Troy Chaplin
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troychaplin.bsky.social
Troy Chaplin
@troychaplin.bsky.social
Senior Frontend Developer building enterprise WordPress for higher ed. Also building open source tools for community and writing tutorials for the WordPress Developer Blog.
Having the chance to beta test Miles these last couple of weeks has been an enjoyable experience.

Last night I activated my latest creation on my site, a theme named Cyberpunk Ramen Arcade.

troychaplin.ca

I'm excited to see what more people are going to build once Miles is ready for prime time!
February 16, 2026 at 2:33 AM
When someone provides the ultimate guide to being weird with the insanely impressive Miles site building AI agent, you just do as suggested.

Miles, I'm here for it too!

Current status: getting unhinged with the Cyberpunk Ramen Aracde block theme.
February 13, 2026 at 9:43 PM
Just released my 6th #WordPress plugin. Particularly proud of this one, it fits a very good purpose, and it's the 1st full block plugin I've released.

Check out ReadEase: Test Resizer and gives users an easy to use way to resize text in your block theme!

wordpress.org/plugins/read...
ReadEase: Text Resizer
A Gutenberg block that lets site visitors resize text for improved readability and accessibility.
wordpress.org
February 13, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Had fun with this one, and have a few ideas for new features!

Wonder what other blocks or tools I can create for under the ReadEase name to support accessibility?
February 12, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Troy Chaplin
Making it clearer how to contribute to @wordpress.org in an AI era. We just published the first version of our AI Guidelines and would love your feedback!

make.wordpress.org/ai/2026/02/0...
AI Guidelines for WordPress
AI tools are now part of how many people write code, tests, and documentation. To help contributors use them responsibly, we’ve published a first version of AI Guidelines in the Make WordPress Core…
make.wordpress.org
February 1, 2026 at 10:26 PM
I recently participated in my first hackathon with the goal of building a Gutenberg block that fit into a theme of "Grow". Today it was selected as the winning submission.

Super happy with what I created and hope that #WordPress block theme builders also find it useful.

github.com/troychaplin/...
GitHub - troychaplin/readease: ReadEase: Text Resizer is a Gutenberg block plugin that provides text resizing controls for site visitors.
ReadEase: Text Resizer is a Gutenberg block plugin that provides text resizing controls for site visitors. - troychaplin/readease
github.com
January 30, 2026 at 8:15 PM
I struggled to find a good name for this one, but happy to say that my new, very simplistic maintenance mode plugin is now officially available!

Download Planned Outage for Block Themes today!

wordpress.org/plugins/plan...
Planned Outage for Block Themes
Simple maintenance mode for block themes. Shows a maintenance template to logged-out visitors.
wordpress.org
January 29, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Looking for a specific block in your content but are coming up short? Meet Block Finder, a simple dashboard widget that finds your missing blocks.

Version 1.0.7 out now with an improved UI, improved performance, and the ability to filter by Innerblocks.

wordpress.org/plugins/bloc...
Block Finder
Easily find and manage Gutenberg blocks anywhere on your site.
wordpress.org
January 20, 2026 at 6:40 PM
My next #WordPress plugin is nice and simple, Block Theme Maintenance.

Just active, create a template named "maintenance" and keep your site on brand while you fix things up behind the scenes!

Official plugin directory release coming soon!

github.com/troychaplin/...
January 20, 2026 at 12:45 AM
Thanks for the mention, and promotion of my plugin! Much appreciated!
Free Plugin Alert
Tame Menu Items… Troy Chaplin has released a free Priority Plus Navigation plugin in the repo that automatically moves overflowing items into a ‘More’ dropdown.

wordpress.org/plugins/prio...
via WP_Weekly_275 @troychaplin.bsky.social
Priority Plus Navigation
Adds Priority Plus pattern to core Navigation block. Moves overflow items into responsive "More" dropdown as the users viewport narrows.
wordpress.org
January 13, 2026 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Troy Chaplin
If you've ever wanted to lead a @WordPress release, the call for volunteers to help with 7.0 is out! Give it a read and volunteer in the comments if you are interested in serving on the release squad.
WordPress 7.0 Call for Volunteers
Planning for WordPress 7.0 is underway with a proposed release date of April 9, 2026. This post outlines the key milestone dates and includes a call for volunteers to help lead the release. Whether…
make.wordpress.org
January 9, 2026 at 1:31 AM
Running out of space in your header? Don't hide your menu, optimize it. 📐

Priority Plus Navigation automatically moves overflowing items into a "More" dropdown. It’s the perfect responsive upgrade for your Block Themes.

