Comprehension Questions
- Can you describe and compare the concepts of open source software, free software and proprietary software?
- Can you define the purpose of the license? GPL? ?
- Explain the benefits of open source software for WordPress users.
- Explain the possibilities of WordPress
Transcript
Hello, I’m Hari Shanker. I’m a community representative on the WordPress community team.
I’m here today to take a workshop on the topic of getting started with open source. In this lesson, we’ll learn about a lot of topics related to open source, including what the term open source means when referring to software. What the GPL software license provides, why WordPress is open source software, and how it is important to WordPress users as well as WordPress contributors. And finally, for those of you who are not very familiar with WordPress, I will also show you different ways that WordPress can be used. So let’s get started. I hope you’re ready for an exciting session on what’s involved in open source and what’s involved in WordPress. Let’s dive in. Let’s start by discovering the definition of open source software. Simply put, open source software is software whose source code is available for anyone to view, modify, and improve. Source code refers to the computer instructions written by software developers in a programming language to manipulate the way the software works. Therefore, all the software in the world requires a source code. Now, most proprietary software is contested in the form of executable files, where the source code has been compiled in such a way that it is encrypted for computing use. What does this mean? It means that you, as a user using this proprietary software, will not be able to find out the source code. Now, if the software has source code that is available uncompiled and unencrypted, and that it would, and that it would be possible for you as a user to study and modify the program. That’s what open source software offers: the ability to read and modify the code behind the software. So, to summarize, proprietary software is encrypted. It’s built with a programming language, but the code is encrypted, it’s compiled. So you won’t be able to as a user, you won’t be able to see your source code. But on the contrary, open source software, you can see all the source code of open source software, you should be able to study how the software works. And you should even be able to modify the functionality of an open source software. But on the other hand, when it comes to proprietary software, you won’t be able to modify how the provider works afterwards. I hope you have understood the difference between free software and open source software. So open source software essentially gives you the freedom to modify the software to view the source code. It’s amazing, right? Alright, let’s move on to the next section, which is the definition of free software.
What is free software. As its name implies, free software is not just software for which you don’t charge. I hope I didn’t mislead you when I said that. But I repeat. Free software is not just software for which you don’t charge. It’s a little different. We’ll get to that. Now, before I get into that, I’d like to talk to you about freeware, which is a term that is generally used to describe free software. Free Software is much more than that. Basically, it gives the user the freedom to share the study in order to modify it. Now, there is a quote from the Free Software Foundation that basically defines what free software is and I quote, free software is software that gives the user the freedom to share, study and modify, we call it software for free use. before because the user is free. So what is the difference between a free software project or a free application of our free software and a free application? So a proprietary software application could be free as you can download it from the internet for free, you will not need to pay money for it. But you won’t be able to understand that source code, you won’t be able to read it, so of course you won’t be able to modify all of the source code. However, when it comes to free software, you can’t just download it for free. , you can read its source code, you can understand how it works, you can modify it, and you can distribute it. So that’s the difference between free software and free software. Just because the software can be downloaded from the internet for free does not mean it is free software, it could be. But if it really needs to be free software, you should be able to understand the source code, read it, you should be able to modify it. I would like to, I would like to borrow the code from Richard Stallman, who is one of the pioneers of the free software world. And I quote, free software as a matter of freedom, not price.To understand the concept, you need to think of free as free speech, not free beer. What a powerful code. What Stallman essentially means is that when you use free software, you are free to use it, modify it, change it in any way you can. Basically it makes you free, as in freedom of thought. But then you use free software, proprietary software that’s free. It’s not much different from free beer. Alright, I mentioned what free software is, let’s move on to understand what exactly makes a software free. Free Software complies with four essential freedoms, the freedom to use, study to modify and distribute software for any purpose without any legal restrictions. So a program is free software if the program it uses has these four essential freedoms. Going back to Richard Stallman, who is one of the founders of the Free Software Foundation. The Free Software Foundation has basically described or defined these four rules, and I’d like to codify them so that you have a better understanding of what free software really means. The first freedom is the freedom to run the software as you wish for any purpose. This is called a zero of freedom. The second freedom is the freedom to study how the program works and change it to do the computation as you wish, this is called the second freedom or freedom one. Now, for any software to achieve this freedom, its access to the source code is mandatory. So if you find software and you want to make sure it’s freedom compliant, you should be able to read the source code freely, you should be able to modify the source code. That is freedom one or freedom two. Moving on to the third topic, it is the freedom to distribute or redistribute copies so that you can help your fellow man. This is called the freedom that the software you download, you should be able to distribute to others as you choose. This is also one of the main prerequisites of free software.
