WP Tavern

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WordPress, traced through its working community.

The gist

WP Tavern is a long-running interview show centered on WordPress as a working ecosystem. Recent conversations move from accessibility and low-vision workflows to content education, agency-scale builds, Elementor, community events, and CloudFest hackathon projects.

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About WP Tavern

WP Tavern is a WordPress interview show built around the platform’s working reality rather than surface-level release chatter. It follows the software, but it also follows the people and institutions that keep the ecosystem moving. Recent episodes range across accessibility, education, product growth, agency partnerships, events, and enterprise implementation. The tone is curious and methodical. Guests are given room to explain how a problem looks from inside their own work, whether that means building with low vision, running a meetup, teaching WordPress, or supporting massive client websites. Accessibility is a recurring concern, and the show approaches it from several angles. Anne Bovelett discusses how accessible design can affect search, traffic, and revenue, while Bud Krause brings a direct account of teaching and using WordPress with low vision. Those episodes keep the topic practical, connecting inclusive design to actual purchasing, reading, and building experiences. The show also watches the WordPress economy closely. Zach Stepek’s conversation maps the interdependence of hosting companies, agencies, product makers, and open-source contribution, with trust sitting at the center. Elliott Richmond’s episode turns toward content creation and education, especially the need to explain new WordPress developments in formats people actually use. Community episodes broaden the frame. Simon Pollard talks about the return to in-person events, the loss of a shared social-media center, and the work of keeping local WordPress groups alive. The CloudFest Hackathon episode shifts format, bringing in multiple voices around project teams, time pressure, judging, and sustainability after the event ends. Product-scale and enterprise-scale conversations add another layer. Miriam Schwab discusses Elementor’s growth and its future with AI, while Tom Willmot and Jon Ang describe HumanMade’s work on Standard Chartered at a scale far beyond the average WordPress site. WP Tavern suits listeners who care about WordPress as an ecosystem: technical, social, commercial, and constantly changing.

Made for: WP Tavern is for WordPress developers, site builders, agency teams, product makers, accessibility practitioners, educators, and community organizers. It especially suits listeners who already understand the platform and want context from people building inside it.

What sets it apart: The show pairs platform-level WordPress coverage with grounded conversations from practitioners working in accessibility, education, enterprise delivery, product growth, and events. It is less about quick tips than about how WordPress decisions, communities, and businesses actually function.

In their own words

The WP Tavern Jukebox is a podcast for the WordPress community. We interview people who are pushing change in how WordPress evolves. Plugins, Blocks, Themes, Community, Events, Accessibility and Diversity; we try to cover all the bases. Subscribe to be updated when we bring you new content.

Why you'd press play

WordPress's backstage is your front row, where accessibility means revenue and meetups carry a social hangover.

Press play if you want

  • accessibility discussed as a traffic and revenue question, not merely a compliance chore
  • Nathan Wrigley asking why WordPress meetups did not simply snap back after years behind screens
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
WordPress accessibilitySEO and organic trafficplugins, blocks, and themesWordPress education and content creationagency and product ecosystemscommunity meetups and eventsCloudFest Hackathon projectsenterprise WordPress implementation

Talks about

Best episodes of WP Tavern

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

#212 – Anne Bovelett on How Web Accessibility Boosts Traffic, SEO, and RevenueApr 15, 2026

A grounded case for accessibility as both responsible design and a driver of reach, search visibility, and revenue.

Accessibility lands here as a business case with an ethical center. WP Tavern's Jukebox treats accessible design as something site owners should do because it is right, but also because it can affect organic traffic, SEO, reach, search ranking, and e-commerce revenue.

#211 – Elliott Richmond on WordPress Content Creation, Education, and Pizza PluginsApr 1, 2026

A grounded look at how WordPress connects development, teaching, community work, and a serious pizza business.

WordPress sits at the center of Elliot Richmond's work, tying together more than 20 years in the community with development, YouTube content, community projects, and a pizza business built with WordPress tools.

#210 – Zach Stepek on the Interconnected WordPress Ecosystem, Partnerships and TrustMar 25, 2026

A grounded look at how WordPress businesses share leverage, revenue, and responsibility across an open ecosystem.

WordPress lands here as an interdependent business ecosystem, not just a publishing tool. Hosting companies, agencies, product teams, and open source contributors all appear as parts of the same economy, with Zach Stepek and Nathan Wrigley tracing how money, trust, and…

#209 – Simon Pollard on Navigating the New Normal for WordPress Community and EventsMar 18, 2026

Simon Pollard reflects on WordPress community life after screen-first habits and fractured social platforms changed how people gather.

WP Tavern's Jukebox follows Simon Pollard through a familiar shift in WordPress community life. A Bristol meetup that began in a pub grew into a regular gathering, only for screen-first habits to take over and prove harder to unwind than anyone might have expected.

