Additionally, sharing company news fuels our collective momentum. It serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come and ignites a sense of excitement for what lies ahead. Whether on a podcast, involvement with a WordCamp, or a byline on a partner’s blog, each piece of news propels us forward, inspiring us to reach greater heights and pursue new opportunities with renewed vigor.

One of the most rewarding aspects of sharing company news is witnessing the ripple effect it creates. As we unveil our achievements, innovations, and milestones, we see the impact radiate outward, touching our immediate team and our partners, clients, and stakeholders. Seeing how our news resonates with others is immensely fulfilling, sparking conversations, generating enthusiasm, and fostering a sense of pride in what we’ve accomplished together.

So let’s uncover together what WebDevStudios (WDS) achieved in March. Thank you for being a part of our story.

Plugin Madness

Plugin Madness is an exhilarating bracket-style competition that captivates the online world by pitting 64 plugins against one another to determine the crème de la crème. With the WordPress repository boasting an extensive array of plugins alongside numerous premium options, Plugin Madness serves as a beacon, spotlighting the most innovative and invaluable WordPress plugins out there.

Plugin Madness isn’t just about showcasing plugins. It’s about honoring the ingenious developers and authors behind them and recognizing their contributions to the WordPress community. Much like its March counterpart, this competition commenced with a thrilling lineup of 64 WordPress plugins, carefully selected through a nomination process that spanned from February 12 to February 26, with the final contenders unveiled on March 4. Among them is our very own Custom Post Type UI (CPTUI).

At the time of publication of this blog post, Plugin Madness is in Round 4 of its contest. CPTUI has made it so far and is currently pitted against Advanced Custom Fields. We can make it to next week’s finals if you vote for CPTUI daily. Here’s how.

Just go to the Plugin Madness landing page at the Torque Mag website. You may have to register, but remember, you can vote daily. Thank you to everyone who has been voting and keeping CPTUI in the race!

Guest Post on the WP Engine Blog

Since we released the video demonstrating how WebDevStudios developed a specialized framework that fixes errors after migrating your website from Elementor to WordPress Blocks, the buzz around this solution has grown. In fact, WP Engine invited WDS Director of Accounts Jen Miller to guest post about it on their blog.

In “How WebDevStudios Saves Time and Simplifies Elementor Migrations for Enterprise Clients,” Jen reports that websites created with page builders, such as Elementor, score lower on Google’s PageSpeed Insights than those built in the WordPress block editor. She continues to explain how errors can occur when moving from Elementor to the WordPress Block Editor and how WDS can help.

Visit the WP Engine blog to read the full article.

Amazing Teams Podcast

For many years, WebDevStudios has relied on HeyTaco for employee rewards. Here’s how it works.

HeyTaco operates as a dynamic platform fostering positivity and camaraderie within teams worldwide. The concept is refreshingly simple yet profoundly effective: spread cheer and gratitude by sending taco emojis as tokens of appreciation.

Each day, users are granted a bounty of five virtual tacos, which they can bestow upon colleagues for various reasons. These taco tokens serve as more than just playful symbols. They symbolize genuine recognition and encouragement, creating an atmosphere where acknowledgment and support flourish. Best of all, they can be accumulated and redeemed for things like gift cards, actual tacos, or a paid day off!

HeyTaco produces a podcast called “Amazing Teams.” Recently, WDS CEO Brad Williams was a featured guest, and he discussed how to establish a company culture within a remote work environment, engage with a distributed team, and build an amazing team.

“Culture, I think, at all levels, is super important, but especially distributed because it is so much harder when you’re not face-to-face,” Brad says during his interview. “You don’t get these random interactions at a water cooler. I don’t get to stop by your desk and ask, ‘Hey, how was your weekend? What’d you do?’ For just that five-minute little sync, you don’t get that in remote unless you intentionally make it happen.”

Listen to the full episode featuring Brad on the “Amazing Teams Podcast.”

WordCamp Asia

WordCamp Asia is one of the most popular and attended WordCamps around the globe, selling out quickly each year. This year’s event occurred March 7-9 in Taipei, Taiwan.

