Let’s Encrypt Passes 100 Million Certificates Issued, Will Offer Wildcard Certificates in January 2018

photo credit: Chris Anderson Let’s Encrypt, the free and open certificate authority that launched in 2016, has issued more than 100 million certificates as of June 2017 and is currently securing 47 million domains. Earlier this year, the web passed a major milestone of getting more than 50% of traffic encrypted. Let’s Encrypt has been a major contributor to that …

WangGuard Plugin Author Shuts Down Splog Hunting Service Due to Trauma and Death Threats

After seven years of developing and supporting the WangGuard/SplogHunter service, José Conti has shut down the server permanently due to the stress and trauma associated with maintaining it. Conti is a WordPress plugin developer and consultant, and a member of the WordPress España translation team. His WangGuard plugin identifies and blocks sploggers, unwanted users, and untrusted users on WordPress, Multisite, …

WordCamp Europe 2017 Posts 24% No-Show Rate, Cites Early Ticket Sales and Expensive Location

photo credit: WP Tavern WordCamp Europe 2017 organizers have posted attendance and budget data compiled after the conclusion of the event. Despite being promoted as “the largest WordPress event to this day” with more than 3,000 expected attendees, WCEU 2017 fell short with 1,900 people on the ground. Attendees were 5% fewer than last year’s 2,000 in Vienna. Expectations ran …

Gutenberg 0.3.0 Adds Front-End Styles for Core Blocks, Notices Framework, and Text and Image Quick Inserts

Gutenberg development is marching ahead with version 0.3.0 released today. New releases are shipping out on a weekly basis, so testers will get to discover another round of new additions after updating to the latest. The changelog has a full list of the 50 additions and improvements included in this release, but here’s a quick visual tour of a few …

WordPress’ New Gutenberg Editor Now Available as a Plugin for Testing

One of the featured sessions at WordCamp Europe 2017 was Om Malik’s interview with Matt Mullenweg, followed by a 20-minute Q&A from the audience. After showing a preview of the new Gutenberg editor with dynamic blocks replacing widgets, Mullenweg announced that it is now available as a plugin on WordPress.org. Gutenberg has been in development for six months and is …

WordPress Marketing Team Launches Case Studies and Usage Survey for Agencies, Clients, and Enterprises

photo credit: Lukasz Kowalewski WordPress’ Marketing Team has launched a set of surveys to gather case studies and usage data from agencies, clients, and enterprises, with the goal of providing more resources for adoption. The Usage Survey was created to capture feedback on the factors that influenced an organization to select WordPress as well as any barriers to using the …

WordCamp Europe 2018 to be Held in Belgrade, Serbia, June 14-16

Belgrade, Serbia will host the sixth edition of WordCamp Europe, June 14-16, 2018. Prior host cities include Leiden, Sofia, Seville, Vienna, and Paris. Attendees and the massive 221-person volunteer crew gave their enthusiastic approval when organizers announced the event would be returning to Eastern Europe next year. WordCamp Europe 2018 will be in Belgrade, Serbia, June 14-16! <3 #wceu A …