The engine of WordPress is catching up steam in the 2nd half of 2022 with the surprise launch of the hosted LearnDash Cloud offering. Also, significant EDD updates and the official releases of WordPress 6.1 and WoCommerce 6.7. Plus, a mega stash of new WordPress plugins for you to test drive.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- Big Launches… a fully managed hosted solution for course creators using WordPress is here in the form of LearnDash Cloud, which comes with LearnDash along with web hosting optimized for the e-learning setup. Also, Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) had a big version 3.0 release with features like improved reporting, management of orders and refunds, and menu reorganization.
- New Block Themes… Kadence has released a new Lawn Care theme featuring practical design and layout. While Brian Gardner, unlike his usual white and black palette style, has released the Bright Mode theme featuring vibrant colors. Also, Anders Norén has released the Poe theme specially made for portfolios and blogs.
- Pro Block Plugins… Stackable block addon has added a new Map Block for displaying the map with the location marker along with customization options. Also, GenerateBlocks team has changed the name of ‘Template Library’ to ‘Patterns Library,’ and the library is available on the website with the listing of free and paid patterns.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Core Releases… time to update your WordPress websites as the WordPress 6.0.1 Maintenance Release is now available with 13 bug fixes in the core and 18 bug fixes for the Block Editor. The next big release, WordPress 6.1, is scheduled for October 25, 2022, and beta1 around September 20, 2022. Also, WooCommerce 6.7 has been released with product reviews now with a dedicated location.
- Acquisition Train… keeps chugging along with the acquisition of WP Conference Schedule Plugin by The Events Calendar team, which is part of the StellarWP group. The pro version of the WP Conference Schedule Plugin is also coming soon; with this ownership change – expect more action on this front. Good move, overall!
- Product Updates… Uncanny Automator now integrates with GravityKit supporting triggers like an entry for a specific form is approved or rejected among the ability to connect with other plugins and services. Also, after the acquisition by GroundHogg, HollerBox 2.0 is a big update featuring an all-new pop-up editor, a better reports dashboard, and updated pop-up templates.
- More Updates… Elementor v3.7 Beta Release of the free version of the plugin is now available for testing with a bunch of features additions and bug fixes. Also, Yoast SEO version 19.3 is now available with schema improvements and a new feature of ‘word complexity assessment’ for pro users.
- WordCamps in 2023… the call for speakers is now open for the WordCamp Asia scheduled for Feb 17, 2023, in Thailand. Also, the call to join the organising team of the WordCamp Europe 2023 to be held on Jun 8, 2023, in Athens, Greece.
Quick Bits 👍
- New partnership gives 1yr Astra Pro free on Cloudways hosting.
- Well… WPLift got sold for $160K, it was sold for $205K in 2016!
- 30+ WordPress security statistics to ponder over your setup!
- The 2022 sales tax information for WooCommerce store owners.
- WordPress Weather Report launched, -10.4% decrease found!
- Insights: Impact of the pandemic on the WordPress community.
- Coming Soon: The new design of the WordPress org homepage.
Mega Stash of WP Plugins for a test drive ⇛
These small but useful plugins help address little annoyances while working on WordPress websites… like the Admin Bar Fix plugin lets you tame your admin bar behavior while previewing pages, and the Blocks Detector Finder plugin analyses your website to find all the Gutenberg Blocks that are in use.
For dev focussed WordPress users… there is a new Fluent Query Logger plugin from Shahjahan Jewel of Fluent Forms to log database queries and analyze plugin database performance. Also, the Database Access with Adminer plugin allows viewing and editing of databases tables, routines, and triggers.
For WooCommerce users… variation swatches functionality seems like the flavor of the season as there are two new plugins for this feature, the Variation Swatches for WooCommerce plugin from the CartFlows team and the YaySwatches plugin from the YayCommerce team, along with the pro version of this plugin.
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