WP Weekly 153 - Million - Build Forms with AI, CSS Framework in Blocks, WordCamp Cancelled

Let’s dig into interesting data on WordPress plugins with over a million active installs. Also included in this issue: new Gravity Turnstile AddOn and WooCommerce Shipping Calculator, AI powers in WSForm, and the first time ever – a WordCamp event cancelled for a very different reason.

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• Interesting Picks… Core Framework, a visual CSS framework from David Babinec and the team has released a free Gutenberg addon to use the Core Framework in the block editor – paid addons for Oxygen and Bricks Builder are also available. Also, do you want to add the Ipsum Generator tool like codeinwp website has added here – check their free open source WP Ipsum Generator plugin.
  
  
• New Releases… Gravity Forms has released a new Cloudflare Turnstile Add-On for Gravity Forms users to use Cloudflare’s Turnstile, which is a smart alternative to CAPTCHA implementation. While the team at Barn2 has released a new WooCommerce Shipping Calculator that makes it easy for visitors to calculate shipping costs upfront on the product page itself.
  
  
• New Features… WSForm has introduced AI powers that allow you to write a few words like which form fields you need in a form and your form is ready with the AI magic. While the All in One SEO plugin (AIOSEO) has launched the SEO Revisions feature that helps you track all the SEO changes you make on your website.

1. Better Blocks… the Spectra Pro plugin, for building websites with the Block Editor power, v1.0.0 is now available for download to the Astra Growth Bundle subscribers; it will soon be available for individual purchase. While in the Memberlite theme, for use with membership plugins like Paid Memberships Pro, the v5.0 comes with hybrid theme features allowing better use with the Block Editor.
   
   
2. Core Updates… WordPress 6.3 Beta 3 download is now available for your testing with 34 Site Editor and 40+ Trac updates. Also, note that the support for PHP 5 will be dropped in WordPress 6.3, which is scheduled for release on August 08, 2023.
   
   
3. Future Core Focus… Matias Ventura shared more about the upcoming real time collaboration feature in the block editor that would allow concurrent collaboration and shared edits. Also, the media library will get attention in terms of expanded media management capabilities, single media interfaces, and overall improvements to the media flow.
   
   
4. Troubling Space… this could be the first time (to best I recall), a WordCamp Event, WordCamp Dhaka 2023 has been cancelled due to concerns of corporate influence on community decision making. Sam Suresh shared more details, people involved will be removed from deputy and mentor roles and companies involved will be banned from WordPress events sponsorship for one year.
   
   
5. People of WordPress… Remkus De Vries shared about changing priorities from being a WordCamp organizer and a community player to focusing now on own business growth – we all make this move eventually and I fully agree with this. Aurooba Ahmed shared about online harassment – which still happens on a regular basis. This reminded me of many similar instances long time (I remember every bit of detail, why not!).
   
   
6. Call for Sponsors… The WP Awards 2023 is coming soon and the call for sponsorship is now open for your support. The 2023 edition of Page Builder Summit is scheduled for September 18, 2023, and the call for sponsorship is now open. Also, the call for sponsorship is open for WordCamp Germany 2023 scheduled for October 19, 2023.
   
   
7. WP Milestones… WPBeginner is celebrating its 14th birthday; Syed Balkhi shared the story behind WPBeginner and a lot of other updates. While Marcus Burnette’s project The WP World has crossed 1000 listings of WordPress users from around the world. Also, Kyle Van Deusen’s Youtube channel for ‘The Admin Bar’ community has crossed 5K subscribers.

• Amelia redesigned Event List Booking Form with filters & search.
• Kinsta has launched a research program for surveys and tests.
• Look back at the design prep for the WordPress 20th anniversary.
• DigitalOcean has acquired Paperspace, a cloud services provider.
• Facebook’s new (Twitter like) Threads App – I am there, and you?

WordPress Plugins: Million Installs + Free Support

WordPress Plugins with a million active installs, here is an interesting analysis by the PlugScore website. The yearly average plugin pricing range is $68.21 and the highest being $300 per year for WooExpress. Company-wise, Awesome Motive has 9 plugins followed by Automattic with 3 plugins in this million installs category. Country-wise, the USA is at the top followed by UK, Netherlands, India, and so on.

And, notable for plugin devs… will not providing support for a free plugin in the directory result in its de-listings? Well no; however, your plugin may downrank as a result of a lack of ‘resolved’ threads – as explained by Mika Epstein (official doc).

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Upcoming Events...

July 12, 2023: WP Campus 2023, in-person and online.
August 22, 2023: WordPress Community Summit in Maryland.
August 24, 2023: WordCamp US 2023, National Harbor, Maryland.

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

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