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Community Collaboration With Magento Open Source

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Magento 2.2 has arrived! The newest release fixes 428 bugs, with 17 percent of those being community contributions.

The full release notes can be found here.

The 17 percent represents 71 bug fixes that would’ve likely been overlooked if not for the efforts of the Magento community. This result was thanks in no small part to plenty of Contribution days and hackathons, improved GitHub management, and the tireless effort of the Community Engineering team.

At Meet Magento Sweden, I was fortunate enough to participate in the Contribution Day in Stockholm.

Digging into the code, I developed a fix in response to issue report #9278, “Create new CLI command: Enable Template Hints.” You can read more about this new CLI command here.

However, this is far less about singing my own praises and more about highlighting the process behind its approval and eventual inclusion. The issue in question had the “Up for Grabs” label, which means pretty much what you’d think – anyone can take a shot at resolving an issue that was already tagged by the Community Engineering team.

After writing and testing the code, I showcased the new feature during the allotted demo time at the end of Contribution Day, then submitted the pull request (PR) to the develop branch for the upcoming Magento 2.2.

As we speak, there are other branches in use, and the develop branch always used as the integration branch for upcoming releases. For example, 2.3-develop will point to the 2.3.x releases, 2.2-develop pointed to 2.2.x, and so on.

Usually, once the pull request is submitted, someone from the Community Engineering team checks the submission, asks for more input if needed, and, if and when it’s ready, approves it for merging. The team uses self-explanatory labels to identify the status of each pull request, and is intended to keep things user-friendly and transparent.

If you’re curious about Magento Open Source, I recommend starting with the Magento Issue gates to fully understand how issues and PRs are labeled. After that, head to the Magento automated testing standards and the Magento Code of Conduct so we all can get along on GitHub while working together to achieve great things!

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WordPress Says No To React, Forcing Gutenberg Editor Delay

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Javascript has become increasingly important to WordPress developers over the last couple of years. Anyone working on the web front-end needs to know Javascript, but the introduction of the WordPress REST API has focused the cutting-edge of WordPress development on Javascript and frameworks like React. But, in what must be welcome news to React competitors like Vue, the WordPress project will no longer use React because its license is viewed as potentially harmful.

The move away from React will force a rewrite of key WordPress front-end apps and components, including the new Gutenberg editor, which will be delayed by several weeks at least. The decision doesn’t affect most WordPress theme and plugin developers, who are free to use any framework they like, but it highlights an issue with React that is worth considering.

The anti-React stance, which was announced by WordPress creator and lead developer Matt Mullenweg, is a response to Facebook’s refusal to modify React’s BSD+Patents license. The license has caused controversy in the open source community, and WordPress is only the most recent project to ban its use.

Developers have embraced React because it makes it easier to design, build, and maintain complex front-end interfaces for the web. React is distributed under a BSD+Patents license. The BSD license is a standard open source license which allows anyone to use the code. The “Patents” component of the React license is, however, is definitely non-standard.

In brief, it says that anyone can use React for any purpose, but that they lose the right to use any Facebook-patented technology — including in React — if they sue Facebook for patent infringement. The worry is that any company that makes a significant investment in React and similarly licensed software will face a dilemma if Facebook infringes their patents: they can sue and be forced to abandon that investment or let Facebook get away with it.

The patent issue was recently brought to a head when the Apache Foundation decided that no Apache project could directly depend on React — necessitating the rewriting of a lot of code.

Facebook says that the BSD+Patents license allows it to make React and other open source projects available to the community, while reducing the number of frivolous patent lawsuits it has to deal with.

But there’s a concern that using React will cause many companies and developers to avoid using WordPress and other projects using React. For the majority of developers and companies, the BSD+Patents licenses isn’t likely to cause problems directly — most of us don’t have patents to protect. For open source projects like WordPress, it’s more complicated.

Open source projects are often used by big companies with patents — or by smaller companies that might be bought by big companies with patents. Those companies will not want to give up their right to sue for patent infringement or buy a company with products that carry that risk. The concern is that using React in WordPress will discourage a large swath of its potential user base.