#208 – Behind the Scenes at the CloudFest HackathonMar 11, 2026

A ground-level view of how a three-day CloudFest Hackathon turns mixed skills into projects with life beyond the event.

CloudFest Hackathon comes across as a working system, not a polished event reel. Nathan Wrigley follows how skills are matched, how people may be moved between teams, and how 10 projects take shape under a three-day deadline.

Podcasts like WP Tavern

Episodes

  1. 1

    #212 – Anne Bovelett on How Web Accessibility Boosts Traffic, SEO, and Revenue

    Hidden gem

    WP Tavern's Jukebox pairs Nathan Wrigley with accessibility strategist Anne Beauvolat, who argues that web accessibility is a revenue and SEO issue, not only a compliance requirement.

    Apr 15, 2026·52m·3 clips
  2. 2

    #211 – Elliott Richmond on WordPress Content Creation, Education, and Pizza Plugins

    Hidden gem

    WP Tavern's Jukebox episode with Elliot Richmond ties 20 years of WordPress development to a lockdown pizza business that now employs five staff and runs on WooCommerce and Jetpack.

    Apr 1, 2026·44m·3 clips
  3. 3

    #210 – Zach Stepek on the Interconnected WordPress Ecosystem, Partnerships and Trust

    Hidden gem

    Zach Stepek traces a career from ColdFusion, Flash, and Adobe teaching into WordPress after a Flash-era contract collapse wiped out nearly a million dollars in work.

    Mar 25, 2026·53m·3 clips
  4. 4

    #209 – Simon Pollard on Navigating the New Normal for WordPress Community and Events

    Hidden gem

    ["Simon Pollard says the Bristol WordPress meetup grew from six people in a pub to 30 to 40 attendees, with WordPress paying venue costs and sponsors covering food.", "COVID-19 stopped that monthly rhythm, and Simon says fatherhood, a new band, and failed handovers kept him away from community organizing for years.", "He argues that Twitter once made it easy to find WordPress people, but the collapse of that shared channel left no single place to reconnect.", "The episode closes on Stack Overflow, AI answers, and the problem of how WordPress keeps its in-person community alive for younger developers."]

    Mar 18, 2026·44m·3 clips
  5. 5

    #208 – Behind the Scenes at the CloudFest Hackathon

    Hidden gem

    ["WP Tavern\u2019s Jukebox visits the CloudFest Hackathon at Europa Park in Rost, Germany, where Nathan Wrigley frames the event as a three-day open-source build session.", "Carol Olinger, head of the hackathon, says this edition drew 22 pitches and 300 to 400 applications, with 110 slots and 60 open-source contributor places after partner teams were included.", "She also describes a nine-person jury, five award categories, and a Groundbreaker Talents-sponsored prize structure that feeds money back into the charity initiative.", "Project leads then outline work on CMS Cloud Manager, federated events, WPCLI as MCP, CMS Freedom, accessibility tools, and a peer-to-peer federated RAG network."]

    Mar 11, 2026·26m·1 clip
  6. 6

    #207 – Rob Ruiz on WP Rig and the Future of Theme Development

    Mar 4, 2026·49m
  7. 7

    #206 – Jonathan Desrosiers on WordPress Sustainability, Community Engagement, and Release Strategies

    Feb 25, 2026·45m
  8. 8

    #205 – Matt Cromwell on Redefining WordPress Product Growth in a Crowded Ecosystem

    Feb 18, 2026·31m
  9. 9

    #204 – Russell Aaron on the Hidden Settings Page You Never Knew Existed options.php

    Feb 11, 2026·26m
  10. 10

    #203 – Miriam Schwab on Elementor’s Decade of Growth and the Future With AI

    Miriam Schwab discusses Elementor's decade of growth, its impact on the web, and future plans with AI.

    Feb 4, 2026·42m
  11. 11

    #202 – Charly Leetham on Using WordPress to Enable a Digital Nomad Life

    Jan 28, 2026·45m
  12. 12

    #201 – Marc Benzakein on How Life Has Changed During the Internet Era

    Jan 21, 2026·51m
  13. 13

    #200 – Corey Maass on His Real-Life AI Tools and Workflows in WordPress Development

    Jan 14, 2026·1h 1m
  14. 14

    #199 – Brian Coords on WooCommerce’s Challenges and Innovations in a Changing WordPress Landscape

    Jan 7, 2026·41m
  15. 15

    #198 – Muntasir Sakib on Bridging the Gap Between WordPress Plugin Development and Marketing Success

    Dec 17, 2025·41m
  16. 16

    #197 – Johanne Courtright on Enhancing Gutenberg: Agency-Driven Block Editor Innovations

    Dec 10, 2025·47m
  17. 17

    #196 – Topher DeRosia on How Public Contributions Shape Careers in WordPress

    Dec 3, 2025·42m
  18. 18

    #195 – Saumya Majumder on How Cloudflare Outages Impact the Web and WordPress Performance Solutions

