[ad_1] Marketing consultant Bridget Willard announced the first commercial content pack for her Launch With Words project. Last week, she released a set of 12 blog posts for roofing contractors, but there are more on the way for industry-specific content. In January, alongside Ronald Huereca of MediaRon, Willard launched the Launch With Words plugin. The initial project supported a single “starter pack” of draft blog posts to prompt website owners to publish something new each month to build their brand. The plugin itself is primarily an importer. For the developer crowd, Huereca has a post that covers the technical details of the project. It is well worth a read to see how he approached building the plugin. The idea was unique. Willard had written starter content for both the default Twenty Nineteen and Twenty Twenty WordPress themes. She then asked why no one was doing the same for post content. Thus, a new product was born. The roofing content pack carries a price tag of $497. Companies can publish the posts directly on their sites or customize the content for their locale. The imported content is a set of 12 blog posts specific to the roofing industry, each set as a draft that users can publish on their own schedule. Each is around 500+ words and includes headings, links, and quotes. Preview of a daft post. “So many roofing contractors don’t address the frequently asked questions from property owners,” said Willard. “These blog posts address 12. Having content that is turnkey ready allows them to have more content to share on social media as well as helping their SEO efforts.” She has been writing about the construction industry for over 20 years, so this was an easy jumping-in point. The challenge was creating this first pack while also publishing two new books and wrangling client work. With things settling down a bit, she thinks monthly pack releases are a more realistic target. Future Content and Starter Packs Willard is already working on a new content pack that focuses on general contractors, which she may split into two products between residential and commercial. She plans to have at least one ready by the end of the month. The long-term goal is to hire other writers to cover industries where she has less knowledge. First, she needs a few more sales to bring others on board. She may also create some industry-specific blogging prompts similar to the starter pack that is available for free. These would also come at a lower price point of around $97. “The starter pack (blog prompts) aren’t mutually exclusive with the premium packs,” said Willard. “They can be used together. Ideally, they should be used together. Because the content packs are JSON files, and the posts are imported as drafts, they can be written (prompts) or localized (premium) and scheduled. It’s the best of both worlds.” Writing, Writing, and More Writing “Writing is the way I can teach and solidify my legacy,” said Willard. “It’s super important for me to create a life worth living. Sadly, I found this out after a mental health emergency in February of 2020.” Her most recent book is The Only Online Marketing Book You Need for Your Nonprofit, co-authored by Warren Laine-Naida. Adrian Tobey, the founder of Groundhogg.io, also contributed an extra chapter. “You can’t create unless you consume,” said Willard when asked how she kept up her pace and the creative juices flowing. “I prioritize reading fiction and nonfiction, watching documentaries, taking walks in my neighborhood, going to a museum or a park alone to think and reflect and spend time with my friends laughing and playing card games. “The best thing for a writer to do is to write. Don’t worry about whether other people already talked about your subject. Don’t worry about what people will say. This is why we love WordPress. Start publishing.” Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingMonthly Archives: August 2021
Understanding theme.json • WPShout
[ad_1] One of the more consequential features of WordPress 5.8 I didn’t pay much attention to before it was released was theme.json. Which is “just another file in your WordPress theme” but also a whole lot more. I’ll just quote Jeff Ong from over on WordPress.org: Conceptually, [theme.json is] a major shift in how themes can be developed. Theme authors now have a centralized mechanism to tailor the WordPress experience for site authors and visitors. Theme.json provides theme authors fine-grained control over global styles, block styles, and the block editor settings. By providing these settings and controls in a single file, theme.json provides a powerful framework that brings together many aspects of theme design and development. And as the block editor matures and adds more features, theme.json will shine as the backbone for themes and the editor to work together. Definitely something to play with, even if you just make simple themes like me. I think it’s mostly clearly vital today as something for commercial themes (much like the “editor styling” from ~10 years about). But I love how centralized (a part, at least) of WordPress theme’s future will be. I’m expecting the importance of this file will only grow 🌱 Visit wordpress.org → [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingFrom eCommerce Integration to Location-Based Controls, Block Visibility Pro Expands Upon Its Free Version – WP Tavern
