WP Weekly 115 - Updates - Auto Featured Images, New Partnerships, WordCamp Memories

It was a week of big updates from big products in the WordPress space, as seen in ACF, Pods, and Elementor. Also, new partnership offerings for EDD and Atarim users via Siteground and Rocket(.)new hosting providers. Plus, a look back at experiences and memories from the recently concluded WordCamp events.

20i® WordPress Hosting has been rated ‘Top-Tier’ by ReviewSignal in 2021 and 2022. Find out why and get your first month for only $1.

LearnDash is the most trusted online course platform for WordPress. Get your course website online with no code and starter site themes.

SafeUpdates for WordPress: Save Time, Increase Security & Automate with Confidence with Cloudways – Get Started Today!

↑ Community Sponsors supporting this weekly

• New Plugins… Bowo has released Debug Log Manager plugin with a neat user interface that allows easy error monitoring and debugging work. While Mark Wilkinson and Keith Devon at Highrise Digital have released the Simple Social Images plugin (free version) that auto-generate featured images based on specified template design.
  
  
• Big Updates… Elementor has listened and finally added Loop Builder functionality, among other enhancements in the v3.8 update like Flexbox Containers feature is now ready for general use. MainWP and SEOPress users now have the option of SEOPress for MainWP Extension, which allows you to control the SEOPress settings of all child sites directly from the MainWP Dashboard.
  
  
• Custom Data Plugins… two most popular options Pods & ACF had important updates this week. Pods 2.9.4 added a new block, ‘Pods Single Item – List Fields’, and five other features. While ACF 6.0 release has given a fresh user interface to free and pro versions of the plugin, along with ‘pagination for repeater fields’ feature.

1. Partnership & Acquisition… Siteground has launched managed EDD Hosting that includes the combo of their web hosting plan and Easy Digital Downloads Plugin (EDD) to sell online. Also, Rocket(.)net hosting and Atarim have partnered for a one-stop solution for hosting and visual collaboration. While PublishPress has acquired the popular image slider plugin, Meta Slider, from Extendify.
   
   
2. Automation Plugins… the free version of Uncanny Automator has added integration for SureCart, WordPress Download Manager, JetFormBuilder, and Advanced Ads. While the pro version comes with new JetEngine integration. Also, the free Thrive Automator plugin for automation on WordPress websites is now available in the official WordPress plugins repository.
   
   
3. Blocks Life… Brian Gardner has released a new elegantly designed block-based theme called Design Mode, which looks super neat. Also, Daniel Schutzsmith shared a preview of the cheat sheet containing the WordPress Block Editor Keyboard Shortcuts.
   
   
4. WordCamp Look Back… the WordCamp US 2022 event had a lot of interesting sessions. Leonardo Losoviz picked five talks that offered a good learning experience. Also, Femy Praseeth shared memories (and photos) from the WordCamp US 2022 event. While Asadullah Galib shared the experience of attending WordCamp Nepal.
   
   
5. Being Resourceful… Are you a military veteran working in the world of WordPress? WP Connects project is giving you an opportunity to share and highlight your story, journey, and web services you offer.

• Jet Reviews now with Gutenberg compatibility, video preview.
• Check the new Image Optimization lesson at Learn WordPress.
• WP Social Ninja is celebrating 1st year anniversary milestone.
• The WordPress Themes directory now has 10,000+ themes!
• Interesting: Run WordPress in the browser with no PHP server.
• WordPress 6.1 Beta1 version is now available for your testing.

Got Noticed, this free Notification plugin that allows you to customize alerts and notifications based on various parameters, triggers, and conditionals. Also, the B Slider plugin lets you add simple image and text content sliders to your page layouts created in the Gutenberg Block Editor.

↑ Community Sponsors supporting this weekly

• 40% OFF WP Social Ninja Plugin, pricing now starts from $47 only.
• 25% OFF on two Visual Composer plans with Back to School offer.
• From $69 the AI content generator plugin Get Genie lifetime plan.
• It's Back: Crocoblock $750 lifetime plan with 500 websites limit.
• $49 LTD of Bit Integrations, an integration WordPress plugin!
• The best CSS tool for WordPress users, Hoverify LTD is here!
• Massive 10TB storage upgrade option is now here at pCloud.

Upcoming Events...

Sep 29, 2022: The Membership Success Summit event.
Oct 01, 2022: The WP Awards 2022 voting starts for all.
Oct 03, 2022: Future of Contributing to WP, this event will feature Josepha Haden (WordPress Executive Director), Abha Thakor, and me (Davinder).
Oct 11, 2022: WooSesh virtual conference for WooCommerce user.
Nov 10, 2022: Agency Transformation Live, an in-person event in the UK.

Like this WordPress Goodness? Get the next issue directly in your email inbox. Check support options and connect on Twitter and Facebook. This content may contain affiliate links, read the disclosure for more.

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

Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn