Month: August 2016

  • Improving the User Experience by Rearranging the WordPress Post Editor

    Improving the User Experience by Rearranging the WordPress Post Editor

    When the floor was opened up to users for suggestions on what they want to see included in WordPress 4.7, Mark Root-Wiley advocated for Trac ticket #27159. The three-year old ticket was created by Hugo Baeta and suggests that certain buttons in the post editor be removed in order to improve the user experience. In the initial proposal,…

  • WordPress Plugin Team Revamps Guidelines, Invites Feedback on GitHub

    WordPress Plugin Team Revamps Guidelines, Invites Feedback on GitHub

    Two months ago the WordPress Plugin Directory guidelines became a heated topic of debate after the plugin team began cracking down on incentivized reviews. The most recent publicized incident involved the Sprout Invoices plugin, which was temporarily removed from the directory and all of its 5-star reviews erased after it was discovered that the author…

  • Jetpack 4.3 Now in Beta, Admin Interface Rebuilt Using React.js

    Jetpack 4.3 Now in Beta, Admin Interface Rebuilt Using React.js

    Automattic is doubling down on its commitment to using JavaScript in its products. In November 2015, the company debuted Calypso, its first React.js-based product powered by the WordPress.com REST API. Shortly after Calypso’s unveiling, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg declared that “JavaScript and API-driven interfaces are the future of not just WordPress but the web.” Today…

  • ButterBean Post Meta Box Framework 1.0 Released

    ButterBean Post Meta Box Framework 1.0 Released

    Justin Tadlock’s new ButterBean post meta box framework was officially released this week. The framework allows developers to easily build a metabox with a tabbed UI to accommodate multiple fields. After roughly three months of beta testing, ButterBean is ready for use in projects. It can be dropped into a plugin or used as a…

  • Two Distinct Approaches Aimed at Making Site Customization in WordPress Easier

    Two Distinct Approaches Aimed at Making Site Customization in WordPress Easier

    During the State of The Word at WordCamp US 2015, Matt Mullenweg highlighted customization as the largest opportunity to improve the WordPress experience. In a recent interview on WordPress Weekly, Mullenweg expanded on his thoughts saying he could see the customizer being the main focus of a release. “If I think about leading a release, I could…

  • Dennis Cooper Booted from Blogger, Relaunches on WordPress

    Dennis Cooper Booted from Blogger, Relaunches on WordPress

    Nearly two months after Google removed Dennis Cooper’s 14-year-old Blogger site and Gmail account without explanation, the novelist and performance artist has been officially ejected from the platform. According to Cooper, a post he wrote 10 years ago, which he had placed behind an adult content warning due to pornographic material, was flagged by a…

  • Baton: A Free WordPress Business Theme with a Homepage Layout Builder in the Customizer

    Baton: A Free WordPress Business Theme with a Homepage Layout Builder in the Customizer

    Baton is a modern business theme that offers a unique approach to building the homepage. The theme features a clean top menu with elegant drop downs, a submenu, customizable heros, and multiple layouts for feature sections. While many business themes offer similar design features, Baton’s differentiating factor is that users can live edit any of…

  • WordPress for iOS Adds People and User Role Management

    WordPress for iOS Adds People and User Role Management

    WordPress for iOS version 6.4 is available in the app store and comes with a couple of notable features. Those who write content using an external keyboard connected to an iPad can now access a shortcut menu within the WordPress app by pressing the command key. Media such as videos and images can now be…

  • Poll: Have You Used the oEmbed Feature for Posts?

    Poll: Have You Used the oEmbed Feature for Posts?

    When WordPress 4.4 “Clifford” was released in December of 2015, it turned WordPress into an oEmbed provider. This made it easy for sites running on WordPress 4.4 or later to have its content embedded on other sites. Here’s an example of what content from a WordPress site looks like when embedded in a post. Feature Plugin Merge Proposal:…

  • WordPress for Android 5.7 Adds Path to Upgrade WordPress.com Plan

    WordPress for Android 5.7 Adds Path to Upgrade WordPress.com Plan

    WordPress for Android version 5.7 was released today with a new “Plan” screen under the site menu for WordPress.com users. This section details the differences between WordPress.com’s commercial plans and includes a link for users to manage and upgrade their plans. Previous releases have added user management and the ability to invite new users. Version…

  • New Plugin Adds Changelog Support to WordPress Themes in the Admin

    New Plugin Adds Changelog Support to WordPress Themes in the Admin

    When a WordPress plugin has an update available, it comes with a “View Details” link where users can read the changelog before updating. Clicking the details link launches the changelog section of the readme.txt file in a modal window. Themes, on the other hand, do not have a link to view details, because WordPress.org doesn’t…

  • WPWeekly Episode 245 – Google, Envato, WPCampus, and A Twitter Break

    WPWeekly Episode 245 – Google, Envato, WPCampus, and A Twitter Break

    In this episode of WordPress Weekly, Marcus Couch and I discuss the news of the week including, Envato’s 10 year anniversary, Disqus adding support for Akismet, and record growth for the Polyglots team. Near the end of the show, I explain why I decided to take a two-week break from Twitter. I also share the…

  • WordSesh 4 Now Available on Video

    WordSesh 4 Now Available on Video

    WordPress enthusiasts from around the world tuned into the fourth edition of WordSesh this past weekend. WordSesh is a free virtual WordPress conference that lasts for 24 hours. Since none of the viewers or speakers have to travel from their homes, the sessions generally have a more casual, intimate vibe than what you might experience…

  • WordPress 4.7 Development Kicks Off This Week

    WordPress 4.7 Development Kicks Off This Week

    WordPress 4.7 development officially kicked off at today’s meeting in the #core Slack channel. This release is being led by lead developer Helen Hou-Sandí who has selected Aaron Jorbin and Jeff Paul as release deputies. The first item on the agenda was an update on the upcoming 4.6.1 maintenance release. Jeremy Felt reported that the…

  • New Plugin Uses Microsoft’s Computer Vision API to Automatically Fill in Alt Text for Images

    New Plugin Uses Microsoft’s Computer Vision API to Automatically Fill in Alt Text for Images

    When uploading images to WordPress’ media library, there are a couple of different fields available to provide additional information. You can edit an image’s title, add a caption, provide alternative text, and add a description. The Alt Text field displays text when an image does not display. According to Morten Rand-Hendriksen, these fields are underutilized and largely ignored. There are two…

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