What is the fourth freedom? We have discussed the first three freedoms. The fourth freedom is the freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. So the third freedom talks about being able to distribute copies so that you can help your fellow man, it’s not just limited to that, you have to be able to modify the software in any way you want. And then you should be able to distribute it to anyone. So by doing this, you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from the changes. Now, for the fourth freedom, too, access to the source code is a precondition. So I hope I have explained to you what free software is. Now, you’ve heard of the term open source and you’ve definitely heard of the term free software, are they both the same thing? Is there a difference between open source and free software? Let’s find out. So, open source software is classified by the public accessibility of its code. Where free software focuses on the capabilities to use and share the software. Now to explain open source software. The main feature of open source software is that its code must be publicly accessible. That’s what focus is. But for free software, the focus is on using and sharing the software. Now, these terms overlap a lot, as you can see, but they’re not interchangeable. Software capabilities and terms depend on the particular software license, and there are variations in the use of licenses for free and open source software. Basically, there are overlaps, but both movements are completely different. So there are some additional terms that can be used for these overlapping ideologies for software products. So the two most popular terms are FOSS, which is free and open source software, or floss, which is free open source software slash liberal slash. Let’s move on to the history of open source. We are talking about open source, so we should definitely know its history. We should go back to the 1950s to discuss this. So back in the 1950s, frilly shirts later spread to computer scientists working at the Academy. This is when computers were very rudimentary, they didn’t have many features. So the software was not really conceived as a paid product. However, over time, computer systems have become more complex and software development has become more expensive. And the world saw a market for computer products that was expanding more and more and more people began to use computers in their daily lives. And by the 1960s. companies, companies were making computers and shipping them out to users. So what these computer companies often did was bundle software products together with the software needed to operate and sell them together. So if you buy a computer, you’ll either need to buy separate software, or run them, or sometimes both software will be bundled together. So that’s when the software is really rationally priced. Moving on to the ’80s, this expanded.And the main change was that personal computers had started to appear. So, in the 60s, companies mainly used computers. But by the 1980s, the personal computer movement had really expanded. So this resulted in the formation of corporate networks. And it also translated into increased prices associated with proprietary software. Going back to the 1980s, the software became proprietary. If you look back in the 1950s, software was free. But by the 1980s, software had become a commodity, and people realized they couldn’t make money from it. So proprietary software was born by default. And prices were associated with it and prices were rising in the 1980s. If God were proprietary software, they were often locked in to vendors. Then the term vendor lock-in came along, which meant you could only use particular software with your hardware. So if he bought his computer from Company A, he will only be able to use software B, C and D, not x, y and z. Now this obviously costs a lot on your part, in the computing community,
a lot of movement and a lot in reaction to the limitations of proprietary software. And as a result, in 1984, the G a new or new project was launched to create a computer operating system that is free from the restrictions of its good source, compatible with the four freedoms. Now, when new was born, it was when the General Public License was created as an alternative software license for the gn GNU project. Now I’ve been, I’ve been saying this quantum gn UT and I’ve known for a long time what it really means. 10 years and a few years that says news not Unix. Did you get it? It’s It’s a recursive joke. It is recurring because the chronicle was so great. Genuine only means news, not Unix. The guiding principles for open source development were outlined by a person named Eric Raymond, who is a pioneer in the world of open source. And one of the founding members of the Open Source Initiative in his 1999 book called The Cathedral and the Bazaar. So this book was an extension of his essay of the same title, as the name of the book and essay suggests, Raymond compares two software governance models to talk about the cathedral model and the bazaar model. Speaking of the model of the cathedral, how is the cathedral? It is a closed space where a select group of people congregates. So the cathedral model of software development is very similar. So, in the cathedral model, code is developed between releases restricted to an exclusive group of software developers. Now if you look at the cathedral model, this is the same model followed by most proprietary software. drip platforms. Therefore, the software is created and released by a select group of people. They make all the decisions about the software they develop from scratch, testing it, releasing it, and adding features. Therefore, the entire software development life cycle is restricted to that select group of people. Most proprietary software