UpdraftPlus, a popular WordPress backup plugin actively installed on more than 1 million sites has acquired the Easy Updates Manager plugin for an undisclosed amount. Easy Updates Manager disables core, theme, and plugin updates in WordPress and provides granular control over them. It was created in 2015, is actively installed on more than 100K sites,…
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Brian Gardner, founder of StudioPress. We talk about the past, present, and future of the company including various milestones such as the Genesis framework and merger with CopyBlogger Media in 2010. We also discuss the community surrounding StudioPress’ products and the role it plays…
WordPress, the free open source project, turns 15 years old today. Here is the comment that started it all. In addition to celebrating 15 years as a successful software project, it's also a good opportunity to reflect on the number of people across the world who are making a great living and turning dreams into…
WordCamp Miami is celebrating its 10th anniversary on March 16-18th. This year's event is organized by twelve people and organizers expect more than 800 people to attend. Speakers will arrive from Italy, Germany, London, Brazil, and other international locations to share their knowledge. In addition to a two-day Kids Camp with a Kids Panel, WordCamp…
Ahmad Awais, who created the Gutenberg Boilerplate last year, has released a Guten Block Toolkit. The toolkit substantially simplifies the creation of Gutenberg Blocks by providing no configuration, one dependency, and no lock-in. Awais created the toolkit after receiving feedback that configuring things like Webpack, React, ES 6/7/8/Next, ESLint, Babel and keeping up with their…
If you’re interested in learning how WordPress is used in Higher Ed, tune in to WPCampus Online, January 30th at 9AM Central Standard Time. WPCampus Online is a virtual conference that people can watch for free, no traveling necessary. The event uses Crowdcast allowing viewers to switch between rooms, interact with each other, and ask…
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Rachel Cherry, Senior Software Engineer for Disney Interactive and Director of WPCampus. Cherry describes how she got involved with WordPress, its use in higher education, the inspiration behind WPCampus, and her thoughts on accessibility both in WordPress and across the web. She also assigned…
DesktopServer has released version 3.8.4 of its local development software. This version includes a lot of refactored code, setting the foundation for faster updates in the future along with design-time plugins. One of the major changes in 3.8.4 is the use of the .dev.cc top level domain. Due to the latest changes with the .dev…
WordPress 4.9.2 has been released and patches a cross-site scripting vulnerability in the Flash fallback files in the MediaElement library. According to Ian Dunn, the Flash files are rarely needed and have been removed from WordPress. If you need access to the Flash fallback files, they can be obtained using the MediaElement Flash Fallback plugin.…
Gutenberg 2.0 is available for testing and includes a changelog that's a mile long. Accessibility, keyboard navigation, and the ability to drag-and-drop multiple images to the Gallery block are among the improvements listed. Clicking the Publish button displays options in the sidebar rather than a drop-down menu to add polish to the publishing flow. The…
Zac Gordon, a technology educator, has released his Gutenberg Development course. The course is $79 but is available for $49 using the coupon code earlyadopter. Gordon says the course is aimed at developers who want to update their themes, plugins, shortcodes, etc. to work with Gutenberg and take advantage of blocks. "There is also some…
In this the 300th episode, John James Jacoby and I interview Matt ‘Gutenbeard’ Mullenweg, co-creator of the WordPress project. We discuss a range of topics including, the somewhat controversial poetry reading that included a curse word prior to the State of the Word, the WordPress Foundation increasing its range of funding, and of course, Gutenberg.…
Since the conclusion of WordCamp US in early December, there have been a number of Gutenberg related items published to the web. The following is a collection of items related to Gutenberg that I came across throughout December. Feel free to add to this list in the comments below. Resources Getting Ready for Gutenberg is…
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I review the WordPress news that made headlines on the Tavern in 2017. Among the stories we talk about more in-depth was Headway Themes, WP-CLI becoming a WordPress.org sanctioned project, and Disqus being acquired. We also talked about the future of comments in WordPress and what circumstances could…
In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Heather Burns, Founder of WebDevLaw. We have a lengthy discussion about GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), what it is, what’s at stake, and its potential impacts on the WordPress ecosystem. We also discuss the cultural differences between the North American and European views on…