You’ve probably heard that WordPress is open-source software, and may know that it’s created and run by volunteers. WordPress enthusiasts share many examples of how WordPress changed people’s lives for the better. This monthly series shares some of those lesser-known, amazing stories.
How it all began
Mary Job at WordCamp Kampala 2020
Mary remembers when cybercafés started trending in Nigeria. She had just finished high school and was awaiting her results for admission to university. She spent all of her time (10 hours a day) and all of her pocket money buying bulk time online at cafes. All the way through university that was true, until in 2008 she graduated with a degree in philosophy and bought her own computer and modem.
She started blogging in 2009. Initially, she tried out Blogger, Hubpages, and WordPress—but found WordPress too complicated.
Growing up as a timid but curious cat
Mary is one of four kids, and the only girl among her siblings. Throughout her childhood she felt shy, even though others didn’t always see her that way.
When she first started her personal blog, it was mostly an opportunity for her to speak her mind where she was comfortable. Blogging gave her a medium to express her thoughts and with every new post she became a better writer.
Rediscovering WordPress
After completing a postgraduate diploma in mass communication, Mary started a Masters degree in Information Management. This required a three month internship. She decided to volunteer in Ghana in 2015 at the headquarters of the Salesians of Don Bosco in West Africa (SDBAFW) where her uncle was based.
While she was there, her uncle asked Mary why she was not blogging on WordPress, which also happened to be the software the organisation used. She explained how difficult and complicated it was so he shared a group of beginner-level tutorial videos with her.
After two weeks of watching those videos, she started to realize she could have a full-time career doing this. So she immediately joined a number of online training groups so she could learn everything.
I saw a lot of people earning an income from things I knew and did for the fun of it. I found myself asking why I had not turned my passion into a business.
Mary Job
Not long after that, she was contacted by a website editor who was impressed by her blog. With the information available online for WordPress, she was able to learn everything she needed to improve and redesign a site for what turned into her first client.
Mary’s home office in 2016
I visited the WordPress.org showcase and was wowed with all the good things I could do with WordPress.
Mary Job
In 2016 after a year of deep WordPress learning, she had fallen in love with the CMS and wanted to give back to the WordPress open source project.
She volunteered to help the Community team. And when she moved to Lagos later that year, she discovered there was an active WordPress Meetup community. This started her journey toward becoming a WordPress Meetup Co-organizer and a Global Community Team Deputy.
Today the Nigerian WordPress community continues to grow, as has the Lagos WordPress Meetup group. The first Nigerian WordCamp took place in Lagos in 2018 and a 2020 event is being planned. A local WordPress community also developed in Mary’s hometown in Ijebu.
I have made great friends and met co-organizers in the community who are dedicated to building and sharing their WordPress knowledge with the community like I am.
Mary Job
What did Mary gain from using and contributing to WordPress?
She overcame her stage fright by getting up in front of an audience at her local Meetup to introduce speakers and to talk about the WordPress community.
She attended her first of many African WordCamps in Cape Town, South Africa. Coincidentally this was also her first time outside West Africa. Before that, she had not been in an aircraft for more than one hour.
She earned money from WordPress web design projects to sustain her during her learning period. Mary continues to use WordPress in her work and says she is still learning every day!
She got to jump off Signal Hill in Cape Town when visiting a WordCamp!
Mary moderating a panel at WordCamp Lagos in 2019
Essentially, the community has taught me to be a better communicator, and a better person. I’ve made friends across the world that have become like a family to me.
Mary Job
She now runs a village hub in Ijebu, where she teaches girls digital skills and WordPress as a way of giving back to her town.
Since she started on this journey, Mary has gotten a fulltime job supporting a WordPress plugin. She’s also become a Community Team Rep and continues to build and foster communities.
Mary’s advice to others
Always seek to understand the basics of whatever knowledge you seek. Never jump in too fast, wanting to spiral to the top while ignoring the learning curve. You will likely crash down effortlessly if you do so, and would have learned nothing.
This post is based on an article originally published on HeroPress.com, a community initiative created by Topher DeRosia. HeroPress highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers and whose stories would otherwise go unheard.
Meet more WordPress community members over at HeroPress.com!
This class can generate PDF documents with tables displaying data
It is an extension of the FPDF that takes arrays with data to display on the rows of a table and then it can generate a PDF document that displays the table on a page...
