Interview with WCSTL Speaker: Jason Yingling


Our next speaker interview is with Jason Yingling, who will be talking about Getting Started with Gutenberg Development at WordCamp St. Louis. Here’s a little about him and his WordPress journey.

Interview with Jason Yingling

NILE FLORES: When did you start using WordPress?

JASON YINGLING: I started using WordPress sometime in the range of 2006 – 2007 when I wanted to create my own blog on my own domain. PHP was unknown to me at the time and I had only used HTML / CSS in a web design class in my highschool. Somehow I managed to get something put together that wasn’t completely awful. Though I hope the code never sees the light of day again.

NILE FLORES: What are a few takeaways that attendees will get from your talk?

JASON YINGLING: Attendees will get a better understanding of how to develop blocks for the new Gutenberg editor coming in WordPress 5.0. In my own preparation for the presentation I’ve learned a lot about why React was chosen for the project and hope to pass that along as well.

NILE FLORES: WordPress is turning 15 years old. What would you like to see in the future for WordPress?

JASON YINGLING: Better onboarding. The Gutenberg editor will help with this somewhat by eliminating the disconnect between the editor visuals and the display on the front-end. But there’s more to be done. I take for granted all of the power that WordPress has because I know how to use it. But for general users a lot goes unused.

I just discovered the microwave I’ve used for 4 years has a setting to soften butter. All this time I’ve been trying to time it myself when the solution was just a few button presses away. I think WordPress can do a better job of unearthing some of the features it provides for the common user.

NILE FLORES: “And just for funsies”, over the past few years, the WordPress community has seen the rise of the cute Wapuu character? Heard of it? And if so, what’s your favorite Wapuu? (Wapuu Reference: https://wapu.us/ )

JASON YINGLING: I don’t know if it made the cut for the sticker sheet, but I put together a St. Louis Cardinals theme Wapuu for WordCamp. https://monosnap.com/file/yecKORE6BYsw2dSC1XOHYGyzC8BrwA.png

NILE FLORES: What is your favorite area of the WordPress admin?

JASON YINGLING: The edit screen. That’s where your WordPress site comes to life. And it’s getting a revamp with Gutenberg to make it even better.

NILE FLORES: What are the top three WordPress plugins that you believe every WordPress user should have installed?

JASON YINGLING: If your hosting provider doesn’t handle backups for you then any backup plugin is an absolute must. And you should be storing them offserver on something like Amazon S3, Dropbox, or Google Drive.

Yoast SEO is something every site can benefit from since it helps you finetune your content for discoverability. And what’s a site with no traffic.

As a developer, Advanced Custom Fields gave a huge boost to my productivity building custom themes. The jury is still out on how relevant it will be once the Gutenberg editor launches. But I expect the team behind it to do something awesome.


For those who are developers, and wanting to know more about Gutenberg, you may want to sit in on Jason’s talk. To do so, you’ll need a ticket to attend WordCamp St. Louis. Hope to see you there!