is still based on this cathedral model. Now the bazaar model is the exact opposite of the cathedral model. To talk about the weird morning, let’s imagine a mental model of a weird morning. so strange is a market. It is a huge market with many shops, many people. So the bazaar is essentially run by people. Good. So it is a congregation of a large number of people. So, people are there to buy things from merchants who sell things of seven lambs. So, in the weird model, the code is developed over the internet with public access. As an example, the Linux kernel project, which is led by Linus Torvalds. It is one of the most popular projects in the bazaar model. So in this case, the code belongs to the people. So that’s what the power of the bazaar model is. Now, I’m going to ask you a question. What model is open source software for the arts, needless to say, it is a strange model. Because the code is developed on the Internet, the bazaar is the Internet, in this case with public access, and contributors are live around the world to contribute to this open source project. Now the key takeaway from this book, that it’s important, and if you’re interested in the open source movement, I highly recommend reading it. The key takeaway from that book is this quote, which is also called Lena Says Love. The code says that, with enough eyes, all bugs are superficial. Therefore, the public availability of the source code makes it possible for a broader group of contributors to detect and correct software problems. So let’s take a look at the model of the cathedral. In the cathedral model, there is an error. But the software is only created and tested by a select group of people. It is not tested by a large group of people. But in the weird model, there are thousands, there are hundreds or maybe thousands of people
not only using the code, but also testing it at the same time. So there are a lot of eyes on the code at any given time.Thus, bugs are easy to find, decisions about bug fixes can be made, and overall software quality improves. Turning now to open source software, the term open source software was essentially coined in 1998, when Netscape read the source code of its first web browser, Netscape Navigator, in hopes of improving it by giving more people access to the code. , so that they can locate and correct errors. That’s when open source was formally born, the term open source. The term free software has been around for a while because there was an x that came out in the 90s, I think, or the 80s. My record is wrong. So the release of Netscape Navigator became extremely popular. The release attracted a lot of attention for the open source development process. Today some of the most popular applications in the world are open source software. That includes Android, Mozilla Firefox, Libre Office, git, and WordPress of course. So it’s not just that open source has grown well beyond this. And perhaps the greatest success of the open source project is that Microsoft itself said that it opened it up. So Microsoft was against open source in the ’90s. There was a, there was a former CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, who made a very, very famous quote, saying, open source is the cancer of the world, something for the style. So Microsoft these days is one of the biggest open source contributors in the world. And other companies are following suit. Open source is really taking off in 2020. So with all that said, why should we choose open source? I have explained a lot about the benefits of open source. I have explained how different companies are adopting it. I have spoken of many shallow ice boxes. But as an end user, as a developer, or as a business manager, why should you consider whether or not to use open source software? Now, I’m not saying that open source software is superior to proprietary software. I mean, there are key differences between the two. Those could be situations where proprietary software is better, or there could be situations where open source is better. Now, let’s explain, let’s see, let’s evaluate why open source is a superior option that might be a better option for you, when you’re working on a particular project. The first, most obvious reason is that there is usually very little cost. So, in most cases, open source software is free. So I talked earlier about the intersections between open source and free software. And there’s a lot of intersection between the two, as I mentioned, so most of the time, most open source projects are free, most open source software projects are free. In some cases, there might be a small distribution fee. But other than that, when you compare it to providing software, which in some cases could cost millions of dollars, the open source alternative is almost always free or cheap. Therefore, as a decision maker for a company, you should definitely go for open source software, if it comes to cost. That’s the first thing. The second thing is the second point that makes open source software special is that there is no contractual license. Instead, the license outlines the rules for sharing. So essentially, when you want to buy proprietary software, you would normally have to sign a license that there would be a license associated with it, preventing you from using the software the way you want. However, for open source software, there is usually a license such as the GPL or an MIT license, which gives you all four freedoms. So actually, the license you get with open source software outlines the sharing rules. You see how beneficial it is. That is definitely one of the main advantages of open source software. And the third is that open source software is customizable. And there are almost always public forums and documentation to back it up. So, with many eyes, the bugs are superficial.
