Here’s a recap of the latest developments in the WordPress ecosystem, from WordPress core updates and Gutenberg news to more plugin news.

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This post is from the recent WordPress News Roundup – January 2020 webinar hosted by Nathan Ingram. In this webinar, Nathan walks through each of these news items in more depth. Register for the next WordPress News Roundup webinar here.

News from WordPress Core

WordPress 5.3 Development Cycle Ended

• Current version is WordPress 5.3.2
• No more minor releases planned for WordPress 5.3
• Of course, any major security issues will be patched with a short-cycle release
• Follow the WordPress Core Blog

5.3 Release Cycle Post-mortem

WordPress 5.4 is Coming

• 5.4 is tentatively scheduled for a March 31 release date.
• 2020-2021 release calendar can be found here.
• Not much currently available on 5.4 features.
• Certainly, we will see improvements to the block editor, including the Nav menu block.
• WordPress 5.5 scheduled for August 2020.
• WordPress 5.6 scheduled for December 2020.

The Month in WordPress: December 2019

Gutenberg News

Gutenberg 7.2

• Released January 22
• Site Editor Beta Enable under Gutenberg > Experiments
• You must have the Gutenberg plugin installed

What’s new in Gutenberg? (22 January)

Gutenberg 7.3

• • Layout Element Blocks
  • Support the templating feature for site editing
  • Navigation block supports text and background colors
  • Many speed improvements, bug fixes, and accessibility tweaks

What’s Coming in Gutenberg?

• Block Content Areas
• Edit Site UI with front page template and ability to switch templates
• More full-site editing blocks
• Updated block UI design is being explored

What’s next in Gutenberg? (January)

Other Gutenberg News

ShareABlock

• Share and download block and template designs

Introducing ShareABlock: Brand New Way to Share and Download Free Gutenberg Block & Template Designs

No Promotions in Block Directory

• Prototype discussed in December
• Current rules state that blocks in the directory ”must not include advertisements, prompts, or promotional messages.”
• How this (de?)motivates developers is yet to be seen

Can the Block Directory and Business Interests Coexist?

WordPress Security News

WordPress Vulnerability Roundup

• Twice monthly on the iThemes blog

WordPress Vulnerability Roundup: January 2020, Part 2

WordPress Vulnerability Roundup: January 2020, Part 1

Other Security News

NSA Finds Dangerous Flaw in Windows 10

• Vulnerability related to the crypt32.dll file
• This file helps Windows handle certificates and encryption
• Patched in recent Windows security release
• Good news – rather than weaponizing the flaw as it had in the past, the NSA disclosed it to Microsoft

News From iThemes

iThemes Training Membership returns!

• Get access to all the premium training we offer for a low monthly or annual price
• Join here now:

Introducing Freelance Leap Year & iThemes Training!

Freelance Leap Year

• Started last week: Productivity
• Next Month: Confidence

Freelance Leap Year

Digital Marketing Summit

• with AJ Morris
• Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Social Ads, Writing Content, Using Video, Publishing Content
• An all-day event on Friday, February 28 (8a-5p CT)

Digital Marketing Summit 2020

iThemes Hosting Multiple Site Plans

• Hosting designed specifically for WordPress
• Each plan comes with iThemes Sync Pro, iThemes Security Pro and BackupBuddy & SSL Certificate
• You can take advantage of the Hosting Buyback Program

New! iThemes Hosting Now with Multiple Site Plans

WordPress Plugin News

Pods Loses Primary Sponsor

• January 2, Scott Clark, lead developer of the Pods Framework announced that Automattic would no longer be sponsoring their project.
• Automattic was providing about 90% of their funding.
• They are focusing future funding on Gutenberg projects.
• Various revenue models are being explored
• Pods still has Optinmonster and GravityForms as major sponsors
• Paid add-ons are one consideration for future funding.
• Users are also being asked to support Pods through donations in the Friends of Pods program
• Pods has 80,000+ active installs
• If only 1% of these donated $5 a month, more than enough funding would be in place to continue
• If you use Pods, join me in sponsoring them with a monthly, annual or one-time gift

