Tracking changes in the WordPress 6.5.4 update and new things coming in the WordPress 6.6 release. Also, a proposal of introducing bits (like shortcodes of the new world). Plus, three new plugins and many product updates.
Omnisend is an easy, simple to use email marketing, email newsletter, SMS marketing & automation plugin for WordPress websites.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- Resourceful for Designers… Dave Martin, product designer at Automattic, has launched (Links X) a free 43 lesson course Better Design Feedback covering the process of gathering design feedback, based on his 20+ years of experience.
- GeneratePress One… Tom Usborne at GeneratePress has launched GeneratePress One combo suite offering that comes with GeneratePress Theme, GenerateBlocks plugin, and the upcoming GenerateCloud service in one consolidated pricing plan.
- Breakdance AI… Louis has announced the beta launch of Breakdance AI for websites made with the Breakdance Builder. This AI Writer for Breakdance will allow you to use AI powers to populate website sections with text in just a click.
- More AI & WP… Bluehost has launched AI Website Creator as a new addition to Bluehost WonderSuite. It enables WordPress users to create relevant content, images and pages with AI powers.
New Plugins: FluentBoards, Progress Planner, CRP Pro
The Big New Launch… Fluent family of WordPress Plugins has a new member with the launch of FluentBoards, promising to make project management easy with boards, reporting, CRM integration, and Kanban boards.
Your Website Progress… Joost de Valk, Marieke van de Rakt, and Ari Stathopoulos have launched a new Progress Planner plugin that promises to keep you motivated to keep your WordPress websites in top shape with tools, insights, and progress information.
Pro Version Debut… Ajay D’Souza has launched the pro version after 15 years of the free version Contextual Related Posts plugin. The CRP Pro plugin adds customization options and a weighting system for a fine-tuned output.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- WordPress Update… WP 6.5.4 maintenance release is now available with five bug fixes including the much discussed, change of AJAX activation handler to restore auto-redirect after plugin activation.
- Next WordPress 6.6 Update… WordPress 6.6 Beta 1 download is now available for your testing. It includes features like synced patterns override, style variations, negative margins, and rollback of auto updates. Also, WP 6.6 introduces the possibility for developers to use the new React JSX transform.
- Future of Plugin Review Team… Felipe Santos shared a proposal for the plugin review team focusing on improving initial submission quality, full review for popular plugins, and review time frames.
- WP Perspectives… Lawrence Ladomery has published his analysis of the recent WP Engine’s brand refresh and direction, “This was an evolution rather than a revolution. Less bold than Kinsta’s recent efforts, but just as meaningful.”
- WP Milestones… Ryan Welcher’s Advanced Query Loop plugin has crossed the 1000+ installs milestone, and 3.0.0v update comes with a major overhaul of the code base to make it easier to extend.
- WordPress Events & Support… The Code Company has announced ten travel grants, each worth $500 AUD, for individuals looking for financial support in attending the WordCamp Sydney 2024 event. Also, call for speakers is open for WordPress Accessibility Day 2024.
- People of WordPress…. Andy Keith is stepping down (Links X) as CTO at Barn2 Plugins, “I will still be involved in an advisory role, but I will leave the day-to-day operations in the very capable hands of my wife”. Felix Arntz has decided (links X) to open source his MU plugins that focus WP Admin UI enhancements and block editor tweaks.
Quick Bits 👍
- Insightful to know these 50 WordPress Statistics for year 2024.
- Gravatar has introduced Profiles-as-a-Service & new REST API.
- The new version of Mastering WooCommerce by Patrick Rauland.
- How Personalisation can Drive Conversion, WP London Meetup.
- WordPress .com with the new Automattic for Agencies focus.
- Results: See the winners of the Bluehost Creators Awards 2023.
- Tumblr has launched Communities feature, open beta for now.
Geeky WordPress: Hosting Tests & What’s Bits!
For Hosting Geeks… Vladimir Smitka is testing various hosting services by performing an unauthorized modification on a website in an attempt to break site isolation. Result, “I successfully broke site isolation in 11 of 12 cases”.
Introducing Bits in WordPress… Dennis Snell shared about the proposal for introducing Bits into WordPress, dynamic tokens in the editor as placeholders for externally-sourced content. Is it a possible replacement for shortcodes?
Updates: Quotes, Conversion, Anti Spam, Randomizer
QuotesDLX… Ronald Huereca has released 3.0v with shortcode support, enabling you to display quotes via shortcode within classic editor or any page builder.
Conversion Bridge… Derek Ashauer in 1.3v update has introduced Cookie Popup integrations with support for various solutions like Cookiebot, CookieYes, Complianz, and GDPR Cookie Compliance Plugin.
Fullworks Anti Spam… Alan Fuller shared about 2.0v with features of using machine learning without sending user messages to third parties (a GDPR concern) and email logs ability in Contact Form 7 and WPForms Lite plugins.
Gravity Forms Randomizer… 2.0v has added support for randomizing fields that allows you to shuffle field order for any field and also provide the ability to display a random set of fields from a specified pool of fields.
Spectra page builder has reached 700k installs and ranks among the top 100 WordPress plugins. With 33 advanced blocks for WordPress Block Editor.
Markup for WooCommerce is the easiest way to markup your products: like fixed & percentage value markups or create a price markup in all products.
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