WordPress Reverts Live Preview Button on Plugins After Developer Backlash

Last week WordPress meta contributors implemented a “Live Preview” button for plugins in the official directory, with the intention of allowing users to safely test any plugin in one click. The button went live across all of WordPress.org’s 59,000+ plugins but took plugin developers by surprise as it was pushed through without any communication or… Continue reading WordPress Reverts Live Preview Button on Plugins After Developer Backlash

Matthaus Klute Acquires Social Link Pages Plugin

WordPress developer Corey Maass has sold his Social Link Pages plugin to Matthaus Klute, an independent WordPress consultant and developer with Alpha Particle. It’s another story of small plugins changing hands, where developers get the opportunity to test ideas and business models. Even the most modest creations have value in a thriving marketplace where business… Continue reading Matthaus Klute Acquires Social Link Pages Plugin

Block Visibility 3.1.0 Adds WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads Controls

When WordPress contributor and developer Nick Diego released version 3.0 of his Block Visibility plugin earlier this year in March, he made all the Pro features available in the free version, with the exception of a few that would take more time. The plugin, which is used on more than 10,000 WordPress sites, allows users to… Continue reading Block Visibility 3.1.0 Adds WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads Controls

WordPress Plugin Review Team Onboards New Members, Releases Plugin to Flag Common Errors

WordPress’ Plugin Review Team continues to dig out from under a massive backlog that has grown to 1,260 plugins awaiting review. Developers submitting new plugins can expect to wait at least 91 days, according to the notice on the queue today. “Currently there are 1,241 plugins awaiting review,” Automattic-sponsored Plugin Review team member Alvaro Gómez… Continue reading WordPress Plugin Review Team Onboards New Members, Releases Plugin to Flag Common Errors

WordPress.com Plugin Pages Add Download Link for Using Plugins on Self-Hosted Sites

WordPress.com plugin pages have been updated to include a download link for WordPress.org plugins listed in the .com directory. These are the listings that are scraped from WordPress.org. The plugins are available for free on WordPress.org for self-hosted sites but can only be used on WordPress.com with a paid subscription. Logged out view of WordPress.com… Continue reading WordPress.com Plugin Pages Add Download Link for Using Plugins on Self-Hosted Sites

New Plugin Adds Citations and Bibliography Block to WordPress Editor

Citations is a new plugin created by WP Munich and the team at Luehrsen // Heinrich, a German WordPress agency. It makes it easy to create in-text citations and assign them a specific source. Most of the existing plugins that do this are for older versions of WordPress. This one is created specifically for those using the… Continue reading New Plugin Adds Citations and Bibliography Block to WordPress Editor

ActivityPub 1.0.0 Released, Introducing Blog-Wide Accounts and New Blocks

Version 1.0.0 of the ActivityPub plugin was released this week with major updates that make it possible to have a blog-wide account, instead of just individual author accounts, where followers receive updates from all authors. This new feature allows people to follow blogs on decentralized platforms like Mastodon (and many others) with replies automatically published… Continue reading ActivityPub 1.0.0 Released, Introducing Blog-Wide Accounts and New Blocks

Developers Raise Concerns About WordPress.com Plugin Listings Outranking WordPress.org on Google Search

WordPress core developer John Blackbourn sparked a heated discussion yesterday when he posted an image of his WordPress User Switching plugin ranking higher for the WordPress.com listing than the page on WordPress.org. Why has @wordpressdotcom replicated the entire https://t.co/oTA9NDVkFk plugin directory on its .com domain name? Searching for some plugin names now results in the… Continue reading Developers Raise Concerns About WordPress.com Plugin Listings Outranking WordPress.org on Google Search

WordPress Plugin Developers Renew Demands for Better Plugin Metrics

It has be nearly one year since WordPress silently turned off active install growth data for plugins hosted in the official plugin repository, a key metric that many developers rely on for accurate tracking and product decision-making. “Insufficient data obfuscation” was cited as the reason for the charts’ removal, but this opaque decision landed without… Continue reading WordPress Plugin Developers Renew Demands for Better Plugin Metrics

ACF’s 2023 Annual Survey Results Reinforce Plugin’s Focus on Improving the Block Building Experience

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), one of the plugins WP Engine acquired from Delicious Brains in 2022, has published the results if its first annual survey. Although ACF reports more than 4.5 million active users, including PRO site installs, the survey only gathered feedback from 2,031 respondents. These results are more representative of the plugin’s developer community, as… Continue reading ACF’s 2023 Annual Survey Results Reinforce Plugin’s Focus on Improving the Block Building Experience