Last weekend I had the opportunity to interview Andy Fragen, a longtime member of the WordPress community and core contributor. He is also the author of the GitHub Updater plugin, which allows developers to enable automatic updates to their GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, or Gitea hosted WordPress plugins, themes, and language packs. In the video below,…
With full-site editing just around the bend, it is a fair question to ask whether the WordPress ecosystem is prepared for such a transition, particularly on the theme development side of things. It is no secret that theme developers have struggled to keep up with the barrage of changes between Gutenberg plugin updates and, ultimately,…
Yesterday, GitHub added a new setting to user-owned repositories called “Account Successors.” It allows users to designate repository access to another user to maintain ownership continuity in the event of any kind of personal disruption. “Open source maintainers, you can now invite a trusted user to manage your open source projects in the event that…
Last week, Tetsuaki Hamano contributed his first plugin to the official WordPress plugin repository. RichText Extension grants additional options for inline text in the block editor. RichText is a component in the editor that allows end-users to add and edit text. Typically, users may think of this component when dealing with paragraphs. However, it also…
The WordPress Accessibility Team is organizing a new online event called WP Accessibility Day that will take place on October 2, 2020. The event will feature 24 hours of educational sessions that focus on the intersection between WordPress and web accessibility. Inspired by the Polyglots’ Global Translation Day, which greatly expanded the team’s base of…
It is not often that I come across a free WordPress theme that instantly impresses me. Far too often, I spend half an hour or more just getting to know a theme, checking its options, and figuring out how long it will take to recreate something that looks remotely like the demo. However, every now…
Matt Mullenweg joined Matías Ventura at WordCamp Spain yesterday for a lively Q&A session. The virtual event drew 5,000 registered users, and attendees came prepared with some thought-provoking questions about the future of WordPress. Here are a few highlights on some recent topics of interest. WordCamps around the globe have been going virtual, embracing the…
Earlier this week, Sajjad Hossain Sagor released the first version of his Drag & Drop Menu Items plugin in the WordPress plugin repository. The plugin is a one-off, single-use plugin that does exactly what its name describes — it allows end-users to drag menu items from the meta boxes on the nav menu screen to…
You’ve probably never heard of Robert B. Strassler. That’s OK, you’re not alone. Early in his career, Strassler worked in oil fields, but he always had an interest in the classics (the formal designation for the studies of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations). Eventually, Strassler’s hobby became an obsession. He went so far as to author his…
Managed web hosting company WP Engine launched the new Genesis Pro add-on for customers of its hosting service today. The add-on brings additional block editor features for users who are using a Genesis-based WordPress theme. Genesis is a parent theme developed by StudioPress. WP Engine acquired the theme development company in 2018. Later that year,…
GitHub Satellite, the company’s annual product and community event, went virtual this year for the first time but marched forward with the usual major product announcements. GitHub is ramping up its offerings with four new products: an IDE, a discussion platform, code scanning, and private instances. Codespaces is the platform’s new built-in IDE that lets…
The third annual JavaScript for WordPress Conference is gearing up for three days of online talks and workshops on July 8-10, 2020. The event is free to attend and organizer Zac Gordon is working to put together a diverse speaker lineup. Day 1 will be devoted to workshops that help beginners get up and running…
Over the weekend, Munir Kamal released version 2.0 of his ACF Blocks plugin, a project that creates a suite of blocks for the editor. The plugin offers 18 custom blocks in its free version and 15 more in the pro upgrade. It is built on top of Advanced Custom Fields Pro (ACF Pro). The latest…
Jetpack 8.5 was released today with a new podcast player block for sharing audio content. Configuring the block is as simple as entering the podcast RSS feed URL. This will automatically bring in the cover art and recent episodes. Block options allow for further customization of the display, including the number of episodes, colors, and…
For the first time, at least 19 people from the WordPress community can literally call themselves WordPress rock stars without it sounding like an outdated marketing gimmick. GravityView dropped a community music video and website named WordPress Strong earlier today. It is fun. It is inspirational. It will leave a smile on your face. The…