WP Weekly 136 - Directions - AI Power, WP Studies Reveal, Coming Soon

Many directions in the WordPress space are making progress, be it improving existing products like Divi, and Elementor or embracing the power of AI within WordPress plugins, and of course, launching new services and features.

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• AI & WordPress… packing in AI + Accessibility + WordPress, is the EveryAlt tool that promises to generate accurate alternative text for every image on your WordPress website and beyond. All in One Seo plugin (AIOSEO 4.3.2) is the latest entrant in the WordPress SEO space to add the AI powered meta title and description generator – which is powered by the OpenAI service.
  
  
• Being Resourceful… check the new knowledge space and resources at the all-new LearnDash Academy for creating successful online courses. How about replacing WooCommerce Plugins with AI-generated code snippets? James LePage published a helpful list to get going. Also, WPTurbo has added the download as a plugin option for the generated code snippets via this online tool.
  
  
• Coming Soon… Saif Hassan from the WeDevs team has teased the upcoming InboxWP transactional emails service for WordPress users. Also, coming very soon in the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin is the ability to register CPTs (Custom Post types) and custom taxonomies – one less plugin, for sure!

1. Beta Releases… Elementor v3.12 Beta Release is now available for testing, adding new features like mega menu, loop alternate template, and loop template library. While Vikas from InstaWP teased an upcoming feature that allows the selling of WordPress themes by anyone using InstaWP service.
   
   
2. New Integrations… Ronald Huereca has updated the Comment Edit Pro 3.1 plugin with ConvertKit integration, and also comes with better front-end editing support. Also, TutorLMS has announced integration with MailMint for easier nurturing and selling of other courses through leads management and email marketing.
   
   
3. Based on User Feedback… Freemius has made another major SDK change that no longer makes a connection to the Freemius API upon plugin/theme activation. Also, taking the first step to revamp the foundation of Divi and make it faster – Divi 5 Dev Alpha release is now available. Matt at the WPress Doctor Youtube channel did the preview video of this release.
   
   
4. Core Updates… WordPress 6.2 will have the move_dir function that should work better and more efficiently than the existing copy_dir function. WordPress 6.2 Release Candidate 1 is now available for your testing. Also, Milana Cap shared the WordPress 6.2 field guide for in-depth information on changes in this release.
   
   
5. WP Milestones + Perspectives… Kori Ashton is close to hitting 50,000 subscribers on her Youtube channel, a fantastic achievement, and do subscribe for WordPress goodness. Also, Sven Lehnert wrote an open letter regarding the review process of WordPress plugins; some strong points – what do you think?
   
   
6. Online WordPress Events… the Kadence Amplify event focussing on mastering the art of effective website creation is happening on March 16, 2023. Also, check the Decode 2023 online event by WPEngine on Mar 21, 2023 promising to the biggest WordPress developer event of the year. Finally, the new colorful website for Atarim’s Web Agency Summit 2023 scheduled for Apr 25, 2023, is now live for sign-ups.

• Preview the new Podcast Pro Starter Template on Kadence.
• Official Moderation Addon for Gravity Forms with toxicity filter.
• 20i Hosting has launched a brand new managed cloud hosting.
• Why Not: A few light-hearted, funny, & silly WordPress Plugins.
• Interesting: Vultr has introduced a free plan with a 10GB disk.
• Did you Notice? The new user interface for Google Docs & Drive.

WordPress Studies: Interesting Results & Findings!

Kyle Van Deusen spent 40+ hours creating the WordPress Professionals Report, and the results show the solid goodness it brings out. From surveying 667 WordPress professionals, this report highlights interesting insights. Almost 59% are one-person agencies, 31.7% of the average website price range is $2,500 – $4,999, and the total revenue for 39.97% was less than $49,999. Imran from Web Squadron did a video breakdown of this report.

While Patchstack has published the State of WordPress Security in 2022 report, with findings like: 328% more security bugs reported in WordPress plugins, the most common security issue was via the cross-site request forgery (CSRF) at 29.4%, and over 42% of WordPress websites had at least 1 vulnerable software installed.

Also, the Full Site Editing Study has been updated, highlighting an interesting fact that 10% of theme shops now provide block patterns. This was 6% in January 2022, and 3% in May 2021. Also, 33% of theme shops now offer custom Gutenberg blocks. It was 25% in January 2022, and 17% in May 2021.

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Upcoming Events...

Mar 16, 2023: Kadence Amplify event for website building.
Mar 21, 2023: Decode 2023 online event by WPEngine.
Mar 24, 2023: WordCamp Phoenix in Phoenix, AZ.
Mar 25, 2023: WordCamp Kerala in Kochi, India.
Apr 22, 2023: WordCamp Sofia 2023 in Bulgaria.
Apr 25, 2023: Web Agency Summit 2023 by Atarim.

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

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