Jetpack 5.8 is available for download and includes a handful of new features for Professional, Premium, and Personal plan users. In October of last year, Jetpack 5.4 began beta testing a new search module based on Elasticsearch. Jetpack 5.8 concludes the beta and the new search service is available to Professional plan customers. The new…
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Marc Benzakein, Operations Manager for ServerPress, LLC. We discussed recent updates to DesktopServer and received a progress report on 4.0. Marc also shared some of the struggles the team encountered throughout 2017. We learned what’s new with WP SiteSync and what customers can look…
WooCommerce 3.3.1 is available and fixes template conflicts discovered in a handful of WordPress themes that forced the team to revert WooCommerce 3.3. The team reviewed handful of the most common themes running WooCommerce and tested them for compatibility with 3.3.1. WooCommerce developers recommend that theme authors use hooks instead of template overrides to ensure…
Hours after WordPress 4.9.3 was released, the WordPress development team followed it up with 4.9.4 to fix a critical bug with the auto update process. The bug generates a fatal PHP error when WordPress attempts to update itself. This error requires WordPress site owners and administrators to manually update to WordPress 4.9.4 by visiting your…
WordPress 4.9.3 is available and fixes 34 bugs. Customizer changesets, the visual editor, widgets, and compatibility for PHP 7.2 highlight this release. You can view all of the changes via the changelog or trac tickets. Most sites will update automatically. However, if you want to trigger the update ahead of time or manually update, visit…
Liquid Web, a managed hosting service founded in 1997, has acquired iThemes. iThemes recently celebrated its 10th year in business. PostStatus reports that it was an all cash deal and sources confirmed to the Tavern that it was a multi-million dollar acquisition. iThemes will continue to operate as an independent unit within Liquid Web. Cory…
WordPress 4.9.3 is a maintenance release and was originally scheduled to be available on January 30th. However, due to ongoing tickets and a short time frame to test the release candidate, it has been pushed back to February 5th. WordPress 4.9.3 RC 1 is available for testing. This release removes JSHint from the code editors…
Earlier this week, WooCommerce 3.3 was released and among the features was increased theme compatibility. However, soon after release, users of third-party themes reported issues with categories displaying improperly. Despite it being a minor release that should be fully backwards compatible with previous releases up to 3.0, WooCommerce has removed 3.3 from the plugin directory…
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Zac Gordon. We discussed a wide range of topics including, balancing freelance work with educating, an overview of Gutenberg from an educator’s perspective, and potential brand issues if the Gutenberg name was deprecated. We also talked about some of the difficulties involved with creating…
Efrain Rivera, who helped organize and volunteer at numerous WordCamps in Florida has passed away at the age of 47. The news was shared on Facebook by his sister on January 28th. David Bisset, organizer of WordCamp Miami and a well-known figure in the Florida WordPress community, shared his thoughts on Rivera’s passing. Efrain wasn’t…
WooCommerce 3.3 is available and is considered a minor release. Based on the project’s new release process, it should be fully backwards compatible with previous releases up to 3.0. The orders screen has been redesigned with large buttons that indicate an order’s status. You can also view an order’s details from the order screen without…
UpdraftPlus, a popular WordPress backup plugin actively installed on more than 1 million sites has acquired the Easy Updates Manager plugin for an undisclosed amount. Easy Updates Manager disables core, theme, and plugin updates in WordPress and provides granular control over them. It was created in 2015, is actively installed on more than 100K sites,…
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Brian Gardner, founder of StudioPress. We talk about the past, present, and future of the company including various milestones such as the Genesis framework and merger with CopyBlogger Media in 2010. We also discuss the community surrounding StudioPress’ products and the role it plays…
WordPress, the free open source project, turns 15 years old today. Here is the comment that started it all. In addition to celebrating 15 years as a successful software project, it's also a good opportunity to reflect on the number of people across the world who are making a great living and turning dreams into…
WordCamp Miami is celebrating its 10th anniversary on March 16-18th. This year's event is organized by twelve people and organizers expect more than 800 people to attend. Speakers will arrive from Italy, Germany, London, Brazil, and other international locations to share their knowledge. In addition to a two-day Kids Camp with a Kids Panel, WordCamp…