Sunyyan Junaid

WordPress 5.4 Beta 2 Now Available For Testing

Sunyyan Junaid — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 22:52:37 +0000

Just a week after releasing WordPress 5.4 Beta 1, the core WordPress team has already squashed plenty of bugs (27 to be exact), made a few changes, and has already released beta 2.

WordPress 5.4 Beta 2 is available for testing purposes via the WordPress Beta Tester Plugin or directly downloading the beta in a zip file.

It is highly recommended, though, that you do not test this new beta release (or any future beta releases, for that matter) on your live production site. Beta software is in the development phase, and potential bugs could cripple your site.

But let’s focus on what’s new in WordPress 5.4 Beta 2.

WordPress 5.4 Beta 2 Highlights

27 bugs have been shown the door since beta 1, and some changes that will lead to beta 3, of course.

Changes in Block Editor

Columns now grow equally in the Block Library. They previously had unassigned widths.
Multi-languages added to the custom gradient picker.
The color formatter doesn’t show up when there’s no option to choose colors.

Privacy

The privacy request form fields are more consistent on mobile after adjustments.
The top of All Pages in the admin area will no longer show the notice for offering help when you edit the privacy policy page.

Site Health

Failed REST API error codes now display correctly.

WordPress 5.4 Beta 2 is out for testing purposes only and does not have a barrage of features or changes. However, the final release of WordPress 5.4 is sure to bring a load of features and enhancements for the end-users.

If you want to keep up with all the news regarding this major WordPress release, subscribe to our newsletter, and we’ll make sure you don’t skip any updates!

The post WordPress 5.4 Beta 2 Now Available For Testing appeared first on WPblog.

We Messed Up, But We’ve Learned Our Lesson!

Sunyyan Junaid — Fri, 13 Dec 2019 12:14:42 +0000

On Dec 10, we posted a Tweet for our list of the top WordPress Influencers in the industry.

Here’s the tweet in all its glory:

These 40+ WordPress Influencers are MUST-FOLLOW in 2020!?

WordPress thrives on these people, and so can we if we take a leaf out of their books. #WordPress #Influencers #WPblog #TuesdayThoughts https://t.co/wd12qBd08Z

— WPBlog (@wpblogdottcom) December 10, 2019

Us folks at WPblog spend a lot of time creating content that helps people get the best out of their WordPress journey. However, there are times when we slip up.

The tweet above is a testament to the fact that even if your intentions are honest, you’re not always right.

Our team got together to build a list of WordPress influencers last year that beginners and WordPress users, in general, could benefit from. The thought behind it was to help people take inspiration from people on the list to help them on their journey, but now it’s clear that we didn’t do a good enough job of our research and left some really important people out.

Thanks to Michele Butcher-Jones, Allie Nimmons & Stephanie Brinley for pointing straight out how we’re in the wrong.

Also, Claire Brotherton found factual errors in the post.

We’re not going to hide their words against us, nor are we going to pretend they don’t exist and run away from solving the highlighted issues:

Hey, @chrislema @heyadamsilver @wpmodder @Josh412 : Which women would you have put on this list from @wpblogdottcom ? https://t.co/7Vt9BkwA5k

— Stephanie Brinley (@sjbrinley) December 11, 2019

Wow. 8/44 were women. EIGHT. https://t.co/IF37pditcx

— your friendly neighborhood pain in the ass (@allie_nimmons) December 11, 2019

To Michelle Frechette, Michelle Schulp, Taylor Elizabeth Rose, Carrie Dils, Kathy Zant, Kathy Drewien, Kimberly, Marieke van de Rakt, Jen Swisher, Mary Baum, Aurooba Ahmed, Andrea Middleton, Angela Jin…

… Tiffany Bridge, Piccia Neri, Christie Chirinos, Mel Choyce, Ipstenu (Mika E.), Josepha Haden, Rachel Cherry, Bridget Willard, Lucy Beer, Mrs. John Phillips, and the many other names in the industry:

You all are already bigger than a list made by people who didn’t do their job properly.

