WordCamp Europe 2018 has opened the call for speakers and will be accepting applications through January 15. The organizing team recommends that speakers already have some experience ahead of applying to speak at the largest WordPress event in Europe, but a dedicated Content Team will also be available with resources for helping speakers create a…
The next release of WordPress (5.0) will introduce the new Gutenberg editor and contributors plan to keep it rolling towards the eventual goal of providing a full site building experience. Nearly every WordPress theme and plugin developer will be impacted by the change and many are starting to look ahead to how their products may…
Community feedback on the new GDPR for WordPress project, created by WordCamp Denmark organizer Kåre Mulvad Steffensen and WP Pusher creator Peter Suhm, has started rolling in after the two launched a survey for developers. The project aims to provide an industry standard for getting plugins compliant with EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation…
WordPress 4.9 “Tipton” was released today, named for Oklahoma-born jazz musician William Lee Tipton, a gifted pianist and saxophonist. This update introduces major improvements to the design and collaboration workflow in the Customizer, improves WordPress’ built-in code editor, and enhances core text and media widgets. Draft, Schedule, and Preview Changes in the Customizer Prior to…
Gutenberg 1.7 was released today, two weeks after version 1.6, with a fresh round of new features, design updates, and the groundwork for nested blocks and block extensibility. Last week contributors began exploring an alternative to using iframes for meta boxes. This experiment has landed in 1.7 so that the plugin now renders meta boxes…
iA Writer 5 for iOS was released last week, nearly a year after version 4. This update is free for those who purchased version 4 from the iOS App Store. iA Writer 5 for Mac is still in the works. The free Android version of the app is receiving incremental improvements that will bring it…
The WP-SpamShield plugin was removed from the WordPress.org directory this week due to what the Plugin Review Team has deemed a violation of the guidelines and a possible miscommunication. Two weeks ago, the author of WP-SPamShield and the author of the Plugin Organizer plugin exchanged contentious remarks in a support forum thread where each accused…
Weglot, a SaaS-based multilingual plugin that entered the WordPress market last year, has passed €44,000 in monthly revenue. The company received €450K in seed funding in May 2017 and has nearly doubled its user base in the past six months. Co-founder Rémy Berda reports that the plugin is approaching 20,000 users and that more than…
Jetpack 5.5 was released yesterday with several important changes that ensure the plugin is compatible with the upcoming WordPress 4.9 release scheduled for November 14. The plugin will be able to shed some weight, as core improvements will make Jetpack’s syntax highlighting and gallery widget obsolete. WordPress 4.9 incorporates CodeMirror, which brings syntax highlighting, linting,…
The discussion surrounding the use of iframes for meta boxes in Gutenberg became more heated over the weekend, as concerned developers implored the team to consider the detriments of the current approach. Responses from Gutenberg’s leadership initially deflected concerns, presenting the iframe implementation as an experiment that “works ‘for now’” but isn’t what the team…
Six WordCamps were held over the weekend in cities across the globe, including two in Africa where WordPress events are just starting to take off. Harare and Nairobi hosted their second WordCamps in areas where the WordPress community was virtually non-existent two years ago. Harare’s first camp was part of the WordCamp Incubator program the…
WordCamp Europe 2018 has begun early bird ticket sales for its sixth edition in Belgrade, Serbia, June 14-16. Attendees who purchase a ticket before December 31, 2017, will receive a limited-edition swag item. WordCamp Europe has sold out in many previous years and organizers of the 2017 event in Paris anticipated that it would be…
A lively and productive discussion regarding Gutenberg’s use of iframes for meta boxes is happening on GitHub. Yesterday, WordPress developer Kevin Hoffman created an issue titled “Are iframes a viable long-term solution for meta boxes?” Gutenberg 1.5 introduced initial support for meta boxes. Hoffman identified several issues with iframes that have been popping up as…
The WordPress Foundation has awarded Bianca Welds with the Kim Parsell travel scholarship to attend WordCamp US 2017. Welds lives in Jamaica and has been using WordPress since 2005. We featured her on the Tavern in 2015 when she provided insight into the Jamaican WordPress community. Welds will be presenting at WordCamp US on how…
Press This, a tool that allowed users to quickly clip and publish content from web pages, is set to be removed from WordPress’ upcoming 4.9 release. The feature is being retired and will live out its remaining days as a canonical plugin. WordPress contributors opted to make a clean break by completely removing Press This…