When WordPress 3.7 “Basie” was released in 2013, it brought automatic updates to the masses. By default, WordPress automatically updates to point releases. Using additional constants within wp-config.php, you can configure WordPress to automatically update themes, plugins, and major releases. If you want granular control over the WordPress update system without touching code, check out…
It’s almost inevitable that as a WordPress plugin gains popularity, it will receive a bad review. How plugin authors handle and respond to bad reviews is crucial, especially in a public forum. Mika Epstein, who helps review plugins before they’re added to the directory and is a dedicated support forum volunteer, gives advice on how…
Last week the creators of Timber, the plugin that enables WordPress theme developers to write HTML using the Twig Template Engine, released version 1.0 on WordPress.org. The plugin is active on more than 10,000 websites where theme authors have elected to keep PHP files separate from HTML. Timber is built on DRY and MVC principles…
VersionPress 3.0, released this week, is the first version since the plugin became a free, open source project. Creators Borek Bernard and Jan Voráček, who originally attempted to crowdfund the project and then raised $400,000 in seed funding, announced last month that they are transitioning to a public development model. The team’s goal with this…
Ninja Forms, a popular plugin active on more than 500K websites, released an update 48 hours ago that addresses a critical security vulnerability. Wordfence is reporting that Ninja Forms versions 2.9.36 to 2.9.42 contain multiple security vulnerabilities. One of the vulnerabilities allows an attacker to upload and execute code remotely on WordPress sites. The only…
WooCommerce is the current leader in e-commerce software, capturing 31% of the market, thanks to its relatively user-friendly interface and connection to WordPress. However, setting up a WooCommerce site, or any e-commerce site for that matter, is not for the faint of heart, no matter how user-friendly the software. It requires knowledge of hosting, PCI…
Last week when Beyoncé released her new Lemonade album, lemon and bee emoji usage spiked on Twitter. According to Twitter’s stats, during the month of April there were more than 2 million tweets that included at least one lemon emoji, 62% of which happened since the album release. The bee emoji, representing the Beyhive of…
One of the main items on the agenda for the Theme Review Team this week was to finalize what type of upselling is allowed in themes hosted on WordPress.org. With the requirement of using the customizer for options, theme authors have gotten creative with upsells and will sometimes include panels and sections that are inoperable…
The BuddyPress codex has a long list of internal configuration settings that are not exposed in the plugin’s admin settings page. These are short definition lines that can be added to a site’s bp-custom.php file to make changes to BuddyPress default settings. BuddyExtender is a new plugin from the development team at WebDevStudios that aims…
Last week Weston Ruter and the folks at XWP released Customize Posts version 0.5, which includes a new framework for postmeta and the ability to preview featured images. The feature plugin aims to introduce basic content authorship in the Customizer to improve the new user site setup experience and make it easier to edit existing…
The explosion of the craft beer scene in recent years means that more breweries and beer bars are building their websites on WordPress. What are you looking for when you visit one of these websites? Why, the beer of course! Unfortunately, with the demands of brewing and serving customers, owners of these establishments don’t always…
Shortly after Jetpack 4.0 was released yesterday many users reported a fatal error and/or white screen when updating. Developers started warning each other in the Advanced WordPress Facebook group to avoid updating to 4.0, after having received emails from clients with sites that went down. A followup 4.0.2 release was pushed out today for users…
Beaver Builder, the drag-and-drop page builder plugin, celebrated two years in business this week. Fastline Media, the parent company, started as a web design agency, but due to the success of their product the team closed down its client services department at the beginning of 2016 to focus 100% on Beaver Builder. After just two…
Mika Epstein, who helps review plugins before they’re added to the directory and is a dedicated support forum volunteer, has a great post on the difficulties associated with plugins that require license keys for updates. She addresses topics like keeping users informed, ownership, and bundling plugins with themes. She also suggests the following solution to…
With 24 states having enacted laws to legalize medical marijuana, the industry is booming and dispensaries need websites. WP Dispensary, released five months ago, is the first WordPress plugin to target this underserved market. After creating Leafly Reviews, a plugin that displays dispensary reviews from Leafly using a widget or shortcode, Robert DeVore decided he…