Any open source software project is written and developed by a community, a large community that spans the world, it doesn’t sprout. It is not based in the United States of Europe, it is spread all over the world. So there are public forums and there is documentation to back it up. If you have a question or run into a roadblock, there’s probably a documentation page that addresses it, or there’s probably a public forum post that addresses it. Or even worse, you can ask a question on a forum and you’ll get an answer from someone who’s an expert at it. That is, again, one of the biggest advantages of open source software. The fourth advantage is that there is no vendor lock-in for customization or bug fixes. So it goes without saying that even open source software would have bugs. And obviously, you need to customize open source software to add to your features.Depending on how complex your requirements are, there is no lock-in at all. You can choose to modify the software in any way you want, you can fix if you find bugs, you can fix it, and you can implement it in the software, you can do this with proprietary software. So practicing there might block you from different customization requirements. So if you want to add some features, you won’t be able to. Even if you contact your software provider, they may prevent you from doing so, there may be a clause in the contract that prevents you from doing so. And, if there is a bug, you may have to wait for the developers of the software to fix it. So there are a lot of restrictions. But in the case of open source software, you already have the code. So even in case the original developer or development team has a delay in fixing the bugs, you can dive in and fix those bugs yourself. And the other and fifth advantage of open source software is that abandoned software projects can be adopted by new development teams. So if a software project is abandoned, in theory you can adopt a project and work on it. Good. So if it’s proprietary software and it’s abandoned, and if you’re using it if your company relies entirely on mainstream software, you’re going to have to throw it away, but when, but in the case of open source software, you can basically take over the software and can be developed on it. This has happened many times in the open source community, especially in the WordPress world. We’ll get to that later in the session. And move on. The other advantage is that open standards often take the place of proprietary standards. So the different standards first of the product. Therefore, most open source software adopts open standards rather than proprietary standards, which adds a lot of restrictions. That makes Open to Software easier to use. And finally, and most importantly, bugs and security issues can be quickly fixed with software patches. Therefore, open source software has open source code, which you can read and understand, and you can use it to identify security issues, and you can quickly create a patch to fix them. But in the case of proprietary software, this may not be very easy, it may have many restrictions, including contractual restrictions. So even if you identify a security issue and the port is the company, the company will take their own time to fix it, which may not work well with your business needs. So, but that’s when open source software really has advantages because you should be able to identify any problem and if you have the bandwidth you can fix it, or maybe you can get community support to fix it. The options are many more. So I hope all of these have explained to you what open source software is and what its benefits are. Let’s move on to the next section to learn more about the GPL license. The GPL stands for GNU General Public License. Some people call it the copyleft license in contrast to copyright. This is because the copyright terms of the software change. So instead of restricting distribution, the GPL copyright is used to specify ownership of the source code and the terms on which it can be shared. The GPL was created by Richard Stallman in 1989 and is the foundational license for open source software. Its objective is to protect the four fundamental freedoms that are considered the pillars of free software. Therefore, if a free software derivative of a GPL license is redistributed in its original or modified form, it must be licensed under the GPL. Failure to do so will terminate your license to use the program and violate the terms of use. This makes it possible to fork an open source project into a new project. As long as the GNU project is under the same license. They have been free versions of the GPL over time. GPL v2 or later from the Free Software Foundation is the license that WordPress software is found under.
How does open source apply to WordPress? So WordPress is free open source software distributed under the GPL license. WordPress began as a Fork successor to the abandoned B to cafe crash software project as Matt Mullenweg first reflected in a 2003 post called The Blogging Software Dilemma. Matt, as everyone knows, is the co-founder of WordPress along with Mike shortly after that year, the two of them collaborated to launch the software called WordPress. ma.tt then published a blog post called WordPress, and then launched the original release on wordpress.org with the WordPress post now available. Since then, it has grown to become the world’s largest self-hosted blogging tool, used on millions of sites and viewed by tens of millions of people every day. As of now, at the time of shooting this video, which is August 2020, WordPress was over 37% of the internet.The official WordPress page says that everything you see here, from the documentation to the code itself, was created by and for the community. WordPress is an open source project, which means there are hundreds of people around the world working on it more than most commercial platforms. It also means you can use it for anything from a recipe site to a Fortune 500 website without paying anyone a license fee and a host of other important freedoms. In addition to the GPL that applies to WordPress open source code, all related software on wordpress.org in the plugins directory and re themes and Blocks Directory must be licensed under the GPL or compatible license, as they are considered derivatives of the software. Now, according to the Software Freedom Law Center, they are the WordPress readers, because each part of them is determined by the content of the WordPress feature. As authoring shop jobs, they are designed only to be combined with what you press into a larger work. This is from a post called GPLated themes. While WordPress plugins and themes must comply with the GPL license, they can still