2021 Goals/Projects

Can someone please explain to me the difference between a standard plugin and a core plugin?

Core plugins are features that are shipped with every install and that majority of sites need (like seo, media, customizer, icons, e-commerce, emojis…). User is supplied with a light core, the option to remove those core plugins entirely and add his own features (so free to custom code all that they need) or keep the core plugins they need, or use a non-core plugin found in the directory that ships same feature of a core one (so core would be Classic SEO but you remove it and use another SEO plugin). Core will be structured to not be bothered which plugin (core or non-core) you use, coding standards for plugins will have to comply with core structure anyway so a core plugin will connect to the core just as simply that a non-core one.
This means no core bloat, but gives us the occasion to build and ship a cms that is a “real modular system” where we can pack several standard features so that a average Joe can start right away (by simply relying on core and core plugins) and a vetted expert can even throw away core plugins and make special ones for the specific site.
(Think of WordPress.com, where they ship jetpack default, seo, media etc… But on WP.com there is no way to disable and use something else).

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Not achieved. Sorry, maybe it is my fault, but I didn’t see any updates after WP updated to the 4.9.16. It forces me (and, maybe, others) to feel insecure.

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Most of the updates to CP have been done precisely to port security updates made to WP. Of course, not all of the latter are applicable because we don’t have Gutenberg.

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The core plugins concept is what I’m most looking forward to enjoying about ClassicPress. I hadn’t even considered moving media out into a core plugin, but actually that would potentially solve so many issues. Because media management in WP/CP is currently a bit of a disaster area, and moving media out of core would enable the building of alternatives which could use the same hooks.

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I say media because it makes sense splitting it and give a bit of love to the specific feature. As is media library is good, but being the elephant that it is and being in core means that it can’t be further developed without risking breaking changes…

From the Roadmap:

Core Plugins

In service of our mission to create a CMS that is streamlined, fast, and secure, Version 2 will introduce the concept of core plugins. These plugins will move some “core” features into plugins that are enabled by default. Developers can then selectively disable and delete these plugins based on the needs of their clients. Some example core plugins could include:

  • XML-RPC
  • Gravatars
  • REST API
  • Emojis

In a nutshell, we extract certain rarely used or unwanted features that are currently in the core and move them to “core” plugins instead - to be installed or not as required.

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I’ve been working on a site which currently has hundreds – and will have thousands – of files to be stored somewhere. But the current media management is completely unsuited to this, so we have had to store them off-site.

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As I understand, WP 4.9 didn’t have any Gutenberg code, but the latest security release is 4.9.16, released October 29, 2020. The latest CP is older.

So, an usual user will presume, that the latest WP 4.9 bugfixes is not ported. We need a newer release or the announcement, that these security flaws is not affecting CP.

We need a newer security release or the annoucement that these 4.9 vulnerabilities not affecting CP.

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As said in Slack: this has come up a few times, and I haven’t seen agreement on what to switch to, or a workable plan that will actually get us through the migration without losing too many active users. I also don’t agree that Slack is not “suited to a community” - Slack, the forums and GitHub all serve our purposes well but slightly differently, with some overlap between them. In summary, there are much higher priorities for us, and I think this is not too likely to happen in 2021.

I agree with this. Part of the reasoning behind the petitions system was that developers who know their way around the internals of WP/CP would arrive to work on the things they are interested in. That hasn’t happened at anywhere close to the scale required in order for such a system to be successful, and so far there are many more ideas than there are people to work on them.

I think it’s reasonable to argue that the petitions have already served their purpose: help us set the direction for ClassicPress v2 (and beyond, realistically there is too much in just our existing roadmap to pack into only one new major version). This would mean that we can keep the existing petitions available as a read-only archive, and use other communication channels (GitHub, forums) for suggesting changes in the future. This would streamline things a bit for our users and also saves us the work of migrating petitions over here.

However I think it’s a good idea to be careful with any such change: we want to keep it very clear and obvious that we are listening to our community. The first thing the ClassicPress community has wanted is a stable version that isn’t going to spring new changes on them, and that’s what we’ve provided.

We are not aware of any directly exploitable issues that were fixed in WP 4.9.16. This was a security hardening release and we do not recommend making assumptions about security without understanding the actual issues at a detailed level. Still, we’ll get these changes released as soon as possible.

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Please, make this announcement as a separate forum post, or, better - as a separate blog post. Because of what you know is very different from what non-technical user assumes.

Sorry for the repeating this over and over, but we should provide not only superior to the WP security, but also communicate it to the existing/potential users. (Yes, I am from the marketing world).

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Still not understanding why they can’t just be plugins that you download and install in the usual way. If they are “rarely used” then why bother to ship them with core files and offer them up as an option in the installation process? If you must do this, wouldn’t it would make more sense to offer some that are “commonly used”.

Anyway, to summarise my initial point, I think the first 2021 goal should be a major rethink of where this is all going, taking into account the obvious fact that we have very few people who actually roll their sleeves up and contribute.

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  1. Core plugins need to all be shipped with ClassicPress and enabled by default for the first few releases after this change, otherwise a bunch of sites will break.
  2. Core plugins will likely need to be loaded in a different way than other plugins.
  3. Core plugins should have a special status in the directory and in the users’ minds, because they were once part of the core code itself rather than plugins written by other authors.
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Thanks James. That makes it much clearer.

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To get more users to use ClassicPress. I have written a series of blog posts that didn’t see the light of the day, and one issue that is stopping my track each time is the lack of ClassicPress specific theme. It’s kinda not good for new users to use WP themes, and I guess you know why. New users should be presented usable CP theme right off the box.

@1stepforward what is your definition of a modern theme? what do you want extensible? and can you open a CP research repo for that?

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3 posts were split to a new topic: Theme One Development

One thing that’s important to discuss, that I haven’t seen anyone mention, is marketing goals for 2021.

Biggest issue I see on Twitter, for example, is awareness. People not knowing about ClassicPress at all. And when I mention it, they are eager to try it.

Since we’re a non-profit, one goal I would like to see attempted is applying for Google grant. $10,000/mo would make a nice ad campaign to increase awareness. Google Ad Grants - Free Google Ads for Nonprofits

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8 posts were merged into an existing topic: Google ad credits for non-profits

Discussion about Google ad credits moved to its own thread: Google ad credits for non-profits

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Viktor, I think that’s a great idea and I’d like to see some marketing goals for 2021 as well. Based on the lack of response the last few times I’ve called for a meeting, there seems to be very little interest from the community in participating in creating and executing those goals. I do plan to ask for another meeting in January 2021 and hope you and others will respond, attend, and participate in marketing ClassicPress in 2021.

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