Rich Tabor — Let's talk WordPress Development, Plugins, Themes, Marketing and Business

2019 Year in Review

Updated February 2, 2020February 3, 2020 by Rich Tabor

As we cross into this next decade, I can’t help but to look back with excitement on this last year in particular. My career took a rather unexpected — yet incredible — turn.

Most notably, I sold both CoBlocks and ThemeBeans, joined GoDaddy as a Product Manager of WordPress Experience, attended WordCamp Europe for the first time, led the release of the revolutionary Go WordPress theme, and gave a block building workshop at WordCamp US (watch Part 1 and Part 2).

2019 has been a wild ride to say to least. Wild, and incredibly enjoyable. And you know what, I couldn’t have asked for a more rewarding year.

A new look for the Login Designer website

Updated February 2, 2020February 2, 2020 by Rich Tabor

I never actually launched an “official” website for Login Designer, a plugin I built to help folks better customize their WordPress login pages. The plugin’s aging landing page clearly needed some attention. And now that Login Designer is my only active side project – I gave it just that.

A Look at WordPress Themes of the Future

Updated October 31, 2019October 31, 2019 by Rich Tabor

There’s been a lot of discussion around the future of WordPress themes lately due to the ongoing evolution of the block editor. Now that Gutenberg is expanding into other areas of a site (apart from post content), the definitive end of WordPress themes as we know them today is coming.

WordCamp Europe 2019 and the Bright Future of WordPress

Updated June 28, 2019June 28, 2019 by Rich Tabor

WordCamp Europe was as just as incredible as everyone said it would be. The city of Berlin was welcoming and beautiful, the sessions were great, and there was a lot of tasty food. But best of all, the vibrant WordPress community we all know and love was there in full-force.

CoBlocks 1.10: Easier Maps, Form Block Spam Protection, and more

Updated May 31, 2019May 31, 2019 by Rich Tabor

Things are going so great at GoDaddy and we’re charging ahead on both new features and upcoming blocks for CoBlocks. Our last release added three new gallery blocks from Block Gallery and a new Form block. And while this latest update does not add any WordPress blocks, it does add a whole slew of new and improved functionality across many bits of the plugin.

GoDaddy Acquires CoBlocks, ThemeBeans and Block Gallery

Updated April 9, 2019April 9, 2019 by Rich Tabor

I’ve made a number of things as a WordPress “maker” — most notably ThemeBeans, CoBlocks, and Block Gallery. My mission and clear focus through building products has always been to deliver a phenomenal WordPress experience. It’s the foundation upon which my career is built.

And while it’s been a fantastic experience so far, it almost feels like I’m just getting started — in such a good way.

CoBlocks has a new logo

Updated April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 by Rich Tabor

A couple of weeks ago, I started pushing out a new, cleaner logo for CoBlocks. We ultimately needed a new logo that accurately portrayed the underlining theme behind our work, and that fit nicely within the context of the new Gutenberg WordPress block editor.

How to Conditionally Load Front-end JavaScript for Gutenberg Blocks

Updated April 1, 2019April 2, 2019 by Rich Tabor

WordPress 5.0 introduced a number of new block-related functions which super-charge developers with new tools to leverage the new Gutenberg WordPress block editor. Let’s take a look at one of those neat functions.

New Shape Divider, Features and Icon Blocks in CoBlocks 1.9

Updated March 27, 2019February 5, 2019 by Rich Tabor

Over the last three weeks, since the initial swing into a page building block system, we’ve pushed three major releases to CoBlocks:

Introducing new Page Building Blocks and Tools for CoBlocks

Updated January 14, 2019January 14, 2019 by Rich Tabor

As I mentioned in my 2018 Year in Review, Jeffrey Carandang and I have recently joined ranks, doubling down our efforts to making CoBlocks absolutely brilliant. And after months of very challenging work, we finally have something to show you. We think you’re going to like this. A lot.