[ad_1] It has been several months since I last dived into Nick Diego’s Block Visibility plugin, and it is now one year since the initial release. Recently moved on from his past job into the WordPress product space, he has been building one of the best context-based plugins for showing or hiding content. In January, Diego touted some of the ideas he had for a yet-to-be-released Block Visibility Pro. He was already fulfilling user needs, but there was so much left to be explored. “As Block Visibility grows, there will be advanced and/or niche functionality that will be useful for certain users,” he said at the time. “Think integrations with other third-party plugins. There will always be a free version of the plugin but some of these additional features will ultimately be provided by a premium (paid) add-on called Block Visibility Pro.” Diego quietly released the pro add-on in June, which does not take away from the free version. Everything in it is a pure value-add and helps specific sets of users. Last week, he released Block Visibility Pro 1.1.0, and I managed to get a test copy to play around with. In short, I am more impressed than I was when I first covered the free version in January. Pro Additions Early versions of the free plugin had visibility controls for all visitors, user roles, and start-and-stop dates. Since then, Diego has beefed up the options to include screen size, logged-in status, and user accounts. It also integrates with Advanced Custom Fields and WP Fusion. That is more than many other content-visibility solutions will offer before needing to upgrade to a commercial or pro version. The current pro version includes conditional controls for the following: Location (Query and Post) Time-based and day of week WooCommerce Easy Digital Downloads Browser and Device URL Path Referral Source The Location controls are what I have found myself tinkering with the most. They are handy at the moment but will offer more power when used in conjunction with WordPress’s upcoming site editor. Location, query-based visibility controls. The Location controls are essentially query-based visibility options. Users can choose to show or hide blocks based on post type, taxonomy, and more. Everything from individual post attributes to the archive type is available. Users can also create multiple rule sets, combining various location-based options. For shop owners, the WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads integrations are extensive. Users can display blocks based on shopping cart content, customer metrics, and product metrics. This could come in handy for promotions, coupons, and similar features. One of my favorite features, which is also included in the free version, is a popup option for selecting which visibility settings should appear in the sidebar. Toggling visibility controls in the Visibility tab. This feature reduces the footprint of the plugin’s Visibility tab in the block sidebar panel while giving users control over which options they would like to use. It looks similar to a current proposal for the Gutenberg plugin that would allow users to toggle specific controls: Proposal for toggling block typography controls. The differences between the two are in the location of the “ellipsis” button to open the popup. The Gutenberg proposal has it at the top of the tab. Block Visibility adds it as a control within its Visibility tab. However, the concept is the same, and the plugin provides a real-world test of how the feature could work. Thus far, I am happy with the result. It allows me to hide options that I would rarely use. I am eager for something similar to eventually work its way into core WordPress. From Developer to Developer If I am being honest, I am a bit envious of the work Diego has done. Many do not know this, but I also built a similar solution to Block Visibility in 2019. It was before I joined the staff here at WP Tavern. Before seeing that project mature, I handed it over as part of a larger IP sale. I point this out because I understand the complexities of building a solution that works from a technical standpoint while also being user-friendly. It is not easy, but Block Visibility seems to hit the right balance. And I do not say this often, but Diego’s work far exceeds anything I had built or even had in the pipeline. It is on another level, so a part of me is glad that he and I are not competing in this space. At the same time, I wish I could go back and implement some of these ideas on my former project. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingAn Intuitive WordPress Page Builder
[ad_1] Are you wondering how Visual Composer performs? Visual Composer was amongst the first page-builders to be released into the market. It has been around for a long period of time. However, as years passed by, tons of changes and updates were made to this plugin to improve its functionality. Apart from that, other page builders came into the picture, creating some competition. Due to this, the Visual Composer plugin is updated on a regular basis. While the WPBakery page builder was known as Visual Composer, it is not the same product as the ReactJS-based Visual Composer. The WPBakery plugin and the ReactJS-based Visual Composer plugin are two different page builders developed by the same team. Not to mention, the Visual Composer page builder is not short-code-based. In this post, we will take you through the different