As the first wave of beta testing comes to a close for Miles and the next wave begins here is a selection of hero groups I created. Some were done very early in beta, but still very impressive. I've watched it evolve each day. Andy Peatling is putting in "extra Miles" on this one! bymiles.ai

My son, who’s home sick from school today painted me this masterpiece “Focused on word daddy” Not clear what nonsense I am muttering here. Thankfully he didn’t write any of the bad words that might slip out.

I had planned on writing a year in review post, but got sidetracked with several other projects. Instead, I decided to write Kicking off 2026. And even that was published later than I planned. Too many fun projects taking up my time! troychaplin.ca/2026/02/kick...

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!

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.

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...

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?

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...

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/...

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...

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...

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/...

Thanks for the mention, and promotion of my plugin! Much appreciated!

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.

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

🚨 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.👇

I’m having way too much fun

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

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.

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

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:

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/...

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...

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!!

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

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!

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!

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...

Just completed my last sprint task of 2025, with just a couple hours left until a much anticipated 2 weeks off! I am looking forward to chilling with my kids, diving into some Expedition 33 on PS5, and of course, messing with a few new personal projects that I normally don’t have a lot of time for!

Giant snowflakes falling outside ❄️ New pour-over setup dialed in inside ☕️ Just finished a first run-through of my new project, my first custom interactive block for #WordPress, and seeing the logic branch perfectly based on every choice is deeply satisfying. Feels like I’m on vacation already.

Of all the things I've done with #WordPress this year I am most proud of the work I've done around validation and accessibility checks. Aiming to kick off the new year with a major update to the user interface, driven by all the great feedback I've gotten in the last few months!

Just shipped v2.3.0 of Block Accessibility Checks for #WordPress! Highlights: • Post meta validation now supported for external plugins • Block validation disabled in Site Editor • Improved heading checks (first heading must be H1 or H2) wordpress.org/plugins/bloc...

Been having a ton of fun playing with block themes, learning new stuff every day. For the last week or so I've been working on a new theme that I've called Lumen, and I just activated an early version on my site. #WordPress #BlockThemes troychaplin.ca

This is pretty great, thanks @elliottrichmond.co.uk!

Diving back into the #WordPress Developer Blog with a short but useful snippet: Limiting allowed blocks without breaking the Site Editor developer.wordpress.org/news/snippet...

So this little thing called #WCEH happened. After 13 months of planning (and a few weeks to recover 😅), I wrote about what it was like being an organizer. Hoping it inspires others to get involved—it’s worth it. troychaplin.ca/2025/11/word...

One of my top priorities following #WCEH was to evolve my Block Accessibility Checks plugin to validate post meta alongside block attributes. Excited to announce that this feature is complete and ready for a future release! #WordPress #Accessibility blockaccessibilitychecks.com/2025/11/bloc...

Block Accessibility Checks now includes an expanded Validation API and new MetaValidation class that lets you validate post meta fields with the same ease as block attributes. I just need to finish the inline errors, warnings, and helpful descriptions. #WordPress #Accessibility

#WCEH welcomed a student from @carleton.ca's School of Journalism. I believe intereviewed @scripting.com and @evanprodromou.threads.net.ap.brid.gy , but she also wrote a piece on @ma.tt's talk that was published in @therepository.email #WordPress #Community www.therepository.email/key-takeaway...

Yesterday was a long but great day at contributor day at #WCEH. Met some great new people, and caught up with some old friends. I may be tired, but the energy will hit once we kick things off this morning with opening remarks at 9am! #WordCamp #community #coffee

Block Accessibility Check v2.2 is here — and it’s got a new home! Built with amazing tools from the WordPress community. Learn, explore, and extend real-time accessibility for WordPress. blockaccessibilitychecks.com 🧵 Below: some of the awesome tools that helped make it happen

We’re days away from #WCEH and I’m super excited to join a couple hundred passionate #WordPress people for 3 days or learning and laughter. Been working on some custom shoes for the occasion. Got my WP shoe done. Note the Pennywise band logo influence here! Up next, a custom @carleton.ca shoe!

Took a night off dev work. Signed up for Suno, the AI music generator. Inspired by a video of Wapuu getting ready to come to #WCEH, I ended up making a Wapuu concept album. 7 AI-generated songs. 1 WordPress mascot. 0 regrets. 🎶 troychaplin.ca/2025/10/wapu...

Still can’t believe we get to welcome Matt Mullenweg to #WCEH next week 🙌 The schedule is packed with brilliant speakers, hands-on workshops, and community energy. This one’s going to be special. 🇨🇦

New features coming to Block Accessibility Checks: – Improved button URL validation – Button text symbol detection – Alt-text pattern prevention – Header ranking validation Accessibility improvements + Sunday yard work = productive weekend 🌱 #WordPress #Accessibility github.com/troychaplin/...

Been quite a while since I’ve done any sketching. Took a break from coding and grabbed my iPad and sat outside while the kids rode their bikes. Might give this one another try after I shake off the rust! #WordPress #Wapuu #WCEH #Procreate

Looking for suggestions for a budget friendly microphone, I would like to do more demo videos of the things I am building, possible expand into some tutorial videos down the road.

After almost a decade without a personal site, I’m excited to relaunch troychaplin.ca. Built on a “nowhere-near-finished” block theme (my first), it’s less about just work, and more about who I am and what motivates me.

I've spend a lot of time building the Block Accessibility Checks plugin and it was a really great feeling to see someone else take the time to put out a video talking about my work. Thanks Elijah! www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-KX...

Got an idea after seeing something @briancoords.com was doing with Telex and what started as an idea to create a block splash page similar to the OG PS1 boot screen ended up turning into this fun codepen inspired splash page block. telex.automattic.ai/MTc1ODY0NTQz...