WordPress Monthly Review: July 2024

Welcome to the WordPress Roundup, your monthly summary of the latest news and updates from the WordPress community.

Every month we bring you important WordPress developments for all experience levels and keep you up to date with the latest core updates and upcoming releases.

Whether you're an experienced developer, a dedicated website owner, or just launching your first WordPress site, these updates promise to give you a better site-building experience by making it more seamless and powerful. You're an important part of our community, and we're here to support you every step of the way.

We'll also spotlight plugins and themes that will enhance your site, highlight important community events and notable contributions from WordPress developers, and provide tips to help you stay ahead of the game in this ever-evolving ecosystem.

This month's issue explores Ollie Pro, the Create Block Theme plugin, the upcoming WordPress 6.7 release, and more. Let's dive in!

Ollie Pro

Ollie is the theme that will enhance your site-building experience, and Ollie Pro gives you access to even more. Imagine combining the power of the block editor with the finesse of professionally designed patterns – Ollie Pro can do just that and more. Ollie isn't just another theme; it's your new secret weapon for creating stunning, customizable websites with unprecedented ease.

What makes Ollie Pro stand out? It's the details. The improved Pattern Browser is a prime example of this, providing instant access to a wealth of carefully crafted design patterns. Whether you want a sleek, minimalist look or something more complex, the Pattern Browser lets you create it faster than you can say “block editor.”

But it's not just about speed; it's about giving you the freedom to express your vision without the usual headaches. Ollie Pro's customization options are robust yet intuitive, giving you the tools to tweak every detail until it's perfect. This theme helps you simplify the complex and make professional design within reach of everyone, regardless of their technical expertise.

Ollie co-founder Mike McAlister recently announced Ollie Pro's impressive milestone: $10,000 in subscriptions within the first month. Community engagement, transparent communication, and prioritizing user feedback were critical to this success. These elements drove its early success and will shape its growth.

Ollie Pro is a complete design solution. It seamlessly combines aesthetics and usability and is perfect for those who value form and function. With Ollie Pro you design an experience, not just a website.

Create block topic

If you're not ready for a premium block theme like Ollie Pro, consider an alternative: download a free theme and use the Create Block Theme plugin to build your custom site. Start with a solid foundation and let the plugin guide you through designing, customizing, and refining every detail.

The Create Block Theme plugin simplifies development and allows you to create, edit, and manage themes from your WordPress dashboard. You can generate new themes, clone existing ones, and export customizations as standalone themes. It streamlines the process and makes it accessible to both beginners and experienced developers.

This approach gives you complete control over layouts, color schemes, and typography, making it easy to customize your website to match your vision. Even for beginners, the plugin is user-friendly and accessible, making the design process a pleasant experience.

Choosing this route will save you money and improve your understanding of WordPress themes so you can maintain and update your site on your own. A free starter theme like Powder Zero combined with the Create Block Theme plugin offers a perfect blend of creativity and functionality, making it a smart and powerful choice.

WordPress 6.7

With the release of WordPress 6.6 on July 16, users are now looking forward to the next major update. The upcoming release of WordPress 6.7, scheduled for November 12, 2024, promises many exciting features and improvements. This release improves the user experience and performance with significant updates to the block editor and site health tools.

Enjoy a streamlined user interface, improved navigation, and new block patterns that simplify the design process. Additionally, performance optimizations ensure faster load times and smoother interactions, which are critical to maintaining user engagement and satisfaction.

A highlight is the expanded customization options that provide more design flexibility. WordPress 6.7 offers users more control and efficiency, making creating and managing stunning websites more effortless than ever.

Another exciting addition is Twenty Twenty-Five, the new default theme. It is designed as a block theme and aims to minify CSS, configure styles via theme.json and make it editable via global styles. The theme development team is working closely with Gutenberg contributors to improve the design tools in the block editor to achieve this goal.

Other Bits

WP Engine's acquisition of NitroPack, a leading website performance optimization solution, is an important step toward a faster web. This strategic move integrates NitroPack's advanced speed-enhancing technologies into our robust platform.

The goal of the partnership is to deliver unprecedented website performance, improve user experience, and drive better business results. Our goal is to revolutionize website speed and efficiency, paving the way for a more dynamic and responsive web.

There are several exciting WordCamps taking place around the world in August. WordCamp Cape Town kicks off the month on August 1st and 2nd. In the middle of the month, WordCamp Rio de Janeiro and WordCamp Minneapolis/St. Paul take place on August 16th and 17th respectively. Towards the end of the month, WordCamp Cebu and WordCamp Lira take place on August 24th, followed by WordCamp Bogotá on August 30th and 31st.

The WordPress Developer Blog has published three new insightful articles. Building a Card Layout with a Hover Reveal Effect provides a step-by-step guide to creating engaging card designs with interactive hover effects.

“15 Ways to Curate the WordPress Editing Experience” offers practical tips to improve and optimize the WordPress editing workflow. “Mixing and Matching Styles, Colors, and Typography in WordPress 6.6” explores creative techniques for combining design elements to achieve stunning visual results in your WordPress projects.​

That's it for this month. Stay tuned as we follow the development of WordPress 6.7 and WordCamp US draws ever closer.