One of the exciting things about WordCamps going virtual is the community gaining access to more events and presentations than ever before, from anywhere in the world. Even in this new online-only format, local camps still retain their unique character as they feature speakers from their respective communities. WordCamp Kent (Ohio) is one of these upcoming events that has been …
New Iceberg Plugin Brings a Distraction-Free Writing Experience to WordPress
Ever on the hunt for a more beautiful, simplified writing experience inside WordPress, I jumped at the chance to beta test the new Iceberg plugin. Rich Tabor and Jeffrey Caradang, the same team behind CoBlocks, have created a new markdown editor built on top of Gutenberg that provides the best writing experience for WordPress since core’s retired Distraction Free Writing …
WooCommerce Payments Allows Shop Owners to Manage Payments Without Leaving WordPress Admin
Automattic-owned eCommerce platform WooCommerce launched its new WooCommerce Payments feature today. The company seeks to make it easier for plugin users to manage the entirety of their shop from a single location. For users based in the U.S. with WordPress.com-connected accounts, they can begin managing payments directly from their WordPress admin. WooCommerce Payments is available as a free download via …
iA Writer Adds Expanded Support for IndieWeb Tools and WordPress Publishing
iA Writer has been delighting users with its minimal writing experience for nearly a decade, racking up more than 3 million downloads. The most recent version 5.5 release for Mac and iOS moves the bar higher for competing writing apps with new support for previewing PDFs and improved support for publishing to self-hosted WordPress sites. In 2019, MacStories selected iA …
Google Patches Critical Vulnerability in Site Kit Plugin
In late April Wordfence discovered a critical vulnerability in Google’s Site Kit plugin for WordPress that would make it possible for any user on the site to gain full access to the Google Search Console without verifying ownership. Google patched the vulnerability and released the fix in version 1.8.0 on May 7, 2020. Wordfence published a timeline of the vulnerability, …
WordPress Contributor Andy Fragen Shares His Experience as a Trauma Surgeon During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Last weekend I had the opportunity to interview Andy Fragen, a longtime member of the WordPress community and core contributor. He is also the author of the GitHub Updater plugin, which allows developers to enable automatic updates to their GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, or Gitea hosted WordPress plugins, themes, and language packs. In the video below, Fragen gives us a window …
GitHub Adds Account Successors Feature
Yesterday, GitHub added a new setting to user-owned repositories called “Account Successors.” It allows users to designate repository access to another user to maintain ownership continuity in the event of any kind of personal disruption. “Open source maintainers, you can now invite a trusted user to manage your open source projects in the event that you are unable to do …
WordPress Accessibility Team to Host 24-Hour Online Event October 2, 2020
The WordPress Accessibility Team is organizing a new online event called WP Accessibility Day that will take place on October 2, 2020. The event will feature 24 hours of educational sessions that focus on the intersection between WordPress and web accessibility. Inspired by the Polyglots’ Global Translation Day, which greatly expanded the team’s base of contributors and fueled a record …
WordCamp Spain 2020 Q&A: Matt Mullenweg Discusses Virtual Events, Decoupled WordPress, and the Future of Page Builders
Matt Mullenweg joined Matías Ventura at WordCamp Spain yesterday for a lively Q&A session. The virtual event drew 5,000 registered users, and attendees came prepared with some thought-provoking questions about the future of WordPress. Here are a few highlights on some recent topics of interest. WordCamps around the globe have been going virtual, embracing the challenge of keeping communities connected …
GitHub Introduces Codespaces IDE, Discussions, and Code Scanning
GitHub Satellite, the company’s annual product and community event, went virtual this year for the first time but marched forward with the usual major product announcements. GitHub is ramping up its offerings with four new products: an IDE, a discussion platform, code scanning, and private instances. Codespaces is the platform’s new built-in IDE that lets users code in the browser …