Sr. Content Developer at Microsoft, working remotely in PA, TechBash conference organizer, former Microsoft MVP, Husband, Dad and Geek.
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Blueprints Gallery Is Now Available in WordPress Studio

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Discovering and launching reusable WordPress environments in WordPress Studio just got easier: the Blueprints Gallery is now available in the Studio desktop app.

For custom or community Blueprints, using them in Studio often meant bringing in a configuration from outside the app, whether through a URL, ZIP file, JSON configuration, or GitHub example. Now, with Blueprints Gallery, you can browse, preview, and launch ready-to-use WordPress setups directly inside Studio.

Studio is WordPress.com’s fast, free, open source desktop app for building, testing, and managing WordPress sites locally. 

What are Blueprints? 

Paired with Studio’s no-server-setup local environment, Blueprints make repeat projects faster to start and easier to keep consistent.

Blueprints are reusable JSON configurations that automatically set up a WordPress environment with specific themes, plugins, content, and settings. Think of them as advanced site recipes: instead of manually setting up your ideal configuration from scratch, you can launch a fully configured site in just a few clicks.

Whether you are building a portfolio, testing a plugin, experimenting with WooCommerce, or spinning up a local development environment, Blueprints help you get started faster and with less repetitive setup work.

What is the Blueprints Gallery?

The Blueprints Gallery is a curated collection of ready-made WordPress site setups now available directly in Studio. It gives you quick access to Blueprints designed for different workflows, use cases, and experiments.

Instead of leaving Studio to find or import Blueprint configurations, you can browse a growing library of pre-configured environments tailored for things like blogging, ecommerce, development, design exploration, or plugin testing.

Each Blueprint is designed to help you skip repetitive setup steps so you can spend less time on setup and more time working in WordPress.

For developers, the Blueprints library is also available through Studio’s CLI. With the blueprint command, you can list available Blueprints and launch a fully configured local WordPress site directly from your terminal in just a few steps.

How to access the Blueprints Gallery

The Blueprints Gallery is available in Studio desktop version 1.9.0 and later. First, make sure to update Studio. Then, click on the “Add site” button in the sidebar:

WordPress Studio "Add a site" screen.

Next, choose “Build a new site” and scroll down to the “Explore more Blueprints” section.

Explore Blueprints Screen

That’s it! Choose a Blueprint that fits your workflow and spin up a local WordPress site in seconds.

You can also use the Live Preview button to explore Blueprints before creating your site. Previews are powered by WordPress Playground, making it easy to quickly test layouts, themes, plugins, and overall site experience.

Looking for something specific? Use the search box to quickly find Blueprints that match your needs. 

Want to build your own Blueprints? This guide will teach you the basics of creating a custom Blueprint.

Blueprints Gallery: Now available in WordPress Studio

The Blueprints Gallery is now available in Studio 1.9.0 and later.

It’s now easier to discover, preview, and launch reusable WordPress setups directly inside Studio. As the gallery continues to grow, you will see more Blueprints added for different workflows, learning experiences, and creative use cases.

Explore the Blueprints Gallery, and find your next starting point for building locally with Studio.





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Announcing Web Serial Support in Firefox

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Support for Web Serial in Firefox 151 for Desktop

Firefox can now connect directly to microcontrollers, development boards, 3D printers, power meters, and other serial-connected hardware from the web. Starting in Firefox 151 for Desktop, support for the Web Serial API allows web applications to communicate with compatible devices without requiring native software.

Web Serial compatible devices are popular among hobbyists, hardware hackers, educators, makers, and developers with use cases ranging from home automation to hardware prototyping and 3D printing. Web Serial support makes Firefox more useful for these kinds of projects.

One of the organizations that has demonstrated the value of Web Serial is Adafruit, a leader in open-source hardware and STEM education. They’ve made it quick and easy to install CircuitPython on their devices by delivering firmware over Web Serial. Then it’s straightforward to run Python programs on the device. Name your file code.py and, for most devices, the code can be installed by dragging-and-dropping the file onto the USB device. Your Python programs can interoperate with a web page over Web Serial using simple text-based I/O.

To install CircuitPython firmware with Firefox, we recommend using the Adafruit Web Serial Tool and not the OPEN INSTALLER method on the CircuitPython site.

Here’s an example using an Adafruit ESP32-S2 based board where messages sent from web code can be directly displayed on the device over Web Serial.

A video showing an example CircuitPython Web Serial project where a message is sent from a local web page using Web Serial to a device running a CircuitPython code.py file.