For WordPress users, the most obvious impact of the project moving to a different front-end framework will be the delayed release of Gutenberg, which is expected to be a headline feature in a future WordPress release. For developers, it might be worth considering whether React is the right choice for future WordPress-related projects.

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Four Ways to Win at PCI Compliance

If you’re an online merchant, and your store accepts credit cards as payment, then you’ve probably already heard the term PCI compliance. If you haven’t, then start here, and then come back to this post.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was created by banks and credit card companies to protect their cardholders. Failing compliance can result in fines ranging between $5,000 to $500,000. Add to that the probable loss of consumer confidence, civil litigation, and suspension of credit services, and the inconvenience of maintaining PCI compliance far outweighs the cost of ignoring it.

Here’s four ways to become and stay compliant. We can’t promise they’re easy, but we can promise they’re essential.

1. Read and understand the PCI DSS, or find someone that can

This is no easy task. The PCI DSS requirements document weighs in at a staggering 139 pages. The PCI Quick Reference Guide knocks it down to 40 pages, which is hardly convenient, but does suggest the PCI might have something close to a sense of humor (spoiler alert: they don’t).

So while we urge you to read it and try to understand all of it, many smart and successful people aren’t particularly qualified to do so. As your hosting company, we can provide some assistance, but only you or a third party hired by you can assess your systems. Find a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), a security firm trained and certified by the PCI, to guide you through the labyrinth.

2. Use a PCI-compliant hosting provider

If you’re already a Hostdedi client, then you’re all set. While using us or another PCI-compliant host can’t alone make you PCI-compliant, we take great care to cover things on our end so you can focus on yours.

3. Make sure your developer is PCI-savvy

A knowledgeable developer can help bake compliance into your site. In addition, any third party with access to your systems should be following established best practices for security.

4. Do a self-assessment every year

Compliance is not a one-time requirement, and the PCI changes them every so often to address emerging threats. Take the time to complete the self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ) every year will help keep you current and committed. You can download a SAQ from the PCI DSS website.

Upon request, we also provide a PCI Responsibility Matrix that outlines exactly which standards are yours, which are ours, and which are shared. The document is available to Hostdedi clients through our Support Team, and makes it easy to answer questions about your web host.

It’s rigorous, but worthwhile – think of it as exercise for your PCI-compliance muscles. Put it on your calendar during your slowest month so you can face your busiest ones with confidence.

Earned, not given

PCI compliance is required by the industries holding the keys to the eCommerce kingdom. Moreover, the holidays are a stressful time for consumers, and their trust in your brand is your greatest asset. Defend it with vigor and vigilance, and you’ll likely never have to learn the cost of regaining that trust.

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eCommerce, Security

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Twitter’s Direct Message Cards Are Icebreakers For eCommerce Chatbots

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Chatbots are taking the world by storm. Over the last year, the media has been full of stories about how chatbots are changing the way eCommerce merchants and other companies interact with customers. It seems as if every major instant chat provider has created a framework for building chatbots. This enthusiasm for chatbots is driven by the ubiquity of instant chat applications and the desire of brands to inject themselves into those conversations. Facebook Messenger, Slack, and Apple’s Messages, see huge user engagement, and brands want to be wherever the users are.

But how do you get people to talk to your chatbots in the first place? The user has to instigate the conversation. Potential users of a conversational interface have to be both aware of the existence of a chatbot and have some understanding of why engaging with it is good for them, and, unlike with a traditional web interaction, Google isn’t much help.

Twitter’s Direct Message Cards are an attempt to address the problem. Available in limited beta to Twitter advertisers, Direct Message Cards are promoted rich tweets into which advertisers can embed a series of canned responses. The tweet itself contains a prompt, and when the user chooses one of the options, it’s passed to the brand’s account, and they can respond with further automated DMs or by looping a human into the conversation.

I can see Direct Message Cards being particularly useful to eCommerce merchants, who can use Twitter’s targeting to prompt engagement with product or promotion specific tweets, and then follow up with targeted conversational responses depending on the option the user chooses.