We’re Still Sorry

But it wouldn’t hurt for us to apologize for our huge social faux pas, so please accept our heartfelt apology for missing out on you all and the many other WordPress greats who we might still be unaware of.

While making the list, we weren’t thinking about how many women we’ve included or how many Black or Asian people are on the list. In fact, we weren’t thinking at all (unfortunately). But you guys have compelled us to do so.

It was a sort of a tiny nightmare for us because it all backfired instead of what we were hoping for. We’re nevertheless grateful to all those who got involved and showed us where we were going wrong.

I would, though, like to clarify some points here:

The List Wasn’t Ranked

Yes, the list [at the time of publication] started with Chris Lema and Syed Balkhi, but it wasn’t a ranked list. We just reckoned that Chris and Balkhi’s blogs are great WordPress resources and that our readers could benefit from following them. Nevertheless, it was a randomly positioned list without any bias or agenda.

We Didn’t Miss Out On Anyone Deliberately

It might have looked like we didn’t include women in the top 10 or left some noteworthy women out of the list, but it wasn’t deliberate. In fact, many people claimed that it’s a white-males dominated list and that we’re prejudiced against other races.

Here’s a fun fact; We (WPblog folks) are Asians.

Still, there’s no denying that our research sucked, and for that, we apologize and promise to be more diligent from now on.

There Was a Disclaimer at the End

Lastly, we had a disclaimer at the end of the article. And no, we didn’t include it after the backlash on Twitter.

Here’s a screenshot:

So while everyone did criticize us for leaving out notable names, almost no one paid attention to our acknowledgment of our capacity to make human errors.

No hard feelings, though. Our mistake was bigger.

What’s Next?

Our apology would be useless without mentioning what we’re going to do next.

This was nothing short of an eye-opening experience for us. We always believed we’re doing a great job, but now it’s apparent that we lack in areas we have no room to be lackluster in.

Rehaul the Influencer’s List

So before we move to anything else, the first thing we’re doing is to completely overhaul the list of WordPress influencers and turn it into a diverse list that truly represents the Superheroes of WordPress. This is most important because we exist to serve the WordPress community and that’s not possible unless we’re absolutely transparent and well-endowed with the necessary information.

Improvement in Our SOP’s

Secondly, we’re making changes to our SOP to reflect proper research in all the articles and posts we publish. Unless we change our methods and mindsets, we won’t be able to remain honest and true to our work.

Rethink Our Strategy

And lastly, we’re going to completely rethink our strategy on what we decide to work on. Even though all these hard-working people are above such lists, it still doesn’t feel right to not acknowledge people the community considers as heroes.

Here’s a shout-out to the community and all those who stood up to speak for the people. It perfectly encapsulated the power of the WordPress community and how people are willing to push others in the limelight and think so selflessly.

It was wholesome, to say the least, and despite being on our expense, we loved the gesture!

We love WordPress, and we love all the people associated with it. Please accept our apology for ruffling feathers in the most stupid way possible.

We’re genuinely sorry!

The post We Messed Up, But We’ve Learned Our Lesson! appeared first on WPblog.

WooCommerce 3.8 Now Available

Sunyyan Junaid — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 06:07:38 +0000

WooCommerce 3.8, in development since August 2019, is finally here with 516 commits by 28 authors.

3.8 represents WooCommerce’s move towards more frequent, stable and smaller releases. In contrast, WooCommerce 3.7 had 1290 commits by 22 contributors, which also means that version 3.8 is a minor release and if you’re worried about backward compatibility, you can sigh a breath of relief.

Also, this is most probably the last minor WooCommerce release of 2019.

What’s New in WooCommerce 3.8?

There are now new product blocks in the eCommerce-focused collection in Gutenberg, the Block Editor that shipped with WordPress 5.0.

WooCommerce Blocks 2.4

First of all, there are 3 new blocks for Reviews:

Reviews by Product
Reviews by Category
All Reviews

These new blocks will allow you to customize your user reviews and place them on different places on your website. Hence, if your customers are leaving feedback about their buying experience, you can share it with your audience by placing them on your product page, on your landing page or even display Reviews by Category.

