WP Realm

BuddyPress 1.7 Release Candidate 1 For Your Testing Pleasure

The fine folks working on BuddyPress just released the first RC for BuddyPress 1.7:

BuddyPress 1.7 is going to be one of our most exciting releases to date. It comes packaged with the same theme compatibility that was introduced in bbPress 2.0, which means that BuddyPress will now work out-of-the-box with a majority of the WordPress themes available today.

Make sure you test this release candidate as much as you can because as you know, the 1.7 version is quite an upgrade. For more information, do check out the release post.

A Few Lessons I’ve Learned as a WordCamp Organizer

David is a seasoned WordCamp organizer, and has a few lessons to share for those considering organizing a WordCamp, be it for the first time or not.

This will be my fourth year as an organizer of WordCamp Miami, but don’t be fooled; I’m still learning how to pull off a flawless, successful event. The cruel irony here is, of course, that such a thing doesn’t exist. At least at the level of a large-scale WordCamp, something is bound to go wrong. It’s just a question how big that something will be, whether will you ever know about it and, after reflecting on the event (say, six months down the road) if that something was a big deal.

Every conference has unique challenges, depending on the people involved, where it’s located, and a thousand other factors. What i’m going to relate to you now are the lessons I’ve learned from drama in past WordCamp Miami events. Maybe you can relate, or maybe you can’t, but it might be entertaining. Keep reading »

Yoast on Why They Don’t Support Old WordPress Versions

Joost de Valk posted an interesting article about their support policy the other day. Specifically, about not supporting old WordPress versions. Joost comes to an interesting conclusion:

In short: upgrade. I know some developers out there are saying that we can’t “require” people to upgrade, well, I disagree. He compares it to Apple not forcing you to buy a new Mac when it breaks. The difference there is that we’re not talking about hardware. We’re talking about software. Apple regularly asks you to upgrade your system to fix battery issues or other issues.

Keep reading »

Admin panel. What does the future hold?

Ryan has been involved with dashboard styling for a while now. In this post he reflects on two different directions for the future of wp-admin; a premium, paid one and a brand-new plugin which might indicate the direction that core is taking.

I received an interesting email recently from Tung Do, a man who has been a well respected member of the WordPress community for quite some time. He offered me the opportunity to test his new plugin DP Dashboard (you can download the plugin yourself by becoming a member of DevPress for US$40 per year). Since reviewing Tung’s plugin, a new plugin called MP6 has been announced by WordPress leader Matt Mullenweg. MP6 is a development plugin intended as a test-bed for a potential new core redesign. Keep reading »

Dates and Location for WordCamp Europe announced

Sooo, what are your autumnal plans for 2013? They should probably include WordCamp Europe, which has just announced the dates for the event.

After months of searching for the perfect venue, we’re really excited to announce that the very first WordCamp Europe will take place on 5th – 7th October in Leiden, The Netherlands!

All the information is now on WordCamp Europe’s official site.

You can keep abreast of all WordCamp Europe news by subscribing to WordPress Europe’s newsletter, or following @WPEurope on Twitter or on Facebook.

Envato Finally Will Allow For 100% GPL Licenses

Envate, source of many GPL ruckus of late, is finally moving forward and allowing their theme and plugin authors to choose a proper 100% GPL license.

After getting this community feedback, we are now putting into the works an optional 100% GPL license which authors in GPL-based categories (such as WordPress or Drupal) can make use of. It will be completely up to authors whether they use this option. The new option should be available towards the end of March, and we’ll be posting on Notes about how authors can make use of it.

Keep reading »

Current State of the WordPress Theme Marketplace

Over at WPShout Alex Denning wrote a nice piece on what he calls “An Economist’s Look: Competition in the WordPress Theme Marketplace”. Or in other words:

That thought process has lead me to this post, where I’m going to run you through the current state of the marketplace, what impact that has and what that means for consumers.

Alex comes to the following conclusion: Keep reading »