With all of the design improvements to the plugin and theme screens in recent WordPress releases, the experience of updating extensions started to feel clunky and disjointed. The Shiny Updates feature plugin was created to hide what project contributors refer to as the “The Bleak Screen of Sadness.” WordPress users received a small taste of…
The WordPress Accessibility team is seeking feedback on a draft that outlines accessibility coding standards for WordPress core. According to the draft, new features should meet the accessibility guidelines before merging into core. All code released in WordPress must conform with the WCAG 2.0 guidelines at level AA. These basic guidelines are intended for easy…
WordPress.org is getting some love in 2016. In addition to a beautifully redesigned login page, the testimonials page is in the process of being completely revamped. The update comes not a moment too soon, as the old testimonials page included entries dating back to 2003 with what are now rather humorous references to b2 and…
In 2013, Mel Choyce, Design Engineer at Automattic, published a proposal to improve the content creation and editing experience in WordPress. Her proposal and associated mockups like the one below, generated a lot of discussion. However, the project lost steam and major changes to the Add New Post screen were not implemented. The post editor…
There are at least three major releases of WordPress per year where users can expect new features and major bug fixes about every four months. While this is great for users, some companies, plugin, and theme developers are struggling to keep up. We recently received the following email from a reader concerned with WordPress’ release…
WordPress 4.5 development is now in full swing with Mike Schroder at the helm, leading the kickoff meeting today. Schroder is joined by newly named deputies, Mel Choyce and Adam Silverstein, who will help manage the release. The 4.5 project schedule is now posted. The merge window for feature plugins opens February 3rd and the…
WordPress 4.4.1 is available for download and includes 52 fixes, one of which patches a cross site scripting vulnerability reported by Crtc4L. This release address two severe bugs and updates the polyfill used for emoji to support Unicode 8. Support for Unicode 8 adds new diversity emoji to WordPress. Other notable changes include the removal…
Earlier this year, WordPress 4.2 added the ability to install and update plugins in-place. This feature is known as “Shiny Updates”. I’m a big fan of this feature because it’s substantially quicker than updating plugins via the updates page. Here’s what it looks like in action. Due to complications near the end of the 4.2…
Contributors to the WordPress core Customize component are targeting the upcoming 4.5 release for inclusion of a new feature plugin. Customize Pane Resizer allows users to drag the edge of the pane to make the customizer wider than the default 300px. According to Customize component maintainer Weston Ruter, the idea for the plugin came out…
During Matt Mullenweg’s State of The Word presentation at WordCamp US, he said everyone in the community should make an effort to learn JavaScript deeply. I visited Barnes and Noble today and discovered that some books are heeding Mullenweg’s call and are doing their part to encourage people to learn JavaScript in addition to WordPress.…
Among the many changes in WordPress 4.4 in an effort to clean the interface, the Get Shortlink button is hidden from view. If you want to restore the button, check out the Shorter Links plugin developed by Rob Allen. In addition to restoring the Get Shortlink button, it gives users the ability to use custom…
If you notice images don’t load after upgrading to WordPress 4.4 and you use SSL on the frontend, you’re not alone. In a thread on the WordPress.org support forum, Brokkr explains the crux of the problem: I recently switched my WordPress site to https after getting certificates from Let’s Encrypt. Using 4.3.1 all content was…
After four months of intense development led by Scott Taylor, WordPress 4.4 “Clifford” named after jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown, is available for download. This release features responsive images, WordPress embeds, the Twenty Sixteen default theme, the first half of the REST API, and a host of small improvements. Responsive Images When users upload images to…
The inaugural WordCamp US was held this weekend at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in the heart of Philadelphia, one of America’s oldest cities. Roughly 1,800 WordPress enthusiasts came from all corners of the world to attend the event. Ambling down Philly’s historic streets, lined with Benjamin Franklin monuments, one cannot help but consider how far…
Stanko Metodiev, project manager for Devrix, shares his experience contributing a patch to WordPress core for the first time. While browsing Trac, Metodiev discovered a bug report with the menu customizer. Although a patch was already attached to the ticket, it didn’t work, “The change didn’t fix the issue for me, so I submitted a new…