WP Weekly 155 – Decisions

A few decisions have been made, like a big group moving from its proprietary CMS to WordPress. While a few decisions are the talking points, be it which Hosting companies should feature on recommended hosting page and how we start a discussion on the ‘not so nice’ aspects of the WordPress ecosystem.

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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖

  • Brand New Plugins… aThemes has released the free Merchant Plugin for WooCommerce store users that adds 15 modules with features aimed at increasing sales, reducing cart abandonment, and improving buyer experience. While the LearnDash team has released the MemberDash Plugin, a standalone plugin to build simple and flexible membership websites on WordPress.
  • CRMs & New Integrations… FluentCRM v2.8.2 has added SureCart integration with new triggers for payment success and order payment refund. While WP Fusion’s media tools update now comes with the block editor integration allowing you to apply tags in your CRM based on video plays and progress – ideal for LMS setup.
  • Optimization Updates… WPMU DEV has introduced a new Ultra Smush for image optimization which promises 5x more optimization than Super Smush while retaining the image quality. While Patrick Posner shared about the Simply Static plugin Pro v1.4 update adding the new UI design and export support for Amazon AWS S3 and Digital Ocean Spaces.

Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥

  1. Which WP Hosting… services should appear on the recommended hosting page on the WordPress org website? Ever since Siteground was removed from that page, WordPress contributors have been demanding transparency and guidelines. Currently, only Bluehost and Dreamhost are listed on the recommended hosting page.
  2. New Releases… MainWP has launched the MainWP Browser Extension for Google Chrome and Firefox allowing you to track the WordPress core, plugins, themes, and translation updates for your websites. While Voxel 1.2v is a major update with a lot of changes to the Theme builder including rename of Templates to Theme builder and splitting into sections like General templates, Header & Footer, and Post types.
  3. Blocks Life… Justin Tadlock shared about the new version of the Breadcrumbs Plugin for Block Editor users. Also, here is more from him explaining in detail the use of the WordPress scripts package with themes enabling the use of multiple styles at the same time. While Tammie Lister shared a collection of patterns inspired by the default WordPress themes.
  4. WP 6.3 In Focus… WordPress 6.3 Release Candidate 1 is now available for your testing, with over 40+ (Editor) and 80+ (Trac) updates. Also, check the WordPress 6.3 field guide for a comprehensive look at all new features and changes. If you prefer video coverage, check the live demo session or watch Jamie Marsland’s video explaining WordPress 6.3 in 240 seconds!
  5. WP Perspectives… David McCan has published his views about the various old and new page builder options in the WordPress ecosystem. While Eric Karkovack wrote about the ‘not so nice’ or the unpleasant side of the WordPress ecosystem highlighting a few recent incidents. There are many more negatively profound things one can talk about (and improve on), but still – a good start!
  6. People of WordPress… Jonathan Desrosiers is celebrating the 10th anniversary of contributing to the WordPress project. While Tobias Bäthge, known for the amazing TablePress plugin, has reached the 15 years milestone of being active on WordPress (.)org – a member since July 15, 2008. Also, Aravind Ajith shared about the WP Job Openings plugin reaching the 30K+ active installs milestone.

Quick Bits 👍

Shining WordPress at the Enterprise level!

Vox Media that runs websites like New York Magazine, Eater, and SB Nation, moving forward – will be replacing their proprietary CMS ‘Chorus’ with WordPress VIP (the enterprise flavor of WordPress). Matt Mullenweg is excited about this change and said “As a tool-maker, one of the greatest honors is when fantastic people choose your tools to practice their craft.”

Also, Ars Technica published details of how WordPress power their online presence but with a more dev intensive headless WordPress flavor to keep things on speed.

And, do you know these 3 free and useful plugins featured in Plugins Weekly 02 for managing old content, identifying content using the block editor, and publishing the same content on multiple websites.


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Upcoming Events 💬

September 27, 2023: WordPress Accessibility Day 2023, Livestreaming Free.
September 28, 2023: WordPress Web Agency AI Summit 2023, by Crocoblock.
September 28, 2023: Best Practices for Email Marketing, BlueHost online event.

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