[ad_1] GoDaddy Pro will kick off EXPAND 2021 – India on September 24, the second event of its kind this year. It is a one-day virtual conference that will feature sessions from industry leaders and experts in the field. Nikhil Arora, the Vice President and Managing Director for GoDaddy India, will present the keynote address. In total, there will be nine sessions that will run between 15 and 45 minutes throughout the day. The goal is to provide guidance and resources for those starting and growing digital businesses. GoDaddy Pro launched its first event, EXPAND 2021 – U.S., in late April. Over 5,000 people registered for the two-day virtual conference. However, tens of thousands more have viewed individual sessions since then. Each session is available for free viewing via the GoDaddy Pro YouTube channel, and new videos will be added for future events. When Adam Warner, the Global Field Marketing Sr. Manager at GoDaddy, spoke of the event earlier this year, he described it as a project he had wanted to do since 2018. For him, it was a way of giving back to the community and helping the next generation along. “I’m pleased with how our EXPAND conference series is growing and the feedback we’ve received from attendees so far,” he said. “The overarching goal of EXPAND is to showcase the solutions that our Pros are providing for their clients, and to do so in a way that both inspires and educates others to follow their passion for building the web and their own businesses.” The first event did not go off without any bumps in the road. The team learned from it and will tweak things to improve the conference. “One important lesson we learned from our first EXPAND event was to clearly define chat moderation roles and increase the amount of pre-written platform navigation directions and tips for our Guides to share with attendees in the general and session chats areas,” said Warner. “When our event started, we were walking over ourselves a bit. The chat conversations move so fast, we ended up duplicating a few replies, coming from multiple people.” The EXPAND 2021 – India conference will be different than the inaugural event held earlier this year. Instead of focusing on a more general or U.S. audience, GoDaddy Pro is leaning into its regional teams and members. “All the speakers are from India, as well as the Pros whose stories will be featured,” said Warner. “We have dedicated GoDaddy and GoDaddy Pro teams in India, and they’ve played a lead role in defining the best approach for the Indian audience. The biggest challenge with putting this event together so far has been the differences in time zones for our multiple teams. We’ve tried to accommodate everyone’s schedules as much as possible.” The GoDaddy Pro team is already planning EXPAND 2022 events. Warner said those interested to be on the lookout over the next couple of months for more news. “To date, our EXPAND conferences run parallel with our location-specific launches of the GoDaddy Pro brand,” he said. “As GoDaddy Pro continues to grow, and when the world gets back to in-person events globally, we would love to accommodate attendees in multiple physical locations.” One glaring issue for the India event is the lack of gender diversity within its speaker group. Only one woman is leading a session. I asked Warner why there was such an imbalance. “The number of women in the technology sector in India has been a matter of concern for small and large businesses alike,” said Warner. “GoDaddy is an inviting place to work and an industry leader for women in technology. We are actively working to create platforms and ecosystems to encourage more women to join the fray. We are delighted to have Kriti Aggarwal, Founder of Anaha Services, join us at this year’s EXPAND Event in India and are focused on all future EXPAND Conferences recognizing diverse groups of leaders in their sectors.” The team is holding two Meetups each week. Yesterday was an all-female panel of GoDaddy and GoDaddy Pro team members in prep for their sponsorship of FemTechConf, held between September 24 and 25. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue readingTag Archives: Pro
Beaver Builder vs Elementor Pro: Comparing WordPress’ 2 Top Page Builder Plugins
[ad_1] Choosing a page builder plugin is less certain than it was even a couple of years ago, as there are lots of solutions on the market. Even so, for many users, the options boil down to Beaver Builder vs Elementor Pro. As such, this is good place to start your journey. Both of these plugins have a long-standing and distinguished pedigree among WordPress users. Each has a wealth of features and functionality, along with reasonable pricing. As such, your decision will be based on how each solution suits you and your workflow. In this post, we’ll look at Beaver Builder vs Elementor Pro in a few different areas. By the end, you’ll understand which option is right for you and why that is. A Quick Primer On Page Builders Before we move the comparison, let’s get on the same page (pun intended). For the unaware, a page builder is a way to create your site using a visual interface, rather than through code. You’ll work using a so-called ‘front end builder’. This means you’ll see the site as it will appear to users in the browser. The built-in WordPress Block Editor is great for writing blog posts and other content. Though, when it comes to layouts and site design, it’s still a baby. This functionality is improving, but you can’t yet rely on it to help you build you entire site. Enter page builders. These are third-party solutions for building your site’s layout and content. You’ll often have the functionality to customize almost every aspect of your front-end