features that Visual Composer offers you. Let’s dig in. Drag-and-drop Editor Visual Composer comes with a drag-and-drop editor, making it easier to add various elements to your site pages. Not to mention, the drag-and-drop editor lets you customize your site from the front-end. It features real-time customization functionalities for updating a website whenever a change is made. The drag and drop editor has a side menu, which is intuitive and easy to use. It opens up easily, giving you access to elements, blocks, and templates. What’s more? The side menu also packs different customization settings and options that help you style various elements based on your personal preferences. Such options may vary from one element to another, depending on the functionality of the element. For instance, if you plan to edit a button, you can easily access padding options from the side menu. Article Continues Below Plus, this page builder offers you a quick action box for customizing and editing various elements. Some of the functionalities featured on the quick action box make it easier for you to edit, delete, and clone an element. Unlike the sidebar menu, the action box appears when you hover the mouse cursor over a certain element. Apart from that, the drag-and-drop editor is compatible with various WordPress themes. Elements Visual Composer comes with tons of elements that can transform your site completely. Examples of such elements include: Basic button Faq toggle Feature section Image gallery Image masonry Outline button Youtube player Vimeo player Image slider Instagram image As if that’s enough, Visual Composer has basic customization options for editing and styling all those elements. Such options let you align various elements in your site based on your preferences. There are three different alignment options; left, right, and middle. As if that is enough, you can change the shape of an element to suit your style. While some customization options might be used to edit all elements, some elements have unique customizations options. Moreover, Visual Composer has premium elements for extending a site’s functionality, taking it to the next level. These are some of the premium elements that Visual Composer offers you: Advanced custom fields Animated outline button Facebook comment Video popup WP forms Post slider It gets better. Visual Composer packs more than 15 WooCommerce elements, making it easier for you to add various functionalities to your eCommerce store. Whether you are planning to add a WooCommerce cart or list products in your eCommerce store, Visual Composer will help you achieve that. Templates Visual Composer packs more than 160-page templates that can be easily incorporated into your WordPress site to make it look elegant. Such pre-designed templates are suitable for websites that are in different niches. Some of the templates offered by this page builder might be ideal for photography sites, travel sites, online businesses, financial sites, digital developers, corporate sites, and other types of sites. Instead of developing a whole WordPress site from scratch, you can use such templates to style up your WordPress pages. Furthermore, Visual Composer also offers you tons of pre-designed blocks that can style up different sections of your site. For instance, you can use a call-to-action block to create a stylish call-to-action section in your WordPress site, displaying various information. With more than 160 pre-designed blocks, Visual composer can help you style up your WordPress site quite easily. Theme Builder The theme builder has various functionalities and settings that help you customize various parts of your theme, such as footers, headers, and sidebars. The theme builder can be used to create a post header or a global header that will appear on all the pages. Well, you can either choose the per post type option or the sitewide option based on your preferences. Moreover, the theme builder layout settings offer you various functionalities for creating a 404 page, a post archive page, an author page, and a search page. Visual Composer Hub As the name hints, cloud storage has a wide array of pre-designed blocks, templates, headers, sidebars, footers, and elements. In short, the Visual Composer hub is a storage space that lets you download various elements that can style up your site. What’s more, you ask? Visual Composer hub also gives you access to stock images, which can be used in different sections of your WordPress site. Such images can be downloaded directly to your site from Unsplash via the Visual Composer hub. Pop up Builder Since Visual composer comes with a pop-up builder, you can create pop-ups on your site to boost your conversions and display various notification messages to your visitors. Apart from that, the pop-up builder is quite effective in building pop-ups from the front end of your website. With this builder, you can create page-specific pop-ups or site-wide popups, which have animation effects to improve the overall style of your site. Integrations Visual Composer integrates with multiple third-party apps, offering a wide array of functionalities that help you accomplish different things. Here are some of the third-party apps that Visual Composer integrates with: Contact Form Applications Contact form apps and plugins can create a form, which visitors can use to get in touch with you.
