More and more, open comments are becoming a thing of the past. Large news organizations have kicked them to the curb. Frustrated bloggers who no longer desire all of the hassles with moderation shut down their forms. The conversations have moved to corporate-controlled social media. It is hard to pinpoint the exact moment much of the web devolved into chaos. …
Calling All Themers: Design the Next Round of Query Block Patterns
The Gutenberg plugin repository currently has an open ticket calling for community-contributed Query block patterns. These would launch alongside Full Site Editing’s inclusion in WordPress, which could be as soon as version 5.8 — no hard decision has been made on that yet. Some may not end up bundled directly in WordPress but could be included in the upcoming pattern …
Twentig Now Upgrades the Twenty Twenty-One Theme Experience
Twentig, the brainchild of sibling co-founders Diane and Yann Collet, now supports the Twenty Twenty-One theme. The developers originally built the plugin, which is hosted on WordPress.org, around the idea of “supercharging” Twenty Twenty. After its initial success, they have turned their sights onto the most recent default theme, adding a slew of new features over the past few months. …
FSF Doubles Down on Stallman Reinstatement, WordPress Does Not Support His Return to the Board
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is hemorrhaging board members and management following the reinstatement of Richard Stallman. The GPL author and founder of the FSF announced last week that he had rejoined the board and is not planning to resign a second time. An open letter signed by more than 3,000 people called for the removal of Stallman from all leadership …
Gutenberg 10.3 Supports Default Image Sizes, Continues Normalizing Toolbars, and Categorizes Theme Blocks
Version 10.3 of the Gutenberg plugin landed yesterday. Users can now define a default Image block size. The development team also continued work on normalizing block toolbars, created a “theme” block category, and added a padding option to the Verse block. Contributors fixed over 30 bugs. However, the bulk of work went toward Full Site Editing (FSE) with over 70 …
FSE Outreach Round #4: Building a Restaurant-Themed Header With Gutenberg’s Site Editor
Anne McCarthy announced the fourth round of testing for the Full Site Editing (FSE) Outreach program last week. This testing phase calls for users to build a restaurant-themed header via the Gutenberg plugin’s site editor. Testing is open to anyone, and participants should leave feedback by April 8. The testing process is broken down into 24 steps with both setup …
GoDaddy Pro Will Kick off 2-Day Expand Event on April 27
GoDaddy Pro is launching its first virtual Expand event on April 27. The free-to-attend conference will focus on web professionals and will last until April 28. In February, GoDaddy re-launched GoDaddy Pro as a formal sub-brand of the company. The “Pro” branding was not a new outing. However, it was a fresh take on an old idea. As part of …
Creating Tiled, Masonry, and Other Image Layouts With Meow Gallery
I am uncertain of how I first came across the Meow Gallery WordPress plugin. It was a pinned tab in my browser for a while, but it has recently become one of those projects that I keep coming back to. I delight in the imagery of the Meow Apps brand, created by Japan-based software developer Jordy Meow. It has the …
WordPress to Drop Support for IE11 in Upcoming 5.8 or 5.9 Release
In early March, WordPress contributors began discussing the possibility of dropping support for IE11 in the near future after usage fell below ~1%. This week, the discussion’s facilitator, Héctor Prieto, confirmed the majority of participants are in agreement to move forward and set a timeline for discontinuing support. Contributors are now considering either the 5.8. or 5.9 release. “The argument …
10up Creates Classic Post Migration Route With Its Convert to Blocks WordPress Plugin
Yesterday, 10up officially announced Convert to Blocks, a WordPress plugin for transforming classic posts into blocks. The goal is to provide users with a safe migration route for old content while removing the burdens of other options in the space. I briefly mentioned this plugin in an article covering bulk conversion in the Ask the Bartender series. However, I could …