If Direct Message Cards sound a little like the menu trees of old, you aren’t the first to have made the link. In spite of the hype around chatbots, the state of the art in conversational interfaces isn’t particularly sophisticated. The more ambitious chatbots are, the greater the chance of frustrating users who expect human-like conversations and end up with something closer to a menu tree or an 80s text adventure.

That said, for some eCommerce interactions, Direct Message Cards are likely to prove appealing to retailers, who benefit from the opportunity to open a direct line of contact to interested shoppers and to reach a wider audience through organic sharing.

Although I’ve focused on the way Direct Message Cards can be used with conversational interfaces, in essence they’re just rich media tweets that support multiple calls-to-action and integrate with Twitter’s direct message system. JollyChic is using Direct Message Cards to engage with shoppers and, after a limited interaction in a chat interface, direct them to the appropriate product page on their store or to an app install page.

Although Twitter isn’t at the forefront of social eCommerce, over the last couple of years they’ve rolled out several eCommerce-friendly features in a bid to attract retail adversing dollars. Direct Message Cards are an excellent addition that has the potential to help eCommerce merchants engage with customers along a more meaningful and personal dimension than simple promoted tweets.

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Translating Your WordPress Site Isn’t As Hard As You Think With Weglot

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English is the most common language on the web, but that doesn’t mean businesses can afford to ignore other languages, especially if they intend to sell products or provide services to international customers. The web is a global communication network, and although it’s easy for people who live in the US to assume everyone is happy with English, that’s not true even in the US, where many speak Spanish as a first or second language.

Further afield in Europe, Asia, and Africa, there’s no guarantee English is spoken. And, even if English is spoken by many people in a business’s target demographic — as is true in Western Europe — the evidence shows that most people prefer to do business with sites that provide content in their native language.

If you intend to sell in areas where English isn’t widely spoken as a first language, it makes sense to translate at least some of the content and interface text on your WordPress site.

Once upon a time, translating a site was a complex and expensive proposition, but with a combination of modern technology, a translation-friendly CMS like WordPress, and cloud translation platforms, translation is within the reach of most site owners.

Machine translation is an obvious option, but site owners should take care if they decide to rely exclusively on machine translation, especially if they can’t show the translation to a native speaker of the target language. In some cases, machine translation produces accurate results of a quality that can be used on a business site. But there is plenty of room for things to go wrong: ridiculous, offensive, or just plain bad translations are not unusual, especially for idiomatic language use and for languages that aren’t well covered by machine translation corpuses.

Fortunately, for WordPress users, there are several plugins that make it easier to translate content. I’d like to take a closer look at one of these, Weglot. Weglot is a translation service with a WordPress plugin that simplifies the building of multi-lingual websites.

Weglot provides widgets that can transform a monolingual site into a multi-lingual site, allowing a site’s users to choose their preferred language. It works across all parts of a WordPress site, including content, menus, widgets, and other site components. And, importantly, it creates SEO-friendly web pages in the target language with appropriate permalinks and HTML markup.

But the most impressive part of Weglot is its translation capabilities. By default, Weglot uses advanced machine translation to convert text between languages. Site owners can edit the translations before they go live. Using machine translation in Weglot, it only takes a few minutes to translate a site, but, as I’ve already mentioned, machine translation isn’t always reliable. For important web pages or for pages where machine translation doesn’t produce satisfactory results, Weglot allows site owners to order professional translations by native speakers in the same interface. With a combination of machine translation and professional translation, it’s possible to create a multi-lingual WordPress site in next to no time.

Creating a multi-lingual site used to be out of the reach of many businesses and publishers, but with a modern CMS like WordPress and translation service like Weglot, it can be fast, easy, and inexpensive.

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Revenue And Traffic Diversity Is Crucial For WordPress Publishers

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It’s no secret publishers are struggling to build sustainable content businesses. Advertising revenues were in decline before ad-blockers went mainstream, and since the advertising industry alienated a huge swathe of the online audience, it’s become even more difficult to make money from content.

