Open Source Initiative and OpenLogic Release 2023 State of Open Source Report

OpenLogic, a company that provides technical support for enterprise open source infrastructure, and the Open Source Initiative (OSI), the nonprofit stewards of the Open Source Definition (OSD) have published the 2023 State of Open Source Report. The annual vender-neutral survey received 872 qualified responses from people in more than 20 major industries. Responses indicate that open source adoption continues to grow, as 80% …

SQLite Database Integration Now Available as a Plugin for Testing

WordPress’ Performance Team is working on unbundling the Performance Lab plugin after feedback from Matt Mullenweg who requested large features become their own community plugins with the possibility of becoming canonical plugins. As part of this effort, the new SQLite database integration is now available for testing as a standalone plugin. Yoast-sponsored contributor Ari Stathopoulos, who is leading the initiative …

Yoast SEO 20.0 Introduces New Admin Interface

Yoast SEO version 20.0 was released today with a new admin settings interface that also reorganizes the menu to into four main sections: General, Content types, Categories and Tags, and Advanced. In this update, the plugin did not add new features and settings but rather moved them to better match user workflows. The new sidebar menu should result in fewer …

Awesome Motive Acquires Thrive Themes

Awesome Motive has acquired Thrive Themes, its second acquisition of 2023 following the Duplicator plugin deal that was announced earlier this month. Thrive’s premium plugin suite reports more than 200,000 users. This includes Thrive Architect, a visual drag and drop page builder, an LMS course builder, and other marketing-focused plugins for generating leads, creating quizzes and testimonials, and doing A/B …

WordPress Community Team Proposes Adopting GitHub to Improve Collaboration

Although GitHub is primarily used for code collaboration, WordPress’ Community team is considering adopting the platform to standardize their project management tools. Contributing to open source can already be challenging but when it requires signing up for multiple services in order to access the team’s many spreadsheets, trello boards, Slack groups, and other modes of communication, onboarding new contributors becomes …

WooCommerce Seeks to Improve Cart and Checkout Blocks Performance

WooCommerce Blocks maintainers are asking the developer community to share feedback on any performance issues they are experiencing with the Cart and Checkout blocks. “We’re aware there is work to be done in this area and we want to improve,” WooCommerce developer Alex Florisca said. “We’re specifically interested in any performance related issues that may be stopping merchants or developers …

WooCommerce Blocks 9.4.0 Adds Support for Local Pickup

WooCommerce Blocks version 9.4.0 was released with support for a new block-powered Local Pickup option under shipping settings. The feature plugin offers users early access to new blocks and improvements to existing blocks before they become available in WooCommerce core. Local Pickups introduces two new blocks: a shipping method toggle block that allows shoppers to select between regular shipping or …

Jetpack Revamps Mobile App, WordPress.com Users Must Migrate to Keep Using Stats, Reader, and Notification Features

When Automattic launched a mobile app for Jetpack in June 2021, it was targeted mainly at users who were on a paid Jetpack plan, as it enables access to features like backups, restores, and security scanning. Most importantly, the app gave Automattic a more direct path for monetizing Jetpack, without adding more commercial interests into the official WordPress apps. This …

New Video Explores Site Building Progress from WordPress 5.9 to 6.2

WordPress 5.9 “Josephine” was released in January 2022, but that seems like ages ago when you compare the advances made in site building over the past year. Anne McCarthy, an Automattic-sponsored contributor who heads up the Full Site Editing Outreach Program, has published a short video that tours the important changes in WordPress over the past few major releases. The video …