Last month, the plan for WordPress to generate WebP images by default for new JPEG image uploads was put on hold for the upcoming 6.1 release after objections from lead developers. The original proposal had been merged into core at the end of July, despite significant critical feedback and concerns from WordPress’ developer community. Yesterday,…
AI image generation has quickly become more accessible over the past few months and is making its way into different industries that require asset creation. Although it’s still somewhat limited, AI image generators can create breathtaking photorealistic images from complex prompts. AI-assisted artists have even begun selling their works on stock photography sites. DALL-E 2…
SiteGround launched a new managed Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) hosting product today, the first of its kind among WordPress hosts. The company currently powers more than 2,800,000 domains and is targeting small businesses and digital product creators with new plans that make it easy to onboard new EDD store owners. Plans range from $2.99/mo. (1…
Gutenberg 14.1 was released today with some much-needed improvements to the Navigation block, which still seems to be on rocky journey towards better usability. Contributors are moving functionality around the Navigation interface to figure out where it works best. The menu selector has been removed from the Navigation block toolbar in favor of placement in…
WordPress users looking for a block theme for blogging will have no shortage of options while Anders Norén is on a run with back-to-back theme submissions. Beaumont, his second theme release this month, is another one designed for personal sites and blogs but with an emphasis on longform content. It was named for Thaddeus Beaumont,…
In the most recent BuddyPress developers’ chat, contributors discussed progress on the upcoming 11.0.0 release, which is expected on December 14, 2022. Mathieu Viet, one of BuddyPress’ lead developers who spearheaded the effort to get the BP Attachments API into BuddyPress 2.3 in 2015, has been working on templating to display single media items on…
Members of the WordPress 6.1 release squad recently gathered for a product walkthrough on Zoom, where Gutenberg lead architect Matías Ventura gave an informal tour of some of the new features coming in the next release. After the success of the 6.0 walkthrough, this gathering on Zoom has become a new part of the release…
WooCommerce 6.9 was released today and was quickly followed up with 6.9.1 after a bug caused some stores to produce a warning or a fatal error, depending on the site’s PHP version. This release brings the new Cart and Checkout blocks into core as beta features. These blocks have been available in the WooCommerce Blocks plugin since…
If you watched Matt Mullenweg’s Q&A session at WordCamp US last weekend, it’s evident that there are significant parts of the community still clinging to the Classic Editor who would be happy for it to be supported indefinitely. For whatever reason, millions users are not ready to switch – some prefer the old editor, don’t…
WordCamp US 2022 has concluded after two days of presentations and a contributor day last weekend. Some attendees are still making their way home with hearts full of good memories until the next time they can gather in person again. Outside of the main event, attendees had many opportunities to network, connect with new friends,…
During WordCamp US’ contributor day this weekend, Matt Mullenweg published a renewed call for WordPress’ Make teams to adopt a plugin-first approach when developing new features for core. He revived the notion of canonical plugins, first introduced to the WordPress community in 2009 as a means for delivering optional features to users with a higher…
Automattic published its bi-annual transparency report this week, which highlights the different information and takedown demands received across the company’s services. Historically, Automattic has used these reports as an opportunity to publicly reaffirm its commitment to actively pushing back against requests that violate users’ freedom of speech and bring attention to abusive takedown demands. In…
WordCamp US 2022 is underway in San Diego, California, following last night’s welcome party for speakers, sponsors, organizers, and volunteers. For many attendees, this is their first in-person WordPress event since 2019, before the pandemic began shutting down conferences. Unlike previous events, where attendees numbered in the thousands, this year tickets were capped at 650.…
WordPress’ design team has announced the winners of the challenge to create a style variation for the upcoming Twenty Twenty-Three (TT3) default theme. Organizers received 38 submissions from 19 contributors (some submitted multiple variations) hailing from eight countries. Given the wide range of colors and typography combinations, TT3 is gearing up to be a vehicle…
WordPress theme author Anders Norén is at it again with a new minimal block theme for blogs and personal websites. Björk is the 129th block theme to hit the directory and Norén’s 25th free WordPress theme. It follows the release of Poe, a portfolio style theme, less than two months ago. Although Norén said he is a…