We’ve collaborated with Adafruit to test Firefox’s implementation against real hardware workflows commonly used by this community. The result: Firefox is a more practical browser for programming and interacting with hardware directly using web technology.

As an example of how you can combine Web Serial with electronics, Mozilla engineer Alex Franchuk created an amazingly fun and functional device that melds electronics and web editing. Check out the Page Playground.

The list of serial compatible devices includes Espressif ESP-based boards such as the popular ESP32 chips, Raspberry Pi Picos, 3D printers, LEGO devices, and many more. There are many tools for running your own code on these small affordable microcontroller boards, and with Web Serial it’s easier than ever to connect them to a computer and interact through a web-based user interface.

What is Web Serial?

Web Serial is a web API that allows a website to read and write to serial devices using JavaScript. See the MDN documentation for the details. While modern computers don’t typically include serial ports, serial devices connected to a USB port or paired via Bluetooth can advertise themselves as serial-capable devices so they appear as serial ports in the operating system.

The Web Serial API lets developers use the web platform to communicate with these devices. For example, websites can control devices or deliver firmware without requiring native applications or installers.

Mozilla’s own Florian Quèze, who has experimented with many projects to measure power consumption, demonstrated how Web Serial could be used to read power data from an off-the-shelf USB power meter and display it in Firefox. Florian’s code can also export the data into the Firefox Profiler, making it easy to visualize and share power data. Here’s the page and GitHub repo. The screenshots below show the page in action and the data in the Firefox Profiler after recording the power usage of a light with three brightness modes.

A screenshot of Florian’s site showing a power recording of a light with three brightness modes.

A screenshot of Florian’s site showing a power recording of a light with three brightness modes.The power meter used in the pictured power tests was the AVHzY C3 USB. The Joy-IT TC66C and YZXStudio USB ZY1280 were also successfully tested.

A screenshot of the Firefox Profiler displaying the imported power recording from Florian’s site.

A screenshot of the Firefox Profiler displaying the imported power recording from Florian’s site.

Home Assistant is another example. It’s a popular (and growing) open source project for home automation. The ESPHome project offers Home Assistant-compatible firmware for affordable ESP32 and similar devices which can be installed and configured over Web Serial in just a few clicks.

Security and Privacy

There are clear security and privacy concerns with allowing the web platform to read and write to hardware devices. Most importantly, with Web Serial, websites do not have visibility or access to serial ports until the user explicitly allows it.

Ports are allowed on a per-site and per-port basis. The Web Serial API requires websites to call navigator.serial.requestPort(), which lets the user choose which port to allow access to, or disallow all access entirely. This means websites do not receive a list of connected devices and there is no useful fingerprinting information outside of the port the user selects.

A screenshot of the Web Serial port selection prompt in Firefox.

A screenshot of the Web Serial port selection prompt in Firefox.

To help users understand when and why a site requests access to a serial port, Firefox uses add-on gating which we introduced with our Web MIDI API implementation. Compared to other web permission prompts, this gives the user a more detailed explanation of what they’re allowing. The add-on gating prompts appear before the port selection prompt the first time a site requests port access.

For organizations using Firefox Enterprise Policies, Web Serial is disabled by default. Administrators can explicitly allow or disallow Web Serial functionality across their organization using the DefaultSerialGuardSetting policy setting.

Standardization

While Web Serial still resides in the Web Incubator Community Group (WICG), we’re optimistic there’s a path to standardization given its scope and long-running incubation. We are pursuing standardizing the Web Serial API in the WHATWG in a new Workstream proposal and are excited to work with ecosystem partners and standards bodies to help shape access to peripherals on the web.

Feedback

If you already have a Web Serial workflow with a device you can test on, give Firefox a try. We’d love to hear what you’re building and which workflows matter most to you. Mozilla Connect is a great place to share projects, ask questions, and give feedback.

For technical issues, browse to support.mozilla.org or file a bug here.

The post Announcing Web Serial Support in Firefox appeared first on Mozilla Hacks - the Web developer blog.





Download video: https://hacks.mozilla.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/circuitpython_webserial_led.mp4
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Your Podcast Belongs With Your Blog and Newsletter

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We’re launching Jetpack Podcast, a new way to publish, distribute, and grow a podcast from the same site as your blog and newsletter. If you’re on WordPress.com, it’s already in your dashboard in your Jetpack menu. Here’s a quick walkthrough:

You can start a podcast for free. We’ll help you set up your show, get your podcast onto major podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Pocket Casts, and pair it with your newsletter to grow your audience. Upgrade to a Premium plan for audio hosting on WordPress.com, podcast stats, a podcast episode block, and an episode dashboard.

