WP Weekly 205 - Rebrands - Block Interactions, Free Roadmap, Gravatar Contact Form

This week saw two rebrands resulting in new names: Awedesk and NextBricks. Also getting attention are Automattic’s new AI partnership and WooCommerce closing Woo Express service. Plus, many new addon launches.

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• New Roadmap Addon… FluentBoards Pro users can now easily create a public roadmap for their products using the newly launched free Roadmap Addon. It allows easy management of product feedback and feature requests.
  
  
• New Interactions for WP… the team behind the Stackable block builder plugin has launched the WP Interactions plugin which adds interactive animations on click, scroll, hover, and more. Check the sample page to preview cool effects.
  
  
• AI Recipe Generator… Recipe Card Blocks Plugin has introduced an AI Recipe Generator feature that allows you to generate food recipes on the fly for your food blog on WordPress with AI powers. An interesting AI use case – for sure!
  
  
• New Look Websites… Kathryn Presner shared about the all new look of Learn WordPress website – love the new look. David Bisset, Product Manager of WP Charitable LLC, shared (LinkedIn) all new look of the WP Charitable website – neat and easy to navigate.
  
  

Updates: Perfmatters, Split Test, AVIF, AffiliateWP

Perfmatters… 2.3.2v has improved compatibility with AutomaticCSS and Elementor. It has also added JS exclusion for Kadence WP menu and support to exclude page builders array for Generate Blocks and TranslatePress.

AB Split Test… 1.7.4v has introduced new sub goals feature for agency users allowing you to gather more data to see how your test variations affect individual steps of your funnel. There is also new pricing for various plans.

AVIF Image Format Support… the team at Elementor has added AVIF image format support to the Image Optimizer by Elementor, promising more efficient and faster loading of image assets on your WordPress website.

AffiliateWP… has introduced the Forced Matrix compensation plan for the Multi-Tier Commissions addon for encouraging affiliate collaboration and engagement.

1. WordPress 6.6 Performance… Adam Silverstein has published a detailed overview of performance improvements in WordPress 6.6 – like the removal of obsolete polyfills dependencies, priming transient and transient timeout options in ‘get_transient’, cache block theme patterns persistently, and more.
   
   
2. PersonalizeWP… 2.3v has added complete tracking support for block-based cart and checkout blocks, introduced in WooCommerce version 9. It has improved conditions matching within segments by adding the option to choose between OR and AND logic.
   
   
3. Pabbly Integration… both WPFunnels and Mail Mint for WordPress users have added Pabbly integration which helps in setting up automation sequences, similar to Zapier.
   
   
4. Gravatar’s New Features… it seems the Gravatar team is on a roll with many new additions. The latest update makes links more visual with thumbnails and the ability to add a simple contact form on your profile to kickstart conversations.
   
   
5. Gutenberg Update… 18.9v update of Gutenberg has added new features to Data Views like customizing column order and adjusting the density of grid views. It has also added border control support to the Gallery, Buttons, Heading, Paragraph, Quote blocks, Social Links, and Term Description blocks.
   
   
6. WP Milestones… Gijo Varghese shared (Links X) about FlyingPress celebrating its 4th anniversary, and the team is now spread across four countries. Jeffrey Dalrymple’s Lytbox Youtube channel for web creatives has crossed the 25k+ subscribers milestone.
   
   
7. Online Events… WordPress Agency Summit 2024, an online event by CrocoBlock, has been announced with the call for speakers open till August 18, 2024. Also, Lainey Feingold will be the keynote speaker at this year’s WordPress Accessibility Day event.
   
   

In Focus: New WordPress Addons & Plugins

Pods to Meta Box Migration… the team at Meta Box has released a free MB Pods Migration addon, which allows you to migrate custom post types, custom taxonomies, field groups, and more from Pods to Meta Box plugin.

Sync and Export Addon… Arpit G Shah has released a new WPSyncSheets addon for the Document Library Pro plugin from the Barn2 plugins. It allows you to sync document data to single Google Spreadsheet.

Woo Enhancements Addon… Josh Kohlbach, CEO of Rymera Web Co., shared (LinkedIn) about a significant update to the free Store Kit plugin for WooCommerce users. It has added many enhancements to allow easy customization of a Woo store and tweak those small yet impactful details.

Archive Inactive Plugins… John Kirker has created the Archive Inactive WordPress plugin, which allows you to archive inactive plugins to a separate directory. The aim is to reduce clutter in your main plugins folder and yet have those plugins readily available for future use.

Quick Bits

• New: Patchstack Academy to learn ethical hacking & security.
• An in-depth guide to learn theme .json powers for WP users.
• WooCommerce has closed Woo Express service, not sure why!
• It’s Official: WordCamp US 2025 on Aug 25 in Portland, Oregon.
• 1st batch of WordCamp Asia 2025 tickets on sale (& sold out).
• OpenAI is gearing up to launch SearchGPT answers engine.
  
  

WP Business Buzz: Re-brands and AI Moves

Almighty Rebranded… the team at Peepso launched the Almighty Support plugin back in August 2023. It has been rebranded to the new name Awedesk and now comes in two options: Awedesk SaaS and Awedesk WordPress plugin.

Another Rebrand… Bricks Core, an addon for Bricks Builder, has rebranded to Bricks Next. The new website is fancy showcasing various elements and features it brings to the Bricks ecosystem.

Automattic’s AI Partnership… Automattic has announced its partnership with Perplexity, an AI-powered answer engine. Also, websites mentioned in Perplexity search results will be eligible for revenue share.

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WordPress Deals

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• 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.

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

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

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