Download for free: wordpress.org/plugins/prio...

#WordPress
Priority Plus Navigation
Adds Priority Plus pattern to core Navigation block. Moves overflow items into responsive "More" dropdown as the users viewport narrows.
wordpress.org
January 7, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Troy Chaplin
🚨 Issue 189 of Loop WP, my newsletter about WooCommerce and WordPress, is out!

My take on the relevance of WooCommerce in 2026: AI, Shopify pressure, FluentCart, shifting client work, and why Woo still matters, but faces a tough fight.

Read the full issue below.👇
Issue #189 Loop WP
My take on the relevance of WooCommerce in 2026: AI, Shopify pressure, FluentCart, shifting client work, and why Woo still matters, but faces a tough fight.
newsletter.loopwp.com
January 7, 2026 at 12:22 PM
I’m having way too much fun
January 5, 2026 at 4:26 AM
Having a ton of fun and learning a lot about leveraging more core components while building an interface for styling the priority plus menu in my new plugin.

I hope this variation will be useful for block theme builders! Excited for the official release!

#WordPress #Gutenberg
January 4, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Has anyone vibe coded an app to make the look and feel of the latest Mac OS not suck? It’s been almost 2 weeks and I still hate the design of this OS so much.
January 3, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Just added support to my Priority Plus core navigation variation to override the default styles for the dropdown in theme.json.

But what I really want to build is a user interface for customizing things in the Site Editor with a proper visual representation of the dropdown.

#WordPress #Gutenberg
January 3, 2026 at 12:03 AM
Want to build more accessible #WordPress sites? Looking for a consistent way to validate content in the #Gutenberg editor?

Block Accessibility Checks plugin offers 3 powerful Validation APIs to keep your content compliant.

Here is a breakdown of the 3 types you need to know:
January 2, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Just submitted my first #WordPress plugin of the year!

I've been working on a Priority+ pattern variation for the core Navigation block, moving overflow items into a "More" dropdown instead of removing or wrapping items.

Get the early build on GitHub github.com/troychaplin/...
GitHub - troychaplin/priority-plus-navigation
Contribute to troychaplin/priority-plus-navigation development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:24 PM
I'm thrilled to release Block Accessibility Checks 3.0 with a major Validation API upgrade! 🚀

Validate block attributes, post meta, and editor elements PLUS disable individual configurations and avoid restrictions in the block editor.

#WordPress #a11y

blockaccessibilitychecks.com/2026/01/bloc...
Block Accessibility Checks 3.0: Advanced Validation Control for WordPress - Block Accessibility Checks
Version 3.0.0 marks a significant milestone in the growth of Block Accessibility Checks since its creation just a short 18 months ago.
blockaccessibilitychecks.com
January 1, 2026 at 10:25 PM
Starting 2026 off properly with a great cup of pour over coffee and a quiet morning preparing to release some new product updates.

Might write a post later about my goals for 2026, but my PS5 is also feeling neglected. Could go either way.

Happy New Year to all, hope you make 2026 a great year!!
January 1, 2026 at 2:14 PM
Almost done with the holiday to-do list for Block Accessibility Checks! 🎄 ✅

Version 3 is coming in a few days with:

✨ New validation for attributes, post meta & more
✨ Complete overhaul of the error/warning display

Can’t wait to ship this! 🚀

#WordPress #a11y #Gutenberg
December 31, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Not even 24 hours into my vacation and I'm already close to submitting a new #WordPress plugin, this time a neat variation on the core navigation block.

A couple more tweaks and it'll be far enough along for submission, then I can work on new features while I wait for my turn to get a review!
December 20, 2025 at 3:33 PM
I’m not big on new year’s resolutions, but this year I’m making a promise to myself that I will play more games in 2026. Out of a pitifully low 68 hours this year, less than 10 were logged by me.

Also, virtual high five to the first one who gets my username reference!
December 19, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Had a great time chatting with @jazzsequence.com a couple weeks back about #WordPress in higher ed, managing an enterprise system of over 800 sites, my work around accessibility and validation, a very lofty goal for 2026, and some RPG gaming fun!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yn4...
Community + Code: Episode 15 - Troy Chaplin
YouTube video by Community & Code
www.youtube.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:51 PM