There was a lot going on in the past two weeks: Let's Encrypt starts issuing wildcard certificates and a new series of articles on WP Bistro's GDPRsheds light on the issue. We also put WordPress 5.0 through several performance tests that surprised us. And we cordially invite you to our new Raidboxes WP community in Slack.
Does WordPress 5.0 really slow down your site ?
In spring this year the next big WordPress update will be released - at least that's the plan. The exact release date of WordPress 5.0 depends on when the new Gutenberg editor is ready for WP core. Since WordPress 5.0 brings some fundamental changes, many WP users fear that there will be plugin-, theme- and performance problems. We took a closer look at the alpha version of the update and tested whether WordPress 5.0 really leads to significant load time losses.
The new Raidboxes WP community in Slack
We work with WordPress, and we do it every day! Of course, we're not alone in that, after all, over 30 percent of the top 10 million websites now run on our favorite CMS. Since we believe that web designers, developers, agencies and internet entrepreneurs who work professionally with WordPress can learn a lot from each other, we founded the Raidboxes WP community in Slack. Our goal is to create a place where WP professionals can discuss topics like web development, marketing or business with WordPress, network with each other and share their experiences. You want to be part of it? Then become a member of our Slack community now! 🙂
WordPress
Designing themes with Gutenberg blocks and Sketch
With the update to WordPress 5.0 Gutenberg becomes the default editor. What the new, block-based editor means for plugin- and theme- creators is a much discussed question in the WP community. Kjell Reigstad - Product & Editorial Designer at Automattic - shows how the new theme design process might look like with Gutenberg and Sketch.
How to turn angry customers into happy customers
In a 30-minute webinar on "Dealing with angry customers", Mindy Postoff - Happiness Engineer at Automattic - explains helpful strategies on how to best deal with angry customers. You can view the video, presentation slides, and transcript at the WordPress Support Team's site .
The program for the WordCamp Retreat is available
The first WordCamp Retreat will take place in Soltau from the 4th to the 6th Mai . This week the preliminary program structure was published, which looks really promising. For example, every morning at 8:00 an optional slot for early morning sports like yoga or jogging is scheduled. After that there will be sessions, contributing and co. and from 16:00 on there will be free time activities. If you want to be there, you should hurry, because there are only a few tickets left!
Business
GDPR -What does this mean for WordPress users?
Michaela Steidl from WordPress Bistro has published a helpful series of articles on the topic of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In the individual articles, she addresses questions that are particularly relevant for WordPress users, such as the GDPR compliance of popular WordPress plugins.
TechCrunch relies on headless WordPress
"That monster, clutter, reared itself in many forms. We had no shortage of tech debt and disjointed module mishmashes. The site structure didn't make sense." Because of these problems, TechCrunch colleagues rebuilt their site from the ground up. The result is a "headless" WordPress, meaning a separation of WP backend and frontend. Head of Product Nicole Wilke explains how this decision came about.
Security
Let's Encrypt issues wildcard certificates
As announced at the end of last year, the free certification authority Let's Encrypt has now started issuing wildcard certificates. With such a wildcard certificate you can manage multiple subdomains. "Wildcard certificates can make certificate management easier in some cases, and we want to address those cases in order to help get the Web to 100% HTTPS," writes Executive Director Josh Aas.
