{"id":43960,"date":"2023-05-01T04:15:09","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T04:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/?p=43960"},"modified":"2023-04-29T04:44:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-29T04:44:07","slug":"wordpress-news-roundup-march-2023-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wordpress-news-roundup-march-2023-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress News Roundup Part 2 \u2014 Latest Gutenberg Releases + 5 More Updates | March 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

March 2023 saw WordPress\u2019s first major release of the year \u2014 WordPress 6.2, which includes many new features, improvements and enhancements. It dropped on March 29, 2023. You can learn all about it in part one of March 2023\u2019s WordPress news roundup<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part two of our March 2023 news roundup focuses on the latest Gutenberg releases, WordCamps and WordPress acquisitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latest Gutenberg releases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Gutenberg team released two versions in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gutenberg 15.3<\/a> was released on March 13. This release enhances the Duotone design tool, allowing users to set a global filter within the Site Editor\u2019s Styles panel. Previously, users could only do this manually through the themes.json file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highlight of this release was the Time to Read block, which shows visitors the post or page\u2019s estimated reading time. Users can add custom CSS to fix the block\u2019s alignment but can\u2019t customize its appearance yet since it\u2019s the block\u2019s first iteration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gutenberg
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Gutenberg 15.4<\/a> was released on March 22. This release focused less on improving user-facing features and addressed bug fixes, testing and other improvements. Notable updates include an improved Cover block, new template descriptions and the ability to turn paragraphs into columns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress introduces a new restaurant theme<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Bibimbap
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Automattic introduced a new block-based restaurant theme<\/a> called Bibimbap<\/a> after releasing four new themes in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bibimbap theme comes with five well-designed block patterns for building restaurant websites. However, the theme needs a few features that would make it more user-friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, while Bibimbap is available on WordPress.com, the preview is similar to installing it on a self-hosted site because the theme lacks a live demo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theme is recommended for users who know their way around WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Google Fonts are now bundled in WordPress\u2019s legacy default themes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Following recommendations from the WordPress Theme team to switch to locally-hosted fonts<\/a>, contributors have updated WordPress legacy themes (the themes used in older versions of WordPress) to include Google Fonts locally instead of loading the fonts over Google\u2019s servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The update aims to improve the performance and privacy of WordPress sites while reducing reliance on external sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributors have already updated the Twenty Twelve through Twenty Seventeen themes. These themes are available for download on the WordPress theme directory<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Automattic acquires ActivityPub<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Automattic made its first acquisition for 2023<\/a>, purchasing the ActivityPub plugin<\/a> from its German developer, Matthias Pfefferle, who will be joining the team to continue working on the plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like Jetpack, ActivityPub allows users to automatically share content with large social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It also allows users to share content to federated networks, such as Mastodon, Pleroma and Misskey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone on those networks can follow your blog posts, which will show up on their home feed. Responses to posts on those platforms also show up in your WordPress blog\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awesome Motive acquires WP101<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Awesome
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Awesome Motive<\/a>, the company behind WPBeginner, OptinMonster, MonsterInsights and WPForms, acquired WP101<\/a>, a company that\u2019s provided WordPress video training to over three million users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress agencies and service providers have used the WP101 plugin<\/a> to offer their clients white-label professional WordPress training videos. Awesome Motive\u2019s acquisition of WP 101 will open the platform to a broader user base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WP101 is Awesome Motive\u2019s third acquisition in 2023, following its acquisition of the Duplicator plugin<\/a> and Thrive Themes<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>WordCamps in March<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Following the success of the flagship WordCamp Asia<\/a> held in February, in-person WordCamps are in full swing. Here were the WordCamp events that happened in March:<\/p>\n\n\n\n