WP Weekly 224 - Status - Smart Table Block, Woo in 2025, Big AI Acquisition

The court has ordered ‘status quo’ in the Matt vs. WP Engine case. Hence, the original ACF plugin listing has been restored. Also, in this issue, a new block builder plugin, better Tables block in Kadence, and a big AI acquisition by Automattic.

The WP Awards 2024. Voting will close within the next 5 days on December 20, 2024. This is the very last stretch to Submit your Vote and let your favorite WordPress things shine! This event is sponsored by: GoDaddy, 20i Hosting, Pressable, Crocoblock, WP Division, & Dynamic.ooo.

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• New Block Builder… a brand new launch in the space of block editor based builders, Blockera Site Builder promises advanced features for easy website building in the block editor. Features like responsive controls, block states, advanced design options, and more.
  
  
• Big GreenShift Update… the 10v is a big update for the GreenShift builder with the introduction of filter block to the Query addon. Other new additions include Anchor API, custom panels, popups, lightboxes, and animation Presets for Interactions.
  
  
• New Kadence Table Block… the team at Kadence has made the Kadence Table Block smarter and more useful. For example, you can insert any block into table cells, allowing you to create more profound and customized table layouts.
  
  
• 24 Hours Human Support… Joel Olawanle, over at Kinsta Blog, shared reasons why WordPress agencies should have human support that is 24/7 and always on. While the reasons are convincing, this can be challenging for one or two person agency operations.
  
  

New Plugins: Media Info, Image ALT, Dynamic Parts

More Media Information… images in the WordPress Media Library do not show additional information. Dave Grey has released Media Library Essentials plugin that allows you to see information like image usage counts, file sizes, and dimensions.

Image with No ALT Text… Robert DeVore has released a free IMG A11Y plugin that displays all images with no ALT text. Further, you can easily add ALT text for those images, for easier image accessibility compliance.

Dynamic Template Parts… Matt Watson has released a free Dynamic Template Parts plugin that allows you to swap headers, footers, and other template parts dynamically based on the content you are editing.

New Woo Plugins: Funding, Customizer, Product Gallery

FundWP for Stripe & Woo… Dave Grey has released FundWP for Stripe which enables easy fundraising or crowdfunding on your WordPress website through a quick connection to your Stripe account. There is also FundWP for Woo for easy setup with your existing WooCommerce store website.

Easy Store Customizer… Bheru Lal Gameti has released his first free plugin, Easy Store Customizer, for customizing a WooCommerce store. It allows you to rename the ‘Add to Cart’ button label, change the number of products per page, and more.

Vertical Gallery Product… want to switch the default WooCommerce product gallery to the vertical left or right side layout? Robert DeVore has released a free Vertical Gallery Product Display WooCommerce plugin that does exactly that.

1. Big AI Acquisition… Automattic has acquired WPAI, AI for WordPress, featuring products like CodeWP, WP .chat, and AgentWP. The WPAI team including James, Greg, and Ovi will be joining Automattic for AI features progress in WordPress.
   
   
2. Plugin Acquisition… WPExperts has acquired the Advanced File Manager Plugin from Modal Web. This plugin has over 100,000 active installations, and going forward, WPExperts plans to add new features to this plugin.
   
   
3. xCloud + Linode Servers… xCloud has added Linode (Akamai) integration, allowing easy connection to your Linode account using OAuth. With this, you can manage your Linode server with an easy to use interface on xCloud.
   
   
4. Communities on Tumblr… now out of beta, the team at Tumblr has launched communities feature on Tumblr. Anyone can create private or public community on their topic of interest or join any existing community.
   
   
5. New Website Look… Nick Diego shared about the new look of the Make WordPress website as a part of work for a consistent design language across WordPress Org website. Similarly, the Photos Directory website also got a new look, now powered by blocks.
   
   
6. WP Gives a Hand is back… the 2023 edition of WPGivesAHand successfully contributed $11,200 worth of donations. The 2024 edition is now live, where participating brands donate a percentage of every sale to charity.
   
   

New Features: Woo, FluentCRM, SEOPress, AIOSEO

Table Design Templates… 4.1v update of WooCommerce Product Table plugin from Barn2 has added all new pre-built table design templates for a quick start, and further, you can customize them as per requirement.

FluentCRM… 2.9.30v update has introduced Labels in Automations and Campaigns for better organization. Also added WordPress date format support in custom fields and test functionality for the outgoing webhooks.

SEOPress… 8.4v update has made the TOC block compatible with the Full Site Editing. Also, the Site Audit feature now comes with better AI integration, allowing you to fix missing alt texts for your images from there.

AIOSEO… 4.7.6v update has added BuddyPress integration, enabling SEO optimization for BuddyPress content types. It has also added Google Web Stories integration for finer control over this format to drive traffic and engagement.

Quick Bits

• SureForms 1.2.0v has added integration with Zapier for automations.
• Omnisend’s new LifterLMS integration for course students funnel.
• WooCommerce in 2025, more in core features & performance focus.
• Openverse now has a new dark mode option for the whole website.
• Piccia Neri shares (video), you ready for European Accessibility Act?
• WordPress market share within CMS(s) now at 62.1% on w3techs.
• A rare open letter from community for a call governance reforms.
  
  

Legal Movement… Revert & Maintain Status Quo

In the recent court order, WP Engine won a preliminary injunction against WordPress .com and Automattic. WP Engine posted (Links X), “We are grateful that the court has granted our motion for a preliminary injunction that restores access to and functionality of wordpressdotorg for WP Engine, its customers, and its users. This ruling provides much-needed stability for the WordPress ecosystem”.

Automattic posted (Links X), “Today’s ruling is a preliminary order designed to maintain the status quo. It was made without the benefit of discovery, our motion to dismiss, or the counterclaims we will be filing against WP Engine shortly…”.

In response, Matt Mullenweg mentioned that he does not like the order but has complied with it. Like the checkbox for WP Engine disclosure on the WordPress org login page has been removed. Also, the original ACF plugin listing has been restored on the WordPress org website.

Matt Mullenweg posted (Links X), “I’m disgusted and sickened by being legally forced to provide free labor and services to wpengine, a dangerous precedent that should chill every open source maintainer. While I disagree with the court’s decision, I’ve fully complied with its order…”.

Exploring the future direction of WordPress…

Who is WordPress For… Hendrik Luehrsen has published, WordPress isn’t WordPress anymore. “WordPress has always been a collaborative project, and its future depends on contributions and perspectives from across its community”.

What should be the WordPress Roadmap… Joost de Valk elaborated further, “Many of the arguments that people use against WordPress, we are very often quick to dismiss: WordPress is old, not modern. WordPress is insecure. WordPress is slow”.

CartFlows just dropped v2.1, and it’s a game-changer. The new Instant Checkout & Thank You Layout eliminate distractions with optimized design.

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

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Upcoming Events

Last Chance to Vote at The WP Awards 2024, voting ends Dec 20!

December 16, 2024: State of Word 2024, in Tokyo, Japan.
January 03, 2025: WordCamp Ahmedabad 2025, Gujarat, India.
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February 20, 2025: WordCamp Asia 2025, Manila, Philippines.
March 07, 2025: WordCamp Madrid 2025, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain.
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By
Davinder Singh Kainth
A creative who Loves to Create Online Spaces powered by WordPress.

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