Product Search

Another block added to WooCommerce 3.8 is the Product Search Block which gives your customers the ability to find a product they want from any part of your website.

Note: To access these new Product Blocks, you should be running WordPress 5.1 or higher or you should have the latest Gutenberg version installed on your site.

Apart from this, there are new hooks and some tweaks and fixes in the release that you might notice when you play around with WooCommerce 3.8. You can read the details in the ReadMe.

Also Read: Gutenberg 6.7: Bug fixes, Storybook & Gradient Backgrounds

Performance Enhancements PHP Version

While there’s no change in the PHP requirements for WooCommerce 3.8, WooCommerce is planning a minimum of PHP 7.0 & WordPress 5.0 support for its next release, so in case you’re on an older version of WordPress or PHP, you’ll start seeing a prompt to upgrade later on.

You still have a month or two to do that because of the next release of WooCommerce is set for a January 2020 release.

Enhancements & Improvements

There are a few improvements in this release that will be a welcome change for all users:

Full support for PHP 7.4
Opt-out of usage tracking in the Setup Wizard is now default
Backorder products message: “Available on backorder”
Subtotal and downloads have better wording

While the above are the general enhancements, there are some improvements made for developers as well:

Several new hooks (as mentioned above) and filters
Japan, Zambia, Namibia, and Minor Outlying Islands of the US get localization tweaks
content-widget-price-filter.php template added to display price filter widget.

You can view all the dev tweaks and fixes in the Changelog if you wish to.

Before You Upgrade

This goes without saying, but before you upgrade to the latest and greatest WooCommerce 3.8, make sure you have a backup in place. Also, you can test the new version on a staging site before taking it live to avoid possible mishaps.

Shout-Out to the Contributors

Lastly, of course, a huge shout-out to the contributors in the WooCommerce community who make any release possible via reporting bugs, contributing in the commits, and spreading the word in the wild!

Thanks to these awesome people, we all get to enjoy these awesome features that ship with every release! Stay awesome guys.

The post WooCommerce 3.8 Now Available appeared first on WPblog.

Gutenberg 6.7: Bug fixes, Storybook & Gradient Backgrounds

Sunyyan Junaid — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 12:02:15 +0000

Gutenberg 6.7 was released on 16th October with plenty of bug fixes and performance enhancements, but the star of the release was the introduction of gradient backgrounds and Storybook support.

There are tonnes of bug fixes in the update (30+) that you can check out on their official release page. For this post, though, let’s take a brief look at gradient support and storybook features.

Gradient Support

The gradient feature looks uber interesting, but it’s currently available for buttons only. It makes sense because the button blocks make for a good testing ground and the support can later be extended to other blocks as well.
Here’s a look at gradient background support in action:

While we wish the gradient support would have extended to theme designs as well, but for now, you’ll have to do with gradient coloring your buttons only. This bodes well for the future, but we really need to say this: DON’T use a gradient on the buttons except for testing purposes.

Why? Because they look… ancient and weird.

Remember the late 90s and early 2000s internet? Because if you’re not careful with your design language and use the gradient on buttons just for the sake of it, your website might end up looking something like this:

Give us points for exaggeration.

Fingers crossed till gradient is extended to overall theme support (Gutenberg 6.8 will bring gradient to theme support) and then hopefully we’ll be able to use this feature to its full potential.

Storybook for Developers

In essence, Storybook support has been added to Gutenberg as a development and testing environment for user interfaces. Via Storybook, you or any developer can test or create components away from the primary application. Once tested, you can easily port the build to your application and add the element to your website.

You can test the Storybook here.

If you want a video tutorial on how to create a story, check out Marcus Kazmierczak’s video:

Do you have any questions? Reach out to me at sunyyan@app61.cloudwayssites.com and I’ll Google the answers for you!

The post Gutenberg 6.7: Bug fixes, Storybook & Gradient Backgrounds appeared first on WPblog.

2020 U.S. Election Candidates: Who Has the Fastest WordPress Website?

Sunyyan Junaid — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:31:37 +0000

Disclaimer: WPblog is a part of Cloudways, a Managed Cloud Hosting service, but any assumptions or analysis made on this property belong solely to their writers.