But difficult doesn’t mean impossible — there are plenty of WordPress publishers, large and small, with thriving businesses. The secret to success is revenue and traffic diversity: not relying too much on any single platform to bring home the bacon.

It’s never a good idea to tie the fortunes of your business to someone else’s business, especially in an industry of rapid disruption where a sure thing can turn into a dud overnight. And yet, I often talk to publishers who have taken a massive hit to their bottom line because a platform they relied on for revenue or traffic has pivoted in an unhelpful direction. It happens time and again, and every time they’re surprised.

Medium has its upsides: not least the network effects associated with being on a platform with a huge audience. And so many publishers went all-in on Medium — a company that pivots faster than Excel. Soon after, Medium abandoned its planned monetization solutions and laid-off a third of its staff, leaving publishers in a pickle.

The same pattern can be seen with Facebook’s Instant Articles. Publishers have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. They’re loathe to give up the distribution of their content, but eager to get that content in front of Facebook’s billion-plus users. So everyone who is anyone started publishing Instant Articles. At the same time, Facebook was making plans that essentially rendered Instant Articles of no benefit to publishers.

Facebook thinks video is the future — and so videos get priority in the Newsfeed. Facebook thinks its users would rather see content from their family and friends, so news articles — including Instant Articles — are pushed out of the feed. Facebook thinks users want to see content they “interact” with, not content from publishers they’ve liked and followed, so publishers find it impossible to connect with their followers.

Earlier this year, Amazon announced cuts to its affiliate marketing program, decimating the revenue of publishers who had built a nice business sending customers Amazon’s way.

Any publisher that depended for a large chunk of its traffic or revenue on one of these platforms would find itself in trouble. Which is not to say that WordPress publishers shouldn’t use Facebook, Medium, and Amazon, in addition to as many other sources of traffic and revenue as possible. The point is not that these channels should be ignored, but that none of them is the savior of the publishing industry.

Smart publishers use all of these channels and more to hedge against the inevitable pivots and focus changes. People will always want high-quality content and there will always be viable publishing business models, but publishers have to move quickly and spread their bets.

WordPress hosting is a great solution for publishers who want to maintain platform and revenue independence. Control your site and content distribution, and take advantage of platforms without depending on them.

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Webmaster, WordPress

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Choosing A React Alternative For Your WordPress Themes And Plugins

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Matt Mullenweg recently announced that the WordPress project will no longer use the phenomenally popular React framework in its projects. React was being used to build the forthcoming Gutenberg editor, which will now have to be rewritten.

WordPress theme and plugin developers don’t have to follow the lead of the WordPress project. They can use whichever front-end technology they like to interact with the WordPress REST API, but if you are embarking on a new WordPress plugin or theme, it’s worth knowing about the alternatives — and there are a lot of alternatives.

If you’re interested in why WordPress is moving away from React, I discussed the nitty-gritty in an earlier post, so I won’t go into detail here. Suffice it to say that Facebook, which develops React, releases the code under a license that doesn’t sit well with many open source developers.

I’ll have a look at three alternatives to React later in this post, but the way we choose a framework is at least as interesting as the framework we choose. I’ll suggest three principles that might be useful to you:

Choose a framework your developer already knows.
Choose a framework the community is invested in.
Unless you have a compelling reason to move away from React, don’t.

The goal is to build things. Any of the major contenders in this space is adequate to that task. If you or the developer you hire is already familiar with a framework, there’s no real reason to switch (unless it’s so obscure you won’t be able to find anyone to maintain the code).

At the time of writing, the WordPress community hadn’t settled on a React alternative. When it does, developers will start pumping out code. They’ll ask and answer questions on Stack Exchange and WordPress developer forums. They’ll write demo themes and plugins. In short, whichever framework the community decides on is a good bet for developers.

If you have already invested in writing lots of React code for your project, think long and hard before you decide to move to a different framework or library. React is awesome: that’s why it’s so popular. Some organizations, including WordPress, have specific problems with the license. If you don’t think those problems are relevant to you, there’s no real need to change.

