WPBeginner posted a writeup, reminding us of the auto-embed that WordPress will now attempt to do on plain URLs in posts (assuming we have it turned on in Media Settings).
The WordPress theme review page on the Codex was updated recently to reflect new guidelines and to remove previously redundant and contradictory information. The page was first created in 2010, and exists to help theme developers by listing the guidelines that are used to review submitted WordPress themes for inclusion in the WordPress Theme Directory.
About the new changes, theme reviewer Chip Bennett said:
“Within reason, and without stifling creativity or innovation, we want the Theme repository to reflect the “best of the best” of what WordPress Themes can be. Among other things, that means valid markup, error-free PHP, no calls to deprecated PHP or WordPress functions, and support for core WordPress features.”
The Theme Review page now has a section titled “Version Specific Changes” to make it easier for theme developers to track recent WordPress changes and update their themes accordingly.
The Theme Review team was formed earlier this summer and has spent the time since refining this Codex page and recovering from a backlog of over 100 themes waiting to be reviewed. The Theme Review page also has information on how to become a theme reviewer, if you are so inclined.
In addition to the Theme Review Codex page, the Theme Unit Test and the Theme Development pages were both updated with the help of Automattic Theme Wrangler Lance Willett. These pages also include updated testing data, a WordPress XML import file that developers can use to test their theme’s quality.
We’re always on the lookout for the best WordPress themes in the world. On the way to that goal, we’ve set out to choose the best new WordPress themes, every week.
This week’s new themes (or the new themes that we’re aware of) are in the poll below. Take a look at these new works of art, free and paid, and voice your opinion on the best of them. If you don’t see a theme that you know was released this week, enter it in the “other” option.
Nathan Rice, Lead Developer at WordPress theme company StudioPress, released a Plugin this week called SEO Data Transporter.
The Plugin allows users to import and export their SEO data, not only from another theme to Genesis, but vice versa as well. SEO Data Transporter supports StudioPress’ own Genesis as well as competitor themes Builder, Frugal, Headway, Thesis, and WooFramework.
Concerning the Plugin, Rice said:
Although some people might think it good business practice to lock users into using your product by holding their data hostage, we think this is a bad thing, for both our users, and for us as a business.
The bottom line is this … your data should be yours to take to any platform. If that hurts our bottom line, then so be it. It’s the right thing to do.
Of course, we believe in our product. We can’t imagine why anyone would want to move away from Genesis
WordPress and Ajax, an eBook by Ronald Huereca, is currently on sale at $14 (normally $24). Huereca mentioned the sale on Twitter, but didn’t say how long it would last.
WPCandy hasn’t had a chance to review the book yet, but a number of high profile WordPress developers have ranked it highly, according to the quotes on the book’s sales page.
Huereca is well known for his popular Plugin Ajax Edit Comments, which became a paid Plugin last December. You can follow him on Twitter at @ronalfy.
