WP Weekly Spotlight – Morten Rand-Hendriksen

Morten is a former astronaut, professional water juggler, and exiled President of the Federation of Martian Land Owners. He is not a space alien.

Michele: What do you do in the WordPress ecosystem?

Morten: Ask difficult questions. Hold leadership accountable.

Michele: How did you get involved with WordPress?

Morten: I used to build websites with Dynamic Web Templates and frames and layers, but that got boring so I switched to Flash, but that wasn’t very maintainable, so I tried out Mamboo, which got forked into Joomla!, but that didn’t work well so I tried Drupal which was all the rage at the time, but that was like trying to kill an ant with a tank, and then I stumbled across WordPress and discovered my clients couldn’t destroy my sites through its admin, so that’s what I stuck with.

Michele: Please tell me one story of someone who has inspired you within the WordPress Community?

Morten: Rachel Cherry. That woman not only speaks the truth, but actively does more than most to make change happen.

Michele: What does the Open Source Community mean to you?

Morten: Open Source to me is about equity and the common good. We all contribute to a common good, and everyone, regardless of their own contribution or identity gets to use what we create to build their lives.

Michele: Please name some of your favorite plugins. 

Morten: Gravity Forms

Michele: Do you have a favorite theme or framework you like to use?

Morten: WP Rig

Michele: If you could change one thing in WordPress, what would it be?

Morten: Governance

Michele: What is your most memorable WordPress moment?

Morten: In 2014 I asked Matt Mullenweg what we could do to make themes accessible (https://wordpress.tv/2014/10/26/matt-mullenweg-state-of-the-word-2014-qa/). The year after, I asked if we could mandate accessibility. This year, the theme review team finally did that – mandated accessibility in themes in the repo. Things take time, but eventually they work out.

Michele: What is one piece of advice you would give to someone just getting started with WordPress?

Morten: WordPress is a tool in your toolkit. To be successful in the web industry, you need to know how to build a site with or without WordPress. WordPress is not the be-all and end-all of the web. It is a tool, nothing more, nothing less.

Michele: What do you think is in store for the future of WordPress?

Morten: The web is changing, and WordPress needs to change with it. What that is I’m not sure, but change is coming.

You can find Morten Rand-Hendriksen online at Mort10.com

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Michele Butcher-Jones

Head Geek at Can't Speak Geek

Michele is the Head Geek at Can't Speak Geek. During the day she works for Thrive Agency as their WordPress Technical Support Specialist. She is also a beginners and advanced WordPress instructor and travels the globe sharing her love of WordPress. When not on the computer Michele enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter. Sometimes she takes the time off to read a great book.