Continue readingMy Life Before & After WordPress
[ad_1] Early Days I have always had a knack for technology. I still remember the summer of 2006 when I bought a PC for the first time. I would try to install Windows XP many times so to make Windows work smoothly but without any luck. It was those stubborn viruses, which would only be removed by running a virus scan, not a fresh Windows install, something I figured out later. Although, it took me another decade – right after my MBA in 2015 – to turn my curiosity for technology into a passion after I stumbled upon web technologies from the development perspective. It is when I started learning WordPress while still working in an administrative and support capacity at an organization in my hometown. Daydreaming Being an introvert in nature, the thought of working remotely providing value using technology with the freedom to choose my own work hours has always fascinated me. While becoming a digital nomad exploring nature felt like touching the sky. I knew it was quite possible after finding real stories online but I had no path to follow to turn my dream into a reality. The Challenge After spending tons of time online, figuring out the way was the easy step. Now that I look back during my initial days when I was getting started, the biggest challenge I have come to realize was to stay motivated as being all alone with the Imposter Syndrome – which I am sure every developer has faced during their careers – did take a toll on me. I think it is not easy to stay motivated when there aren’t immediate rewards for the hard work we do. Sometimes, weeks would go by for me to not do anything but try to stay motivated and don’t just give up. Humble Beginnings I could easily recall the evening of my last MBA exam day when I started exploring web technologies. Even just before that, I spent a good 2-3 months learning and then finding projects for web design on 99Designs until I realized that I am not very passionate about becoming a designer. I started learning HTML, CSS, basic JavaScript with jQuery but learning these technologies alone could only go so far without a clear path. I was looking for a tool that could help me build a website from scratch and for that, I explored many tools and technologies along the way including WordPress. While celebrating the 68th independence day of Pakistan online I came across this amazing article by Ahmad Awais (big props) which really helped me to make a definite decision to choose WordPress over other online publishing tools. After basic learning, I started right away working as a WordPress Power User, mostly delivering theme customizing projects for the clients in the local market while still working a day job. All the Way WordPress It took me another two years to finally choose WordPress as my full-time career. I moved to the capital and after many failed attempts at getting hired and desperate moments followed afterward, I finally received an offer letter from a digital agency, Centangle Interactive, where I joined as a Web Developer focused on the WordPress platform. I consider joining Centangle as one of the best decisions of my life as it helped me with my professional growth by becoming familiar with the whole WordPress ecosystem in a supportive environment. I was being valued for my opinions in the web projects I was involved with. I was also appreciated and encouraged for the open-source work I did for the company. During the pandemic last year, I joined a startup viz. UPTEK. The company provides web development services to its international clientele. I have been trusted with the opportunity to work on some of the premium freelancing platforms on behalf of the company. While apart from the developer role at the company, I am also involved in client communication and project management which has been an exciting journey for me so far with lots of learning almost every day. WordPress Community WordPress introduced me to the world of open-source software and the WordPress community itself. WordPress community connects WordPress enthusiasts via monthly Meetups, annual WordCamps, virtual collaborations like contributions to the WordPress project, and a whole lot more. The WordPress community made me a firm believer in the power of open-source software and an enthusiast who enjoys a great deal to contribute back to the WordPress community via writing, speaking, and helping organize meetups. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to write open-source software for the WordPress platform and feel humbled to contribute to the WordPress core. I have also had the privilege to speak as well as help organize the monthly WordPress Meetups and the annual WordCamp(s) for the Islamabad/Rawalpindi WordPress community. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to help start the Elementor Community Islamabad Chapter – which organizes monthly Elementor Meetups. Yet that is not it, I have met some really humble people over the years, whom I proudly call my besties. I met these fine folks on a train on my way to WordCamp Karachi 2018 which was the very first WordCamp in Pakistan. It is all made possible by WordPress and its community and for that, I am forever grateful. Now fast forward to the present, I have been traveling and exploring every corner of the country almost every other month with my train buddies by fulfilling my dream of traveling. Takeaway If anything, one of the main takeaways, why I shared my story, is to stay persistent. I know it is hard to stay motivated and break into this industry. But if you are determined, then WordPress will surely reward you as It can’t be said in any better words than by the words of the very Chris Lema himself: “WordPress will change your life if you let it” So, if you are starting out then get yourself a clear path and just dive
