Last Tuesday, iThemes announced it had acquired the Restrict Content Pro plugin from Sandhills Development. iThemes is part of the Liquid Web family of brands. Pippin Williamson, Managing Director at Sandhills, said the company had no intention of selling the plugin last October when talks of the acquisition began. However, moving forward has created some opportunities for his company and …
WordPress Support Team Seeks to Curb Support Requests for Commercial Plugins and Themes
WordPress’ Support Team contributors are discussing how they can curb support requests for commercial products on the official WordPress.org forums. Users sometimes seek help for commercial product upgrades on the forums of the free version, not knowing that the moderators’ official policy is to refer them to the extension’s commercial support channel. In other instances, it is not immediately clear …
Sunlit 3.0 for iOS Released, Featuring New Post Editor and Improved Discovery Interface
Sunlit 3.0 was released this week and is now available in the App Store. The free photoblogging app is a companion app to the Micro.blog indie microblogging platform. Sunlit has some similarities to Instagram minus the deadweight of ads and algorithms. Users can follow each other, comment on posts, and timeline photos are displayed in chronological order. “The idea is …
WordPress 5.5.1 Released with Backfill for Deprecated JavaScript Globals
WordPress 5.5.1 was released yesterday with 34 bug fixes, 4 enhancements, and 5 bug fixes for the block editor. Version 5.5 removed 19 legacy JavaScript localization objects, in favor of using the new functions and utilities found in the i18n package introduced in WordPress 5.0. One of the most notable changes in this maintenance release is the inclusion of a backfill for these now deprecated JavaScript globals, …
Jetpack 8.9 Adds Donations Block, Newsletter Form, and Social Previews
Jeremey Herve, a Jetpack developer at Automattic, announced the release of Jetpack 8.9 earlier today. The update brings several major features to the plugin’s users. Jetpack now sports a new social preview option in the block editor, a newsletter signup form type, and a block for handling donations. Version 8.9 also adds support for the AMP plugin. Herve noted that …
WordSesh EMEA 2020 Kicks Off September 2, Featuring Short Talks and Micro-Tutorials
The second edition of WordSesh EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) is happening in less than 48 hours on September 2. The virtual event’s schedule is tailored to attendees living in the Eastern hemisphere. In its first year running, WordSesh EMEA attracted a solid turnout of close to 1,000 attendees and was the proving ground for future regional WordSesh events. …
WordCamp Austin Opens Call for Musicians
WordCamp Austin 2020 is putting out a call for musicians, alongside its call for speakers. The event’s organizers are rising to the challenge of creating a unique experience for attendees, while working within the constraints of a virtual format. Because the city prides itself on being “the live music capital of the world,” due to its abundance of music venues, …
Stepping Into a Market With Major Players, Mario Peshev Acquires WP-CRM System
Mario Peshev, the CEO of WordPress agency DevriX, officially announced he had acquired the WP-CRM System plugin this week. Formally, his company Premium WP Support is taking the reins for the project. Scott DeLuzio, the creator and previous owner of the plugin, published the news on his blog last month. DeLuzio originally built the plugin in 2015 after dissatisfaction with …
MotoPress Acquires Gutenix WordPress Theme
MotoPress, a theme and plugin shop in operation since 2013, has acquired the Gutenix WordPress theme and its commercial ZeGuten blocks plugin for Gutenberg. The free theme currently has more than 700 active installs after nine months on WordPress.org. MotoPress already has a number of successful niche WordPress themes and plugins but Gutenix fills the gap for a multipurpose theme. …
Atomic Blocks Rebranded to Genesis Blocks, Migration Path to New Plugin Coming Soon
StudioPress, which was acquired by WP Engine in 2018, is rebranding its popular Atomic Blocks plugin to Genesis Blocks. WP Engine also acquired Atomic Blocks in 2018, growing the plugin’s user base from 3,000 active installs to more than 60,000 over the past two years. The purpose of rebranding is to more tightly align the block collection with the Genesis …