WP Weekly 128 – Excited

Hello Everyone, and 2023! I am not just excited to write this newsletter but also use WordPress even more in 2023 – are you? Featuring in the first issue of 2023: many new launches, product updates, and the first acquisition news of the year.


20i® WordPress Hosting you’ll love Staging, Backups, CDN, Cache, SSL, WP Manager, Security, Git Deploy & Email all baked-in. Plus, get 24×7 expert support.

Elementor is one platform with unlimited web creations: From landing pages and eCommerce stores to full-blown websites – build it all with Elementor.

Cloudways Web Hosting Savings Calculator to pay what’s fair and save up to $7k+ annually on web hosting by comparing to find an ideal cloud hosting solution.

↑ Community Sponsors supporting this weekly

What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖

  • New Launches… the WPCafe online food ordering plugin for restaurants now has a WPCafe App solution that allows you to have your own white-label Android and Apple apps for your food business. Also, test drive all new IndyStack platform that is promising enterprise-grade infrastructure for developing WordPress websites.
  • WP & Browser Addons… TasteWP service for spinning up dev WP installs has released a Google Chrome extension that tells you quickly if a website is using WordPress and which theme or plugin is being used. Also, CodeWP now has a Firefox extension to quickly run this WordPress AI Code Snippet Generator in the browser.
  • Got Noticed… WP Freighter plugin for running multiple websites from a single WordPress install has been made free by Austin Ginder. While Munir Kamal has a new CF7 Blocks plugin that adds the block editor to the form editor of the Contact Form 7 plugin. Also, Ahfaz Ahmed has launched the Bricks Wizard project featuring a collection of premium templates for Bricks Builder users.

Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥

  1. Coming Soon… Gravity Forms teased the library of premade and fully-customizable form templates as seen in Gravity Forms 2.7 RC 2 version. Also, Kadence Blocks 3.0 is coming soon with many new things. Kathy Zant shared how you can be a part of this test drive of Kadence Blocks 3.0 beta – for curious minds.
  2. Price Changes… WP Rocket has announced a price hike for all plans now at $59, $119, and $299 as against the previous pricing of $49, $99, and $249 for single, plus, and infinity plans. The existing customers have been grandfathered at the original prices.
  3. For Plugin(s) Devs… Ronald Huereca shared how to opt-in for the community or commercial plugin tag for your plugin listing in the plugins directory. While Matt Cromwell explained on using Zapier to automate the tracking of daily downloads of plugins and themes.
  4. WordPress Core… check the proposed planning schedule of the WordPress 6.2 release scheduled for March 28, 2023. Also, the new Gutenberg 14.9 update with the feature to push block changes to global styles and typography support for page list block.
  5. WordCamps & Events… WordCamp Asia 2023, the full schedule for all three days is now available. Bluehost is organizing the WP CreatorCon online event on Jan 12, 2023, featuring familiar names from the WordPress ecosystem. Also, GroundHogg Day 2023 online event has been announced and is scheduled for Feb 02, 2023.

Quick Bits 👍

  • New Blocks: In Spectra for Image Gallery & Modal for pop-ups.
  • Oxygen added an accessibility-focused site navigation element.
  • JetSmartFilters 3.0.4 plugin added compatibility for Bricks Builder.
  • Security & Trust: Rob Cairns shared insights on LastPass & more.
  • Ben Gabler shared the new look of Rocket (.)net website, neat!
  • First of 2023: Duplicator plugin acquired by the Awesome Motive.

WordPress in 2022 to 2023 and Beyond!

WordPress in 2022… check the insightful recap of core in 2022 as the WordPress Core team shipped 2597 commits as against 1852 in 2021 and had over 398 first-time contributors. Also, check the 2022 review for all the significant progress made to the Block Editor and the Gutenberg plugin.

WordPress in 2023… David McCan shared his seven predictions for WordPress in 2023 – which out of these was on your mind? While Matt Medeiros explained why WordPress is the most important piece of software in 2023, & love for WordPress!

And… a welcome surprise, TheWPWeekly on Twitter has crossed 3000 followers. If you are not already connected, follow ‘TheWPWeekly’ on Twitter.


InMotion hosting provides fast and reliable website hosting for businesses of any size. Trust your website to the web hosting experts at InMotion Hosting.

WP Webhooks allows you to create powerful WordPress automation workflows directly within your website. It integrates with more than 40+ plugins.

↑ Community Sponsors supporting this weekly

Upcoming Events 💬

December 11, 2023: State of the Word 2023 in Madrid, Spain.
December 25 - 31, 2023: Join WPGivesAHand community endeavor.

Like this WordPress Goodness? Get the next issue directly in your email inbox. Check support options and connect on Twitter and Facebook. This content may contain affiliate links, read the disclosure for more.

❤️ Our Community Sponsors

Omnisend

Omnisend is a top choice for email and SMS marketing on WordPress, perfect for WooCommerce powered ecommerce shops. With Omnisend, you can easily connect with customers and send out awesome campaigns every day.

Hostinger Hosting

Launch your website fast with Hostinger's Managed WordPress hosting and WordPress AI Tools. Secure your WordPress website with Automatic updates, WP malware scanner, and DDoS protection.

Purely Website

Secure your websites against plugin vulnerabilities. Patchstack automatically finds and mitigates WordPress core, plugin & theme vulnerabilities in your clients’ websites. Get 48-hour early warning for new vulnerability threats.

20i hosting

Autoscaling WordPress Hosting from 20i® with staging, cloning, backups, managed updates, unlimited CDN, cache, theme/plugin manager, and more built-in. Backed by 24x7 expert WordPress support.

Tyche Softwares

Power up your WooCommerce store with premium WooCommerce extensions for setting up online bookings and appointments, scheduling of delivery dates, tackling abandoned carts to increase your store sales and profits.

inmotion website hosting

InMotion Hosting provides fast and reliable website hosting for WordPress websites of any busines of any size. Partner with a company that offers 99.99% uptime, free SSL, 1-click WordPress installs, and a free domain for a year.

visual composer

Here is an opportunity to enhance the visibility of your WordPress products and services among WordPress users, freelancers, and agency owners with the community sponsorship program at 'The WP Weekly'.