In Case You Missed It – Issue 16

Four Great How-to Videos From Bob Dunn

Bob Dunn, founder of BobWP.com, has published four videos that explain how to solve common pain points experienced by users.

How To Get Rid of the Blog That is Showing On Your WordPress Sites Homepage

How To Create Two WordPress Blogs On a Single WordPress Site

How To Make Sense of Your WordPress Reading Settings

How To Add Formatted HTML to the Text Widget Without Knowing HTML

Dunn has years of experience teaching WordPress and it shows in these videos.

https://vimeo.com/180087176

Matt Mullenweg Appears on Fortune’s 40 Under 40 List

Since Matt Mullenweg is now in his 30s, he’s graduated to the 40 Under 40 list put together by Fortune. He also received the Heinz Award in the Technology, Economy, and Employment category. The Heinz award is given to individuals who make significant contributions to the areas of Arts and Humanities, Environment, Human Condition, Public Policy, Technology, Economy and Employment. Mullenweg was also recently profiled in the Houston Chronicle by Anita Hassan.

In the article, David Caceres, one of Mullenweg’s music teachers is quoted as saying, “All the success hasn’t seemed to have affected him at all. You might just see him driving a fancier car.”

This quote sticks out to me because it’s true based on my experience. He doesn’t have bodyguards, is incredibly approachable at events, and is the opposite of everything rich celebrities are. I continue to be impressed by how humble and down-to-earth he is.

Leland Fiegel Debunks GPL Myths

Leland Fiegel, founder of Themetry, debunks at least a dozen myths around the GPL including, redistribution of paid for code, what customers are buying when they purchase GPL licensed products, and providing free copies of code upon request. If you’re thinking about entering the WordPress product space, consider this advice.

If you’re a developer of paid GPL code and imagine you’d be upset if somebody resold or gave away your code for free, you may want to reconsider releasing under the GPL at all.

Or better yet, focus on building such a rock-solid brand that any code redistribution would have an inconsequential effect on your business.

While his post does a great job covering common misconceptions, I encourage anyone doing business in the WordPress space to read and familiarize yourself with the GPL v2 license itself.

Changes to the Customize Sliding Panels/Sections in WordPress 4.7

The WordPress development team is requesting that developers test important changes that have been made to the sliding panels and sections of the customizer. The description is technical in nature but the changes allow the removal of margin-top hacks by separating the root ‘panel’ of the customizer from the container elements for the sections they link to. Developers are encouraged to review Trac ticket #34391 for more details.

Changes to Customizer Sliding Panels/Sections in WordPress 4.7

WP101 Turns 8 Years Old

WP101, founded by Shawn Hesketh, has turned eight years old. This year, Hesketh celebrates the milestone by thanking eight important people that include license partners and customers.

There are many others who have contributed to WP101’s success over the years, to say nothing of the countless friendships Kay and I have made over the years, thanks to the WordPress community. We are who we are today because of YOU.

We’re humbled and grateful, and look forward to celebrating many, many years to come!

Happy birthday to WP101!

0-$4,000 in Monthly Revenue in 10 Months

Over on the Cozmoslabs blog, Adrian Spiac published the lessons they’ve learned since launching the Paid Member Subscriptions plugin. The article includes the ups and downs experienced, challenges faced, and tough decisions that were made.

W3 Total Cache 0.9.5.1 Released

Hot on the heels of W3 Total Cache 0.9.5 released earlier this week, Frederick Townes has released 0.9.5.1 to address plugin incompatibilities. According to the changelog, Yoast SEO and Jetpack are among the plugins addressed. The new version also improves backwards compatibility for third-party implementations using legacy W3TC functions.

Major Changes in Store for FooPlugins

Adam Warner, co-founder of FooPlugins, published an in-depth article on the challenges associated with growing a plugin business and what his team is doing to overcome them. The article covers what the team has done right, wrong, and lists significant changes it’s making, including retiring unpopular plugins. Perhaps the most important part of the post however, is the promise made by Warner to current and future users.

My intention with this post is not to make anyone nervous about the future of our plugins. It’s quite the opposite.

I hope by sharing these insights that our intentions are clear. We are committed to the future of our brand, our products, and their features (both free and pro), and most of all, you.

We plan to be around for years to come. And to keep learning and pivoting as necessary to make certain that happens.

Lastly, for the 400,000+ combined users of all our all publicly available plugins, we thank you for your support thus far and hope we can count on you to keep teaching us how to continue our success.

Swag Wapuu!

In what is a traditional part of this series, I end each issue by featuring a Wapuu design. For those who don’t know, Wapuu is the unofficial mascot of the WordPress project.

Swag Wapuu is making the rounds and its next stop is WordCamp Orlando, FL, October 7-9. Swag Wapuu loves wearing conference shirts and free swag but hates wearing pants. Below is a preview of one of the shirt designs that will be given out as swag at the event.

Swag Wapuu!

That’s it for issue sixteen. If you recently discovered a cool resource or post related to WordPress, please share it with us in the comments.