With the proliferation of block collection plugins over the past year, Kioken Blocks is a relatively unknown newcomer that you may have missed. Compared to competitors with thousands of users like CoBlocks (30K+), Atomic Blocks (20K+), Stackable (10K+), and Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg (100K+), Kioken is a small fish in a big pond of page builder utilities. You might have …
Gutenberg Team Explores the Future of Full-Site Editing with New Prototype
From its inception, the block editor was always intended to be more than just an editor for the main content area. Gutenberg phase 2 brings the block editor to other parts of the site, including widgets, menus, and other aspects of site customization. Matias Ventura, one of the lead engineers on the project, has offered a glimpse of the team’s …
First Look at Twenty Twenty: New WordPress Default Theme based on Chaplin
Anders Norén unveiled the designs for the new Twenty Twenty theme today. As speculated earlier this week, WordPress will repurpose Noren’s Chaplin theme in order to expedite shipping the new default theme on the constrained 5.3 release timeline. Although the new default theme will be based on Chaplin, it will not retain the same style. “Using an existing theme as …
Google Releases Native Lazyload Plugin for WordPress
The most recent release of Chrome (76) added a new “loading” attribute that supports native lazy loading in the browser. An implementation for WordPress core is still under discussion. In the meantime, plugins that enable this for WordPress sites are starting to pop up, and Google has just released one of its own. Native Lazyload was created by Google engineer …
WordSesh EMEA Schedule Published, Registration Opens September 9
WordSesh EMEA, a 12-hour virtual conference designed for the WordPress community in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, has published the full schedule for the upcoming event. The lineup includes speakers from the UK to Cape Town to Sri Lanka, and other parts of the wider world of WordPress. Approximately 8 of the 11 speakers selected are from the targeted …
WordPress Governance Project Looks for New Leadership
The WordPress Governance project is looking for new leadership after its current leaders, Rachel Cherry and Morten Rand-Hendriksen, announced that they will be stepping down. Weekly meetings have been canceled until the organization selects new leadership. After its introduction at WordCamp Europe 2018, the project went through what its leadership believed were the appropriate channels for launching it through the …
Toolbelt: A New Jetpack-Inspired Plugin with a Focus on Speed and Privacy
WordPress theme and plugin developer Ben Gillbanks is building a Jetpack alternative with an emphasis on speed, simplicity, and privacy. Toolbelt is a new, lightweight plugin that offers a collection of functionality that is commonly-used on WordPress sites. Currently available modules include features like breadcrumbs, browser native lazy loading, a Portfolio custom post type, related posts with images, responsive video, …
NetNewsWire 5.0 RSS Reader Rebuilt from Scratch, Now Free and Open Source
NetNewsWire 5.0 was released this week as a completely rebuilt, free and open source Mac app. Back in its earlier days, the 17-year old RSS reader was widely regarded as the best available. Since its creation, the app has changed hands multiple times through two acquisitions, finally landing back home with its creator, Brent Simmons, in August 2018. NetNewsWire 5.0 …
StandardJS Ends Controversial Funding Experiment
Feross Aboukhadijeh, maintainer of StandardJS, has formally ended the funding experiment he started lasted week, which inserted ads in the terminal whenever Standard 14 is installed. Although the experiment met widespread aversion, it successfully captured public attention and put a spotlight on the critical need for a viable model of funding open source infrastructure. It also uncovered some intense presuppositions …
Gutenberg 6.4 Adds New Typewriter Experience, Cover Block Resizing, and Block Inserter Help Panel
Gutenberg 6.4 arrived this week with two more improvements to the Cover block. The background can now be set to a solid color (in addition to images and videos). Users can also easily resize the block, making it far more useful for those who are designing their own pages. One notable change to Image block in this release is the …