display. Some solutions will let you build custom headers and footers, and more. You’ll also find features to help you add in advanced elements such as interactive buttons, pop-ups, animations, and more. The goal of a page builder is to help you create your site without the need for code, yet with the same flexibility and scope. With regards to Beaver Builder vs Elementor Pro, both page builders have plenty to offer here. Beaver Builder vs Elementor Pro: Introducing Both Plugins The comparison is coming up, but before that, let’s introduce both Beaver Builder and Elementor Pro. Note that we’re talking about the premium versions of each plugin. While both offer free tiers, these vary in scope and functionality. In any case, most users will often opt for the fuller-featured premium solutions, so it makes sense to talk about these in the first instance. Beaver Builder Beaver Builder is the ‘elder statesman’ of page builder plugins. It’s been around for a number of years, and was one of the first page builders on the market. It’s a drag-and-drop builder, with a collection of modules that lets you add almost any piece of functionality or formatting to your site. For example, you can add a Call To Action (CTA), basic forms, video embeds, and much more: We’ve talked about Beaver Builder on the blog before. This article is worth reading to get some more context and information on how Beaver Builder works on a day-to-day basis. Elementor Pro Elementor is a relative newcomer when it comes to page builders. While it hasn’t been around for too long, it has developed a stellar reputation among end users, site owners, developers, and even investors. It’s also a drag-and-drop page builder that works as though you’re viewing your site’s front end. Much like Beaver Builder, you pull modules (‘elements’ here) into place, and work on the attributes and properties of each one. Again, there are lots of elements to choose from – you shouldn’t need to go hunting for additional elements to build your site. Because Elementor is so popular, we’ve also featured the page builder on the blog before. For a more in-depth look at how the plugin works, we encourage you to check out that post too. Beaver Builder vs Elementor Pro: Comparing Both Page Builder Plugins We’re now into the thick of this Beaver Builder vs Elementor Pro comparison. Over the next few sections, we’ll take a look at each solution and compare them in the following areas: Features, functionality, and Ease of Use 🧰. We’ll look at what each plugin can offer, along with any additional functionality provided. Support and resources 🙋. Here, we’ll look at how much support is on offer for each plugin. We’ll also look at any further resources available to help you build and manage your site. Pricing 💵. This straightforward section will look at the cost factor for each plugin. It will also touch on any free tiers, although it’s not a fair comparison (as we’ll explain). There may be some cross-over between sections. For example, ease of use and features will overlap in an organic way. As such, while we encourage you jump around the post to read about aspects that interest you, taking in the full post will let you learn the full story of each page builder. Features, Functionality, and Ease of Use 🧰 Because both Beaver Builder and Elementor Pro are popular and powerful, this comparison will be close. Each page builder offers a drag-and-drop editor as a matter of course. Elementor looks more modern in our subjective opinion, although Beaver Builder looks more like a native WordPress feature. With Elementor, you edit from the sidebar at all times. There are three panels to choose from: Layout, Style, and Advanced. This is a nice way to separate different aspects of your design, but you sometimes get the feeling there is too much for this sidebar to handle. For example, there’s also a ‘hamburger menu’ full of site-wide options, along with further menus and sub-menus. Though, we do like that there’s always a link to the Elements screen. This gives you access to all of the functionality for your site, and you can even add aspects such as Lottie animations and forms. For the latter, there’s a dedicated builder that will often mean you don’t need a plugin to do the job: As for Beaver Builder, it took us a while to
Continue readingNewsletter Glue Pro, My First Foray Into Journalism, and New Ideas – WP Tavern
[ad_1] As a teen, I would visit my Uncle David’s house every other week or so. He was the only family member with a computer. It was an old, bulky monstrosity that ran whatever the latest version of Windows that existed at the time. It was one of my first introductions to dial-up, but my primary interest was not the internet. It was newsletters and home-printed magazines. Like all members of my family, we are artists in one way or another. What little extra money many have is spent on creative pursuits. Uncle David’s latest passions at the time were in designing T-shirt logos and printing a family newsletter. Does anyone remember when those were still a thing? I was a kid in a whole new world. Of course, I followed suit and issued a few pamphlets covering the latest goings-on with my family to a circulation of maybe a dozen people. This kick-started my foray into journalism and design during my adolescence. A family newsletter sounds far more interesting to me now, as an adult, than it did in those days. Somehow, I know I have reached the point where I can officially call myself old by saying that. But, I was coming of age at the turn of the millennium. My interests mostly revolved around video games. I wanted to create something that rivaled Nintendo Power from the comfort of my own home. I had access to a computer