2025 has just started, and there is a slew of new launches like Hello Biz Theme, Meta Box Lite, FooConvert, Affililink, and more. Also, the next WordPress 6.8 is scheduled for April 15, 2025, and the release squad has been announced.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- ChatGPT with Gato GraphQL… got more powerful. The latest update allows sending of structure data in prompts to ChatGPT, which enables ChatGPT to process multiple pieces of data from the DB at once, like when translating content.
- New Hello Biz Theme… the team at Elementor has released a new free Hello Biz Theme, which is different from the existing Hello Theme. This theme has more features such as – Form Lite, Hero, ZigZag, and CTA widgets.
- Meta Box Lite Version… the Meta Box team has launched Meta Box Lite version, which includes Meta Box Builder and all free extensions. So, one install for a seamless experience in this UI-free version.
- Two Click Backups… Austin Ginder has created Disembark tool, promising a simple way to backup a site. The easy two click process generates a backup zip file of your WordPress website.
New Free Plugins: Login, Images, Convert, Cookie
Stealth Login Page… this plugin by Jesse Petersen, who passed away in 2017, is being revived by Robert DeVore. Stealth Login Page plugin locks down wp-admin and wp-login.php pages, and only allows login page access through a URL with auth key like wp-admin/?auth_key=YOUR_KEY
Edge Images for Optimization… Jono Alderson has released (Links X) his first plugin, free Edge Images in the repository. It automatically applies performance optimizations to image markup that uses your edge transformation service, like Cloudflare, Accelerated Domains, or Imgix.
New FooConvert… FooPlugins has released a new free FooConvert plugin for adding bars, flyouts, and popups. It allows building in the block based editor with conditional options for targeting and triggers.
Cookie Bricks… Vincent Di Raimondo has released a free Cookie Bricks plugin. It allows you to create dynamic tags in Bricks Builder that fetch cookie values, ideal for personalization based on user behavior or preferences stored in cookies.
Premium Launches: Affiliate Plugin + Block Theme
New Affililink Plugin… Robert DeVore has released a new Affililink Plugin (premium only) for affiliate marketers. It automatically replaces specified keywords in the content and links it your specified affiliate links.
Makoa Theme… Roman Fink has released a new Makoa Theme promising a fast and minimalistic look. This theme contain 48 patterns, 8 color styles, and multiple homepage variations.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- WP 6.8 Release squad… WP 6.8 is scheduled for April 15, 2025. The release squad has Matt Mullenweg as release lead and coordination has Jeffrey Paul and Michelle Frechette. Tech leads include Joe McGill, Jonathan Desrosiers, and George Mamadashvili. Also, Jb Audras (Triage Lead), Tammie Lister (Design Lead), Felix Arntz (Performance Lead), and Krupa Nanda (Test Lead).
- Studio Sync Feature… local WP development app for MacOS and Windows, Studio, has added Studio Sync feature for WordPress .com users. Now you can directly deploy your websites to your WordPress com account, when using the Business plan or higher.
- New Themes & Hosting Teams… the new Themes Team representatives for 2025 have been announced featuring: Acosmin, Ganga Kafle, and Shiva Shanker Bhatta. While the new Hosting team representatives for 2025 feature: Zunaid Amin and Crixu.
- WordCamp Europe 2025… the call for speakers is open until January 31, 2025, for the WordCamp Europe 2025 event. Also, various other calls are open, such as those who wish to apply to sponsor this event or become a media partner.
- WordPress 2024 Recap… Martin Dubovic over at the Themeisle website has published a detailed recap of WordPress in the year 2024 – featuring stats, stories, business, and the road ahead, which involve both uncertainty and opportunity.
Updates: Elementor, FluentForms, Divi, ConvesioPay
Elementor Off Canvas + Loop Grid… with the 3.26v update, the Off-Canvas widget can now be added directly to Loop Grid templates for more interactive designs. Also, a new AdBlock Detection trigger allows you to display specific popups when visitors use ad-blocking software.
Fluent Forms… 5.2.9v has introduced Repeater Container Fields, which allow users to add sets of related fields as needed in a container. Also added the ability to capture geolocation data through user map location in submission.
Divi 5 Feature Swap… with the progress of Divi 5 development, the team is considering swapping few features that would not affect upgrading old websites. The idea is, “swapping Divi’s least used features for Divi’s most requested”.
ConvesioPay Integrations… Thomas M Fanelli shared (LinkedIn) about the progress of the ConvesioPay platform. It now supports integrations with five platforms: WooCommerce, WHMCS, GiveWP, QuickBooks, and Hubspot – and more are coming.
Quick Bits 👍
- Droip page builder is launching lifetime deal on January 20, 2025.
- Sure products bringing new free SureMails SMTP plugin, soon!
- InstaWP plans to shift towards – ‘A Complete Cloud’ platform.
- Themify with new visual features like overlay, slider, & more.
- Hydra Booking plugin has added Outlook Calendar integration.
- Started: Phase 3 of liberating data from other closed platforms.
- Progress update with live demo of Collaborative Editing feature.
Stirring: Automattic Hours + WordCamp Sponsorship
Automattic’s Contribution Hours… Automattic has decided to scale back its sponsored contributions to the WordPress project to 45 hours per week. It was posted, “we’ve observed an imbalance in how contributions to WordPress are distributed across the ecosystem, and it’s time to address this. Additionally, we’re having to spend significant time and money to defend ourselves against the legal attacks started by WP Engine”.
Patchstack’s WordCamp EU Sponsorship… application was declined, and the founder, Oliver Sild, shared the rejection email (Links X). To this, Matt Mullenweg replied (Links X), “I agree that’s a crappy email to get, and it’s also not 100% accurate. Thanks for raising this issue, I’ll look into it. Thank you for all you and your colleagues do trying to make WordPress and its plugins and themes better”.
Leading a WordPress Release or Leading a Fork
Leading next WP Release… Joost de Valk posted (Links X), “I’m ready to lead the next releases. I am sure plenty of people and companies are willing to help me and we’ve got plenty of ideas on what we should be doing”.
Matt Mullenweg published a post suggesting Joost and Karim can fork WordPress, “It probably won’t happen on day one, but Joost and Karim’s fork, which I’ll call JKPress until they come up with a better name, has a number of ideas they want to try out around governance and architecture”.
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