Reach your fans where they are

When you publish an episode on WordPress.com, it shows up everywhere your audience already is.

  • Your blog: each episode lands as a post on your site, with show notes and an embedded player.
  • Your newsletter: the same episode goes out to your email subscribers, with the player and notes inline.
  • The Reader: your followers in the WordPress.com Reader see the episode in their feed.
  • Every major podcast app: your show appears on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, Amazon Music, the Podcast Index, and any other app that reads RSS feeds.

Own your feed, own your audience

Substack pushes your listeners into their app, and Spotify pushes them into theirs. With Jetpack Podcast, your website and podcast live on your domain, your subscriber list is yours to export anytime, and your show reaches every podcast app that reads RSS.

If you ever decide to leave WordPress.com, your listeners come with you, since their podcast app subscribes to your feed, not ours.

Stats you can actually read

The podcast stats dashboard lets you see how your show is doing with breakdowns by episode, app, and country. Dig into specific time periods and episodes to see how your audience has changed over time.

Free or Premium, your call

We are continuing the generous free offering on WordPress.com by letting you publish a podcast for free. We’ll help you get set up and get distributed to all the major podcast apps.

Upgrade to a WordPress.com Premium plan to get your podcast hosted on WordPress.com, podcast stats, an episode dashboard, and an episode player block for your posts. Not to mention the amazing amount of other things you get with the Premium plan.

Where to find it

Open your WordPress.com dashboard, click Jetpack in the sidebar, then click Podcast. Choose your plan, and enable podcasting to get started.

For more details on getting started, check out our support article.

Let’s hear your voice

If you’ve been meaning to start a podcast, this is the easiest way to get the first episode out. If you’ve already got a show running somewhere else, give WordPress.com a try so you can have your podcast hosted the same place as your blog and newsletter. Let us hear your feedback so we know what to work on next.

Start your podcast









Download video: http://videos.files.wordpress.com/39Y2U7hp/jetpack-podcast-launch-blog-may-20.mp4
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Designing Firefox for the future

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irefox browser windows showing Greece travel tabs and hotel booking pages

Crafted with care. Built for speed. Ready for what’s next.

A great browser is so intuitive that you often forget you’re using it. Yet today the internet is changing faster than ever, and your browser needs to keep up. Firefox is still the only browser built for people, not platforms: independent, customizable, private and firmly in users’ control. 

Keeping Firefox the best browser for being online today is what motivated our recent work to update Firefox’s design and design system. We’re aiming to deliver a more cohesive foundation for Firefox: making the browser feel cleaner, warmer, faster and more adaptable.

Internally, we’ve been calling this work Project Nova. The name fits: A nova can look like a new star, yet it comes from existing matter — a renewal, not a replacement. When it rolls out later this year, you can just call it Firefox. Here’s what it’s all about:

Privacy at the center

A good default matters. When you choose Firefox, privacy and clear data practices are there from the start. Our new design pulls privacy features forward, making it easier to find and use tools like our free, built-in VPN and private browsing.

Firefox privacy and security settings showing Enhanced Tracking Protection and VPN options

We’re also redesigning Settings so choices about your data are easier to understand and act on. That includes controls for turning off AI features entirely, plainer language throughout, as well as tuning Enhanced Tracking Protection to match your preferred balance of protection and usability.

Speed you can feel

Privacy and speed aren’t trade-offs. When Firefox blocks trackers, pages load faster, too. We also prioritize the most important parts of a page before the optional stuff around the edges. In the last year, we’ve improved load times for key page content by 9%.

The new design can speed up your workflows, too. It’s easier to access tab groups, split view, and vertical tabs – putting these productivity features at your fingertips, but not in your face. 

And we’re bringing back compact mode. People told us that they missed it, and we listened. If you want your browser controls as condensed as possible, this one’s for you. 

Firefox browser new tab with purple starry theme and VPN enabled

Balancing the new and familiar

When it came to design, we wanted Firefox to feel current, but not generic. Warm, but still precise. More expressive, but never louder than the web itself. You’ll see the change first in the fundamentals: 

  • Tabs have a softer shape, with a subtle gradient that gives the active tab more presence and creates a sense of light around the browser chrome. 
  • Components are more rounded and consistent, so panels, menus, settings and browser controls feel like part of the same system. 
  • Icons have been updated to feel cleaner and more balanced across light and dark themes, supporting quick recognition without adding visual noise.
  • Spacing is rebalanced across the interface with the knowledge that every pixel matters when the browser is where you spend your day. 
  • The refreshed color palette is inspired by the feeling of fire: the glow around your active tab, deep smoky purples and lighter tones that add warmth.