Read more at https://www.phpclasses.org/package/11553-PHP-Generate-PDF-documents-with-tables-displaying-data.html#2020-03-06-00:48:17
We’ve all made excuses for why we haven’t gotten started on something we really want to do. We’re too busy, or we haven’t prepared enough to get started.
The truth is, there are a million excuses we all can use to avoid making the necessary choices and sacrifices we need to in order to truly succeed. However, sometimes those excuses are actually legitimate.
Sometimes we really do need to figure things out first before we acquire our first clients. And, sometimes we really ought to quit working on an idea that’s clearly going to be a failure.
The trouble is knowing whether our excuse is actually legitimate, or whether we’re just stalling. We’re going to explore some of the ways you can tell the difference, and start finishing everything you start.
In almost everything we do, there’s a lot to be gained from having a thought process that’s separate from taking action. Putting effort into the planning stage of a project is essential to ensuring that it will be a success.
Just like you probably wouldn’t just walk onto a stage in front of hundreds of people and start talking without having a speech prepared, it’s rarely a good idea to jump into something feet first and hope you swim instead of sink.
Take the time to really evaluate whether you’re ready to take action. Does your idea seem half-baked? Is it the best solution you can come up with for the problem you’re trying to solve? If you’re the type to act first and think later, make sure to slow down and visualize the actual end of your project. That’s right – pretend that you’ve already achieved your goal.
What, exactly, does that look like? What deliverables have been created? What is the reaction of your client? If the reality doesn’t match up with the hopeful scenario in your head, it’s time to recalibrate what you’ve been doing and start again.
Taking Action
This is where many of us get choked up. You’ve planned and planned for ages, and you’re sure your project is going to be a smashing success. Yet, for some reason, it’s extremely difficult for you to actually get started.
Maybe you’re missing some essential component, or you feel your skills in a certain area aren’t quite up to par. Whatever the excuse, it’s keeping you from actually taking that first step.
Believe it or not, there’s an easy fix to this common problem. It involves setting clear deadlines to action. Even if you haven’t completely thought everything out, it helps to just put something out there and get feedback from others.
If you’re working on a long-term project for a client and you find yourself struggling with making decisions, see if you can communicate with them more regularly and get their input. Or better yet, go find some of your client’s target audience members and ask them what they think of your work so far. Does it resonate with them? Which parts are the most successful?
This kind of “on the job” market testing is a great way to plan your work and take action at the same time. You don’t need to be 100% ready before you release your work to the world for evaluation.
Often, the ideas and suggestions you get from showing people what you have will help make your work even better than it would have been otherwise.
It’s better to do something – anything – that’s “good enough,” than it is to do nothing and wait for absolute perfection. You’ll learn more after you begin than you ever will by research and planning alone.
If You Don’t Succeed, Quit?
In a word, yes. Part of being successful is knowing that, many times, you are going to fail. If you want to succeed on a regular basis, you have to develop the foresight to know when to abandon an idea or project that’s not working.
The reason might be that you ran into complications that you didn’t plan for, or simply that you’re just not interested in making time to complete the project. It’s just as important to figure out what you actually want to work on as it is to make the decision to work on something.
The last thing you want is for a project you only feel so-so about to simply yield mediocre results, resulting in months or years of work for no big payoff. It’s much better to fail at something quickly – recognizing a failure when you see one.
If you’re working on a project and you can’t bring yourself to meet your minimum goals every day (30 minutes of writing, an hour of looking for new clients), perhaps it’s time to admit to yourself that what you thought you wanted to accomplish isn’t really working for you anymore.
Give yourself a hard deadline and evaluate your progress. If you haven’t taken any firm action within two or three weeks, then it’s important to be honest and ask yourself whether you actually want to finish this work.
Sometimes the answer is “no” – and that’s perfectly okay. We all miscalculate our enthusiasm for an idea from time to time, and there’s absolutely no shame in starting over if the interest suddenly evaporates.
Again, set a concrete goal (I’m going to finish this piece in three months, etc.) for taking action. Decide that you’re going to do everything that needs to be done to achieve this goal by your deadline. If it doesn’t happen, then you’ll know it’s time to move on and try something else.
A New View
Sometimes what we need is a new perspective. Determination is important for seeing a project through to the end, especially if it’s a personal project like a side business that no one is paying you to complete (and which may not yield financial results for years).
If you are burnt out on a project, but are absolutely sure you want to do it, it’s probably time to draw back from it a bit and look at it from a different angle.
