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“Does The Genesis Framework Have a Future in a World of Theme & Page Builders?”

This Weeks New Stories

1 - Gutenberg Contributors Explore Alternative to Using iframes for Meta Boxes

https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-contributors-explore-alternative-to-using-iframes-for-meta-boxes

2 - Provide plain language outline of project scope, direction, and goals for Gutenberg

https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/3354

3 - From €21,000 to €44,000/monthly: The company rises

http://blog.weglot.com/

This week on the WP-Tonic Podcast, host Jonathan Denwood interviewed Scott Bollinger of AppPresser. The two talked about Scott’s business, and the WordPress ecosystem.

Scott got the idea for AppPresser (https://apppresser.com/) when he went to WordCamp San Francisco and heard Matt Mullenweg talk about WordPress moving into the Aapp market. He thought of WordPress sites as mobile apps and set out to create a product that would allow you to create a mobile app from your WordPress website.

There were many technical hurdles to cover and he partnered with the team at Web Dev Studios (https://webdevstudios.com/)to build the actual product.

One of the big concerns was that they would build the app, and that Apple might reject it from the App Store. When it was accepted, they knew they had something to package and use.

Scott felt that they were fortunate with this product because the idea was different and quickly gathered interest. He said, “We didn’t have to do a a lot of marketing. When we launched, we had an audience.” He attributes this to articles written and buzz created because it was something different and something people saw as valuable.

From other product launches he as done, he finds that much buzz to be abnormal.

In the initial launch, they did not have trouble converting people to paid users. Again this is unusual. Frequently product sales are slow to build.

From the beginning they made a lot of sales.

They are moving to a SaaS product. They still have plugins but now have a cloud-based app builder which is much smoother than what they had. They can host push notifications, and provide a better user experience for their customers building apps.

Aside from discussing AppPresser, Jonathan and Scott talked about the WordPress ecosystem and a post Scott wrote after attending an eCommerce conference where WordPress wasn’t mentioned.

Scott explained that the conference was a marketing conference and that all of the eCommerce discussions covered selling on Amazon and Shopify. Although WooCommerce is the largest eCommerce platform on the Internet with more stores than Shopify, it may not appeal to a non-technical market.

He wrote Perspective on WordPress (http://scottbolinger.com/perspective-on-wordpress/) on his ScottBolinger.com blog to show that while we know that WordPress runs over 20% of the Internet, those of us in the WordPress community think that everyone knows and cares about WordPress. Actually, this isn’t the case.

He feels WordPress is best for agencies and developers building for clients. If you’re not technical, it can be incredibly difficult. Companies like Squarespace and Shopify are often popular with non-technical audiences because they are easier to use out-of-the-box.

Of course, he points out that the benefits of WordPress are the large ecosystem of plugins, the fact that it is Open Source, and can be customized to almost any requirement. It’s just that the general audience may not see that or understand its value.

We have a great show here with our special guest John James Jacoby who helps us discuss how to setup and use WordPress Multisite. John over the years has been a WordPress core contributor and lead a developer for both the BuddyPress and bbPress projects plus he was Director of Web Engineering at 10up. John also recently has taken up being the co-host the popular weekly WordPress podcast WordPress Weekly. We in the first half of the show discuss these leading WordPress new stories.

1 - WordPress 4.9 Will Support Shortcodes and Embedded Media in the Text Widget

https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-will-support-shortcodes-and-embedded-media-in-the-text-widget

2 - WordPress 4.9 Beta 4 Removes ‘Try Gutenberg’ Call to Action

https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-beta-4-removes-try-gutenberg-call-to-action

3 - A New Themes Experience in the Customizer

https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/10/24/a-new-themes-experience-in-the-customizer/

In this episode, Justin Busa Lead Developer at Fast Line Media (http://www.fastlinemedia.com/) the company that makes Beaver Builder, joined host Jonathan Denwood to discuss what’s in the works for Beaver Builder and Beaver Themer. Justin is co-founder of the company.

Along with discussing the future of the company’s products, the talked about the fact that Beaver Builder will be four years old in April. Sometimes it’s hard to realize it’s been around that long.

Currently the Beaver Builder team is focused on the release of Beaver Builder 2.0 which should drop in the next one to two weeks.

Some of the highlights for version 2.0 include:

Improved user experience allowing the user to move between options like rows and content.

Speed improvements based on the fact that much of the User Interface is now Javascript. This allows it to render instantly on the page and not have to return to the server.

This version also adds more options for users to customize their dashboard experience allowing them to resize the settings boxes, pin them where desired, and save workspace settings to keep this experience each time they login.

After this launch, they will return to Beaver Themer, which hasn’t been updated much since its release in order to focus on making changes based on customer feedback.

They will also be taking time on the Beaver Builder Theme. This received quite a bit of work in the first several years of the project, and is now being revisited based on customer feedback.

Overall, the company listens to feedback and takes a customer-centric approach to solving problems and improving their software going forward.

We have a great WP-Tonic Friday round-table show here with a great panel of WordPress experts we discuss this week's WordPress news stories and one main topic. For this week main discussion topic was “The Future of WordPress Page Builders Connected to WordPress.” With Gutenberg dominating the WordPress news over the last couple of months we thought it would be a good discussion topic for this week round-table show. We also had a great news section and here's a list of the news stories which were discussed during the show.

News Stories

1 - Google Chrome v62 Adds Support for OpenType Variable Fonts, Expands HTTP Warnings

https://wptavern.com/google-chrome-v62-adds-support-for-opentype-variable-fonts-expands-http-warnings

2 - AMP Project Turns 2, Automattic Partners with Google to Improve WordPress Plugin

https://wptavern.com/amp-project-turns-2-automattic-partners-with-google-to-improve-wordpress-plugin

3 - WordPress 4.9 Protects Users From Fatal Errors Created in the Theme and Plugin Editors

https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-protects-users-from-fatal-errors-created-in-the-theme-and-plugin-editors