editing experience, allowing you to easily build and customize every part of your WordPress site.
This launch marks a significant milestone, and I’m excited to see how the WordPress community embraces MonoFrame. Your feedback and suggestions are always welcome and greatly appreciated.
I fueled up on coffee and dove into the Test Team’s first ever Quality Analysis Report. They spent six months planning, three months collecting data, and reviewed 217 commits from the 6.8 release through 6.8.2. Of those, 52 were tagged as “improvements” (bug fixes, enhancements, regressions) and each got a 0–5 score based on code reviews, manual tests, and automated tests.
Me to my coffee mug – “Ready to tame this beast?” Coffee mug – “Only if you refill me by commit 100”
Over the reporting period, I submitted 13 detailed test reports so far, which landed me firmly in the top dozen contributors out of 58 testers. It was a real thrill to see my efforts recognized, knowing that each report I crafted helped give the Test Team clearer insights into where Core needed attention.
Hunting down those tricky edge cases and squashing stubborn bugs wasn’t just a fun challenge, it drove actual fixes in WordPress. There’s something deeply satisfying about spotting your name in the official report and realizing that your work directly improved the platform millions rely on every day.
Slack moment – I couldn’t resist dropping “Top tester alert: eyes on me” into #core-test
Quick Stats That Made Me Nod
Media component led the pack with a 3.29 average score over 7 commits
Editor followed at 2.75 over 4 commits
Build & Test Tools landed at 2.4 over 5 commits
Almost 60 percent of merged changes had no manual tests, like shipping cupcakes without tasting them first
Why This Matters and What’s Next
This report isn’t about blame. It’s a roadmap for tighter teamwork, bringing testing insights into Core development earlier. I’ll be watching for Test Team calls to action and hope you’ll join me in writing tests that make WordPress stronger.
I know I’m showing up a bit after the confetti has settled, but here at last is the lowdown on WordPress 6.8.2, your go-to maintenance release packed with bug fixes and improvements. Consider this my belated party RSVP, I was busy wrestling with a rogue semicolon and hunting down that one missing closing tag!
What’s in WordPress 6.8.2
WordPress 6.8.2 officially landed on July 15, 2025. This short-cycle maintenance release includes fixes for 20 Core tickets and 15 Block Editor issues, all aimed at polishing rough edges and keeping your sites humming smoothly.
My Two Cents (Literally)
I’m thrilled to see two of my contributions make it into this minor release. Here’s what went down:
63254: Introduce development mode for block editor styles
Ever tweak your block editor CSS only to reload and see… nothing? Ticket #63254 adds a true development mode for editor styles so your SCSS and JS changes bust the cache automatically when SCRIPT_DEBUG is on.
63511: Adjust deprecation note in WP_Community_Events::format_event_data_time()
I spotted a deprecation message that wasn’t playing nicely with custom strings, so ticket #63511 tweaks the _deprecated_function() call for clearer, default-style notices and better backward-compatibility messaging.
Why Am I Late?
I got distracted by my coffee machine reinventing itself (apparently it’s now a smart appliance and wanted firmware updates).
My dog learned a new trick, fetching bugs instead of sticks, and I spent an afternoon debugging pupper.
I was perfecting this post’s puns, you’re welcome for the extra seasoning.
How to Get It
If you support automatic background updates, your sites might already be on 6.8.2. To grab it manually:
Go to Dashboard → Updates in your site’s admin.
Click Update Now under “WordPress 6.8.2 is available.”
Do a happy dance, your site is now running on the latest maintenance release.
Thanks for sticking with me through this slightly delayed edition. Now go update those sites, enjoy smoother block editor styling, and keep on creating!
On June 6, 2025, during our weekly Training Team meeting, I was awarded the Training Contributor badge in recognition of my contributions to Learn.WordPress.org. This badge honors members who help create, review, or translate lessons, and I’m proud to be among the recipients.
Highlights from the 3rd June 2025 Meeting
In the meeting recap on Make WordPress Training, we covered:
Reviewing Q2 goals: we gathered feedback on our 2025 milestones as we wrapped up the second quarter.
Volunteer opportunities: we invited contributors to host online workshops, coffee hours, study jams, or lesson walkthroughs.
Triage squad updates: we prepared for upcoming biweekly issue triage sessions.
