WPWeekly Episode 305 – 10up, JavaScript for WordPress Conference, and Jetpack 5.8

In this episode, John James Jacoby and I discuss the news of the week. We also chat about the Winter Olympics, crypto mining in order to access content on the web, and the joys of taking care of a puppy. Last but not least, we talk about Elasticsearch in Jetpack 5.8 and whether or not improving WordPress’ native search functionality …

Jetpack 5.5 Removes Syntax Highlighting and Gallery Widget for Compatibility with Upcoming WordPress 4.9 Release

Jetpack 5.5 was released yesterday with several important changes that ensure the plugin is compatible with the upcoming WordPress 4.9 release scheduled for November 14. The plugin will be able to shed some weight, as core improvements will make Jetpack’s syntax highlighting and gallery widget obsolete. WordPress 4.9 incorporates CodeMirror, which brings syntax highlighting, linting, and auto-completion to the built-in …

Jetpack 5.4 Introduces Beta Version of New Search Module Powered by Elasticsearch for Professional Plan Users

Jetpack 5.4 was released yesterday with many small enhancements to existing modules and an expansion of features for users on the paid plans. A new date picker field is available for the Contact Form, allowing administrators to request additional information such as project timelines, event reservations, or any other date-related data. This release also fixes a bug with Jetpack’s Comments …

Jetpack 5.3 Adds PHP 7.1 Compatibility, Better Control for WordAds Placement

Jetpack 5.3 was released with compatibility for PHP 7.1, a task the Jetpack team has been working on since January 2017 after they received multiple reports of failures with PHP 7.1 when opcache was enabled. This interfered with XML-RPC requests and some users reported issues managing their sites from WordPress.com and connecting to third-party apps. Downgrading to PHP 7.0 or …

WPWeekly Episode 282 – Talking WooCommerce with Cody Landefield

In this episode, John James Jacoby and I are joined by Cody Landefield, Senior web strategist and founder of Mode Effect. Landefield describes some of the challenges that shop owners face and provides insight into a couple of WooCommerce projects Mode Effect has recently built. We discussed the future of WooCommerce and the odds of it turning into a SaaS …

Jetpack 4.8 Introduces Settings Redesign, Adds Global WordPress.com Toolbar

Jetpack 4.8 was released this week with a settings redesign that is a continuation of the React.js-powered admin interface introduced last September. The new settings screen has been completely rearranged under a more simplified menu. “We went through every setting on WordPress.com and Jetpack to make sure it was necessary to keep around, and to find a good, logical home …

WordPress App for Android Adds Better Support for Jetpack-Enabled Sites

Automattic’s mobile engineers released a major update to WordPress for Android this week. Last year the app’s users saw a growing disparity between the features available to self-hosted sites and those available to WordPress.com users. Not having the WP REST API in core was holding the app back from providing the same site management features that WordPress.com site owners already …