Pods needs your help in 2020

Become a Friend of Pods

Some Code Canyon Plugins Changing Update Policy

• CodeCanyon promises “access to updates” not automatic updates
• Although automatic updates have been expected for years, some plugin authors are changing this
• One in particular requires an active support license for automatic updates
• Otherwise, you must download and update manually.
• CodeCanyon has not responded to my inquiry about this at the time of broadcast
• Speaking for myself here, not iThemes
  • I’m all for plugin authors being supported by support contracts – I advocate for it…But changing the rules after the fact seems a little shady
  • I believe CodeCanyon should stop this practice, grandfather existing license holders, or make it clear on each item what the update policy is

https://codecanyon.net/item/woocommerce-dynamic-pricing-discounts/7119279

WooCommerce Usage Stats

How Many Websites Use WooCommerce? Usage Stats + Infographic 2020

WooCommerce 3.9 Update Requires Manual Setting Change

• MaxMind, which provides the geolocation services used in WooCommerce checkout process, now requires an API key
• Signing up is free, but very (very) clunky
• It can take a few minutes for the key to become active (so you have to wait to enter it successfully)
• This is rather a mess when you’re managing many WooCommerce sites. Each must be touched by hand in a process that takes a little while.

MaxMind Geolocation Integration

Matt Mullenweg and the power of comments

Comments and Collatz Conundrum

• An anonymous comment on a log led to a mathematical breakthrough
• “I’ve always said that comments are the best part of blogging.”
• “If you want great comments, you as the author, have to participate in them.”

For Typography Nerds…

• Adventures in Typography with Robin Rendle

https://www.robinrendle.com/adventures/

• The Font of the Month Club from David Jonathan Ross

https://fontofthemonth.club/

A Couple of Others…

Sharpen Your Axe

• Some great productivity tools in this post

https://jaredpalmer.com/blog/sharpen-your-axe

Up Your Writing Game (excellent posts and newsletter from Chip Scanlan)

Other News

Cory Miller Joins Post Status as Co-Owner

Introducing a new chapter, with Cory Miller as Post Status partner

Microsoft Releases New Chromium Based Edge Browser

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsofts-new- chromium-based-edge-browser-is-now-generally- available

Download Link
https://www.microsoft.com/edge

WordCamp News

Upcoming WordCamps in US & Canada

• Feb 7-8 – Phoenix, Arizona
• Feb 28-Mar 1 Miami, Florida
• March 7 Greenville, South Carolina
• March 14 Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• March 20-21 Albuquerque, New Mexico
• March 27-29 Washington DC, Jacksonville, Florida & San Antonio, Texas
• April 18-19 Atlanta, Georgia

Full Schedule:

Schedule

Can’t attend? Don’t forget wordpress.tv!

Download the Slides: WordPress News Roundup – January 2020

This post is from the recent WordPress News Roundup – January 2020 webinar hosted by Nathan Ingram. In this webinar, Nathan walks through each of these news items in more depth. Register for the next WordPress News Roundup webinar here.

Keep reading the article at WordPress News and Updates from iThemes – iThemes. The article was originally written by Kristen Wright on 2020-01-30 11:15:41.

The article was hand-picked and curated for you by the Editorial Team of WP Archives.

September was a busy month for WordPress news, so you may have missed a few headlines. In this post, we’ll cover all the major news in the WordPress ecosystem, from the WordPress 5.5.1 maintenance release on September 1, 200, to plugin, theme and SEO news.

News from WordPress Core

The biggest news in September from the WordPress core team was the release of WordPress 5.5.1. This was a WordPress maintenance release with several bug fixes and enhancements.