As Donald Trump’s term nears its end and the 2020 U.S. elections are in full swing, we went ahead and analyzed the websites of all the US election candidates. It turns out that many of them are using WordPress to power their digital presence.

Of course, we couldn’t help ourselves and ran some basic speed tests to see which 2020 U.S. Presidential election candidate hoping to succeed Trump at the office has the fastest WordPress website.

The results surprised us, so read on to find out whose website scored what!

Why the 2020 U.S. Election Candidates Sites Should be Optimized For Speed?

If you’re wondering why we’d even get into testing their websites for speed, here’s why:

People Find Information Online

First of all, the world has gone digital. A majority of people find information online and if they want to find out about a certain 2020 U.S. Presidential candidate, they’d probably visit their website. However, according to Google, “53% of mobile site visits leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load”.

To Stay Up-to-Date With Current Expectations

Besides finding information on someone, it’s not a good idea to seem out of touch with the online world in 2019, or 2020 for that matter. It’s important that these candidates who might lead an entire nation look their part and are up to date with the expectations of the online generation.

There is a more important reason than that, though.

To Receive Donations for Campaigns

URL: https://gtmetrix.com/reports/www.julianforthefuture.com/dvI4lmJx

Pingdom

URL: https://tools.pingdom.com/#5b61d51331000000

PageSpeed Insight

4G Speed

PageSpeed Insight

ThinkwithGoogle

So there you have it. These are the U.S. Election candidates we found that are using WordPress as a driver for their online presence, and out of these 7 websites, only Joe Biden’s website seems to be doing fine, but only relatively. Also, while tools like Pingdom do show the load times in milliseconds, those are relative figures because the actual loading time of almost all the websites were more than a few seconds.

If you’re a part of any of the presidential marketing crew or agency, you know what to do. If you’re not sure, here are 26 ways to speed up your WordPress website.

Also, a great Cloud hosting service like Cloudways can help run your websites optimally, but if you’re out looking for more options, we have those for you as well: Our recommended WordPress Hostings.

The post 2020 U.S. Election Candidates: Who Has the Fastest WordPress Website? appeared first on WPblog.

WordPress 5.3: Robots Meta Tag for Better Search Engine Crawling Prevention

Sunyyan Junaid — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 11:56:53 +0000

Not every user with a WordPress website is looking to feature on page 1 of Google. In fact, a lot of users would rather that their websites don’t show up on Google or any search engine at all.

And if that’s ever the case, the current WordPress version allows you to do just that by checking the “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” option from the WordPress dashboard Settings > Reading.

There is a small disclaimer underneath it, though:

It is up to search engines to honor this request.

So while this has so far been an easy way to prevent search engines from crawling your website, it’s always possible that your website ends up in the search results.

WordPress 5.3 Will Fix That

The new WordPress version will change the way it prevents search engines from indexing sites. Version 5.3 will drop the robots.txt method and add an updated robots meta tag from keeping your site from getting listed on search engines:

This new meta tag is, of course, a more definitive way to keep your site from getting indexed or crawled.

The current problem in the robots.txt method is well-summarized by Jono Alderson on a trac ticket along with his proposed solution:

The Reading setting infers that it’s intended to prevent search engines from indexing the content, rather than from crawling it. However, the presence of the robots disallow rule prevents search engines from ever discovering the noindex directive, and thus they may index ‘fragments’ (where the page is indexed without content).

Google recently announced that they’re making efforts to prevent fragment indexing. However, until this exists (and I’m not sure it will; it’s still a necessary/correct solution sometimes), we should solve for current behaviors. Let’s remove the robots.txt disallow rule, and allow Google (and others) to crawl the site.

Hopefully, this new meta tag will perform a better job of keeping your development site (or a personal site) from appearing in the search engine.

Do you think this will be a welcome addition to WordPress 5.3? Let us know in the comments section below and we can discuss it in detail!

The post WordPress 5.3: Robots Meta Tag for Better Search Engine Crawling Prevention appeared first on WPblog.