Maybe all you need is some choice feedback from a trusted friend or mentor. Or perhaps a day spent brainstorming and gathering more inspiration will inject new life and vigor into your work.
When creating nature-inspired designs, it’s vital to have a variety of tools in your toolbox. And when you’re working with Photoshop, a major toolset comes in the form of brushes. Not to fret, however. You don’t need to go hunting around for brushes that suit your next project. We’ve compiled a collection of free nature brushes for Photoshop.
This collection consists of nature brushes that are all entirely free, which makes using them all the sweeter. Do be sure to read the fine print on each though, just in case there are attribution clauses in the mix.
Word of note aside, let’s dive right into this list!
This collection of 15 Photoshop brushes is simply stunning. Enjoy the delicate look of flowers with these brushes and use them to create a variety of effects and textures.
Simple and straightforward, this set of blooming tree brushes feature branches, twigs, leaves, and floral elements for creating on-the-spot natural designs.
This tropical watercolor brush set features 15 Photoshop brushes in PNG files that features a mix of flora and fauna. Delicate effects set this collection apart.
Here’s another simple set of Photoshop brushes, this time featuring plants. These brushes make it easy to create natural designs without having to sketch out every leaf and petal.
Another nature brush set you’ll want to check out is this set of 358 watercolor stamp brushes. Each features a floral motif, including leaves, flowers, garden-related objects, trees, and other decorative elements.
Want to create floral designs with a vintage look and feel? You won’t want to pass up this set of vintage floral brushes. Each brush features petals or leaves with a distressed or aged effect.
And this set of 75 watercolor Photoshop brushes are simply stunning. Create beautiful floral designs with these delicate brushes features petals and leaves.
Create eye-catching designs with the Weird Plants brush set. This features a combination of typical and unusual plant shapes for spicing up your next project.
You should also check out this set of Nebula Photoshop brushes. Consisting of 16 Photoshop brushes plus PNG files, these nebulous designs can complement any space or sky-themed work.
If you need to add rain effects to your work, this collection of 15 rain Photoshop brushes ought to do the trick. The set features water drops of varying intensity and splatters for adding water effects to any design.
Add snow effects to your next design with these 100 snow Photoshop brushes. Each is set to a high resolution and works with all Photoshop versions, so you can be assured of a stunning final result.
These stark and sparse silhouetted tree brushes create the impression of fall and winter at a glance. Populate the background of any nature design with these trees to make an impression.
This set of nature brushes focuses on natural life in the winter-time. Or, in a state of death and decay, if you’d like. This Dead Nature set features twigs, bare trees, dead flowers, and more.
This set of 12 brushes include feathers and birds to add interest to your design work. From flocks of birds to feathers blowing in the wind, this set can accentuate any project.
Another option you should consider is this set of high-quality Photoshop nature brushes. Each features some natural element like realistic leaves, branches, and trees.
Add colorful interest to your next project with this set of watercolor smudges and drips. These serve as an excellent backdrop for your natural designs.
Need to add lightning to a project? This set of 18 lightning strike brushes give you the variety you need to create a range of looks from a natural night sky to out-of-this-world designs.
Last on our list is this set of 10 tree brushes. This set is whimsical and delicate. The perfect choice for accenting stationary, logos, invitations, and more.
Use These Photoshop Nature Brushes for Your Next Project
There’s no need to have to trek out into the wild of the Internet to find the nature brushes you need for your next Photoshop project. We’ve put together a healthy list to choose from right here. And since they’re all free, you really have no excuse but to give them a try.
The first release candidate for WordPress 5.4 is now available!
This is an important milestone as we progress toward the WordPress 5.4 release date. “Release Candidate” means that the new version is ready for release, but with millions of users and thousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible something was missed. WordPress 5.4 is currently scheduled to be released on March 31, 2020, but we need your help to get there—if you haven’t tried 5.4 yet, now is the time!
There are two ways to test the WordPress 5.4 release candidate:
WordPress 5.4 has lots of refinements to polish the developer experience. To keep up, subscribe to the Make WordPress Core blog and pay special attention to the developer notes tag for updates on those and other changes that could affect your products.
Plugin and Theme Developers
Please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 5.4 and update the Tested up to version in the readme file to 5.4. If you find compatibility problems, please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release.
The WordPress 5.4 Field Guide will be published within the next 24 hours with a more detailed dive into the major changes.
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