offer premium versions for a fee. Although they cannot be sold through wordpress.org directories, this may seem a bit confusing at first, but it opens up a wider freedom for users on how to customize which software. And it allows a third-party commercial marketplace to collaborate and bundle free software with paid services. Essentially, the GPL license for WordPress is very similar to the four freedoms that I mentioned at the beginning of the session. But in addition to the four freedoms, there are a few more things to keep in mind. Okay, those four freedoms are the foundation of what GPL is. But the GPL is a little more than that. So, in the next section, I will try to go through all the GPL features and what their implications are in the world of WordPress. I’ve also tried to answer some of the top questions that we’ve heard people ask over and over again over the years, and I’ll try to address those questions. So the most important freedom of the GPL is the freedom to copy and distribute the Program. The only drawback is that all the licenses, all the copyrights that come with the program must be intact. So if you make changes to the WordPress software, if you make changes to a GPL plugin, GPL theme, or GPL block, and if you want them to be redistributed, you must provide all the licenses that come with the existing program. as such. . The second point is that you can charge a fee for providing the copy if you want, yes it is definitely allowed. However, it still needs to be fully TPO compliant. The third point is that you can modify and distribute the Program, but your modifications will inherit the GPL. So you can make changes to the program and redistribute it, but as long as you have the licenses intact, your modifications will automatically inherit the GPL. The fourth point is that subsequent recipients of the program or modifications will inherit the license, but no further restrictions can be imposed, which means that the more changes you make to the software and the more you distribute, the license remains intact. However, you cannot add further restrictions to the license. Now, you will lose your GPL license if you copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program in any way other than what is allowed. So
if you violate the GPL, as an example of this would be you copy the GPL code and remove all the GPL men types, then add a restricted license and then basically try to distribute the GPL which is a violation of the GPL. And it means that your GPL rights are terminated. Now, based on what we’ve discussed so far, what are the highlights of GPL for WordPress? So the most important way that the GPL protects everyone who uses WordPress is by controlling the distribution of derivative or collective works, along with the main work itself, which in this case is WordPress, and not questioning the rights of others. So anyone who writes software for WordPress or contributes to WordPress retains the intellectual property of the code that they have written. And if the product is distributed as under the GPL, the fact that these are the authors who will remain with the software. However, the software continues to be freely distributed. So it means that anyone who is writing software for WordPress or writing software for the GPL-licensed product, has control of the intellectual property, owns the copyright, but the product can still be distributed, can still be modified. That’s the beauty of the GPL. Now the other point is that if the identifiable sections of the modified work are not derived from the program, they can be considered independent and separate works in themselves. Therefore, this applies in cases where a part of any WordPress software or a GPL-licensed software is used to create stand-alone software.So if it’s a small line of code, being reused for another purpose, and if it’s not specifically identifiable, and if it’s not, if it’s not derived from a program and used to create a separate program, then this is what modified The work can be established considered separate in itself. That’s one thing to keep in mind. Now, the other point is that when you distribute the same sections as a complete work based on the Program, then the distribution of the whole must be in terms of the GPL. In short, if you use a major section of the GPL license program, which could be a theme if you’re using code specific to a WordPress theme or whatever, that’s what you’re complementing our WordPress blog. If you’re using that to create your own software, which is very important, then the software you use must be licensed under the GPL. The last and final point is that adding another work, not based on the program with the program, does not bring the other work under the scope of the GPL. So this means that if you use g if you provide a software package, such as a GPL licensed product along with some other GPL licensed products in one package, then the entire package does not become GPL. But your product will still be GPL. But when you bundle a non-GPL product with your GPL products, the package does not become GPL. This is something to keep in mind. Would that move on to the next section? As I mentioned earlier, people have a lot of questions about the GPL. So let’s try to answer some of these questions that people have about the GPL. So the first question is self explanatory. Is it a whole theme, a blog, or even WordPress core? I don’t even know what the plugin was? If I see someone doing that, should I post the source code for those edits? No, it is not required by the GPL. That is the answer. The reason behind this is that the GPL allows the freedom to modify the software. You are not required to share any changes you make. You can create software according to your own requirements, you can create, you can modify software, you can edit software, as much as you like. However, the GPL does not require you to share it if you want to. The GPL gives you the freedom to do so, but it is not required. The other question is, is selling WordPress software for a fee compliant with the GPL? The answer is yes. WordPress is software that is available for free, and as I mentioned earlier, the GPL allows you to distribute software for a fee. However, it’s a pointless exercise because what’s already available to [email protected]. So when a piece of software is available for free, what’s the point of distributing it for a fee? Next question, can I sell my GPL-licensed WordPress plugin theme blocks or other derivatives of my site for a fee? Yes, as mentioned above, the GPL license allows the distribution of WordPress products for a fee. However, anyone who refrains from obtaining a copy for a fee has the right to give it to anyone else, free of charge or for a fee.
