199 - Benjamin Ritner speaks with Kadence

Interview with Benjamin Ritner and Nathan Wrigley

This seems to be getting so much attention at the moment. Kadence Blocks, Theme and Membership. Wherever I go online to chat about WordPressy things, Kadence seems to pop up and get talked about... and it seems to be talk of a very positive nature.

BTW - did you see what I did with the title!?

So I recorded this episode with Benjamin Ritner quite a few months ago and he's been really busy since then. Nothing about what we discuss is out of date, rather, he's been busy creating new things. At the time of recording his Kadence WordPress theme was something that he was working on, but now it's all finished and ready to roll, but it's interesting to hear about how and why he built a WordPress theme in a time when it feels like the whole purpose of themes is in question due to the full site editing that's coming down the track with the Block Editor.

We cover quite a lot of ground:

Ben's history working with WordPress, which is deep and rich.

How the theme market was a great place to be a few years ago, before the oversaturation of the market, and what Ben did about this to keep his business afloat.

Kadence Membership, how it got started, what's included and why the marriage of a theme to a suite of blocks is a compelling offer going forwards in the WordPress space.

How he decided to gamble that Blocks was going to be the next big thing - a shift in business focus and the risks and rewards that this posed.

The difficulties in developing in an environment which is constantly in-flux - how hard it was at the start to create Blocks when there was almost zero documentation to support his learning.

Ben discusses why anyone clinging on to the Classic Editor is missing out on a whole heap of goodness that the Block Editor brings along. A simple imterface for editing, rich features which are being added to all the time and a roadmap that dominates the future of WordPress.

Ben feels that this is an exciting time for WordPress. We've got a great new tool that is like nothing else in other CMS's. Sure, it's not complete, there's a ton of things for is to wait for, but with suites of blocks like Kadence Blocks, we're really seeing how the boundaries of what's possible inside an editor can be pushed to new levels.

We have a deep dive into the feature set of the Kadence Blocks suite as it was at the time of recording, but I would urge you to go and have a look now, becasuse there's been a lot of work done since that day and many, many new features added.

I think that the best value that you can get is from the Kadence Membership which rolls up all-the-things that Ben's been working on into one neat package. Everything in one place for you to create great WordPress websites, all built by a guy who you now kinda know, and I hope, trust.

It was really lovely chatting to Ben, and I hope that you enjoy the podcast episode. As always go leave a comment here, or perhaps in the WP Builds Facebook Group.

Mentioned in this episode...

Kadence Membership

Kadence Blocks

Kadence Theme