Gutenberg Hub launched its collection of block templates yesterday. The project, which kicked off with 100 free templates, aims to help users create complex layouts by simply copying and pasting block code into the editor. Munir Kamal, the founder of CakeWP, created Gutenberg Hub in 2017 after he heard about the initial Gutenberg project announcement. “It excited me from the …
Preparing for WordPress 5.4: Changes Theme and Plugin Developers Should Know About
With the release of WordPress 5.4 looming, it is time for plugin and theme developers to begin testing their extensions and making sure there are no issues. There are also new APIs for upcoming features. Yesterday, the core team released the first release candidate for 5.4. The official release is planned for March 31. This post will serve as a …
Will Page Builders Remain Competitive in the Block Era?
Screenshot courtesy of the Elementor plugin. As Elementor, the most-used WordPress page builder, celebrated its first round of funding at $15 million, some of our readers questioned whether this was a sound investment. With movement in the Gutenberg plugin toward a full-site editing solution, which will eventually make its way into core WordPress, it is a valid concern. Will page …
The International WordPress Community and WordCamps Amid COVID-19
With the rising numbers of people who have contracted COVID-19, a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), it is time for the WordPress community to begin evaluating what the remainder of 2020 may look like. It is not a time for panic. However, some serious discussions will need to happen and decisions made on an ongoing …
Elementor Raises $15 Million, Plans to Invest in the Team, Product, and Community
Elementor, which has quickly become one of the leading WordPress page builders and companies, announced Wednesday it raised $15 million in its first round of funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The investment round comes on the heels of the plugin surpassing four million active installations. Founded in 2016, Yoni Luksenberg and Ariel Klikstein wanted to create a platform for …
Gutenberg 7.6 Includes Rotating Tips List and New Full-Site Editing Blocks
Yesterday, the Gutenberg team released version 7.6 of the plugin. Most of the work in this update went toward the upcoming full-site editing feature. The team continues to pump out new dynamic, placeholder blocks for post data. The biggest user-facing feature was the addition of a rotating list of tips in the block inserter. Version 7.5, released two weeks ago, …
Automatic Theme and Plugin Updates Slated for WordPress 5.5
Automatic updates column on the plugin management screen. Today, Jean-Baptiste Audras announced the WordPress Auto-updates feature plugin. The project seeks to bring automatic plugin and theme updates to WordPress version 5.5. It was originally slated as a feature project in 2019, but it was later bumped to the 2020 roadmap. The WordPress Auto-updates plugin is available for beta testing in …
After the Acquisition: Flywheel in the New Year
Some WordPress developers and agencies were caught off guard when WP Engine announced it had acquired Flywheel in June last year. Flywheel had quickly become a trusted web hosting company for many that specifically catered to the needs of developers and agencies. For some, they questioned whether such a buyout would change the company culture and whether the good things …
On MAGA Caps and WordCamps
Within WordPress circles, I don’t talk much about politics. I was raised to believe that politics and religion are not polite dinner topics. That belief generally extends to my work-life too. However, sometimes these topics crash into one another at full speed. I don’t typically provide qualifying statements about my beliefs when writing an article. My words should stand on …
Goodbye Featured Themes, For Now
Front page of the theme directory, featuring popular themes. Yesterday, the featured themes page was quietly removed from the WordPress theme directory. Previously, it was the primary page users would see when visiting the directory. It has now been replaced with the popular themes list. This change is only reflected on the WordPress.org website and not directly in the WordPress …