That’s the beauty of the GPL. So if you want, you can buy software, a GPL licensed software for a fee, and but use it, you have the freedom to distribute it to anyone for a fee or for free, as much as you want. This is one of the most common questions we get that we keep hearing over and over again, I’m out of the WordPress license and the GPL. Can I resell GPL-licensed WordPress plugins or themes that I purchased elsewhere on my site for a fee? Following the GPL license, yes, it is definitely allowed. And that’s definitely something you can do. However, as users, you should think twice about the ethics of such decisions. There are several other challenges as well, like if you buy a plugin from a 3rd party site, it may not always save as you may lose access to updates, because in many cases when plugins or themes are sold, the cost comes with the cost essentially enables distribution, which means updates along with support. So the amount you pay for updates and support. So when you get a third party, when you get a paid plugin or a paid theme or a paid block for free, you may not have access to support, you may not have access to updates. But those are completely separate from the GPL license. We are talking about the GPL license at the moment, according to the license. Yes, you can, so you are definitely free to distribute it as much as you want. As a commercial plugin developer developing and disputing a GPL license program, am I required to make my Timo plugin wordpresser fee available to a member of the public for free? No, you are not required to. This is one of the biggest confusion among developers working on WordPress software. It doesn’t have to be that there is no GPL doesn’t necessarily say that you should make your work available for free. You can make your work available for a fee if you want the GPL. In fact, it allows the DGP and allows you to charge a distribution fee.You can also charge for support and updates. So that’s definitely a freedom of the GPL that you can use. So it’s not really necessary. But if you want that’s a good thing. It allows more people to use it, people who may not have the ability to pay for it definitely have a choice to do so. So it’s completely up to you. You can release a paid product under a GPL license, which is entirely within the license. Can I modify a GPL license to what Chris said we would have as a plugin or theme or block it and release it as a commercial product without a GPL license? Short answer, this is a violation of the GPL license. That’s because if you take a piece of software, or a GPL-licensed product, and try to release it for a long time with a non-GPL product, that’s a flagrant violation of the GPL. So if you want to do it when you take a piece of GPL code, and if you add it to any product, basically, then you should inherit the GPL. That’s the down license part of the GPL clause. So, essentially, if you want to take a piece of GPL code and you want to release it, along with other software, which should be GPL software, you can’t release it as non-GPL software, as that would be a termination violation. of the GPL license. What can I do if I know that a plugin, theme, or block developer is violating the GPL? As we discussed earlier, all WordPress derivatives inherit the GPL license. This is one of the basic principles of the GPL philosophy. So if you notice that a leading plugin or theme or a developer is violating the GPL, the first thing you can do is raise it with the developer. I mean, that’s definitely the first thing I can do. Because many people actually do this without knowing that what they are doing is a violation of the GPL. So you can definitely try to make them aware of it. In case they really don’t want to make the switch. You can discuss this with the ever-expanding WordPress community. You can share this with a growing WordPress community. You can if you have the bandwidth. You can try to get their support. You can talk to your boss to see if they are willing to change the license to the GPL one. What if they deliberately decide to use or not use the GPL? Now that’s definitely a concern. The other option you have is probably to reach out to the other co-developers of the WordPress software, people who are influencers. This definitely works if it’s a very popular plugin or a very popular theme. So in some cases, people may not understand. But there are examples of other very popular WordPress-based themes, plugins, and software that are open source and having success. So if that’s one of the concerns they have, it can definitely be alleviated by showing those examples.
You can also try getting help from other members of the WordPress community in trying to communicate with these developers. if you have the bandwidth, of course, to try to get them to move their software to the GPL. Also, the other thing is that according to the guidelines of WordPress community plugin developers or theme builder, there were basically WordPress helpers that violate the GPL license for WordPress products. They may not be able to leave the WordPress community when, for example, wordcamps or it means that if they can’t, they won’t be able to speak sponsor or volunteer at wordcamps or WordPress meetups. They can definitely add them, but they won’t be able to talk, they’re volunteered by sponsors, so they’re missing out on a lot just in the name of licensing. And essentially, by changing the license they lose nothing because they actually support the core license that wordpress.org supports. I definitely think it should be an incentive for them to move their plugin or their team or their WordPress derivatives to work with the GPL.
