What happens to every tutorial when WordPress renames a feature? In mid 2023, reusable blocks became synced patterns, and WPwatercooler episode 457 talked through what that rename costs the people who teach WordPress. I joined the panel, fresh from WordCamp Montclair.
🎙️ Episode details
- Show: WPwatercooler, episode 457, “A Reusable Block By Any Other Name”
- Panel: Jason Tuckercolleague, Jason Cosperacquaintance, Sé Reedcolleague and me, Courtney Robertson
- Streamed live: June 30, 2023
- Topics: WordCamp Montclair’s broadcast setup, and who updates training when reusable blocks become synced patterns
- Watch: EP457 on the WPwatercooler YouTube channel, or read the episode 457 show notes
The captions are YouTube’s automatic captions, cleaned for repeated lines and names but not checked against the audio.
🎙️ WordCamp Montclair’s broadcast setup
WordCamp Montclair takes place on a college campus with a journalism school, and broadcast students need recording hours. So the camp had production quality gear recording the sessions.
📚 Who updates the training when reusable blocks get a new name?
One of the hosts pointed out that a rename leaves teaching material wrong the day a release ships, and credited me with much of the release documentation for Training. However, I clarified my part: I find what needs to change in Learn WordPress for each release, rather than writing all the new content myself.
I also added that the Docs and Training teams were working with locale ambassadors so translated materials keep up too, and I pointed listeners to the release’s call for testing, where the Test team wants detailed feedback.
🧪 What can you take from the reusable blocks rename?
- Educators and authors: audit your materials against each release’s terminology changes.
- Testers: answer the call for testing before a release, while names can still change.
Also, more conversations like this one live in my podcast and speaking archive.
🗓️ Archival note
This episode streamed live on June 30, 2023, per the YouTube listing. Then I added this post on November 9, 2026, from the YouTube description and automatic captions, which have no speaker names. I attributed only statements whose speaker is clear from the conversation, and I didn’t rewatch the stream.