Continue readingFull Page Patterns Are Still the Missing Piece of Block WordPress Theme Development – WP Tavern
[ad_1] It was the early days of the Gutenberg project. Many on the Theme Review Team and those in design circles were trying to wrap their heads around this new concept called blocks. In particular, we wanted to know how it could be applied to theme development. There were many discussions on the pros and cons of the early editor. Overall, there was a bit of cautious excitement in the air, our optimism tempered by a buggy version of alpha-level software. The block system could potentially solve one of the biggest hurdles of theme development: inserting default/demo content for a full page into the editor. I cannot remember who initially explained the idea, but it was a lightbulb moment for many at the time. The general concept was pre-building a custom homepage or any page design that users could choose visually. It would all be done through a standardized block system, and we would no longer need to rely on piecemeal theme options, third-party plugins, or attempt to work around the review team’s “do not create content” guideline. No one really knew how this would work in practice, but we understood the theory of how it would make the life of a theme developer much simpler. In October 2019, Automattic developer Jorge Bernal opened a ticket titled Starter Page Templates. His team was working on a template selector for mobile apps, and the WordPress.com Editing Toolkit already had the feature. The goal was to bring it to the core platform, allowing third-party theme designs to build on top of it. Starter page templates idea initially shared in the ticket. Because the term “template” is overused in the WordPress space, I will refer to these as “page patterns.” This naming convention was coined by Noah Allen, a software engineer for Automattic, in the ticket. It makes sense because we are actually talking about a page’s content rather than the wrapping template. The Genesis Blocks plugin is one of the best ways to understand the page pattern concept. It has a Layouts button at the top of the editor that, when clicked, creates an overlay of designs to choose from. Selecting a full-page layout from Genesis Blocks. These designs are split between sections and layouts. Sections are the same thing as patterns in core WordPress: small, reusable pieces of starter content. Layouts are full-page starting points for users to create various types of pages. The StudioPress/Genesis team was not the first to market this concept. However, they have created a well-rounded user experience on top of the WordPress editor. You will find similar experiences via GoDaddy’s onboarding process for its managed hosting service. The Redux Framework allows much the same, and Editor Plus offers templates and patterns from the Extendify library. That initial excitement has waned a bit. It felt like that early promise was a dream that would never be a reality. Theme authors, especially in the commercial space, have long offered home-brewed solutions for the one-click insertion of full-page content. Whether via a ThemeForest project or a popular theme on WordPress.org, there are endless examples of everyone solving the same problem. One might even argue that these custom inserters are so ingrained into theme agency systems that anything WordPress offers at this point will not appeal to those who have already brought their solutions to market. Where the core platform has failed to meet user demands, our development community has stepped up. Some of you may be thinking that the current block patterns system works for this. Yes, and no. Theme authors could shoehorn full-page designs into it, but the user experience is lacking compared to third-party solutions. Patterns today are one of the best theming tools available, but they fall short of what is needed to see this thing through. The foundation of this feature exists via the Patterns API. From the theme author’s perspective, they merely need a method for flagging a pattern as a full-page layout, separate from the others. However, the UI and UX flow need an overhaul. The flyout panel for the current inserter does not cut it, especially on large screens. A fullscreen overlay has become the de facto standard among other systems. Users should also have another option between selecting from an existing page pattern or starting empty upon creation. “I think this would be so useful to have in the core,” wrote Ana Segota of Anariel Design in a recent comment on the ticket. “I created 2 FSE themes so far and also our latest premium theme is made with block patterns and this is exactly what I thought and talked with few people about. It would be great when a user opens a new page, to chose design/page patterns however we called it and it starts editing it right away. Most of the users just want to add a page, choose a layout and start adding their content.” Of course, this is not a revelation to the average theme author who works with end-users daily. Inserting or importing entire page designs into WordPress is one of the most common requests. WordPress is almost there with its current patterns system. We just need to take it to the next level. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingHow to Link to a Page Section in WordPress Nav Menus