The voice is warming up, too. Firefox copy is becoming more direct, more human, and sometimes more playful or fiery. Always genuine… because that’s what sets Firefox apart.

Firefox design system showing browser tab styles, icons and purple color palette

The effect is distinctly Firefox: approachable and energetic, while still easy to scan. Under the hood, reusable tokens, components, patterns, and a shared design language make Firefox easier to evolve over time, so new features feel integrated instead of bolted on.

The redesign is most visible on desktop, but the work extends to mobile, too. Shared colors, icons, copy and design foundations help Firefox feel more consistent across devices.

Firefox mobile tab overview in light and dark mode on two phones with travel and Mozilla tabs

Yours to shape

Firefox has long been the most customizable browser. It’s in our open source DNA. Now we’re adding more ways to make Firefox feel like yours, including new themes and wallpapers. And we’re exploring more customization over time, like controls for the shape of the interface — tabs, components, and related visual treatments. 

Accessibility is a key part of customization. Firefox is being designed with attention to contrast, readability, focus states, keyboard behavior, target sizes, system settings, visual comfort, and how the interface works across themes and windows.

Dark mode, for example, is not just a preference for many people. It is their default environment. For some, it helps reduce eye strain. For others, it is part of a broader system setup. 

Building in public

Firefox has always been built in the open, and with the help of a global community of contributors and supporters. You help us build the browser, test, extend and improve it. You tell us when something doesn’t feel right. That relationship is part of what makes Firefox different.

While the new design system for Firefox is still being shaped, keep telling us what feels right, and what gets in your way. We’re listening.

The Firefox logo

Take control of your internet

Download Firefox

The post Designing Firefox for the future appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

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PowerShell is now notarized and hardened for macOS

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We’re excited to announce that the PowerShell packages for macOS are now properly notarized and hardened, meeting both Apple’s security requirements and Microsoft’s internal compliance standards.

This has been one of the most consistently requested improvements from our macOS community, and we’re glad to finally deliver it.

What changed

Starting with the next release, the PowerShell .pkg installer and tarball for macOS are:

  • Notarized by Apple — macOS no longer warns you that PowerShell is from an unidentified developer
  • Hardened — the PowerShell binary and its libraries are built with the security entitlements Apple recommends for distributed software

This update also includes a fix that properly sets the file permissions on files contained in the tarball. These fixes are included in the next maintenance releases of PowerShell 7.4 and higher.

What this means for you

If you’ve been working around Gatekeeper warnings, adjusting security settings, running xattr commands, or guiding users through extra steps to install PowerShell, you no longer need to.

For most users, no action is required. Install or update PowerShell as you normally would.

Documentation

For installation instructions and the latest release, see the Install PowerShell 7 on macOS.

Thank you

This work closes more than 14 long-standing GitHub issues. Thank you to everyone in the community who filed issues, tested workarounds, and kept this on our radar.

Jason Helmick

Sr. Product Manager, PowerShell

The post PowerShell is now notarized and hardened for macOS appeared first on PowerShell Team.

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10.0.70

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What's Changed

.NET MAUI 10.0.70 introduces significant improvements across all platforms with focus on quality, performance, and developer experience. This release includes 135 commits with various improvements, bug fixes, and enhancements.

Ai Agents

  • [CI] Extend gate to all test types and decouple from PR review by @kubaflo in #34705

  • Integrate UI test category detection into PR review and fix gate reliability by @kubaflo in #35133

API

Blazor

Button

CollectionView

🔧 Fixes

DateTimePicker

Drawing

Editor

Entry

Essentials

Flyoutpage

Gestures

Image

Label

Layout

Map

  • [Windows] Implement WinUI 3 MapControl handler using Azure Maps by @jfversluis in #34138

Modal

Navigation

Packaging

  • Bump OpenTelemetry packages in Aspire ServiceDefaults template by @jfversluis in #35333

Picker

RadioButton

SafeArea

ScrollView

Searchbar

SearchBar

Shell

SwipeView

Switch

TabbedPage

Templates

Titlebar

WebView

🔧 Fixes

Xaml

🔧 Infrastructure (7)
🧪 Testing (13)
📦 Other (20)

Full Changelog: 10.0.60...10.0.70

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