What is it that you love?
Is it ice cream or pizza? Maybe you love comics or playing with Raspberry Pi?
Who is it that you love?
February, so it seems, is the month that we declare our love for someone.
Or, is it something? Chocolate?
For most of us, we love WordPress. I had a friend to tell me once that WordPress saved him. There’s a story there.
This month, the month of love, we explore the love of WordPress Roundup.
So, fall in love with WordPress all over again.
SitePoint has a new theme it looks nice
Sitepoint has long been one of the top sites for all things business, WordPress, and tutorials.
Truth is, I’ve burned some midnight oil hanging out and reading articles at that site.
If you are one of those WordPress developers who likes to try out new themes, especially if they are foundation type of themes, you might want to check out Sitepoint’s new starter theme.
Announced in December of 2016 it’s free and Open Source GPL 2.0.
The theme boasts some impressive performance numbers
“It’s one of the (if not the) fastest base themes I’ve worked with. It’s incredibly lightweight and minimal — exactly what you want in a starter theme. It’s currently hitting 98/100 on the Pingdom Page Speed Test.”
Naturally, the theme is mobile ready and SEO friendly.
Another fascinating feature Sitepoint lists is that it is Page Builder Compatible. According to Burgess, the theme works well with all the major page builders.
You can check out the demo here.
Customize the new Sitepoint theme
So, like any new theme, you have to give a tutorial. Sitepoint launches into this with a post on how to customize their new Base Theme.
Give yourself some love and try out the new SitePoint Base Theme.
Oh Google, you had me at. . . wait, what?
The WordPress 4.7.2 is definitely something website owners should update to, but Google made sure to scare folks into doing it.
I think it was a mistake.
Bleeping Computer reported that Google sent messages to several WordPress users telling them to upgrade their WordPress version, even if they already had updated to the new version.
The message was sent to owners through the Google Search Console.
“The problem is that many webmasters running up-to-date versions received the alerts, when it was clear they shouldn’t have. While many realized there must have been a mistake on Google’s part, some webmasters and their customers got alarmed.”
The messages were sent as an alert intending only to be a courtesy, but some users misunderstood causing nervousness and some panic.
Hey, Google was trying. They just got a little over the top.
Bleeping Computer also had a nice run down of the API REST flaw that the new WordPress version corrected.
At least 2 million pages were defaced as a result of the attack.
Powering even more of the websites
For some time now, we’ve been talking about how WordPress powers at least 25% of the internet. Recently, that became 26%.
Now, however, it seems that WordPress has snuck to 27% of the internet.
Recently WordPress’ Chief Marketing Officer spoke about the varied use of WordPress in an interview with TechRepublic.
“Taylor’s job is to expand the WordPress market in a way consistent with the product’s humble roots. He started his career in research and analytics and continues to use data to drive marketing decisions.”
The company now claims to power 27% of the websites in the world.
The World of WordPress Hosting
Recently, we did an article here, a journey really, about upgrading PHP to a later version. I learned some ins and outs of hosting.
I am far from any kind of hosting expert, but several in our MainWP Facebook Group are.
I learned some things from those I spoke with for that article.
This is why, more and more, I advocate a business use an expert to host your website.
In February Saylor Bullington did a nice job of creating a post to serve as a guide for WordPress hosting.
You can see the article here https://ithemes.com/2017/02/14/wordpress-hosting/
That’s a wrap
That’s a wrap for this edition of the WordPress Roundup.
What are some of the posts you have read this month?
What are some of the issues you have been thinking about in the WordPress ecosystem?