So, what are the alternatives to React? It really depends what you mean by “alternatives”. React uses the Virtual Dom, it mixes CSS and HTML with Javascript, and it’s a view framework, not a full MVC like some of the competition. Other front-end frameworks make different choices. Depending on your needs, you might choose from Vue, Preact, Angular, Mithril, Aurelia, Glimmer, Elm, and many more.

I’m not a betting man, but Vue is by far the most popular of the React alternatives, and it would be an obvious choice. Indeed, it seems that the WordPress folks have been in conversation with Vue’s developers. The transition from React to Vue may not be smooth sailing because the underlying principles are different (no JSX-type shenanigans), but Vue is a solid choice.

Preact is a lightweight alternative to React that, unlike Vue, uses the same API. It’s very easy to transition from React to Preact, and there is a compatibility layer that allows developers to use React code with the Preact framework. If you’re looking for a direct replacement for React, you won’t go far wrong with Preact.

Finally, Elm is a completely different kettle of fish — it’s not even Javascript. Elm is a functional programming language for building web applications that compiles to Javascript. If that sounds interesting, check out this proof-of-concept WordPress theme from Jack Lenox.

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WordPress Publishers Fail To Follow FTC Native Advertising Rules

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Traditional display advertising is set apart from editorial content. They exist on the same page, but in different worlds. In the editorial world, the measure of content is creative, factual, and reader-focused, untainted by financial considerations. In the realm of advertising, it’s all about the bottom line.

Of course, this is a fiction — although a useful fiction and an ideal to aim for. The wall between editorial and advertising has always leaked, but it’s never been more leaky than with native advertising.

Native advertising is presented within the flow of editorial content. It takes the form of editorial content. It adheres to some editorial conventions. But that’s where native advertising’s similarity to editorial content ends. Native advertising is bought and paid for; its motivations are to sell and promote. But without a clear and unambiguous signal that editorial standards of independence don’t apply to this bit of screen real estate, it’s easy to mislead the reader.

The FTC has clear guidelines about how native advertising should be distinguished from editorial content. The need for these rules is clear, especially in the blogging world, which hasn’t yet developed the traditions that cause journalists to recoil at the idea that advertising might taint editorial independence.

Unfortunately, many bloggers, new media publishers, and advertisers are unaware of the rules. It’s all too common to find native advertising without any indication that the content is paid for. This isn’t just an issue of reader confusion: the FTC has been proactive about charging publishers and advertisers that publish misleading content. Bloggers who don’t want to find themselves in legal trouble should take the time to learn how to distinguish promotional content from editorial content clearly and unambiguously.

The FTC has published a blogger and publisher friendly version of the rules, which are quite simple. Promotional content should be clearly marked as “Sponsored” or “Promoted”. The exact language is less important than that it is unambiguous and difficult-to-miss.

The notice should be placed close to the content, not behind a link, in the footer of the page, or anywhere that it would be easy for the reader to miss. Ideally, it should be above the headline of the content on both index and post pages. It should be large enough to stand out, and have sufficient contrast that it doesn’t blend into the rest of the content.

Given the prevalence of ad-blockers and declining revenue of traditional display advertising, native advertising has become a major revenue-generator for publishers. Some of the biggest media success stories of recent years, including BuzzFeed, generate all their revenue with native advertising. It’s a monetization technique well-worth exploring for any content business, but care should be taken not to mislead readers.

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Magento Connect Will Close In September

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Magento Connect, which has for many years been the official source of Magento extensions, will shut down in September. The role of Magento Connect will be taken over by the Magento Marketplace, which was introduced a year ago and will become the official Magento-sanctioned repository of extensions.

Magento’s extensions are one of the most important contributors to its power and popularity as an eCommerce application. Magento would be a fraction as flexible and functional without its extension ecosystem. While Magento Connect has served merchants well for many years, it is not without problems. The new Magento Marketplace applies the lessons learned from Magento Connect to offer an improved experience.

Magento Marketplace introduces a brand new interface, enforces stricter guidelines for extension submission, and provides a modern and approachable solution for extension management, promotion, and discovery.

