Tomorrow, September 29, is Five for the Future Friday at WebDevStudios. Now, if you know, you know. But in case you don’t, Five for the Future is a WordPress initiative designed to encourage WordPress website agencies (like ours), other WordPress companies, and independent developers to donate 5% of their work time to the WordPress open-source project. (Whew! That was a lot.)
WebDevStudios and Five for the Future
Since the inception of Five for the Future (5FTF), WebDevStudios (WDS) has been actively involved. We’ve gone through various iterations of hosting 5FTF. Here’s how we do it today: every last Friday of the month, our team pauses working on client projects and focuses on contributing to WordPress. This takes place in a variety of ways, but here’s what seems to be the most popular:
- Organizing a WordCamp
- Developing a WordCamp talk
- Taking support tickets from the WordPress Support Forum
- Developing or updating a free plugin
- Mentorship
- WordPress community involvement
- Contribution to the overall knowledge base of WordPress
Last Month’s 5FTF Contributions
During the August 5FTF Friday, our team came up with some interesting ways to contribute to WordPress. Here are just a few:
- Lead Engineer Lauren Levin (Pittenger) built block patterns for the WordPress Block Pattern Directory.
- Principal Engineer Joel Schlotterer created some PRs for issues for our own open-source starter theme wd_s.
- Engineering Manager John Heimkes reviewed themes in the WordPress theme repository.
- Frontend Engineer Ashley Stanley contributed to our own open-source plugin WDS Site Documentation.
- Backend Engineer Garrett Baldwin built an open-source plugin designed to add theme documentation to the WordPress admin dashboard. You can access it on GitHub.
Five for the Future Is for Everyone Who Uses WordPress
It is important for individuals and companies within the WordPress ecosystem to participate in Five for the Future. This initiative is crucial in sustaining and advancing the WordPress open-source project, which powers a considerable portion of the internet. Here are a few reasons why getting involved with 5FTF is significant:
1. Sustainability of WordPress: WordPress is maintained and improved by a global community of volunteers. By contributing 5% of your work time, you help ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform. Your contributions can directly impact the development of core features, bug fixes, security enhancements, and overall stability.
2. Community Building: Engaging with 5FTF strengthens the sense of community within the WordPress ecosystem. It fosters collaboration, knowledge sharing, and camaraderie among developers, designers, marketers, and users. It’s an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about WordPress.
3. Skill Enhancement: Getting involved with open-source projects like WordPress can be a valuable learning experience. You can expand your skill set, gain hands-on experience, and improve your coding, project management, and communication skills. It’s a win-win situation where you both give and receive.
4. Business Benefits: For companies and independent developers in the WordPress space, contributing to 5FTF can be a strategic move. It enhances your company’s reputation, demonstrates your commitment to the WordPress community, and can lead to new business opportunities and partnerships.
Sharing Our 5FTF Success!
Follow the hashtag #5FTF on X (formerly Twitter). That’s where some of our teammates share their Five for the Future contributions. While there was a time when it seemed like our WordPress website agency was the only one sharing 5FTF success, we’re seeing a trend of more and more WordPress companies and independent developers sharing their contributions, too. All the cool kids are giving back to WordPress!
So keep up with our team on social media tomorrow. You can view their posts from August’s 5FTF Friday below. Be sure to follow us at @webdevstudios.
While the rest of the @webdevstudios team has #5FTF today, I was lucky enough to be at #WCUS Contributor Day yesterday, where I started chasing a WP CLI bug and ended up opening this WordPress core ticket and creating a patch.https://t.co/5KWKShALqy
— Sal Ferrarello (@salcode) August 25, 2023
Another beautiful #5FTF day @webdevstudios I’m working on my open-source theme, a great way to beat the heat! 🧊
— David Walz (@DavesjoshinWDS) August 25, 2023
#5FTF @webdevstudios and I really want to be at #WCUS, but for now I’ll be doing #WCAsia stuff and working on wd_s and wd_f themes. pic.twitter.com/sol8AWaSXP
— JC Palmes #WCAsia2024 (@jpalmes) August 25, 2023
Happy to be working on the #WordPress #ActivityPub plugin today for #5ftf!
— django (@MediaFormatUX) August 25, 2023
It’s #5ftf Day at @webdevstudios and this time I am contributing by submitting some bug fixes to #Wordpress core 🐞 pic.twitter.com/3ZnbmCODLk
— Aslam D 🫶 WordPress (@aslammdoctor) August 25, 2023
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