That brings us to the next section of our discussion. How can you contribute to WordPress now? WordPress is maintained by an advanced global community of volunteer contributors. People who contribute to the WordPress project are employed by various companies around the world. Some of them are individual contributors. Basically, many of these contributors work for companies that specialize in WordPress and there are several others that are freelancers who basically love wordpress. Often I would love to contribute. Now, you don’t need to be a software developer to contribute code to WordPress software. Now please don’t get me wrong, that’s definitely an important role. But the idea is that you don’t need development, you won’t be a developer if you want to contribute to WordPress core. There are several other ways a person can contribute to the WordPress project by helping out on support forums, writing documentation, doing language translations, having meetups and WordCamps, the ways are endless.Let’s take a look at the different ways you can contribute to the WordPress project. All WordPress contributions take place at Make WordPress dot org. The collaborative community is organized into two corporate teams. These teams can be classified into the construction, extension operations, and support categories. Let’s start by looking at the teams that make up the entire building. The first is the Make WordPress core team. They write the code that is the core of the WordPress software. The following is the design team that decides on Make WordPress design. They have designed and developed the user interface for WordPress. Next up is the Make WordPress accessibility team. The X-Ray team helps make WordPress and everything on wordpress.org accessible to people with disabilities. The next one is goal. The meta team helps with the infrastructure that powers ER visit org and wordcamp.org. The Mobile WordPress Habits team builds mobile apps for WordPress and the Testing team help patrol, test, curate, and modify the WordPress experience with QA, testing, and user research. The following are the operations. The marketing team residing at Make wordpress.org slash marketing helps develop materials and resources to market WordPress software and the community. The Hosting Team Makes WordPress hosting better for everyone through collaboration best practices, tools, and documentation. The Extension Team The Extension team helps add features to WordPress. The first half is Creating WordPress Themes. The theme team reviews incoming theme code to keep our theme directory healthy. The multilingual team translates everything and maintains localized sites on wordpress.org. The plugins team keeps the plugins directory safe by reviewing code and ensuring standards. The strict team helps you learn how to make your plugin or theme more standardized, faster, and more secure. The seal contributes to WBC Li, the official command line tool for managing your WordPress site. Next is the set of groups which are a set of teams that support WordPress. The first of these is that the community team brings people together with events like meetups at Word camps, along with outreach initiatives for diversity and inclusion. The Documents Team or Documentation Team help write and edit documentation, including Codex and our manuals. The training team creates curricula for free WordPress training resources that people can really trust. The support team answers questions to help other WordPress users on support forums and IRC. The TV crew – they moderate all incoming WordPress videos, have MacPro post-processing and transcribe and subscribe, caption videos.
We’ve covered a lot so far, we’ve learned what open sources we’ve covered what’s GPL and how does it affect WordPress. We have learned how to contribute to WordPress even. And finally, let’s take a look at the different features of WordPress and what are the different possibilities of the results. Before I get to that, I’ll quickly walk you through how to set up a WordPress site in case you don’t already know. So what is open source software that is available for download from wordpress.org? After downloading the software, you can set it up on a web server. For that, you need to buy a web hosting plan from a web hosting company, there are several available, you can choose the one you like. In case you don’t want to go through the details of installing the software on a web host, you can always go to wordpress.com to create a site and avoid all the challenges of buying a hosting plan, you can directly create a free website based on WordPress or a blog. So once you build a website, you get a dashboard dashboard, you can control all the content on the site. So the idea is that you can create content, you can create a very beautiful site without even having to write a line of code. So we’ve talked all about the GPL. We’ve talked a lot about coding. It’s interesting that contributing to WordPress is one part using WordPress entirely another part. So as a user, WordPress is a very easy to use software. It allows you to create very beautiful websites and very powerful websites. So I’ll quickly walk you through some of the features that are already offered on some of the sites, some of the possibilities that WordPress allows you to participate in. We’re going for a walk. WordPress can be used to create beautiful websites. Take a look at this Walt Disney Company website. It is built entirely using WordPress. If you can see it as a bunch of features, it has a new section. It has its own section with individual information. It’s a kind of blog. So WordPress is very powerful. You can use it to create any number of beautiful websites. But is that it? Let’s take a look at the different possibilities of WordPress. This is the website of the air current supply company. Airstream, as you know, is one of the largest towing companies in the US.This is an e-commerce site, which means that you can basically buy things from the website. This is built using WordPress. This site has a fully functional payment gateway. I can buy. I can buy items. I can add to cart. I can make payments from the payment gateway. All of these features are directly integrated into this website. As you can see right here. Yes, so yes, all of this, this beautiful website is built on WordPress. Let’s take a look at the TechCrunch website TechCrunch is one of the most popular technology blogs in the world. TechCrunch is built using WordPress directly. As you can see, it works with wordpress.com VIP. So, as I mentioned earlier, WordPress doesn’t make the possibilities of WordPress not end here. it’s huge Here is the New York Post website which is also built with WordPress, one of the most popular newspapers in the United States are the origins of companies using WordPress. As we can see in the footer. Let’s take a look at the singer company, Australia singer website. Singer, as you all know, is a company that makes sewing machines. This beautiful website is also built with WordPress using the WooCommerce plugin for eCommerce features.