Major improvements to the experience include the rationally architected site layout and enhanced search. It’s easier than ever before to find best-in-class extensions and searching produces relevant results, something that wasn’t always the case on Magento Connect. Magento Marketplace also offers a number of other store-like features, including accounts that track purchases and other information.

But one of the most important improvements introduced for the Magento Marketplace is comprehensive reviews of submitted extensions. Quality control was a problem on Magento Connect. Under the review guidelines introduced last year, all extensions are submitted to a three-phase review process.

The phases assess the business, technical, and marketing qualities of extensions, which must complete all phases before they are eligible to be part of the marketplace. The business review guidelines ensure that extensions solve a real problem, reducing the presence of extensions with trivial functionality or that exist solely to fulfill the marketing imperatives of their creator. Extensions will be removed from the marketplace if they don’t generate sufficient interest, incentivizing developers to improve and promote extensions.

The technical review checks whether the extension conforms to various standards. Automated QA testing assesses whether the extension meets minimum technical expectations, such as whether it installs cleanly and integrates well with Magento. The marketing phase is intended to ensure that accompanying marketing materials conform to the high standards expected in the marketplace, including checks for proper spelling and grammar in extension descriptions and documentation.

The overarching goal of these reviews is to provide a positive experience to merchants and developers. Merchants will be able to more easily find the extensions they need, and more importantly, they can be confident that the extensions function as advertised and won’t cause problems. A better extension marketplace can only improve the brand perception of the Magento project.

Although the reviews put more of a burden on developers, the creators of high-quality plugins will benefit from enhanced discoverability and a marketplace that establishes trust and confidence in retailers.

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Video Is Now Vital For eCommerce Success — And It’s Easier Than Ever Before

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The evidence is in: video is a vital part of the future of eCommerce. 80 percent of millennials watch videos before making a purchase decision. eCommerce stores with videos on product pages benefit from higher engagement and shoppers stay longer. The dominance of mobile and video-centric social media means that more shoppers than ever are exposed to video — Facebook has made it clear that it thinks video is the future of its platform and that videos are more likely to appear in the Newsfeed than text and images.

All of which is making some eCommerce merchants nervous. After all, video is hard, right? And hard means expensive. To create video, you need to hire a video professional or invest in expensive cameras, lenses, lighting, studio time. All of which would blow the marketing budgets of many eCommerce stores out of the water.

But, in 2017, is video really all that difficult or expensive? Feature-rich cameras that would once have cost thousands of dollars can be bought for just a few hundred dollars today. And, of course, anyone with a recent iPhone or Android phone has a high-definition camera in their pocket.

But most important, the expectations around video have changed. There will always be a place for video with high production values, and professional video will always be expensive, but much of the most effective video on social media isn’t necessarily the slickest. Many successful videos are personal, with reasonable but not fantastic production value, and are essentially ephemeral.

Where video is concerned, the perfect is the enemy of the good, and eCommerce merchants shouldn’t be discouraged from creating and distributing product and brand focused video just because they don’t have the budget of Louis Vuitton.

Instagram and SnapChat are hugely popular among their distinct demographics, and it couldn’t be easier to use them to create and distribute slick and effective videos showcasing products. There’s no reason a fashion retailer shouldn’t showcase their products in short videos. If you sell tech products, make short demonstration videos. Any retailer can create “slice of life” videos showing the day-to-day life of their company.

And it’s not just social media networks like Instagram that make building a brand with video easy. Periscope is hugely popular and makes live-streaming a doddle. As I’ve argued in other articles, to compete with large eCommerce stores, smaller stores must focus on building brands that appeal directly to their customers — live streaming can powerfully contribute to cementing the relationship between your store and its customers.

One of my favorite new developments in the mobile video space is Apple’s Clips app. Clips provides a simple intuitive interface for recording, editing, annotating, and sharing video. The major benefit of Clips is that it isn’t tied to a particular social network. You can record and edit with Clips before sending video to any social network.

Video is going to be a big part of the future of eCommerce. If you haven’t started experimenting with video yet, what’s stopping you?

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