News

  • Dennis Cooper Booted from Blogger, Relaunches on WordPress

    Dennis Cooper Booted from Blogger, Relaunches on WordPress

    Nearly two months after Google removed Dennis Cooper’s 14-year-old Blogger site and Gmail account without explanation, the novelist and performance artist has been officially ejected from the platform. According to Cooper, a post he wrote 10 years ago, which he had placed behind an adult content warning due to pornographic material, was flagged by a…

  • WordPress for iOS Adds People and User Role Management

    WordPress for iOS Adds People and User Role Management

    WordPress for iOS version 6.4 is available in the app store and comes with a couple of notable features. Those who write content using an external keyboard connected to an iPad can now access a shortcut menu within the WordPress app by pressing the command key. Media such as videos and images can now be…

  • WordPress for Android 5.7 Adds Path to Upgrade WordPress.com Plan

    WordPress for Android 5.7 Adds Path to Upgrade WordPress.com Plan

    WordPress for Android version 5.7 was released today with a new “Plan” screen under the site menu for WordPress.com users. This section details the differences between WordPress.com’s commercial plans and includes a link for users to manage and upgrade their plans. Previous releases have added user management and the ability to invite new users. Version…

  • New Plugin Adds Changelog Support to WordPress Themes in the Admin

    New Plugin Adds Changelog Support to WordPress Themes in the Admin

    When a WordPress plugin has an update available, it comes with a “View Details” link where users can read the changelog before updating. Clicking the details link launches the changelog section of the readme.txt file in a modal window. Themes, on the other hand, do not have a link to view details, because WordPress.org doesn’t…

  • WordSesh 4 Now Available on Video

    WordSesh 4 Now Available on Video

    WordPress enthusiasts from around the world tuned into the fourth edition of WordSesh this past weekend. WordSesh is a free virtual WordPress conference that lasts for 24 hours. Since none of the viewers or speakers have to travel from their homes, the sessions generally have a more casual, intimate vibe than what you might experience…

  • WordPress 4.7 Development Kicks Off This Week

    WordPress 4.7 Development Kicks Off This Week

    WordPress 4.7 development officially kicked off at today’s meeting in the #core Slack channel. This release is being led by lead developer Helen Hou-Sandí who has selected Aaron Jorbin and Jeff Paul as release deputies. The first item on the agenda was an update on the upcoming 4.6.1 maintenance release. Jeremy Felt reported that the…

  • Google to Penalize Pages with Intrusive Popup Ads Starting January 2017

    Google to Penalize Pages with Intrusive Popup Ads Starting January 2017

    Google announced today that it will begin penalizing pages with intrusive interstitials, commonly known as popup ads, beginning in 2017: Pages that show intrusive interstitials provide a poorer experience to users than other pages where content is immediately accessible. This can be problematic on mobile devices where screens are often smaller. To improve the mobile…

  • Disqus Adds Support for Akismet

    Disqus Adds Support for Akismet

    Last week Disqus announced that the company has partnered with Akismet to combat comment spam. The blog comment hosting service processes 1.8 million comments per day and approximately 15,000 (0.8%) are spam. “It only takes one spam comment to create an eyesore in a lively discussion so, in a sense, stopping all these varying spam…

  • Envato Celebrates 10 Years in Business

    Envato Celebrates 10 Years in Business

    Envato is celebrating 10 years in business today. Founders Collis and Cyan Ta’eed started the company out of their garage in Sydney in 2006 with the launch of ActiveDen (originally called FlashDen). Envato expanded to provide an umbrella for a variety of different endeavors in the following years, including PSD Tuts and Freelance Switch launched…

  • WordCamp US Calls for Volunteers, Organizers Estimate 3,000 Attendees

    WordCamp US Calls for Volunteers, Organizers Estimate 3,000 Attendees

    Planning for WordCamp US is charging forward with the call for speakers and volunteers closing in less than two weeks on August 31. Last year the event had approximately 100 volunteers but organizers are working to expand the team to accommodate more attendees in 2016. “We’ll likely accept somewhere between 150-180 volunteers, which we think…

  • Registration of the .blog Domain Extension Is Now Open to Trademark Owners

    Registration of the .blog Domain Extension Is Now Open to Trademark Owners

    The .blog top-level domain extension is entering the sunrise phase today, during which trademark holders have first access to apply for their .blog domains via a certified trademark agent. Knock Knock, WHOIS There, Automattic’s subsidiary that is managing .blog domains, won the rights to oversee the sale and registration of the extension in 2015 for…

  • Jetpack 4.2 Released with Performance and Security Updates

    Jetpack 4.2 Released with Performance and Security Updates

    Jetpack 4.2 is a combination release with performance improvements and fixes for a couple of security vulnerabilities. These updates secure Contact Form submission exports from potential formula injections and fix a general XSS vulnerability in the misuse of the add_query_arg() function. The majority of enhancements in this release are centered on speeding up communication between…

  • Let’s Encrypt Passes 5 Million Active Certificates

    Let’s Encrypt Passes 5 Million Active Certificates

    Let’s Encrypt, the open Certificate Authority, passed 5 million active (unexpired) certificates this week. The project came out of beta in April and has grown rapidly in the past few months. At the end of June, Let’s Encrypt reported that it had 3.8 million active certificates covering more than 7 million unique domains. In a…

  • WP Site Care to Launch Cookbook, A Commercial Recipe Plugin

    WP Site Care to Launch Cookbook, A Commercial Recipe Plugin

    WP Site Care announced that it will soon be entering the WordPress products business with a commercial recipe plugin. Co-founder Ryan Sullivan said the company is partnering with Feast Design Company to launch Cookbook, a full-featured recipe plugin that is mobile and SEO friendly. “A good chunk of our current customers are food bloggers and…