Autumn signals preparation for the winter season – and the WordPress community is using this time to prepare for the upcoming WordPress 5.9 release.
The fall season also symbolizes abundance – and this October, good news abounds in the WordPress community.
Read on to learn:
WordPress Global Community Sponsorship To Exclude WordCamps
WordPress.org Profiles Now Show Contributions Made on GitHub
ThemeIsle Acquires WP Landing Kit
Awesome Motive Acquires Sandhills Development
Keanan Koppenhaver Acquires WP Pusher
Final Thoughts – WordPress News: WordPress Profiles on GitHub + 4 More | Oct. 2021
WordPress Global Community Sponsorship To Exclude WordCamps
WordCamp U.S. returned after a two-year hiatus. The one-day virtual event, which was held on October 1, drew over 3,600 participants.
A few days before WordCamp U.S., the WordPress team announced that it would be allowing in-person WordCamps and released a set of guidelines for conducting in-person events.
A week after, the WordPress Global Community Sponsorship team announced that it would not be allotting funding to WordCamps due to the unpredictable nature of organizing in-person events.
Sponsors that wanted to support local WordCamps could previously reach out to local organizers. This time, they should reach out to the sponsorship team for centralized coordination.
The remaining WordCamps for 2021 will all be held virtually.
WordPress.org Profiles Now Show Contributions Made on GitHub
WordPress.org profiles can now reflect users’ contributions on GitHub.
A new update links WordPress.org profiles to GitHub, allowing GitHub to detect users’ activity on the WordPress GitHub organization and display it on their profiles. Users that want to update their profiles can go to the Edit Profile page, launch GitHub and authorize their accounts in one click.
With more activity coming in from GitHub, this update makes it easy for WordPress team heads to track participation. Future uses could include monitoring a job candidate’s projects or verifying Five for Future contributions.
ThemeIsle Acquires WP Landing Kit
ThemeIsle, the creators of popular WordPress themes Hestia and Neve, have acquired WP Landing Kit and the Multiple Pages Generator plugin.
WP Landing Kit is a popular plugin that lets you create landing pages or complete microsites by mapping domains and domain URLs to individual pages within your website without using WordPress Multisite. It was built in 2020 by Jason Schuller and Phil Kurth.
The Multiple Pages Generator plugin generates and adds bulk pages and posts to your website to increase your SEO presence.
With WP Landing Kit and Multiple Pages Generator, ThemeIsle envisions creating a solid DIY solution for managing landing pages on WordPress.
Awesome Motive Acquires Sandhills Development
Awesome Motive, the company behind WPBeginner, OptinMonster, MonsterInsights and WPForms, acquired Sandhills Development and its family of products.
Sandhills Development is behind the Easy Digital Downloads (EDD), AffiliateWP, Sugar Calendar and WP Simple Pay plugins.
Sandhills Development founder Pippin Williamson shared that the decision to sell stemmed from losing his passion for WordPress and building products. Many Awesome Motive products use EDD, which was an important factor for Williamson when deciding to entrust the products to the company.
The majority of the Sandhills Development team will be joining Awesome Motive to develop the products moving forward.
Keanan Koppenhaver Acquires WP Pusher
WordPress developer Keanan Koppenhaver announced that he acquired the WP Pusher and Branch plugins from Peter Suhm.
WP Pusher allows users to deploy plugins and themes directly from GitHub, GitLab and BitBucket, while Branch is a continuous integration service for WordPress.
Suhm started working on a form builder called reform.app early in 2021 and realized it was more aligned with his goals than the two other plugins. “Selling WP Pusher and Branch allowed me to work on Reform without needing to necessarily raise money or have a job,” shares Suhm.
Selling WP Pusher to Koppenhaver was an easy decision for Suhm; they have both worked together previously. He shares, “I wouldn’t sell WP Pusher to whomever because it’s basically what I’m known for in the WordPress space, and its reputation means a lot to me.”
Starting October 1, Koppenhaver reopened signups for Branch. He says existing customers can expect no pricing changes for now.
Final Thoughts – WordPress News: WP Profiles on GitHub + 4 More | Oct. 2021
October 2021 saw the return of WordCamp U.S., developments relating to the WordPress 5.9 release in December and multiple continued acquisitions, which have been happening since September.
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