    Nov 26, 2025·49m
  19. 19

    #194 – Devin Walker on Leading Jetpack: Challenges, Vision, and the Future

    Nov 19, 2025·36m
  20. 20

    #193 – Roger Williams on How We Might Reimagine Sponsoring WordPress Contributions

    Nov 12, 2025·47m
  21. 21

    #192 – Joshua Bryant on How Dow Jones Is Supercharging WordPress Editorial Workflows

    Nov 5, 2025·46m
  22. 22

    #191 – Arnas Donauskas on AI-Powered Troubleshooting for Websites

    Oct 29, 2025·37m
  23. 23

    #190 – Seth Rubenstein on Block Composability in WordPress’ Future

    Oct 21, 2025·43m
  24. 24

    #189 – Weston Ruter on Unlocking WordPress Performance

    Oct 15, 2025·48m
  25. 25

    #188 – Bud Kraus on Teaching and Using WordPress With Low Vision

    Hidden gem

    Bud Kraus shares his experience living with low vision and how he adapts WordPress and technology to continue teaching and working.

    Oct 8, 2025·28m·2 clips
  26. 26

    #187 – June Liu and David Denedo on Making the Web Accessible: The Mission Behind WP Accessibility Day

    Oct 1, 2025·41m
  27. 27

    #186 – Dave Winer on Decentralisation, WordPress and Open Publishing

    Sep 24, 2025·56m
  28. 28

    #185 – Mary Ann Aschenbrenner on Switching Clients From Classic to Block Themes

    Sep 17, 2025·34m
  29. 29

    #184 – Rachel Cherry and Alex Aspinall on the State of WordPress in Higher Education

    Sep 10, 2025·47m
  30. 30

    #183 – Destiny Kanno, Isotta Peira and Anand Upadhyay on how WordPress is shaping the future of education for students worldwide

    Sep 3, 2025·1h 4m
  31. 31

    #182 – Michelle Frechette and Jonathan Desrosiers on the story of .com and .org

    Aug 20, 2025·48m
  32. 32

    #181 – Bob Dunn on rebranding Do the Woo and growing openchannels.fm

    Aug 13, 2025·36m
  33. 33

    #180 – Karla Campos on organising WordCamp US

    Aug 6, 2025·37m
  34. 34

    #179 – Mariya Moeva on the Impact of Google’s SiteKit on WordPress

    Jul 30, 2025·35m
  35. 35

    #178 – Adam Silverstein Explores Transformative Browser Features Impacting WordPress Sites

    Jul 23, 2025·56m
  36. 36

    #177 – Charlotte Bax on Reducing Your Website’s Carbon Footprint

    Jul 16, 2025·38m
  37. 37

    #176 – Héctor de Prada on the Power of Local WordPress Meetups in Community Building

    Jul 9, 2025·36m
  38. 38

    #175 – Jennifer Schumacher on Learning From Agency Mistakes

    Jul 2, 2025·37m
  39. 39

    #174 – Joe Dolson and Jonathan Desrosiers on WordPress Accessibility: Core Commitment or Canonical Plugin

    Jun 25, 2025·46m
  40. 40

    #173 – Tom Willmot and Jon Ang on Building a Global Bank Website

    Tom Willmot and Jon Ang discuss how HumanMade built and maintained a WordPress website for global bank Standard Chartered, sharing insights from their WordCamp Europe case study.

    Jun 18, 2025·42m
  41. 41

    #172 – Reyes Martínez and Héctor De Prada on Website Maintenance for WordPress Agencies and Freelancers

    Jun 11, 2025·43m
  42. 42

    #171 – Felix Arntz on How Speculative Loading Is Speeding Up Your WordPress Website

    Felix Arntz discusses how speculative loading speeds up WordPress websites, a feature he led in WordPress 6.8.

    May 28, 2025·48m
  43. 43

    #170 – Chris Reynolds on WordPress and Drupal: Differences and Similarities

    May 21, 2025·48m
  44. 44

    #169 – Wes Tatters on the Evolution of Internet Communities and WordPress Open Source

    May 14, 2025·44m
  45. 45

    #168 – Hari Shanker on Understanding and Showing WordPress Contributions

    May 7, 2025·39m
  46. 46

    #167 – Bud Kraus on Podcasting and Finding Inspiration in WordPress Stories

    Apr 30, 2025·36m
  47. 47

    #166 – Ryan Welcher on What’s New for Developers

    Apr 23, 2025·43m
  48. 48

    #165 – Aaron D. Campbell Why Open Standards and WordPress Matter

    Aaron D.

    Apr 16, 2025·42m
  49. 49

    #164 – Milana Cap on the Interactivity and HTML APIs, and Their Enormous Potential

    Apr 9, 2025·41m
  50. 50

    #163 – Birgit Pauli-Haack on the Magic of the WordPress Playground

    Apr 2, 2025·42m