This issue is loaded with new plugin launches like OMGIMG, Authority Blocks, Crosswinds Blocks, Gravity Forms Entry Tags, and Bricksable Plugin. Also, focusing on both sides of the massive rebrand of WooCommerce to Woo!
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- New Launches… Cory Miller and Corey Maass have launched the OMGIMG Plugin that adds more useful content to featured images of your post or page content. Hendrik Luehrsen has launched the WP Data Dashboard resource promising to be a hub for exploring, analyzing, and visualizing data across the WordPress ecosystem.
- New Block Things … Jeremy Koering has launched the Authority Blocks, a library of Kadence Blocks with 40+ blocks and templates focused on bloggers that sell affiliate products. Jacob Martella is creating Crosswinds Framework for website building, the first part is now available as Crosswinds Blocks in the plugins directory, which will be followed by the base Crosswinds Framework theme release.
- New Free Plugins… the team at GravityKit has released a free Gravity Forms Entry Tags addon that allows users to group and label form submissions using color-coded tags. Ken Ng has released the free Bricksable Plugin for Bricks Builder users featuring 16 components to do more when building websites with Bricks Builder.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Page Builder Updates… GreenShift Builder 7.0v has added a variable builder following the introduction of the class system. For Example: For button(s) design use classes, and for common spacing in various elements use variables. Elementor 3.17v has added AJAX for Loop Grids, facilitating seamless content loading on Elementor websites.
- Product Updates… TablePress 2.2v has added a lot of enhancements for table styling, responsive display, and user interface for easier table data consumption. Voxel 1.3.1v has added the character counter for the text area and a new UI HTML field to insert custom HTML markup into your forms.
- New Integrations… FluentBooking 1.1.0v has added the much requested WooCommerce integration allowing you to sell bookings via your Woo store. Also, Fluent Forms 5.1v has added integration for FluentBooking allowing you to display calendar field in your forms and take bookings.
- Acquisitions & Investments… Jack Kitterhing has acquired two plugins, Check & Log Email and WP SMTP, with a combined 170,000+ active installs. While Seahawk Media, a global WordPress services provider, has joined the WPBeginner Growth Fund. Brainstorm Force, the company behind Astra Theme, has invested in LatePoint plugin for appointment booking and scheduling on WordPress.
- Features Brewing… Vova Feldman shared a preview of the social sharing feature in Freemius, allowing you to share a customizable screenshot of any chart from the Developer Dashboard on your social profiles. Andrea Gandino has resumed working on the Advanced Columns project, promising a powerful and flexible layout builder block for WordPress built on the CSS grid foundation.
- WP Milestones… the Spotlight plugin has achieved over 60K+ active installs milestone. Anh Tran shared about the Slim SEO Plugin reaching the 30K+ active installs milestone. Also, Andy Feliciotti’s Lightweight Accordion plugin is a handy plugin, now with over 10K+ active installs.
Quick Bits 👍
- InstaWP: Soon staging & live sync (Twitter/X) without overwriting.
- ThriveDesk has redesigned Woo integration for faster & easier use.
- One way to estimate WordPress plugin’s actual active install count.
- 20i with new DMARC Wizard tool for better safety and reliability.
- Justin Ferriman’s simple tips for a big 6 figure Black Friday push.
- Support WP community member, Stephanie Hudson of FocusWP.
WooCommerce Folks… Say Woo now!
WooCommerce .dot has been rebranded to Woo .com with more focus on the hosted Woo service called Woo Express and aligning with other products like Woo Payments. Also, as explained in the official announcement, Woo is the brand or company, while WooCommerce is the open-source eCommerce platform for WordPress (Woo’s core product).
I think it is a good brand name change – and so do James LePage, Rich Tabor, Lee Drozak, Gobinda Tarafdar, Kelley Muro, and James Kemp in the comments. But this does raise concerns about how it will fit with the open-source make of the WooCommerce – as highlighted by Katie Keith, Mario Peshev, and Mark Zahra.
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