A lot of new things to track this week besides the much anticipated release of the WordPress 6.2 version with more FSE goodness. The big buzz for the week: the rebranding of iThemes as SolidWP, digging deep into changes on the WordPress products pricing page, and more.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- New Launches… Munir Kamal has launched GutenbergHub Shop featuring individual blocks with specific functionality available for purchase at a one-time price and usage on unlimited websites. While the WebDevStudios team has launched the premium version of their plugin, WP Search with Algolia.
- New Plugins… Ronald Huereca has released the InstaAdmin plugin, a companion plugin for InstaWP for creating an admin landing page for your product. Also, the WPEngine team has released the Pattern Manager plugin on the WordPress plugins directory (currently beta).
- Product Updates… Jono Alderson from the Yoast team shared that Yoast’s new Crawl Optimization settings will also be available in the free version of the Yoast SEO plugin. Also, the Hello Elementor Theme 2.7.0 update has made changes that aim to make it faster, leaner, and more accessible.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- WP 6.2 is Out… WordPress 6.2 ‘Dolphy’ has been released with over 900 enhancements and fixes (go, update!). Courtney Robertson at the GoDaddy blog wrote a detailed overview of all the new things in the WordPress 6.2 release. For a quick summarized view, check this thread on Twitter by Rich Tabor.
- Page Builder Updates… Bricks Builder 1.7.1 (Mar 27, 2023) update has added Adobe Fonts integration, new typography settings, smooth scroll, and better nav menu accessibility. Also, the Builderius builder had a significant update (see video) that involved a rewrite of their module system that aims to improve the workflow and prepare the ground for soon to release new UI.
- Dev Focus… this could be big in the long run, the proposal for Interactivity API to facilitate a better developer experience in building interactive blocks. Also, are you looking for another way for a quick local WordPress install and setup? Try wp-env for almost instant WordPress environment.
- WP Dig Deep… Rob Howard has published a report tracking six months of WordPress plugin pricing pages – the good, bad, and the ugly! Ben Ritner elaborated on the state of FSE themes, “…there is a lot about the site editor and FSE themes that are not quite ready…”.
- People of WP… Nick Diego is joining the WordPress org developer relations team at Automattic. Also, Mika Epstein will be stepping down from the plugin reviews this year by July 01, 2023 – after being a part of it for over a decade. It is a 100% personal and non-WordPress related decision.
- WP Milestones… Aditya R Sharma shared about the POSIMYTH Youtube channel reaching the milestone of 5K subscribers. While Jamie Marsland (Pootlepress) has reached impressive 10K subscribers milestone to the Youtube channel. Also, the ElementsKit plugin for Elementor users by the Wpmet team has crossed the 1 million active installs milestone.
Quick Bits 👍
- Elementor or Gutenberg? A short video from Akshat featuring Asif.
- New Integration: Airtable integration added to the WSform plugin.
- Note: From WP 6.2 the Additional CSS is located in the Site Editor.
- Make a Pledge to get Michelle Frechette to WordCamp EU 2023.
- WordPress 20th Anniversary, the official swag is now available.
- InMotion Hosting launched 1st international data center in Europe.
Rebranding: iThemes is becoming SolidWP!
One of the nostalgic brands of the WordPress space, iThemes, has rebranded as SolidWP. I have known the iThemes brand for a long time, being the lifetime holder of BackupBuddy (yes, LTDs have existed long back!).
Moving forward, all their products will reflect the new brand, Solid Security, Solid Backups, Solid Central, and Solid Academy. I like the new name, how about you?
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