WordPress has allowed embedding third-party content in posts and on pages for ages. In the classic editor, it was possible to simply paste a link to a popular external service like Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, etc. Using a clever format called oEmbed, WordPress could retrieve the linked content from the respective platforms and embed it in its content. Today there are separate blocks for the individual providers in the block editor, but nothing has changed in the basic principle of this mechanism.

The whole thing is perfect for integrating videos, putting tweets in a larger context, or presenting your music. But as is often the case, there’s a downside to it. The negative side effects of embedded content are manifold.

Continue reading “Less crappy Twitter embeds please!” →

At the end of September, I was invited to a very, very spontaneous video call. This short call was followed by many long conversations and finally a big decision.

I’m taking a new step and, after more than four years as a Senior WordPress developer at Ströer Online Marketing, I’m going to explore new ground and take on new, exciting challenges. In a few days, I will therefore be working in my new role with the great team at YITH for the first time.

Continue reading “I’m doing new things” →

For the start of the new decade I have a new small project to announce. If you read my German WordPress newsletter WP Letter regularly, you might have noticed that I am always including articles about accessibility.

That’s no coincidence, as I am particularly interested in the accessibility of the web in general and of WordPress in particular.

Catching Attention

But because accessibility is still far too often ignored or at best poorly treated even in 2020, I would now like to proclaim the topic month of accessibility in January.

Continue reading “Focus on accessibility” →

Today is global climate strike, all over the world. I have been dealing with the problem of climate change for several months now, but unfortunately I am on holiday today. So I prepared a small blog post instead of a strike:

Anthropogenic climate change is real. And we are all part of the problem. In a year in which we in Europe have broken several heat records at once and are struggling in some places with violent wildfires and drought, I do not really want to waste time on such trivial statements, despite a few stubborn climate deniers.

Anyone who thinks about the climate damage they cause themselves will quickly have air travel, large apartments, cars or meat consumption on their list. But there is one comparatively large factor that we all too easily overlook: the Internet.

Continue reading “WordPress, the web and the climate” →

Community building in times of Twitter and Co

Since May 2010, Twitter has been one of the services that have connected me to the world. Friendly, interesting and inspiring people could be found here as well as news from all over the world. In fact, they still are today, Twitter is just working hard to become unusable for users like me

Contact with the “family”

Calling the WordPress community my family of choice may sound pathetic, but it’s pretty much what I feel. And as chance would have it, Twitter is a popular communication medium in the German as well as in the global community. This is one of the main reasons for me, not to turn my back on Twitter at the moment. But with any luck, there could be a real alternative for all of us.

Continue reading “From tweets to toots.” →