WP Weekly 112 - Builders - Who's Cheating, News Theme, $499 Websites

Gutenberg has not slowed down the new page builder solutions appearing (and progressing) in the ecosystem. This week saw the release of the pro version of Builderius and Breakdance builders. Also, a controversy in the optimization plugins ecosystem kept a lot of folks busy.

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• Brewing Now… while the WooCommerce challenger, SureCart’s pro version (By Adam Preiser and Brainstorm Force) is still brewing, there is also SureMembers surprise which would compete with membership plugins like Restrict Content Pro, and MemberPress. Also, for deeper analytics and better analysis of WooCommerce data – check the new iOrders App by Matija Golubović, the free early access is now available.
  
  
• New Theme Launches… the ilovewp team has released a new commercial theme for news-based websites, the Pressbox Theme is built with a focus on performance and is powered by easy-to-use block patterns. Also, folks from themeisle have released the Raft theme – which is lightweight and ‘Full Site Editing’ ready.
  
  
• New Plugins… the Bricks Builder users can look forward to adding more features to their Bricks made websites with the new Piotnet Bricks plugin launched at $72 lifetime early bird pricing. Also, Vikas Singhal has released a new standalone Forms block plugin called Gutena Forms for the block editor users.

1. Who is Cheating… in the ecosystem of WordPress speed optimization plugins? Gijo Varghese accused ‘WP Optimize’ plugin of cheating PageSpeed and other testing tools. Sarah Gooding at WP Tavern wrote on this, and the comments section was all busy with different viewpoints. The WP-Optimize team has published their reply, saying: they completely reject these false allegations.
   
   
2. Acquisitions Train… keeps chugging along with more consolidations. The form plugin Gravity Forms has acquired a third-party Gravity form addons brand Gravity Flow, and their form service Gravity Experts. Also, the WP Super Cache plugin created by the Automattic developer Donncha Ó Caoimh has officially joined the Jetpack family.
   
   
3. Fresh Integrations… Kadence has added integration for Pods making it possible to display custom fields data at various places on your WordPress website. While the WP Fusion update v3.40.22 has added support for conditional logic with Gravity Forms.
   
   
4. WP Perspectives… Mark Zahra at WPMayor published an insightful take on the state of WordPress blogs concerning competition, integrity, money, and reputation. While Matt Medeiros highlighted the dark side of GPL licensing, like how about grabbing all themes and plugins for $9 per month?
   
   
5. WordCamps Action… here are a few tips for a better online viewing experience of the WordCamp US 2022 event. The call for speakers is now open for WordCamp Buffalo, NY, USA, till September 11, 2022. Also, help WordCamp Asia 2023 meet the speaker diversity goals with a focus on underrepresented and Asian speakers.

• Hitting hard for sure: Not Sure How to WordPress Anymore?
• Hits Further: WordPress(.)com will make websites for just $499!
• Kinsta ready to launch application and database hosting services.
• Generating images from text is a fantastic AI-powered block idea!
• Liquid Web is celebrating 25 years in the online hosting space.
• WordPress Nepal planning plastic-free materials for the event.
• Applications to volunteer at WP Accessibility Day are now open.

While the Gutenberg Block Editor is progressing at its own pace, new WordPress page builder solutions keep emerging in the ecosystem. The pro version of two website builders is now available for early adopters.

Volodymyr Denchyk and Vitalii Kiiko have created developer focussed page builder called Builderius, and the early adopter pro version is now available at a $99 lifetime plan. Also, the pro version of Breakdance builder is available at an introductory price of $149 per year, this from the makers of the Oxygen builder.

Fancy Winning… a few WordPress products? The Admin Bar is running a giveaway with $7500 worth of prizes on the occasion of the 100th issue of their newsletter. Also, Imran is celebrating 10k subscribers to the Youtube channel with a free giveaway featuring prominent WordPress products.

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• $55 LTD of QuotesDLX for beautiful quotes in the block editor.
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Upcoming Events...

Sep 09, 2022: WordCamp US 2022 event at San Diego, CA.
Sep 15, 2022: WordCamp Netherland 2022 at Arnhem.
Oct 01, 2022: The WP Awards 2022 voting starts for all.

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By
Davinder Singh Kainth
A creative who Loves to Create Online Spaces powered by WordPress.

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