COVID-19 awareness icons added to Font Awesome. On Monday, the Font Awesome team launched a new set of icons to promote awareness around COVID-19. The solid icons available in the Font Awesome 5.13 update are all available for free and are open-source. The regular, light, and duotone versions of the icons are a part of the pro package. The goal …
Gutenberg 7.8 Adds Patterns API and Continues Interface Cleanup
Version 7.8 of the Gutenberg plugin landed yesterday. The team continues to improve the editor with the refreshed interface work that began in version 7.7. The most useful feature with this update of the plugin is the inclusion of the Patterns API for plugin and theme developers. This release is not the massive feature release that we experienced with some …
Yoast Publishes Free Online Training Course for the Block Editor
Yoast, the company behind the popular Yoast SEO plugin, launched its free block editor training course today. The course is available to anyone by signing up for Yoast Academy, which also includes multiple other free and paid courses. Users can learn everything from SEO and copy writing to basic WordPress skills. The Academy team’s latest course promises to get first-time …
GitHub Acquires npm, Plans to Improve Infrastructure and Experience
GitHub announced yesterday that it had acquired the popular JavaScript package service npm for an undisclosed amount. npm, Inc. was the company behind the Node package manager, npm Registry, and npm CLI. The company is shuttering its doors, but the future of the npm service looks bright with this acquisition. Currently, npm serves over 1.3 million packages with 75 billion …
Gutenberg 7.7 Ships Refreshed UI and First Iteration of Block Patterns
Last week, version 7.7 of the Gutenberg plugin shipped to users. In what is one of the more visually-striking updates in a while, the design team presented a refreshed UI. Users will also get their first chance to test the upcoming block patterns feature. Some users may get a surprise. Gutenberg 7.7 is the first version of the plugin to …
WooCommerce 4.0 Lands with New Admin Interface and Updated Onboarding Experience
Yesterday, Automattic launched version 4.0 of its WooCommerce plugin. Except for the new admin interface, which has been in testing for over a year, the development of this update began in January 2020. The update also includes an updated onboarding experience for new users. Version 4.0 is a major release of the plugin. Users should create a database backup before …
BracketSpace Releases Library of Reusable Code for Plugin and Theme Development
BracketSpace, a WordPress-centric software development company based, released Micropackage a few weeks ago. The project is a collection of open-source repositories with reusable code for inclusion in WordPress plugins and themes. The library currently has 13 packages, including a filesystem wrapper, a template system, an Advanced Custom Fields block creator, and more. The company out of Poland specializes in project …
Gutenberg Hub Launches Collection of 100 Block Templates
Gutenberg Hub launched its collection of block templates yesterday. The project, which kicked off with 100 free templates, aims to help users create complex layouts by simply copying and pasting block code into the editor. Munir Kamal, the founder of CakeWP, created Gutenberg Hub in 2017 after he heard about the initial Gutenberg project announcement. “It excited me from the …
The International WordPress Community and WordCamps Amid COVID-19
With the rising numbers of people who have contracted COVID-19, a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), it is time for the WordPress community to begin evaluating what the remainder of 2020 may look like. It is not a time for panic. However, some serious discussions will need to happen and decisions made on an ongoing …
Elementor Raises $15 Million, Plans to Invest in the Team, Product, and Community
Elementor, which has quickly become one of the leading WordPress page builders and companies, announced Wednesday it raised $15 million in its first round of funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The investment round comes on the heels of the plugin surpassing four million active installations. Founded in 2016, Yoni Luksenberg and Ariel Klikstein wanted to create a platform for …





