Hey everyone! In Fuel Themes, we wanted to start doing WordPress round-ups for each month. At the end of each month, we’re going to gather up the most important news stories, opinion pieces, plugin & theme articles, and WordPress tutorials.
Without any further introduction, let’s get started!
News Articles & Opinion Pieces
WordPress 4.4 “Clifford” – WordPress closed the year with a major release, version 4.4. The first part of the famous REST API is integrated, which is awesome. Read our own take on the new features of WordPress 4.4.
‘Stats Of The Word,’ Milestones From 2015 State Of The Word – A great infographic on the state of WordPress in 2015. Feel proud, people.
State of the Word, 2015 – Post Status wrote about Matt Mullenweg’s speech in WordCamp US 2015. Pretty inspiring stuff, including our homework, as Matt says: “Learn JavaScript, deeply.”
Automattic Could Go Public In 2016, Report Says – Torque hints that Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, may go public in 2016, according to a report called “The 2016 Tech IPO Pipeline”.
Milestones: The Story of WordPress – The book of WordPress is out! Well, sort of: The book is in beta.
The Definitive PHP 7.0 & HHVM Benchmark – Kinsta reviews and compares PHP 7 to HHVM by benchmarking different content management systems, including WordPress. Spoiler alert: HHVM wins.
WordPress Entrepreneurs: Should You Diversify Beyond WordPress? – Little interviews with WordPress entrepreneurs on the future of WordPress, and shifting away from it (or not).
Plugins & Themes
MotoPress Content Editor vs Visual Composer vs SiteOrigin Page Builder vs Beaver Builder – A big comparison with a big title: CodeinWP reviews the biggest content editor plugins for WordPress. A must-read article for theme developers!
The Future of WordPress Plugins: What’s on the Horizon for 2016 and Beyond? – An opinion piece about the future of WordPress plugins. Yes, it’s about the REST API.
Yoast SEO 3.0 release: a recap – Joost de Valk explains his mistakes and releasing his latest major release of Yoast SEO.
WordPress Customizer: Supporting 600 Theme Options – A case study by Bruce Wampler, lead developer of the Weaver Xtreme theme, talking about migrating a theme options panel to the core Customizer. An excellent read.
An Inside Look At Twenty Sixteen: The New Default WordPress Theme – A review of the new default theme that comes with WordPress 4.4. My verdict: Don’t like it.
Tutorials
These titles mostly explain themselves, so I’m going to leave them unexplained.
Building a WordPress Ajax Theme
WordPress Security: The Essential Checklist to Prevent WordPress Hacking
An Introduction to WordPress Nonces with Examples
Learning JavaScript in WordPress, Deeply
Introducing Term Meta Data In WordPress And How To Use Them
Getting Started with WooCommerce
Creating a Simple WordPress Plugin in 60 Seconds
Understanding WordPress Multisite
Complete Guide on WordPress Security
HTTP/2, HTTPS, Let’s Encrypt and WordPress
Conclusion
That’s it for today, and this month… and this year! Have you read (or written) any posts that should have been in this list? Tell us about it in the Comments section below. And thanks for reading!