There's been a lot going on over the past two weeks: Let's Encrypt has started issuing wildcard certificates and a new series of articles on GDPR from WP Bistro sheds some light on the subject. We also subjected WordPress 5.0 to several performance tests that surprised us. And we cordially invite you to join our new Raidboxes WP community in Slack.
Does WordPress 5.0 really slow down your site?
The next major WordPress update will be released this spring - 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. As 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 actually leads to significant loading time losses.
The new Raidboxes WP community in Slack
We work with WordPress every day! Of course, we're not alone in this - 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 such as web development, marketing or business with WordPress, network with each other and share their experiences. Want to be part of it? Then join our Slack community now! 🙂
WordPress
Designing themes with Gutenberg blocks and Sketch
With the update to WordPress 5.0, Gutenberg becomes the standard editor. What the new, block-based editor means for plugin and theme developers is a much-discussed question in the WP community. Kjell Reigstad - Product & Editorial Designer at Automattic - shows what the new theme design process with Gutenberg and Sketch could look like.
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 watch the video, the presentation slides and the transcript on the WordPress support team page .
The program for the WordCamp Retreat is available
The first WordCamp Retreat will take place in Soltau from 4 to 6 May. The preliminary program structure was published this week and it looks really promising. Every morning, for example, there will be an optional slot at 8:00 a.m. for early morning sports such as yoga or jogging. This is followed by sessions, contributing and co. and from 16:00 onwards, joint leisure activities are planned. If you want to be there, you should hurry, because there are only a few tickets left!
Business
GDPR - What does it 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 well-known WordPress plugins.
TechCrunch backs 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." Due to these problems, the colleagues at TechCrunch rebuilt their website from scratch. The result is a "headless" WordPress, i.e. a separation of WP backend and frontend. Head of Product Nicole Wilke explains how this decision was made.
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.
