Justin Ahinon
Archives About Open Source

Open Source Contributions

My Journey in the WordPress Ecosystem

In a past life, I was deeply involved in the WordPress ecosystem. Over the years, I contributed to significant parts of the WordPress project, initially as an independent developer, and later as a full-time contributor sponsored by Yoast for a couple of years. During my time with WordPress, I worked on key areas, including documentation systems, web accessibility, and performance optimization.

My Focus Areas

Documentation Systems

A large part of my contributions involved coordinating, maintaining, and improving documentation systems for WordPress, Gutenberg, and other related projects. Documentation plays a vital role in the growth of any open-source project, and I ensured that WordPress’s developer resources remained comprehensive, up-to-date, and accessible to the community.

Web Accessibility

Web accessibility was another major area of focus, particularly in Gutenberg. I dedicated significant time to improving the accessibility of the editor, ensuring that it was usable for everyone, regardless of abilities. Accessibility remains a crucial area where the WordPress community continues to invest efforts.

Software Quality and Testing

I developed a strong interest in software quality and automated testing during my time with WordPress. I contributed to end-to-end testing (E2E) efforts in WordPress Core, helping to identify and prevent bugs before they impacted users. One of my major projects was coordinating the migration of Gutenberg’s testing suite from Jest + Puppeteer to Playwright, a project I led.

Web Performance

For several months, I also helped coordinate the Performance Team for WordPress Core, focusing on improving the platform’s speed and efficiency. Web performance is a passion of mine, and working to boost the performance of such a widely used platform was a rewarding experience.

Completed Projects

  • Developer Documentation Restructure: One of my early major contributions was the restructuring of the Gutenberg developer documentation. The new documentation system, inspired by open-source projects like Gatsby and Ruby on Rails, made it easier for developers to navigate and understand the resources available.

  • Automated Accessibility Testing for Gutenberg: Collaborating with my colleagues at Yoast, we developed ways to automate accessibility testing for WordPress blocks using Playwright. I created a tool to generate WordPress Core blocks automatically, available here.

  • E2E Testing in WordPress Core: I worked on the implementation of end-to-end tests in WordPress Core. These tests were designed to identify bugs early and improve overall system reliability, ensuring smoother updates for users.

  • Web Performance Initiatives: As part of the Performance Team, I helped to improve web performance in WordPress Core, focusing on optimizations that enhanced the platform's speed and efficiency.

A Look Back

Though I have moved on from active contributions to WordPress, I’m proud of the work I did within the ecosystem. The projects I contributed to helped improve WordPress for both developers and users alike, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been part of such a vibrant and impactful community.

If you'd like to discuss my past work or have questions about contributing to open-source projects, feel free to check out my GitHub or contact me!