• Jamie Marsland Recreates WordPress.org Homepage in 20 Minutes Using the Block Editor

    Jamie Marsland Recreates WordPress.org Homepage in 20 Minutes Using the Block Editor

    In response to the recent controversy about how long WordPress.org’s new homepage and download page designs should take to implement, Gutenberg YouTuber Jamie Marsland decided to try his hand at recreating it with the block editor. Matt Mullenweg had commented on the plans for the new designs moving into development, saying that it should have…

  • Iconic Releases Flux Checkout 2.0 for WooCommerce with New Modern Theme

    Iconic Releases Flux Checkout 2.0 for WooCommerce with New Modern Theme

    Iconic has relaunched its Flux Checkout plugin with a new, modern checkout theme. The plugin was created to minimize customers abandoning their carts due to checkout complexity. It breaks the checkout experience into steps to make the process feel faster and simpler with a distraction-free design. Flux Checkout 2.0.0 adds a new “Modern” theme in…

  • Gutenberg Designers Explore Adding Configuration Options to Block Editor Onboarding Modal

    Gutenberg Designers Explore Adding Configuration Options to Block Editor Onboarding Modal

    Gutenberg designers are considering replacing the current welcome guide modal with a new onboarding screen that prompts users to configure some of the editor’s many individual preference settings. The existing welcome setup was designed during the earlier days of the block editor when many WordPress users were experiencing it for the first time. It briefly…

  • WordPress Launches New Homepage and Download Page Designs

    WordPress Launches New Homepage and Download Page Designs

    WordPress.org is now sporting a new look with a refreshed, jazzy design that complements the recently updated News pages. “The new homepage brings more attention to the benefits and experience of using WordPress, while also highlighting the community and resources to get started,”  Automattic-sponsored WordPress marketing team contributor Nicholas Garofalo said. “The new download page…

  • Newsletter Glue Closes Free Plugin on WordPress.org

    Newsletter Glue Closes Free Plugin on WordPress.org

    The creators of Newsletter Glue have removed their free plugin from WordPress.org in favor of focusing on the commercial version. The plugin streamlines the publishing workflow for newsletter authors who also publish to their WordPress sites. It includes blocks and patterns for email templates and subscriber forms. Five months ago the plugin’s authors warned users…

  • OrganizeWP Launches with “Old School Software Pricing Model”

    OrganizeWP Launches with “Old School Software Pricing Model”

    WordPress developer Jon Christopher has relaunched OrganizeWP, a commercial plugin that organizes content in the admin with a single, unified view and UI for streamlining common actions. It’s a utility plugin that Christopher has had on his mind since before he released its predecessor, the Hierarchy plugin, eight years ago. “The WordPress Admin felt really…

  • WooCommerce to Stop Registering Customizer Options in Upcoming 6.9 Release

    WooCommerce to Stop Registering Customizer Options in Upcoming 6.9 Release

    WooCommerce is making a strong push towards getting the Customizer menu out of the admin for those who are using a block theme. In an effort to clean up the admin and eliminate confusion, the plugin will stop registering Customizer options when a block theme is active beginning with version 6.9. This will go into…

  • New Twenty Twenty-Three Default Theme Now in Development

    New Twenty Twenty-Three Default Theme Now in Development

    Last month, WordPress design contributors proposed creating a new kind of default theme that would bundle a curated set of style variations, instead of creating a new theme from scratch. This idea resonated with participants in the discussion and plans are now underway to use a stripped-back version of Twenty Twenty-Two as the base for…

  • New Proposal Calls for Contributors to Stop Merging Experimental APIs from Gutenberg to WordPress Core

    New Proposal Calls for Contributors to Stop Merging Experimental APIs from Gutenberg to WordPress Core

    The practice of merging experimental APIs from Gutenberg into WordPress core may soon be coming to an end. A new proposal, published by Automattic-sponsored contributor Adam Zielinski, calls for contributors to stabilize APIs before merging them into core. Over the years, approximately 280 experimental APIs have been merged from the Gutenberg plugin, which Zielinski audited…

  • ServerPress Is Shutting Down

    ServerPress Is Shutting Down

    ServerPress, makers of DesktopServer, a WordPress local development tool, announced it is shutting down after 12 years in business. The company emailed its customers and posted a farewell message on its website after disabling new purchases and is in the process of canceling renewals for existing subscriptions. ServerPress was founded by Steve Carnam in 2010.…

  • WordCamp US 2022 Publishes Speaker Schedule, Livestream Will Be Available

    WordCamp US 2022 Publishes Speaker Schedule, Livestream Will Be Available

    WordCamp US (WCUS) kicks off one month from today in San Diego, CA, and organizers have published the full schedule for all sessions. The three-day event will feature three tracks with a combination of lightning talks (15 min), standard talks (45 min), and workshops (1 hr+). This year’s lineup is heavy on educating professionals on…

  • Gutenberg 13.8 Introduces Fluid Typography Support and Revamped Quote Block

    Gutenberg 13.8 Introduces Fluid Typography Support and Revamped Quote Block

    Gutenberg 13.8 was released last week with some major enhancements that should delight block theme authors and users alike. The long-awaited fluid typography support landed in this version. It provides smooth scaling between smaller and larger viewports, adapting in a fluid way to varying widths. Release lead George Mamadashvili demonstrated how this works in a…

  • Gutenberg Contributors Experiment with Custom Labeling of Blocks in List View

    Gutenberg Contributors Experiment with Custom Labeling of Blocks in List View

    It’s easy to get lost among a sea of Cover, Group, and Paragraph blocks while navigating the block editor’s List View. Clicking around wildly will generally surface the block you’re seeking, but it’s not efficient or intuitive. Gutenberg contributors have some ideas and prototypes aimed at giving the List View more context. Rich Tabor proposed…

  • WebP by Default Merged Into Core for WordPress 6.1

    WebP by Default Merged Into Core for WordPress 6.1

    WebP, an image format developed by Google, which is intended to replace JPEG, PNG, and GIF file formats, will soon be generated by default for new JPEG image uploads in WordPress and used for website content. The main work for this feature was committed to core for inclusion in the upcoming WordPress 6.1 release. The…