[ad_1] It’s pretty common in WordPress: wanting to link to a section of a page. I remember fondly my first time [stares wistfully into the middle distance]. This Quick Guide explains how to do that, and how to then add that link to a navigation menu. Need to link users to a specific heading within an article? Sometimes you might want your WordPress navigation menu items to link directly to a page section that sits in the middle of a larger page, rather than simply to the top of the page. For example: instead of creating a nav menu link to a Contact page, how do I create a menu link to the Contact section of my homepage? Being able to create WordPress menu links to page sections is especially important on one-page websites, or on multi-page sites that have long scrolling homepages or sales pages. Either of these types of website might have, for example, “How it Works,” “Demo,” “Testimonials,” and “Buy Now” sections all on the same page. To link to a page section, you’ll need to create a WordPress menu link to an anchor: a link embedded in your page content. Anchors are one of the web’s oldest technologies, and they still work great. Fortunately, assigning an anchor to a page section, and then linking to that anchor from your WordPress navigation menu, is not tricky at all. This quick tutorial video from Fred shows you how. if you’re a “visual learner.” And here’s a quick text summary if you’d rather learn how to link to a page section in WordPress without a video 😉 How To WordPress: Link to a section of page Give the item you want to link to an id attribute—for example, <h2 id=”target-element”>Section Title</h2>. This id attribute is the element’s HTML anchor. If you’ve got the Gutenberg/Block editor running, pictured at right is what it’ll look like. You’ll notice that this label is called “HTML anchor” in this interface. In the underlying HTML, it’ll look like an id. 🤓 In the Menu area in either wp-admin or the Customizer, create a new Custom Link to add to your navigation menu. Set the Custom Link to point to the page on which the content lives, plus the # character, plus the value of the element’s id attribute—for example, https://mysite.com/about-us#target-element. Save your changes to the menu, and test the link from a few pages to make sure it works. And that’s it! Creating WordPress menu links to page sections using anchors can be a very helpful way to orient your site’s visitors, so give it a try. [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingDebugging WordPress with Ray, Part 2
[ad_1] TL;DR: Here’s another way to start debugging WordPress with Ray using Composer on a project-specific basis. Last week, I wrote a brief introduction on Ray, what I like about it, and why I enjoy using it with WordPress. I also gave a brief tutorial on how to use it in your day-to-day but that was it. Ultimately, I want to cover more about the application from a development and debugging standpoint (as I had some great feedback about it on Twitter – thanks for that!). Before doing so, though, I thought it would be more useful to start with one more tip on how to get started using it. Namely, how to use Ray with WordPress in a Composer-based workflow. Debugging WordPress with Ray, Part 2 The whole reason for me writing this up is two-fold: I like to build my WordPress plugins using Composer whenever I have the opportunity, I know there are others of you who enjoy doing the same and this will provide a way for you to get started doing so. Setting Up Composer Configuration Assuming you have the basics of your composer.json file set up correctly, you can add this line to the require-dev area of the file: { … “require-dev”: { “spatie/ray”: “^1.29.0” }, “autoload”: { “psr-4”: { … } } } Next, you can run either $ composer install or $ composer update depending on the state of your project. This will install Ray into the vendor director of your plugin and you can disable the WordPress plugin discussed in the previous post. Using Ray To use Ray, though, you’ll need to make sure you’re using namespaces and that you’re properly including a reference to Ray’s namespace to use the application. For example: namespace Acme; use SpatieRay; define(‘WPINC’) || die; require_once __DIR__ . ‘/vendor/autoload.php’; ray(‘Loaded…’); Obviously, this isn’t much of a plugin file but it’s enough to get you started with including it via Composer and running it via the namespace provided by the package. For Part 3, Maybe I could say that next, I’m going to talk about all of the things that you can use Ray for in terms of debugging (or, more precisely, improved variable and query inspection) locally or remotely, but feedback may necessitate something other than this. So that’s the plan but we’ll see what happens between this article and the next. [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingTermly Acquires GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner, Turns Free Plugin Into a Commercial SaaS Product – WP Tavern
