WP Weekly 202 - Big Update - Cwicly Comeback, WP Costs, Hosting Shuts Down

Mark your calendar, the big WordPress 6.6 update is releasing this week, July 16, 2024. Also, in this issue of WP Weekly: WordCamps ROI, rising WordPress costs, BuddyBoss acquired, many new features, and product updates.

The WP Awards 2024 the Call for Sponsorships is open and nominations phase will start soon. Thanks to Gold Sponsors: GoDaddy, 20i Hosting, & Pressable. Silver Sponsors: Crocoblock & WP Division for the support.

↑ Community Sponsors supporting this weekly

• Cwicly Comeback… is what many users are speculating. Cwicly has updated its homepage with a link to the free builder version hosted on the WordPress repository. What’s next? Let’s see!
  
  
• Moving Gravity Google Sheets… Gravity Perks’ Google Sheets feature will be removed and added to the Gravity Connect suite, which focuses on connections with other services like Notion and OpenAI.
  
  
• Solid Central… for managing WordPress sites, has introduced the Activity Timeline feature, which provides a comprehensive view of website activities, facilitating easy management and monitoring.
  
  
• Jetpack Loaded… many new additions to Jetpack tools like a UTM Builder as a dashboard module, easy to see paid subscribers’ stats, and the option of on-demand backups in VaultPress.
  
  

Updates: Social Login, Toolset, CSV Import, Themify

Social Login Addon… the team at MemberPress has released a new social login addon allowing users to login using their Google, Facebook, or Twitter X accounts. This addon is free for pro plan users.

Toolset… 1.6.16v has added compatibility for the upcoming WordPress 6.6 release along with improvements to working with dynamic sources and better compatibility with WooCommerce features of the Astra theme.

CSV Importer… Chris Hadley has shared about the new Heroic KB CSV Importer, which allow users to import articles via CSV format in addition to automatic migrator tools for plugins like WeDocs and BetterDocs.

Themify… 7.5v update has added the ability to edit accordion and tab content in the backend mode making it easier for users to work with when adding modules within the accordion and tab content.

1. WordPress 6.6 Buzz… WP 6.6 is scheduled for release this week, July 16, 2024. Courtney Robertson at GoDaddy has published a detailed overview of the features of this release. Also, check the detailed post along with a video by Pascal Claro at WP Roads covering important additions like sync pattern overrides and grid layouts.
   
   
2. Hosting Blueprints… 20i has launched automated Blueprint Hosting Packages, promising to make selling hosting easy with blueprint packages with specific themes, builders, and plugins.
   
   
3. Free Hosting Closes… after 17 years in operation, Hostinger has shut down 000webhost, a free web hosting brand powered by Hostinger, to shift focus on more feature-rich hosting solutions.
   
   
4. WPTavern Future… is still a mystery, as it has been on a pause for a while now. Lawrence Ladomery shared a few ideas for what WP Tavern can be in the future, like “an inflight magazine”?
   
   
5. Acquisition Train… the Awesome Motive group is a regular on the acquisition train, and now they have acquired BuddyBoss platform. Moving forward, “With the exception of Tom and Michael (founders), the entire team will continue in their current roles…”.
   
   
6. WordCamp & WordSesh… the call for volunteers is open for the WordCamp Asia 2025 event until August 25, 2024. Also, the free registration is now open for WordSesh 2024, a virtual conference for WordPress professionals scheduled for July 30, 2024.
   
   
7. WP Milestones… from the team of Sergiu Radu and Andrei Glingeanu, Blocksy Theme has crossed the 200K+ active installs milestone. Also, in just 1 year and 9 months time, since the release of 1.0.0v, the Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) plugin has rocketed to the 100K active install milestone.

Quick Bits

• Check brand new look of Liquid Web – very neat & pro looking!
• New: Dental Clinic Website Template for Beaver Builder users.
• WS Form with new Make integration, formerly called Integromat.
• Matt Mullenweg on WP Product Talk, “What would Matt do?”!
• Participate in the WordPress Security Survey 2024 by Melapress.
• Automattic in America’s Greatest Workplaces 2024 by Newsweek.
• The WP Weekly on LinkedIn has crossed 600+ milestone, thanks!
  
  

Focus: ROI, Cost, Future, & Contributions!

Global WordCamps ROI… Taco Verdonschot highlighted the ROI of sponsoring WordCamps, including more visibility, better engagement, metrics access, and enabling more direct communication with the global sponsors via the global sponsor Slack channel.

WP Costs & Future… Eric Karkovack highlighted about the rising cost of WordPress with subscriptions for various products from different corners of the ecosystem. Kevin Geary joined Matt Medeiros to discuss the future of WordPress with regard to Gutenberg, page builders, and more.

WordPress Contributions… Jonathan Desrosiers, a Bluehost sponsored full time WordPress contributor, is marking 11 years of contributing to WordPress; congrats! Satyam Vishwakarma has decided to cut down on WordPress contribution to explore a new path with financial feasibility.

Omnisend is an easy, simple to use email marketing, email newsletter, SMS marketing & automation plugin for WordPress websites.

Platform InMotion with high performance servers for serious WordPress websites, comes with hassle free deployment tools and expert support.

↑ Community Sponsors supporting this weekly

WordPress Deals

• xCloud Lifetime Deal for $399 giving access to all features of the cloud control panel and you can bring up to 5 servers.
• Bundle Offer: Breakdance Pro + AI for $249.99 till July 31, 2024.
• Special: 20% OFF Draw Attention, Interactive Image Map Plugin.
• WooCommerce Alternative in the making, North Commerce LTD.
• FluentBoards LTD, a powerful project & task management plugin.
• Themeisle's new Hyve AI Chatbot tool, $149 LTD for 50 Sites.
• Lifetime Deal for the Admin & Site Enhancements Pro is trending.
• Get pCloud's 2TB storage LTD for WordPress Backups and Files.
• 100s of products listed in WordPress Lifetime Deals database.

Upcoming Events

The WP Awards 2024: Call for Sponsorships is now open.

July 18, 2024: WordPress in higher education, an online event.
July 19, 2024: Stellar Spark free online event for WP people.
July 25, 2024: WordPress London Meetup, 6.30PM BST.

August 20, 2024: Inaugural London WordPress Meetup event.
September 17, 2024: WordCamp US 2024 in Portland, Oregon.
September 23, 2024: Digital Asset Congress 2024 in Iceland.
October 09, 2024: WordPress Accessibility Day 2024, online event.

Not Subscribed? Get the Next Issue of WP Weekly.
Want to Promote? Check available Sponsorship options.
Spread Goodness! Connect on Twitter (X), Facebook, LinkedIn

Got a new WordPress product or service or update to feature in the newsletter? Use the Submit Form to get started. Note: Some part of this content may contain affiliate and sponsored links, read the disclosure.

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

Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn