Are you preparing for the big WordPress 5.8 release? Well, it is good to take note of all new big changes coming in WP 5.8 including block editor in widgets, new emojis, and more. Also, this issue features a bunch of new tools, plugins, new features in the WP Rocket plugin, and the pressing case of ‘now free’ Genesis Framework.
Visual Composer is an intuitive drag & drop WordPress website builder that helps you create any professional design quickly for yourself or your clients.
Divi Sorted is a filter and sort plugin to filter through posts, projects, products, CPTs using the Divi visual builder. See this and 20+ other plugins.
Restrict Content Pro is a super simple plugin to create a premium content membership website on WordPress to generate recurring revenue.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- Show your support… to one of our WordPress community members. Tom DeBello, was recently diagnosed with a meningioma on his left frontal lobe (tumour on his brain). Kyle Van Deusen shared gofundme page where anyone can donate and extend a helping hand in covering the financial cost of the treatment.
- New Features… WP Rocket 3.9 has introduced reduce unused CSS feature that should help websites score better on speed metrics and faster loading. Astra Security has launched a new security scan platform called pentest dashboard giving access to more information like 200+ test cases, and downloading VAPT certificate.
- Got Noticed… visual feedback and bug reporting tool for WordPress websites, marker.io sends screenshots and metadata to tools like Trello, Jira, and GitHub. Also, check this thread where Chris Coyier shared a few ‘compelling’ WordPress plugins – how many did you know? For me, the blocks CSS plugin was an interesting find!
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- All the WP 5.8 Buzz… check the WordPress 5.8 field guide to know all the changes in this big release. David McCan made a very useful walkthrough video of the upcoming block-based widget editor. Also, there will be new emojis as seen in Twemoji 13.1.0 version. Finally, check the comprehensive coverage of WordPress 5.8 features by Courtney Robertson at GoDaddy.
- Here we go again… like it (or hate it), acquisitions are now a regular thing in the WordPress space. The latest one, SearchWP has been acquired by Syed Balkhi’s Awesome Motive company. The original creator, Jon Christopher shared the backstory on why he sold off his plugin and what’s next.
- Thinking Cap… WordPress CRM space is exploding with FluentCRM and Groundhogg leading the charge. Expanding on this question – should you use WordPress as CRM (pros and cons for the thinking head)? Also, the spotlight plugin has grown to 20K users in 12 months, here is the backstory by Mark Zahra for the curious mind.
Quick Bits 👍
- New Beaver Builder templates added to Astra site library.
- See the lineup of all speakers at the WordFest Live 2021.
- Check all new WordPress community space from WPMRR.
- Gutenberg 11.0.0 with editing overlay for reusable blocks.
- Jetpack 9.9 with a revamped carousel for photo slideshows.
- WordPress 5.8 release candidate 2 is available for testing.
- WordCamp Europe 2022, the call for organizers is open.
[Future of Themes] Pressing case of Genesis Framework!
Genesis Framework from StudioPress is very close to my heart, being a dedicated user for so many years (though, it is not in my regular tools stack for clients now!). It has seen a lot of changes in the past few years from being sold to WPengine and now becoming all free – the framework and the sample theme. The original co-founder, Brian Gardner was on WP Builds show sharing more on this. Also, with WordPress getting more modular courtesy of Gutenberg blocks editor – the themes ecosystem for sure will see significant changes in the immediate future.
