This Week in WordPress #145

Welcome

Issue #145

So, quite a bit happened this week. We've got Automattic getting into the freelancer space and some notable WordPress folk have expressed their concern.

Wordfest LIVE is just around the corner and you should certainly get it bookedmarked ASAP so that you don't miss out on any of the goodness.

Liquid Web has taken control of The Events Calendar and the 50 people who work on that, yes 50 people work on that!

There's a whole lot more which you can see below.

Have a great week...

This Week in WordPress

This Week in WordPress #145 - "You get a prize and you get a prize"

Recorded on Monday 14th January 2021. With Nathan Wrigley, Paul Lacey, Michelle Frechette and Dōvy Paukstys.

Each week we discuss some of the the stories (from below) which captured our attention. It's like this newsletter but with real people!

If you ever want to join us live you can do that every Monday at 2pm UK time on the WP Builds LIVE page.

'This Week in WordPress' Sponsor

AB Split Test

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Community

WordPress.com Rattles Freelancer Community with New Website Building Service Launch

"WordPress.com launched a new website building service today with prices starting at $4,900. Automattic has been beta testing the service since the last quarter of 2020. The product announcement invites customers to let WordPress.com’s professional team “translate your vision into a compelling and modern website” but does not specify pricing for more customized websites."

I spell it wordpress now. (Automattic web design service?!) #ispellitwordpressnow

Matt Report Video - "Automattic is selling website services now. Enjoy!"

WordPress Powers 39.5% of All Websites

"WordPress is now powering 39.5% of all websites in 2021, up from powering 35% of sites in 2020. Counting only sites that use a content management system (CMS), WordPress has a market share of 64.1%. A significant number of websites (38.3%) use no content management system at all."

WordFest Live 2021 Schedule

Great looking event later this month. "WordFest Live 2021 will feature 48 sessions, held over 24 hours, across four different stages."

2021: Reshaping the Tavern Experience

"Our team at WP Tavern has gotten a bit of a breather over the holidays. We have an exciting project we are just getting off the ground. We set some things in motion months ago. Now, it is time to push forward. New design. Podcast."

Liquid Web Acquires The Events Calendar WordPress Plugin From Modern Tribe

"Liquid Web announced today via the iThemes blog that it acquired The Events Calendar from Modern Tribe. The acquisition gives them ownership of the plugin, its suite of event-related plugins, and the team behind it all."

The Best Way to Create a Dropshipping Store

"Dropshipping is an effective, simple way to start selling online without having to worry about shipping, fulfillment, or inventory management. If you’ve already weighed the pros and cons of dropshipping, selected products to sell, and set up the foundation of your business, it’s time for the final step: setting up your online store!"

Plugins / Themes / Blocks

All in One SEO Plugin Turns on Automatic Updates without Notifying Users, Removes Functionality in Latest Release

"Buried in the changelog of a series of minor releases that dropped before the Christmas holiday, All in One SEO plugin users were given the surprise gift of automatic updates."

Block System Will Create More Commercial Opportunities for WordPress Theme Authors

"Ten years ago, a potential WordPress theme buyer might stumble upon a site like ThemeForest. The themes on the site would primarily tout the hundreds of shortcodes they included. These shortcodes would allow the user to build anything they wanted with simple BBCode-like brackets around some tag or another."

How to Create a Custom Module Using Beaver Builder (In 5 Steps)

"In this article, we’ll cover what custom modules are, why they’re so powerful, and how to create your own. Then we’ll provide some examples to get you started. Let’s dive in!"

Security

WordPress Vulnerability News, January 2021

"WordPress vulnerability news is a weekly digest of highlighted WordPress plugin security vulnerabilities or vulnerability discloses that have been published."

WP Builds

Its importent to get you're grammer write; and ProWritingAid Will help with that, - Podcast #211

Writing is important. It's one of the greatest inventions in the history of humanity. In fact, it may very well be the most important. Errors in grammar, spelling and structure stand out and spoil the flow of what you're trying to get across. So step up ProWritingAid to the rescue! It's a tool built by Chris Banks, the guest on the podcast today. Listen now to see why he built it and how it might help your own writing.

Not WordPress, but useful anyway…

Google Pay Becomes Google Plex to Manage Your Day-To-Day Finances

"Google Pay gets an upgrade with Google Plex. Find out what differentiates this from other payment platforms and what new AI-driven features it offers."

PHP 8: The Complete Guide

"On November 26, 2020, we entered into the new world of PHP 8. Every PHP update brings an entire host of brand new, major features. While not all of the updates are important to the majority of casual users, even other updates are too niche for the majority of seasoned WordPress developers."

Welcome to the Hopin family, StreamYard

"As we begin the year, I’m more than thrilled to announce that Hopin has acquired video streaming platform StreamYard."