WP Weekly 29 – Validation

Is WordPress good enough and secure? Next time… if a prospective client asks you this question, just refer to the White House website using WordPress (again). Besides this drill down, a few product launches, developer resources, and wrap up of the WordFest event is included in this issue.

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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖

  • Brand New… Memberpress has released a new addon for adding useful gift feature to your membership website. FluentCRM team has launched free Fluent SMTP plugin that allows email routing to multiple email connections. While Kinsta has released DevKinsta, a free local development tool (review by Tom Mcfarlin).
  • More Value… for Restrict Content Pro users as iThemes has acquired Skillful Plugins which has developed various third party addons for the parent Restrict Content Pro plugin like ultimate member, resume manager, view limit, and more.
  • Blocks Life… create mobile-only pages using Gutenberg editor with new mobile pages plugin from PootlePress team. Carrie Dils shared on how spacer block will become easier to work in the editor mode.

Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥

  1. New Whitehouse.gov… is a WordPress website with heavy use of Gutenberg and other tools like Yoast SEO, Mailchimp for newsletter, and Tablepress. Matt Mullenweg shared his excitement, “I’m proud WordPress can carry the torch that Drupal lit in 2009”. And, Robert Jacobi compared website not fully loading when adblocker is active!
  2. Core Updates… WordPress core has just passed the 50,000 commits mark, Sergey Biryukov shared with a throwback photo. Mika Epstein shared why emails sent to plugin developers are anonymous (which is good). Also, developers should note the upcoming WooCommerce versioning scheme changes.
  3. Dev Focus… Lee Mason announced the launch of WP Git Updater for automated source controlled WP updates. Gary Pendergast shared insights on defining a formal schema for WP importers. While Leonardo Losoviz shared on reconciling the WordPress philosophy within the GraphQL service.

Quick Bits 👍

  • New Order Review Step in Checkout WooCommerce.
  • Options to bulk convert classic editor posts to blocks editor.
  • New OxyFAQ resource site for Oxygen builder questions.
  • Matt Medeiros shared Jetpack goof-up, which was fixed.
  • First Site Editing, 1st round outreach program concludes.
  • Let’s Learn… seven reasons for using the SVG file format.
  • Plugin downloads at WordPress ORG now exceed 5 Billion!
  • Tweetpik converts tweet into SVG or PNG image, handy!

Festival of WordPress: Replay the goodness 🎉

Last week, WordFest 2021 was one amazing 24 hours spent among people who live WordPress. Besides the amazing sessions covering a wide range of topics, live hangouts (aka tables) was refreshing. Personally, I connected in the hangout zones of Yoast, Elementor, Weglot, WP Buffs, and GoWP. In case you missed all this WordPress goodness, a replay of all sessions is available for a limited time.

💖 The WP Awards 2026

Nominations ends this week, Submit Nomination of own or your favorite WordPress products or services.

Upcoming Events 💬

Flagship WordCamps
April 09 - 11, 2027: WordCamp Asia 2027, Penang, Malaysia.
May 27 - 29, 2027: WordCamp Europe 2027, Málaga, Spain.
Not yet announced: WordCamp US 2027.

Offline Events for WordPress
October 16, 2026: WP Suomi 2026, for Nordic WP enthusiasts, Oulu, Finland.
October 27, 2026: PressConf EU 2026, in Barcelona, Spain.
November 11, 2026: CloudFest Americas, in Miami, Florida, USA.

Upcoming WordCamps
September 18, 2026: WordCamp Belgrade 2026, Belgrade, Serbia.
September 18, 2026: WordCamp Bretagne 2026, Rennes, Brittany, France.
October 03, 2026: WordCamp Rajasthan 2026, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
November 05, 2026: WordCamp Canada 2026, Vancouver, Canada.
November 12, 2026: WordCamp Netherlands 2026, Netherlands.
November 13, 2026: WordCamp Pisa 2026, Pisa, Italy.

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