WordPress 4.9 came out on Wednesday. It has some really wonderful user-facing improvements including the ability to schedule certain site changes (like updating a menu), a new gallery widget, and more!

Deep in the that code is my second small code contribution and 3rd “@props” on consecutive WordPress versions! In WordPress 4.8, I helped fix how the plugin directory appeared in the admin (and reported a related bug to Chrome at the same time). This time, I fixed a rather obscure but frustrating-when-you-need-it problem impacting how the WordPress menu system handled one specific type of web page. It might not have affected many people, but it broke a site for me and was definitely a bug.

What makes this all especially nice is that it solves a problem for my client the Wildlands Network. I discovered the bug when building a custom menu system to handle their deep, detailed information on North American wild spaces. Now their menu works correctly because I took the time to submit a fix! (And a big thanks to Ryan Welcher who helped write unit tests and shepherd the patch into this version!)

Nonprofits ❤ Open Source

There’s something that just feels right about nonprofits and open source software, since both value community, volunteering, and mutual support. So it’s awfully nice to add to my list of past contributions that came directly from client projects and requests:

1. Feature a Page Widget came from a client need that wasn’t satisfactorily met by existing plugins. It’s now active on 10,000+ sites!
2. Blogsonry was built to showcase a vibrant set of blog posts for one organization and now gets used on all sorts of sites!
3. Hawaiian Characters helped a client in Hawaii more quickly enter content with Hawaiian words into WordPress, a task they did frequently.

I don’t have plans for a next code contribution right now, but I suspect there will be one at some point! Until then, check out WordPress 4.9 and go hug an open source developer [with their consent].