Mika Epstein, who helps review plugins before they’re added to the directory and is a dedicated support forum volunteer, has a great post on the difficulties associated with plugins that require license keys for updates. She addresses topics like keeping users informed, ownership, and bundling plugins with themes. She also suggests the following solution to…
With 24 states having enacted laws to legalize medical marijuana, the industry is booming and dispensaries need websites. WP Dispensary, released five months ago, is the first WordPress plugin to target this underserved market. After creating Leafly Reviews, a plugin that displays dispensary reviews from Leafly using a widget or shortcode, Robert DeVore decided he…
Based on the number of comments we received on WordPress admin notices being abused, it’s clear that a number of you feel the same way I do. Thanks to the healthy discussion that took place, I learned several new things about admin notices I’d like to share with you. Themes Do it Too While the…
Last month the White House called for developers to comment on its proposed draft for a Government-wide Open Source Software policy. The new policy would require code paid for by the government to be made available for reuse across other federal agencies and a portion (20%) of the custom code would be released as open…
In a rare and deeply personal interview with TED Curator Chris Anderson, Linus Torvalds spoke about how open source made his projects what they are today. Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel and the Git version control system, revealed that he prefers to work alone, in his bathrobe, in total silence. Although he heads up…
As soon as WordPress 4.5 was out the door, WordPress 4.6 release lead Dominik Schilling opened up the floor for discussion on wish list items ahead of the kickoff chat on Wednesday. The development community chimed in with feedback on their users’ biggest pain points, important UX issues to be solved, and existing features they…
Sucuri, a website security company that specializes in securing WordPress (and other CMS) sites, announced that SSL certificates are now available at no cost to all customers who make use of the company’s firewall. As a sponsor of the Let’s Encrypt initiative, Sucuri joins Automattic as one of the first companies to fully automate free…
The official WordPress Importer plugin is in shambles and has frustrated users with inconsistent performance for years. The plugin has more than a million active installations and is critical for migrations, unless you are familiar with using more advanced tools. With years of unresolved support threads identifying the plugin’s many bugs, the importer is in…
When Google Analytics by Yoast suddenly turned into MonsterInsights yesterday, many users were taken by surprise. Users voiced their frustration and concerns on the plugin’s support forum. Some users thought their sites were hacked after noticing the menu label changed and seeing a bright green menu icon. Syed Balkhi, founder of WPBeginner.com, along with Chris…
We’ve recently installed some new plugins on the Tavern and one of them generates an admin notice that can not be dismissed without disabling it. Not only is this frustrating, but it makes it less likely that I’ll give the developer money to purchase the pro version. Here’s what the admin notice looks like. I’ve…
This post was contributed by guest author Peter Suhm. Peter is a web developer from the Land of the Danes. He is the creator of WP Pusher and a huge travel addict, bringing his work along with him as he goes. If you run a typical WordPress agency, I will be bold enough to…
Font Awesome creator Dave Gandy announced the release of version 4.6.0 this week. The open source vector icon collection is used on approximately 60 million websites, including high profile sites like whitehouse.gov, thebeatles.com, and washingtonpost.com. Additionally, more than 300 plugins on WordPress.org and dozens of themes use Font Awesome in some way. The 4.6.0 release…
WordPress caching plugins are notorious for being packed full of confusing options, spammy with upsells, and difficult to uninstall. Users who are looking for a caching solution that simply works and has nothing to configure should check out Simple Cache, a new plugin on WordPress.org that offers a one-click install. The plugin promises lightning fast…
Users who are updating Google Analytics for WordPress by Yoast are discovering a new menu item with a green monster icon in their WordPress backend. That’s because Syed Balkhi, founder of WPBeginner.com, has acquired it for an undisclosed amount and has renamed it to MonsterInsights. Joost de Valk, founder of Yoast.com, says the company is…
In this episode of WordPress Weekly, Marcus Couch and I are joined by Mike Schroder who led the WordPress 4.5 release cycle. Schroder tells us what it’s like to release software to millions of websites across the world. We learn about the checklists and processes he went through on launch day. We discuss the emotional…