WordPress 5.5.1 Maintenance Release

• Maintenance release with 34 bug fixes, 4 enhancements and 5 fixes for the block editor
• Most notably, 5.5.1 fixes the issues created with WordPress 5.5 breaking websites with themes and plugins using old JavaScript
  • Discussions are happening to prevent this kind of thing happening again…
  • “What part of the release process ought to have flagged up that this was about to happen, how did that part fail, and how can future similar failures be prevented?” – Jake Spurlock

WordPress 5.6 Planning Underway

The next point release of WordPress is already in active development, with WordPress 5.6 release planning underway.

• Notable features will include:
  • Block editor updates and new customizer support
  • Auto updates of WordPress core
  • Full site editing feature, including FSE-enabled theme
  • Support for PHP 8 (on target for a Nov 2020 release)
• As previously announced, this will be an All-women Release Squad
• WordPress 5.6 release date is planned for December 8, 2020

Continued PHP 5.6 Support

WordPress will continue PHP 5.6 support for the foreseeable future. Removal of support for PHP 5.6 was on the slate for WordPress 5.6, but has been removed. Why?

• “Only 66% of WordPress sites are 7.1 and above” – Matt Mullenweg
• The stated goal of supporting PHP 8 while still working with PHP 5.6 could prove to be challenging for developers.

Gutenberg News

The Gutenberg plugin had a few updates released in September. Here’s more on what changes you’ll see added to the WordPress block editor.

Gutenberg 8.9 Released Sept. 2

The major feature in the Gutenberg 8.9 release is the addition of block-based widgets. You can read more with these two posts: Gutenberg 8.9 Brings Block-Based Widgets Out of the Experimental Stage and What’s new in Gutenberg? (2 September).

• Gutenberg replaces Appearance > Widgets

• Add blocks to footer widgets in compatible themes

• Experimental (and not great) customizer interface for widget bocks needs work.

Gutenberg 9.0 Released September 16

The release of Gutenberg 9.0 focuses on improvements to the navigation and query blocks.

The Query block got an updated UI, including search, filtering by author and support for tags.

Gutenberg License Chance Proposed

Mobile engineers have proposed a dual license for Gutenberg as GPL and MPL (Mozilla Public License).

Justin Tadlock’s Take on Block Patterns

Block patterns, introduced as one of the key features in WordPress 5.5, pave the way the block editor to become a page builder. In this highly recommended article, Justin Tadlock writes on exploring the first block patterns to land in the WordPress Theme Directory with some excellent examples.

• “This feature should drastically change how developers create WordPress themes.”
• Because it addresses a lingering theme problem: “how can theme authors build custom homepages and easily allow end users to recreate them?”

Block Patterns Resource List

Birgit Pauli-Haack has published an excellent block patterns resource list for anyone interested in creating block patterns or learning more

WordPress Security News

Several popular plugins had vulnerabilities this past month, so be sure to check out the iThemes WordPress Vulnerability Roundups for September.

WordPress Vulnerability Roundups for September (and August)

Other Security News

• Have I Been Pwned Codebased Open Sourced
  • Troy Hunt, the founder, explains that it’s for the good of the community
  • Over the last 2 weeks (at time of writing), HIBP recorded 16 breaches encompassing 95,850,490 records and
  • “Every single one of those has been a community contribution”
  • That huge number “demonstrates the constant flood of data and the need to scale myself more efficiently.”

iThemes News

Welcome Restrict Content Pro to the iThemes Family!

Restrict Content Pro has a new home at iThemes. Read more in the announcement post: Restrict Content Pro is Joining the iThemes Family!

• Restrict Content Pro and all 31 Pro add-ons are available for download by Toolkit and Plugin Suite members
• Plugin Suite and Toolkit pricing will increase Oct. 1, 2020.
• Read more in an extensive RCP FAQ page about what this acquisition means for iThemes and Restrict Content Pro customers.

How to Use Restrict Content Pro in Your Web Design Business, September 28 – 30

Learn everything you need to know to build feature-rich membership sites with the Restrict Content Pro plugin and its extensive library of add-ons. During this 3-day online training event with Nathan Ingram, you’ll learn how to create three different types of WordPress membership sites from the ground up, going step by step through the process.

