Let’s start 2021 loaded with WordPress goodness and looking back at learning(s) of 2020. Make your WordPress forms stylish like Typeform, blocks editor tips and options to make things easy in the Gutenberg world, selling your new plugin, and the tight rope walk with GPL licensing.
What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- Got Noticed… stumbled on this interesting forms solution Tripetto available as WordPress plugin and web app, that takes best bits from Typeform and Survey Monkey. Pods plugin now has the Pods Pro version for extended features. The parent Pods plugin remain open-source with active development schedule.
- Blocks Made Easy… check this text-only option(s) in the blocks toolbar. Editor Plus plugin now extends core columns with more features (video). Also, here are a few tips to become Gutenberg Blocks ninja master and (hopefully) forget the classic editor!
- Let’s Think… not sure how to market and sell your plugin? Bridget Willard is brewing a framework for the same. GPL in the WordPress world give a lot of freedom, but what about ethics? Johnny Nguyen shares his insights on this ‘passionate’ topic.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Core Updates… the focus will be on the next WordPress 5.7 release scheduled for March 06, 2021, with continued efforts on full site editing feature. The new version of the default 2021 and 2019 themes have been released.
- Blocks Life… now you can drag blocks from inserter box to editor screen (just like other page builders) with Gutenberg 9.6 release. Also, Justin Foell shares insights into building Gutenberg blocks with backward compatibility in mind.
- Dev Focus… Jon Desrosiers at Learn WP explains how to use trac to manage all tickets related to the WordPress Core. While Till Krüss shared about the long-awaited batch prefetching feature addition in Object Cache Pro v1.11.0 for WordPress.
Quick Bits 👍
- Sigh, Google’s structured data testing tool won’t close.
- This alternative looks handy for structured data check.
- PHP8 is officially available for WordPress users at Kinsta.
- Fluent CRM has raced to 3000+ active installs milestone.
- Here is the full list of speakers for the WordFest event.
- Shutterstock’s new plugin allows easy stock photos access.
2020 End of the Year… Roundups 🙏
Here are a few interesting “end of 2020” roundups from the WordPress ecosystem. Syed Balkhi of WPbeginner shared about his 1.4 million dollar fraud case and the expanding WordPress footprint. Lesley Sim kept it real highlighting failure, struggle and finally success in the WordPress plugin ecosystem.
Iain rightly referred to 2020 as a strange year and also shared revenue figures from his various WordPress plugin and services. Matt Medeiros was all about discovering a balance between side projects, plugins, a podcast, and a job.
Joe Howard shared what all went into hitting $1Million ARR with WordPress Care business like good people and a few hiccups. Tom Hirst summarized 2020 as a year like no other but managed to generate £100K+ from freelancing (again!).
