Disruption continues in the WordPress ecosystem with 16% layoffs at Automattic, tighter focus for core contribution efforts, and Joost ban in WP events. Also in this issue, new Slim SEO Pro and updates to Woostify, Groundhogg, and GiveWP.
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- New Theme Builder… Woostify Pro now has a new Theme Builder promising full control over your WooCommerce store design. It allows you to customize headers/footers, create custom templates, add dynamic content/hooks, and design popups without any code.
- WordPress Product Price Hikes… Gaurav Tiwari published an exhaustive article tracking various WordPress products increasing prices and how this affects end users, especially those coming from developing countries.
- Groundhogg… the 4.0v has a newly improved editor promising better flow and cleaner icons. It comes with new Undo/Redo buttons and copy and paste functionality.
- Campaigns in GiveWP… replacing ‘Forms’ in the dashboard navigation, the new Campaigns feature promises one stop place to manage your fundraising efforts, track progress, and organize multiple donation forms.
New Plugins: Slim SEO Pro, Etch, Projects
New Slim SEO Pro… Slim SEO Schema and Slim SEO Link Manager addons have been consolidated into a single new plugin called Slim SEO Pro. Moving forward, new features will be added in the new Slim SEO Pro plugin.
The Upcoming Etch… Kevin Geary previewed (YouTube) the new components feature in the upcoming Etch builder – which was well received within the space of page builder users.
Projects for WordPress… Robert DeVore has released a new Projects for WordPress plugin that adds a custom post type (projects ) and taxonomy (project-type) to the WordPress dashboard.
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- Another Business Partnership… Barn2, famous for WooCommerce plugins, has partnered with Setary, a bulk product editor tool for WooCommerce. Barn2 will be a 50-50 partner in Setary along with its existing owner, Tom, and a new standalone UK company has been formed for the same.
- New Team Reps… Core Performance Team Reps for 2025 have been announced. Aditya Dhade and Shyamsundar Gadde, working at rtCamp, are new members of the core performance team.
- WP Milestones… Mihai Iova shared (Links X) about the SliceWP plugin, for affiliate setup, reaching 10k active installs on the WordPress plugin repo. Rocket .net hosting has been named in 2025 list of the fastest growing private companies in the Southeast by Inc.
- WordCamp Europe Lineup… WordCamp Europe 2025 full schedule of speakers lineup is now available. There are 52 speakers from 23 countries across 5 continents, and 45 sessions spread over 3 tracks and 4 hands-on workshops. The WP Weekly is a proud media partner for this event.
- More WordCamps Action… the call for sponsors is now open for WordCamp Canada 2025, scheduled for October 16-17, 2025 in Ottawa, Ontario. Also, the call for organizers is now open for WordCamp Asia 2026, which will take place in Mumbai, India.
Quick Bits 👍
- Core: WordPress 6.8 Release Candidate 2 is now available.
- LatePoint added support for recurring bookings in 5.1.8v.
- Max Addons new Dynamic Charts element for Bricks users.
- Meta Box has added the JSON Support for Field Groups.
- Toolset 1.6.19v added OpenStreetMap Integration support.
- WP Community
- Got Noticed: Decline in Gutenberg development, commits.
- Bluehost & Kinsta are new global sponsors for WP events.
- Volunteers at WordCamps will get new badge for efforts.
- Participate in the 2025 WordPress Professionals Survey!
- WP People
- Matt & Mark discuss, What is a WordPress Professional?
- New WPCoven publication for WordPress by Alex de Borba.
- Kevin Powell explores the future of CSS layouts & more.
Big Layoffs at Automattic: 16% Workforce
Matt Mullenweg shared about ‘restructuring’ at Automattic. This has resulted in 16% of the workforce (280 employees) from over 90 countries being laid off. Not many anticipated this, while Automattic’s legal battle with WP Engine continues.
It was posted, “… Automattic operates in a highly competitive market, and technology is evolving at unprecedented levels. To support our customers and products, we must improve our productivity, profitability, and capacity to invest.”
Core Contributions: Statistics & Focus Ahead
March Core Statistics… check the aggregate data for March 2025 about WordPress Core contribution on Trac. The WordPress Core team shipped 226 commits, 190 people contributed to WordPress source code, and 34 people made their very first contribution to WordPress Core.
Core Committers Discuss… Mary Hubbard shared about the discussion among 30 core committers, project leaders, and core team members – in the light of companies cutting back on hours of contributions. The proposed focus areas were: canonical plugins, backlog management, and looking for ways to encourage wider testing of beta/RC release.
The WordPress Ban: Joost & Progress Planner
Following up on the recent events like Joost de Valk being removed as speaker at WordCamp Asia 2025 and Progress Planner not being allowed to sponsor the WordCamp. Taco Verdonschot shared more on what happened and the road ahead.
Taco shared, “We hoped things would settle and that Matt might reconsider. But a one-on-one conversation between Matt and me made it painfully clear: that’s not going to happen”.
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