and printer; the dream was mine for the taking. Unfortunately, I could not find any of my printed family newsletters to share. My gaming mag was a short-lived, two-issue venture. I am sure the staff, consisting of my younger sister and best friend, unionized and staged a revolt. Throughout my life, I have always had it in the back of my mind that I would attempt another periodical at some point, but I have never gotten around to it. However, when Newsletter Glue co-founder Lesley Sim asked me to look at the pro version of her team’s plugin, all those old ideas started swirling around in my head again. After spending the last few days tinkering with Newsletter Glue Pro, I kind of want to restart the family newsletter again. Maybe digital is the way to go. Perhaps I can even get my uncle to join me. Admittedly, I have had a lot more fun with this plugin than with others recently. It is the sort of extension that can take a potential newsletter from idea to execution. All you need is to be familiar with the WordPress editor to kick-start a new project. The plugin has a few settings you might want to tinker with, but the onboarding process walks you through the steps of getting everything off the ground and connecting to your preferred email software. I was worried that there would be a massive learning curve, but I was in the editor in short order. Writing a newsletter from the WordPress editor. Users can publish blog posts as newsletters. However, the team introduced a dedicated newsletter post type earlier this year, providing more flexibility in creating content. What I enjoyed the most about Newsletter Glue was its integration with the block patterns API. The plugin bundles several header and footer patterns, but end-users can build and store their own for reuse. Duplicating and customizing a footer pattern. The plugin did have its share of issues. The most prominent was its automatic switching to the fullscreen editor, which is a feature that I turn off on every WordPress site I use. For some reason, this either did not save or was being overwritten each time I loaded the page. I am also not a fan of the meta box at the bottom of the screen. It is giving me flashbacks of the pre-5.0 WordPress editor that I would like to forget. The team should create a dedicated sidebar panel for the newsletter screen. Newsletter meta box. With its reliance on the modern editor, this holdover from an older time just feels out of place. Plus, from a UI perspective, there seems to be nothing requiring the old meta box system. I would also like to see the built-in Newsletter theme designer integrate with the active theme’s JSON presets. This is a relatively new WordPress feature, so maybe it will land on the features list. Newsletter theme designer. Because this is a standardized format, there is no reason that plugins should not start pulling data from it. As a user, I should at least be able to pick and choose text, background, and link colors from those made available through the theme instead of hunting down hex codes or eyeballing it from a color picker. Overall, I like what the Newsletter Glue team has built thus far. It is no small feat to put together such a well-rounded project of this size in just over a year. I look forward to seeing it evolve over time. For now, I am laying out ideas for the return of my family newsletter thanks to the Newsletter Glue team. Like this: Like Loading… [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 readingWP Engine Makes Local Pro Free for All Users – WP Tavern
[ad_1] WP Engine announced today that Local Pro, the commercial upgrade for its local WordPress development product, is now free for all users. Beginning with version 6.0, all features that formerly required a paid subscription are now available with a free Local account. These include Live Links Pro, Instant Reload, Link Checker, and MagicSync. “We believe Local Pro features benefit a broader WordPress developer community and we want to deliver the full value of Local to more developers than ever,” WP Engine Senior Vice President Seth Halpern said. “We want to empower the freedom to create on WordPress by making all Local features available for free.” WP Engine’s recently published research estimates the WordPress economy at $596.7B. The company may be in a better position to gain customers for its hosting products if they make Local completely free, as the tool was designed to seamlessly connect with WP Engine and Flywheel’s hosting. It is currently used by more than 300,000 developers. Over the years Local has gained popularity due to how easy it makes setting up WordPress development and testing environments. Version 6.0 also introduces Local’s new Cloud Backups add-on, which will allow users to backup to Google Drive or Dropbox. Cloud backups can be restored from the Tools tab. The 6.0 release post details a few features that have been moved to new locations in the interface: MagicSync is now a global preference, and the default push/pull experience can be toggled in the Preferences menu. Live Links Pro, now Live Links, will be accessible for all users by connecting your Local account. Link Checker and Instant Reload have been moved to the Local Add-ons Library. Xdebug Add-ons have moved from the Utilities tab into the Tools tab within Local. Existing Local Pro subscribers will have access to priority support until September 1, 2021. After that time, dedicated ticket support will be discontinued in favor of directing users to the community forums and help docs. WP Engine is offering customers full or prorated refunds, which will be sent out before July 31, 2021. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link
Continue reading