Here is our update on the latest WordPress news and recommended reads for Outcome Labs WordPress Care Plan customers and our newsletter subscribers. We provide this so you are current on things that may impact your site and to highlight opportunities to enhance your site to support your business goals. You can see other WordPress-related posts here.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us.
WordPress 5.7.1 Security and Maintenance Release
The WordPress core team released WordPress 5.7.1 on April 15, 2021. WordPress 5.7.1 is a short-cycle security and maintenance release. This security and maintenance release features 26 bug fixes in addition to two security fixes. Because this is a security release, the core team recommends that you update your sites immediately.
If you are on an Outcome Labs WordPress Care Plan, we have already applied and updated this update to your site(s).
You can read the announcement about the release here.
WooCommerce 5.2 Released
The WooCommerce team announced the release of WooCommerce 5.2 on April 13, 2021. This is the third release this year. It is considered a “minor” release and is backward compatible with the previous version of WooCommerce. This release includes:
- 456 commits from 27 contributors in WooCommerce core
- 109 commits from 25 contributors in the WooCommerce Admin package
- 148 commits from 15 contributors in the WooCommerce Gutenberg Products Block package
If you are on an Outcome Labs WordPress Care Plan, we have already applied and updated this release to your store.
You can read the details about the release here. The WooCommerce team also announced WooCommerce Blocks 4.9. You can read about that update here.
Siteground Plan Changes
Siteground announced some pretty significant changes to their available WordPress hosting plans. They have eliminated unlimited sites on their Grow Big and Go Geek plans. New GrowBig accounts will host up to 2 websites and GoGeek accounts will accommodate up to 5. Accounts purchased before the change will not be affected and will keep the option to host unlimited sites.
Siteground has been the provider we recommended to most clients because they provided a solid WordPress hosting platform that was very cost-effective. This was especially true for people with a number of small sites. While we understand that the “unlimited” nature of their plan could present its own set of challenges, these new quotas are really limiting and make the Siteground offer less competitive.
If you are hosting on Siteground and on an Outcome Labs Care Plan, please contact us if you have any questions about this change.
WordPress Industry Consolidation Continues
Another significant acquisition of a WordPress-focused company was announced this month. iThemes, which is owned by Liquid Web, acquired Kadence WP, the company that created the Kadence Blocks plugin and its accompanying Kadence theme. iThemes plans to make Kadence WP the official theme platform of choice for iThemes. They will also be announcing new licensing plans.
This type of consolidation is not uncommon in the technology industry, but the fact that hosting companies like GoDaddy, WPengine, and Liquid Web are aggressively acquiring plugin developers does raise some issues site owners will need to consider and plan for. We have already seen some acquisitions where the product acquired was discontinued or incorporated as a feature only available to that hosting company’s customers.
You can read about the iThemes announcement here.
WordPress Tallahassee Meetup Reminder
The Tallahassee WordPress Meetup has its next meetup scheduled for Tuesday, April 27, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. This will be a virtual session on Google meet. You can get more details and register here.