Contributor Day planning: we coordinated an online Training Team Contributor Day alongside WordCamp Europe 2025 Contributor Day.
Amid all these items, I was honored when my badge was announced.
My Translation Contributions
Localization makes WordPress accessible worldwide. Over the past months, I’ve reviewed and pushed forward key Tagalog translations for lessons and documentation, including:
Issue #3183 – translating new lesson content into Tagalog
Issue #3144 – updating terminology for consistency
Issue #3138 – testing translated pages for accuracy
My attention to detail and clear feedback have helped the Training Team deliver high-quality, localized learning materials for Tagalog speakers.
Feedback Validation Efforts
Beyond translations, I’ve validated and acted on learner feedback to keep our lessons relevant and error-free. Recent issues I tackled include:
Issue #3137 – consolidating user feedback on workshop formatting
Issue #3159 – verifying reported typos and code snippet errors
Issue #3181 – confirming accessibility improvements across lesson pages
By stepping in to validate and apply this feedback, I help keep our content polished and learner-focused.
How You Can Get Involved
If you’re inspired by my work, here are a few ways to jump in:
Join a Meeting: we meet every Tuesday at 07:00 UTC in #training on Slack. Peek at the agenda before you hop on.
Help with Translations: pick an open issue from the “Content ready for review” board and lend your language skills.
Validate Feedback: spot a typo or bug? Check out “Feedback awaiting validation”, confirm it, then help fix it.
Host a Workshop: run a coffee hour or study session using lessons on Learn.WordPress.org, teaching is a great way to learn!
About the WordPress Training Team
We’re a global bunch of volunteers who love teaching and learning all things WordPress. Our playground is Learn.WordPress.org, where we create, polish, and translate bite-sized lessons on using, extending, and contributing to WordPress.
What we’re aiming for in 2025:
Reach more folks by spreading the word about our free lessons
Make every lesson as clear and accessible as possible (think captions, screen-reader friendliness, simple language)
Grow our community so everyone, from total newbies to seasoned devs, can share knowledge and skills
How we keep it rolling: weekly Zoom hangouts, biweekly GitHub triage sessions, tons of hands-on workshops, and a friendly Slack channel where no question is too small. Whether you write a line of lesson content, review a translation, or flag a typo, every bit of help counts.
June 2025 Core contributions (props and people) by country.
Hey WordPresser, big news today: the Release Candidate for WordPress 6.8.2 is officially available as of July 8, 2025. This is the final stage of testing before the stable version goes live on July 15, 2025.
This update focuses on refining core functionality by fixing bugs and improving performance. One key fix ensures that the Twenty Twenty-Five theme styles now load correctly in the editor, making theme customization smoother than ever.
If you work with WordPress, whether you develop plugins, build themes, or manage sites, now is a great time to download the RC and test it on your staging or local environment. This helps catch any last-minute issues and ensures a rock-solid release.
June 2025 Core Updates at a Glance
June brought a surge of activity to the Core team:
128 commits merged into core, a significant increase over May
133 new tickets opened and 291 tickets closed
Contributions from 113 community members, including 22 first-time Core contributors
Spotlight on rollybueno(Well, that’s me ;))
I’m proud to have been the sole contributor representing the Philippines in June’s Core development cycle. Here’s what I worked on:
Participated in ticket discussions to clarify issues and suggest improvements.
Conducted code reviews to ensure fixes met WordPress coding standards.
Tested and verified bug fixes across multiple components, including the editor and bundled themes.
Contributing to WordPress Core has been an amazing opportunity to learn from the community and give back to a platform I love. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my patches and collaborated on making this release smoother.
Stay tuned for the official release of WordPress 6.8.2 on July 15, and enjoy testing the RC in the meantime. Let me know if you spot anything worth reporting or if you have any questions!
If you’re involved in the WordPress community, you’ve probably come across contributor badges, those cool little icons next to usernames that recognize contributions to WordPress projects. Recently, I earned my very own Meta Contributor badge, and I’m excited to share how it happened, what I learned, and how you can do the same!
It all started when I noticed an accessibility issue on the Polyglots Team page at WordPress.org. Specifically, the “Download WordPress in [Locale]” button was using white text on a very light gray background, making it difficult to read and failing WCAG contrast standards.