Google Lighthouse Integration with iThemes Sync

View your Lighthouse scores and recommendations within iThemes Sync. Read more: New! Google Lighthouse Integration with iThemes Sync Pro.

Banned User Upgrade in iThemes Security 6.7

A better view and more flexibility on how bans are enforced on your website. Read more: Read more: New! Banned Users Gets an Upgrade in iThemes Security Pro 6.7.0

WordPress Theme News

The biggest theme news this past month relates to Astra, one of the most-downloaded plugins on the WordPress.org directory.

Automattic Releases Seedlet, a Block-First WordPress Theme

Ecommerce News

Nexcess Launches New WooCommerce Resource Page

• Useful and growing collection of WooCommerce resources.
• Includes store strategy, plugins, and email marketing tips.

GoDaddy Aquires SkyVerge

SykVerge is the creator of over 60 WooCommerce plugins. SkyVerge also created Jilt, a cart abandonment and email marketing add-on for WooCommerce

Read the announcement here: GoDaddy Acquires SkyVerge to Help Everyday Entrepreneurs Sell Online with WordPress and WooCommerce

SEO News

Here are a few noteworthy news items in the SEO world.

Yoast Founders Take a Stake in Start Up WordProof

Other News

oEmbed Support Ending for Facebook and Instagram

The Battle of Automattic vs. Apple

In August, a back and forth between Automattic and Apple resulted in the removal of the WordPress iOS app from the App Store.

• Apple’s policy is that in-app purchases are required whenever apps “allow users to access content, subscriptions, or features they have acquired in your app on other platforms or your web site.”
• So, Apple wanted WordPress.com’s paid tiers, domain name sales, etc. to be available
• The WordPress app has always been a free tool to edit sites, with no up-sells of any kind inside.
• Apple critics at The Verge said, “In other words, Apple won: the richest company in the world just successfully forced an app developer to monetize an app so it could make more money.”
• In the end, Apple backed off and made a rare
• apology…
  • “We believe the issue with the WordPress app has been resolved. Since the developer removed the display of their service payment options from the app, it is now a free stand-alone app and does not have to offer in-app purchases. We have informed the developer and apologize for any confusion that we have caused.”

Major Browsers to Stop Trusting SSL Certs Issued for More Than 1 Year

As of September 1, Google, Apple and Mozilla stopped trusting certificates issued for more than 398 days. The reason for this change is to phase out older vulnerable certificates and to reduce online fraud. If you’re using Let’s Encrypt, your certificates are issued for 90 days and automatically renewed. Read more: Maximum Lifespan of SSL/TLS Certificates is 398 Days Starting Today

Latest Version of Chrome Hides Full Address in URL Bar

This is annoying to many of us. But it’s solved by a right-click on the address bar. Read more: Google resumes its attack on the URL bar, hides full addresses on Chrome 86

Chrome Now Warns Users About Insecure Form Submissions

WordCamp News

WordCamp Online Only + Free Through 2022

• WordCamp US 2020 has been canceled
  • Organizers cite pandemic stress and virtual conference fatigue
  • State of the Word will likely still happen, but not in conjunction with any other event
• Official WordPress Meetups will be online only through 2020
• Large regional WordCamps cancelled until 2022

Upcoming US Virtual WordCamps

All of the following are live-streaming events, free to attend:

• Sept 25 – 26: Lima, Peru
• September 26: Philadelphia, PA
• October 3: Rochester, NY
• October 9: Austin, TX
• October 16-17: Italia
• October 17-18: Los Angeles, CA
• November 12: Finland

Full WordCamp Schedule

In this webinar, Nathan walks through each of these news items in more depth. Register for the next WordPress News Roundup webinar here.

Keep reading the article at WordPress News and Updates from iThemes – iThemes. The article was originally written by Kristen Wright on 2020-09-25 12:30:41.

The article was hand-picked and curated for you by the Editorial Team of WP Archives.