Here is the big burst of WordPress plugin releases as we end 2024. Also in this issue: impact of AI on web, more WordPress integrations for Bluesky, and the new WordPress executive director face questions in the live interaction.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- Crowdsignal Adopts Gutenberg… Stefan Velev noticed (Links Bluesky) the use of Gutenberg editor outside of WordPress with Crowdsignal using the Gutenberg Block Editor for building of surveys, polls and quizzes.
- New Community Solution… last week, Fluent Community opened its doors for everyone, and this week, Sure family of products has introduced the all new SureDash solution, which promises to be a central hub for membership, courses, events, and more.
- Plugins powering New Docs… Matt Cromwell shared a preview video (Links X) of the all new look of LearnDash Docs website. The functionality of the docs site is powered by plugins like Helpful by DAEXT, SearchWP for search, BetterDocs for docs management, and Kadence for design layout.
- New Logtivity Service… Steve Burge from the PublishPress team has launched all new Logtivity service for WordPress users. It is one activity log dashboard for all your websites to keep track of logs, errors, alerts, and more.
New Free Plugins: No Nags, Notes, GDPR Video Player
No Dashboard Nags… is your WordPress dashboard cluttered with upgrade or cross sell notices? Dave Grey has created Nag Me Not plugin that promises to remove all of them in a couple of clicks.
Noted Plugin… Kyle Van Deusen has a free note-taking plugin called Noted. This enables Admin users on your WordPress websites to create and manage notes directly within WordPress.
Video Player & GDPR… Marko Krstic from DPlugins has released free DBlocks Lazyload for YouTube plugin. It is a GDPR friendly YouTube video player that loads content only if the user clicks on the ‘play video’.
More Free Plugins: Reposition, Barcodes, Query Loop
Content Updated link… Robert DeVore has created (Links X) a handy little plugin Move Content Updated Link available for free at GitHub. This will reposition the “Page Updated” message at the top right of the screen in the Block Editor.
Barcodes for Woo… Robert DeVore has released another free plugin called Barcodes for WooCommerce. It allows admins scan a barcode and see order details – instantly displayed on the screen.
Query Loop Filter… Rob O’Rourke from Human Made shared about the free Query Loop Filter plugin. This adds an easy to use filtering functionality to the Query Loop block, allowing you to filter content by taxonomy, content type, and do search.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Impact of AI on Web… the team at 20i surveyed 500+ web designers, developers, marketers and copywriters to understand impact of AI on web industry. Results reveal – 75% feel AI has improved content quality, 84% support AI regulation, and 92% are impressed by AI tools. Also, 39% people use AI tools daily and 11% never use them.
- Action Scheduler & Woo Store… with Black Friday traffic bump, WooCommerce store hosting can come under stress. The team Rocket .net solved such a problem and built a plugin, “I built two cron jobs to move the action scheduler to WP CLI, which uses resources outside of the web server so that it doesn’t compete with client requests”.
- Telemetry in BuddyBoss… is a new feature for gathering usage statistics by BuddyBoss for them to decide on future improvements, features, and priorities. One can choose between three modes of data sharing: Complete Reporting, Anonymous Reporting, and Disable Telemetry.
- WordCamp Asia… a fresh batch of tickets for WordCamp Asia 2025 event is now available. The event ticket costs 1,800 PHP (that’s around $30 USD), and WordCamp Asia 2025 is scheduled for February 20-22, 2025, at Manila, Philippines. Matt Mullenweg is the first invited speaker for this event.
- WP Youtube Milestones… Imran’s Web Squadron YouTube Channel has hit massive 100K subscribers milestone! Also, WordPress Youtube channel has crossed the 50,000 subscribers milestone.
Quick Bits 👍
- Barn2 has launched new WooCommerce Image Preview plugin.
- Creating Mega Menus on WordPress with PostX Block Builder.
- Noted: Dreamhost removed from WordPress Org Hosting page.
- Applications open for WPCampus Board of Directors for 2025.
- Do check Black Friday Deals page with over 350+ deals listing.
- I was at WordCamp Delhi 2024 (Links X) this weekend, amazing!
All Things… Bluesky and WordPress!
BlueSky and WordPress. Daniel Post is building (Links Bluesky) a WordPress plugin for the new social network, Bluesky. AutoBlue plugin will allow you to automatically share your WordPress posts to Bluesky. The Alpha version is available as of now.
BlueSky Gravatar Support… Ronnie Burt shared about (Links Bluesky) Bluesky support in Gravatar, allowing you to verify your Bluesky account on Gravatar. Also, coming soon is the ability to use Gravatar custom domain as your Bluesky handle.
Are you on Bluesky… if you are on Bluesky, you can connect with me on this URL (Links Bluesky) and start the sharing journey on this new social community space.
Legal Update + WP Executive Director’s 1st Call
Legal Movements… Rae Morey at The Repository published the latest update on Matt vs WP Engine legal battle, with the judge signalling support for WP Engine injunction. To quote, “That’s not how trademark owners operate. That is not how you protect and enforce your mark. You don’t wait 15 years and then drop a demand for $32 million…”.
New Executive Director… Mary Hubbard faced tough questions from the WordPress community in one hour video call with the open concept. Check the coverage by Sabina Ionescu at WPShout, “Mary acknowledged that the WordPress community is feeling alienated and even went a step further by apologizing for it. I was quite surprised to hear her say this, considering she only joined WordPress in October and had no involvement in the recent controversies and drama.”
Also, check more coverage by Rae Morey at The Repository. “While Hubbard is still figuring out her primary responsibilities, she said the WordPress community was a priority, adding,“Obviously, it’s hurt, and we have a lot to do”.
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