You can see the original ticket here: Meta Trac #7986.
My initial report clearly outlined the accessibility issue and included screenshots to illustrate the problem. I also provided a simple CSS patch on https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress.org/pull/490 to correct the color contrast by removing the problematic CSS rule.
Engaging with the maintainer
What made this experience particularly rewarding was the collaborative effort that followed. Community maintainers quickly reviewed the issue, validated it, and encouraged me to move forward.
I created a pull request on GitHub to clearly document my suggested changes:
The PR clearly explained the adjustments, and after some helpful exchanges and review, the maintainers acknowledged my concerns and decided to update within the day.
Getting Recognized
Although my specific patch wasn’t directly merged, since the committer opted for a different approach, updating the link to a button, the issue I highlighted was effectively resolved. Impressively, within just 24 hours, I proudly received the Meta Contributor badge on my profile, acknowledging my valuable contribution to WordPress.org’s accessibility efforts.
How You Can Do It Too
Want your own badge? Here’s what you need to know:
Identify an Issue: Explore Meta Trac for open tickets or identify issues yourself on WordPress.org.
Report Clearly: When creating a ticket, clearly describe the issue, provide screenshots if necessary, and explain its importance.
Engage Actively: Respond promptly to feedback, remain open to suggestions, and revise your contribution as needed.
Submit a PR: Once your issue is acknowledged, create a concise, well-documented pull request on GitHub.
Celebrate: After your PR is merged or your issue addressed, keep an eye on your profile—your badge will appear soon!
Contributing to WordPress isn’t just about badges, it’s about joining a vibrant community, gaining new insights, and enhancing a platform that millions depend on. So, why wait? Jump in, share your skills, and enjoy the rewarding experience of contributing.
Have you made contributions or do you have insights to share? I’d love to hear your story in the comments!
I’m thrilled to share that I’ve officially earned the WordPress Test Contributor badge! 🎉
You can find my name mentioned in the post on the Make/Test blog — a weekly recap that highlights testing contributions across the WordPress project. It’s a small but meaningful milestone in my ongoing journey as a contributor.
Recently, I contributed by testing Trac ticket #63254: “Introduce development mode for block editor styles”.
This ticket addresses a common frustration among plugin and theme developers, having to manually clear browser cache to see style changes in the block editor.
The update introduces a development mode where, when SCRIPT_DEBUG is set to true, CSS and JS assets for the block editor automatically use their file modification timestamps (filemtime()) as version parameters. This ensures that every change is instantly reflected in the editor without manual cache-busting.
Here’s what I did as a tester:
Confirmed the issue by switching SCRIPT_DEBUG on and noticing that asset URLs didn’t update as expected.
Applied the patch and revisited the editor to check that each file change triggered a unique ?ver=… timestamp.
Tested both CSS and JS changes, ensuring updates were reflected immediately.
Verified that this behavior only applies in development mode, preserving production performance.
Submitted a thorough test report, detailing the improved workflow and confirming that no new issues were introduced.
This feature was then marked “ready to ship” and will be included in WordPress 6.8.2, a direct boost to developer experience.
Why Testing Matters
WordPress powers more than 40% of the web. Every update to the platform introduces enhancements, bug fixes, and new features. Behind all of those improvements is a vital layer of protection: real-world testing.
Here’s why testing is essential:
Quality assurance: Testing helps catch bugs before they reach end users, reducing the chance of regressions in future releases.
User empathy: Testers evaluate features from the user’s perspective, ensuring updates are intuitive, functional, and consistent across environments.
Stronger releases: Well-tested patches reduce the need for last-minute hotfixes and allow developers to ship with more confidence.
Inclusive contribution: You do not need to be a developer to make a difference. Clear feedback, step-by-step reproduction, or simply confirming an issue still exists are all valuable.
Testing opened the door for me to start contributing without needing to write core patches. It is a powerful and accessible way to strengthen WordPress from the inside out.
What’s Next?
This is only the beginning. I plan to:
Help test upcoming betas and release candidates
Explore writing unit tests to improve coverage
Join testing efforts for major releases
Encourage others to start their own contributor journey through testing
If you have ever thought about contributing to WordPress, testing is an excellent place to begin. It is inclusive, impactful, and essential to the health of the project.
