Nathan Wrigley

  • WordPress crisis

    To say that the past 10 or so days in the WordPress space has been unprecedented, would be to be an enormous understatement. All that said, I’m listening and thinking about all the arguments from both sides. I suggest that you do too. I’m also not adding my voice to the social media storms, as I think that there’s quite enough to read already.

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  • WordPress London Meetup, September 2024

    Was lovely to attend my third #WPLDN (WordPress London Meetup) yesterday. Two great presentations, and no technical gremlins. This was a blessing, because in the hour before the attendees started to arrive, almost everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, and we had almost no expectation that things would work perfectly – but they did! If you’re in the London area and would like to connect with other WordPress folk, head to the WPLDN website to find out about future events.

  • WordCamp US 2024

    I went to WordCamp US in Portland Oregon last week. I met up with some great people and ate some food at some iconic places! The WordCamp was the best that I’ve ever attended, and a huge thanks to anyone who was involved in any way with the organisation. The end was interesting and I’ll be mulling that over in the days to come.

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  • The last time

    I’ve recently decided that I need to focus more on what matters to me. This is not from some conceit to gain more, or be more productive. It’s more about getting in touch with what really matters to me on a profound level. Finding meaning if you like. I feel like I’ve lost touch with some of the ideals that I had as a child. Ideals which, upon reflection, I should never have let go of, and which I’m puzzled that I did let go of. With this in mind, I’ve been meditating; following a course of meditation from a…

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  • Working from home

    I love working from home. There’s a few small things that are not ideal, but mostly it’s excellent. However, for a couple of weeks each summer it’s even better. That’s when Wimbledon – the tennis tournament – is on. I love watching tennis, and so I have it on another screen, with the volume set to zero. It does not cause me to have a loss in focus, but just keeps me going. So there you go. Working from home + Wimbledon = Excellent!

  • My Facebook account got suspended

    So just now, my Facebook account got suspended. Weird. I was not doing anything, was not even near a computer and none of the devices that I own have Facebook installed. I got this email: When I clicked on the only link in that email I got this: As you can see, all very satisfying and nothing weird about that! I’m 99.9% sure that I’ve violated no guidelines as I’m about as benign on the internet as it’s possible to be, but you never know! Anyway, it’s promoting me once again to consider the use of Mastodon over every-other-app as…

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  • Page Builder Summit 7.0

    So we just wound up the 7th edition of the Page Builder Summit, an online event for WordPress folk who enjoy working with tools like page builders, and want some help with various aspects of growing their businesses. It was a real success, and it’s a wonderful feeling interacting with the community there who seem to get so much out of the event. Thanks to Anchen and Dan for their roles in making it all happen, as well as the speakers, sponsors and attendees, without whom, ic could not happen. Should we do a v8? I hope so.

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  • I made this site static

    This site is using WordPress to create and manage the content, but I decided to experiment with exporting the entire site as a static site. This means that WordPress is ‘switched off’ and only the HTML, CSS, Javascript, and other required assets (images etc.) are available in the site. This means that it’s faster to load and there’s less chance of security related problems. It’s also more sustainable (less resources consumed to create the page – better for the environment), and I think it’ll be really inexpensive to host as well. This static site approach is useful for sites that…

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  • Hay fever

    I’ve never had hay fever. Now I appear to have hay fever, and it’s brutal! I will never view the fields and the pastures and the countryside in the same way, ever again. You are now my nemesis!

  • Seasons

    I live in a part of the world where the seasons matter. In the winter, it’s cold and the plants die back. In the spring, the plants, and many other things, come back to life. I don’t think that I suffer from any kind of seasonal disorder, but I have to say that it’s so nice to see the length of the day extending, and the buds on the plants / trees beginning to emerge. Living through the seasons is a wonderful / tortuous thing.

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  • Music that I like

    I’ve always liked folk music, and this is (a taste of) something that I think sums up why I like it.

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  • Humans are remarkable

    Humans are really rather remarkable. We can do so many things. I find humans are at their very best when they create music. We won’t agree on what style of music is ‘perfect’, but this comes pretty close to me. It brings up so many emotions for me. I find it incredible and beyond extraordinary.

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  • The universe is pretty big

    The James Webb telescope sent back the first image today and it really does make you think. The image shows galaxies as they were 13 billion years ago. This alone is remarkable when you think about it, but the fact that it covers a portion of the sky the size of a grain of sand when held out at arms length is also remarkable. Imagine how many such images are still to be taken. Also pause to think that each of the galaxies are home to billions of stars, many of which will have multiple planets orbiting them. It’s enough…

  • Can we all agree that house prices are just silly?

    So it’s the 26th May 2022, and energy prices are through the roof. Basic commodity prices are through the roof. All-the-things prices are through the roof… And the cost of buying a house (in the UK) is not just through the roof, it went through the roof a decade ago and now it’s approaching low Earth orbit. Would it be silly to suggest that houses ought to be cheaper? I know that this is contentious. Estate agents will not be happy. People who’ve recently bought a house will not be happy. Property developers will not be happy. BUT… The vast…

  • Platform fatigue

    Okay, so this is not something that most people will have to deal with, but I do. Everybody that I speak to has a platform (read… WhatsApp, Messenger, Slack, Signal et al.) which they prefer to use. This means that I have to communicate on dozens of different platforms. I can’t keep up! I have a tiny mind, and I’ve no idea how we solve the splintering of communications. When I was a kid, you had a postal address and a phone number. If you wanted to organise something, you had to arrange it in the real world; you had…

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  • Humans are not good custodians of almost anything

    My hope is that humans go on to do great things, like explore space and make the Earth a greater place than it is now… but it seems like we don’t really have a right to that. It’s not clear that we can cope with the basic scenario of existing on Earth. War, the environment, and many other things don’t seem to point to a bright future. I wish that we were better, but perhaps, on aggregate, we’re not.