This week we kicked off a project we’ve been excitedly building towards. We’ve started working with the incredible team at Unsplash on their WordPress plugin. When launched, the plugin will bring a richer and deeper experience to content creators in WordPress in how they can access, interact, and use the wonderful photography from the Unsplash library.
The ethos of Unsplash is one that is beautifully aligned with WordPress. Both platforms:
Embrace Open Source
Grow through rich community contribution
Empower content creators
The evidence of this alignment is in the fact that the photos of Unsplash are already found across a massive proportion of the 35% of the web that WordPress powers.
The work planned is exciting and we can’t wait to share the completed plugin with the WordPress community. Stay tuned for more updates.
Our company’s mission to work for an open web that is secure, performant, reliable, and accessible has been the driving force behind Tide, a tool that aims to lift code quality across the WordPress ecosystem.
During the 12 month journey Tide has been on, we’ve discovered that the vision behind it also aligns with the goals of WordPress. We saw the value and importance of Tide being part of WordPress itself where it can have a bigger impact and a greater chance of achieving its vision.
During the State of the Word presentation this past weekend Matt Mullenweg announced WordPress’ adoption of the Tide project.
This was a milestone moment for XWP and Tide, and a giant step closer to accomplishing what we set out to do; building a stronger open web.
Tide now belongs to the WordPress community and we are so grateful it will have the community to support it.
How you can contribute to Tide
A priority near-term for XWP is completing the transition to WordPress.org and ensuring that the project continues to build momentum with Derek Herman and Jeff Paul as leading contributors from our team. They welcome and encourage all community participation.
The project site for Tide is make.wordpress.org/tide. Visit and subscribe to the site to remain updated with progress and details on where to contribute. To get involved directly in conversations around Tide, join the #tide channel on the Make WordPress slack.
We would like to thank those who tried out Tide at WordCamp US. The public API will be back online no later than December 20th, paving the way for the integration with WordPress.org.
Thanks to Automattic, Google, and WP Engine who supported us throughout the journey. We are excited to see what the future holds for Tide in WordPress!
Involve yourself in enough WordCamps, meetups and community forums, and you start to notice a trend. The same kind of question is asked over and over. It sounds something like…
What plugin should I install to do {feature}?
WordPress users have the world’s most popular CMS, with 29% of the web under its wing and 53,000+ plugins, yet there is still a confidence gap when choosing plugins and themes. Right now, WordPress does a great job of providing plugin and theme information related to:
The features
The support you receive
User reviews
These are all part of what makes a good plugin or theme, but there is an important piece missing. This piece of information answers the question…
Will the code I’m about to install break or put my site at risk?
A plugin or theme could deliver the exact range of features you need, with great support, and positive reviews, but if the quality of code it contains is poor, you risk the integrity of your website. A single line of good code can unlock potential for you and your website, but badcodecantriggeruntoldcalamity.
Unfortunately, the barrier of entry to writing good code is higher than we would like to admit.
The good news
We believe there’s a way to streamline complex web engineering processes around code quality into elegant tools that all WordPress users – from builders to admins to developers – can understand. Tools that empower users to make better decisions on the plugins and themes they install on their sites. Tools that equip developers to easily spot problems and craft a better class of code.
Say to Tide.
Tide, a project started here at XWP and supported by Google, Automattic, and WP Engine, aims to equip WordPress users and developers to make better decisions about the plugins and themes they install and build.
Tide is a service, consisting of an API, Audit Server, and Sync Server, working in tandem to run a series of automated tests against the WordPress.org plugin and theme directories. Through the Tide plugin, the results of these tests are delivered as an aggregated score in the WordPress admin that represents the overall code quality of the plugin or theme. A comprehensive report is generated, equipping developers to better understand how they can increase the quality of their code.
The image below is an early concept of how Tide could introduce the score to the plugin tile in the WordPress admin. How would you present this data? We welcome your feedback.
WordPress plugin card concept with Tide Score
Tide brings code transparency to the individual, with the collective outcome being an increase of quality across the entire WordPress ecosystem.
Tide at WordCamp US
Alongside our friends at Google, we’ll be sharing Tide with the WordPress community at WordCamp US in just a few weeks. The Tide plugin will be released shortly after. Add your email below if you want to hear more about this project as it develops.
Why this is important to us
At XWP, we are working for a future where the open web is more performant, secure, reliable, and accessible. WordPress plays an undeniably large role in this with the quality of code across the ecosystem setting the stage for either its success or struggles.
What’s next
We know it’ll take some time to make this tool perfect, but we believe in the positive impact good code will have on the WordPress community and the open web. In the same spirit as other open source projects like Let’s Encrypt, Travis CI and WordPress itself, we believe that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” and we want your help in getting this right. If you feel you can contribute, stay tuned as we release further details in the coming weeks.