Let’s take a look at the Singles Practice University. So this is a type of social networking site. They have their own login, where students or individuals can log in and have sort of a social media feed. This beautiful site is built using WordPress. Yes, you can even create social networking sites. Oh that’s a cool forum for the angry birds nest. For all Angry Birds fans. Basically no guessing points, this beautiful site is also built using WordPress using a plugin called BB press. So there we are. The possibilities of WordPress are endless. Let’s take a look at a real WordPress website. So this is a test website that I built on my local development server. As you can see, it is completely built using WordPress. So what does the WordPress back-end look like? I’ll quickly guide you through a tutorial. So here let’s take a look at the dashboard. This is the dashboard that powers all WordPress content. So let’s play a little. Let’s try to add some content. So this is a test post. WordPress allows you to add blocks. So I’m going to add a cover block here. I’m going to look for some pictures. I’m going to add an image directly from the one on my dashboard. Yes, it’s here and I’m going to modify it a bit. I’m going to make it full width. I’m going to play with it. I am going to add Yes, as you can see, it is very easy to add posts directly to WordPress. There are different design elements. As you can see, I’ve added a three-block widget, so I’m going to play with a bed. Yes. So I’m going to add a paragraph. I added some taxes. I like the block. So I’m going to add some text. I’m going to add some Test tags. Test test. Proof. random test. list one. list one, list two. Yes. Basically I can do something to test. I can add coats if I want. Ok, I’m going to add this fancy code, just some fancy code created by me. I’ve done all this and I’m going to post this. Yes, the post is live. Let’s take a look. Ooh, it’s in the front. Yes, as you can see in the post I just published. It has been published including the code. So yes, this is essentially how WordPress works. Now, let’s clear this up a bit. As you can see, this is in the format of a blog. WordPress offers different features, it allows you to add pages, posts, etc. So if you look at this site, this is one page. And this is a blog entry. So now this is in blog format right? Let’s try to make it a real site. How do we do it? I go to control panel, click settings, read icons. Then what I do is I change this to a static page, I add a sample page. And I save the changes. Let’s see what happens at the front. Wow. wonderful ok? So yes, my site is now a sample page. Now this is a default thing, which I want to remove. How do I do it? So I go to the dashboard again and go to Customize. I go to widgets. I go to footer one. I delete all this. Yes. I don’t want any of this. I’m going to remove all of that. Let’s see what happens, okay? Ok, I’ve posted it. Let’s see the changes. Well. Oh, all that is gone. There is a footer. Nice. Basically, this is what WordPress is. You can add content using posts, you can add pages. Media is for images. So since it’s a blog site, it gets feedback. So comments are recorded here. You can change the appearance of your site. As you can see, there are also themes. So these are two default themes. If you want, you can add more themes. So yeah, let’s just pray and play a little. I’m going to try to install a new theme. I don’t know if it will work, but I can definitely try getting up. So I’m going to try to solve a new issue.
It seems to be taking some time. In the meantime, I go to Yes, the theme was installed.So let me activate the theme real quick. Yes, the theme has been activated. See if there are any changes to the site. Yes, the whole appearance has changed. In fact, I can switch between themes if I want. So I’m going to go back to the previous topic, because I think it was good. So I’ve changed to let’s see if it’s changed. If that is. The other thing is that you can add more features to your site using plugins. So remember what I told you earlier about adding features to your site like e-commerce. So, there is a plugin called WooCommerce, which allows you to add eCommerce functionality to your site. Yes. Here’s one. installing this plugin basically turns your site into a store. What if you want to turn your site into a forum? There is a plugin for that. Yes, it is charging. It’s a plugin called BB press Yes, if I install a plugin I can turn my site into a forum. I can add users to my site here. So that’s me. That’s the default user, which is me. And I can change the name of my site, even change the test site. I’m going to change it to test site two. And I have saved my changes. I have gone to the board. Yes, the name of the site has changed. So that’s all about WordPress features. I have made an overview of very fast and very fast speed. And with this, we come to the end of this workshop. I hope you found this workshop useful today. We have covered many topics in wireless weather. We’ve talked about the GPL. We have talked about open source. We’ve talked about contributing to WordPress and we’ve also literally gone over WordPress features. I really hope you find this session useful. And I hope to see you online soon. Goodbye and have an amazing day.
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