[ad_1] Company A sells its plugin. Company B picks it up and moves forward with an overhauled version that looks and feels much different than the original. Users are outraged by the changes. It seems to be a repeating theme in 2021, almost as a rule rather than an exception. Last month, Termly announced its acquisition of the GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner plugin. The plugin was a simple tool for adding and styling a consent banner for the front end. It is now a SaaS (Software as a Service) product that requires a Termly account to operate. According to the team’s blog post, such changes were necessary. “Termly’s products, including the cookie consent management platform, are designed to cover the EU GDPR, the ePrivacy Directive, UK GDPR, and the CCPA. These laws require more than just a cookie consent banner to be compliant. Termly can help you build a privacy policy, create a Data Subject Access Request form, and comply with other privacy law requirements.” In the past couple of weeks, users have taken to the WordPress.org review system, handing out 21 of the plugin’s 29 total one-star ratings. The project has over 200,000 users, so more should be expected if the general consensus is that this was a poor move by the company. One of the complaints from users is the commercialization of the plugin. In the past, it was completely free to use. While there is still a free tier, users are limited to a mere 100 monthly unique visitors on a single domain. After hitting that limit, the banner will stop collecting consent records. The next level up costs $15 per month if paid annually. New pricing options for the Termly service. As Pattaya Web Services pointed out via Twitter, “GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner for #Wordpress has been purchased by #Termly and will now cost most website owners $180 per year.” Termly must get a return on its investment. The company has developers to pay, and they have families to feed. But, I suspect the average user will not warm up to the so-limiting-that-it-is-free-in-name-only introduction level. Having to pay for features that have been free for years will not sit well with many. Of course, there is always the option of using the old version, but Termly has no plans of maintaining it or ensuring that it meets compliance. The only alternative for small site owners who cannot afford to pay is to opt for another solution. “I guess GDPR Cookie Consent banner, now operated by @Termly_io didn’t learn anything from [the] fiasco with WP User Avatar plugin reported by @wptavern earlier this year,” wrote user Gennady Kurushin on Twitter. I believe they did. There are differences, and Termly’s handling of this showed a willingness to be transparent. And, I cannot stress this enough: the new plugin is not an entirely different one unrelated to its core purpose. It was overhauled and turned into a SaaS product. At the end of the day, it is still a cookie consent management plugin — just different and costs a lot more for most users. Unlike Dark Mode and ProfilePress, Termly did not make the changes in the dead of night. At least the company was upfront about everything. The team included an announcement in a point release two weeks before sending out the overhauled version. It disabled automatic updates so that users would not accidentally upgrade without being aware of what was coming. It even published a public blog post detailing what was happening. Prior notice of upcoming changes in 3.0 and disabled auto-updates. If anything, Termly took just about all the necessary steps it could have taken to prepare its user base. If a “right” way existed for a complete and utter makeover of a plugin, the company did as much. That level of honesty is a bit more than we have seen in the past. The changes may still leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many users, but Termly should at least get a few points for making them in the light of day. The result may be the same: fundamental changes in how the plugin operates, but users had a chance to ditch it or continue using the old version before anything went into effect. For some users, it may not be much, but that’s worth something. I won’t be breaking out my pitchfork today, but I do not use the plugin. As more and more users upgrade to 3.0+ and realize they are essentially on the line for $180 per year, the reviews could get ugly. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingJustin Tadlock’s Take on WP Theming Today • WPShout
[ad_1] Those of you who are newer to the WordPress space, just let me tell you that Justin Tadlock is a real WordPress OG (in my ~15 years experience #OfficiallyOld), so I take his opinions pretty seriously. So I thought his whole take on the “state of WordPress theming” is surely a good place to ground your attention and energy if you care about this topic. WordPress themes are likely to change in the next year in ways they’ve never changed in their history. That’s both pretty exciting, but it’s also a little nerve-wracking. Will they be able to thread that needle. I sure hope so. And what I’ve seen over the years makes me think they will, eventually. Here’s one good paragraph, to hopefully hook you: The thing about blocks is that they put this veil over a lot of the messy legacy stuff, creating a new standard where anyone who wants to build a theme does not have to worry about a lot of the history that got us from Point A to Point B. That is a Good Thing. Standardization of the system was long overdue, but we are still in the process of making that final leap forward. It is a tough time to be a developer. It can also be an exciting new adventure if we stop thinking about themes from a traditional mindset. Visit wptavern.com → [ad_2] Source link
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