WDS Engineering Manager JC Palmes is always involved in one way or another. This year, JC was the Lead Organizer of Contributor Day, which is a day dedicated to fostering collaboration and contribution to the WordPress project.

During WordCamp Contributor Day, attendees come together to work on various aspects of WordPress, such as core development, design, documentation, translation, support, and more. Participants can join teams based on their interests and skill sets, collaborating with other community members and experienced contributors to improve WordPress in different ways. Without organizers and volunteers, Contributor Day could never happen.

“Leading Contributor Day was fulfilling,” says JC. “Overall, my experience at WordCamp Asia 2024 in Taipei was fantastic, despite the stress of keeping the next host city under wraps. I’m excited for WordCamp Asia 2025 in Manila!”

Invite WebDevStudios to Guest Blog or Be on Your Podcast!

Our team likes to get involved and give back. Would you like a member of our team to be on your podcast or write a contributing article for your blog? We’ll consider it. Pitch your idea to us at marketing@webdevstudios.com. If it sounds like a fit, we’ll get back to you.

The post Company News – March appeared first on WebDevStudios.

Our February has been jam-packed with good times, from client launches to new employees, custom WordPress solutions, and work anniversaries. WebDevStudios (WDS) has had much to celebrate.

Join us in this celebration, won’t you? Keep reading to check out the latest company news at our WordPress agency.

The Dazzling Debut of The Pop Insider Redesign

Buckle up for an adventure because WebDevStudios isn’t just stopping with the successful project we kicked off for The Toy Insider. We are now revving up for the grand reveal of The Pop Insider redesign.

The Pop Insider isn’t just another website. Under Adventure Publishing Group’s brand, The Pop Insider is the heartbeat of pop culture fandom, delivering a daily dose of news, jaw-dropping giveaways, and top-secret insights into the hottest merchandise trends. In collaboration with WebDevStudios, The Pop Insider is also a WordPress Multisite wonder.

“We just wouldn’t be where we are now without WDS,” says Marissa Silva of Adventure Publishing Group. “We have had over 200% increase in traffic,” she reports. Get a full view of the WordPress project we customized for The Pop Insider by visiting the WDS portfolio.

Available Now! WordPress All in One for Dummies, 5th Edition

Last month, we told you it was coming. On February 6th, “WordPress All in One for Dummies, 5th Edition” hit the market. It’s available now at Amazon, or anywhere you purchase books.

Written by WDS COO Lisa Sabin-Wilson, the subject matter authority on WordPress and the For Dummies brand (John Wiley & Sons Publishing) franchise author, “WordPress All in One for Dummies” is presented in an 8-books-in-1 format, covering everything from theme selection and customization to web hosting, URL selection, and managing multiple websites with ease. WDS Director of Engineering Mitch Canter is the technical editor of this important resource.

Book Giveaway

To celebrate the release of “WordPress All in One for Dummies, 5th Edition,” WDS held a giveaway for our email newsletter subscribers. Everyone who subscribed to our newsletter by February 23rd was automatically entered to win a free copy of this book.

Congratulations to Laura W., who won a free copy of “WordPress All in One for Dummies, 5th Edition.” Are you subscribed to the monthly WDS email newsletter? You should be! Subscribe now. You never know when we might hold another giveaway for our subscribers.

WebDevStudios Solution to Move from Elementor to WordPress Blocks

Client after client has come to our WordPress agency seeking assistance moving from Elementor to WordPress Blocks. They feel stuck, and after attempting the migration themselves, they encounter layout errors.

Lucky for Elementor customers, the team at WebDevStudios developed a customized framework solution that fixes errors that occur after moving your company’s website from Elementor to WordPress Blocks. The video below explains more. Contact us when you’re ready to access this solution and move your website from Elementor to WordPress Blocks.

WordCamp Asia Happens March 7-9

It’s seriously one of the hottest WordCamp events in the world. In mere days, WordCamp Asia will take place in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 7-9, 2024. This WordPress conference holds a special place in our hearts as WDS Engineering Manager JC Palmes is the lead organizer of Contributor Day.

In the past, JC has served as one of the global leads for WordCamp Asia 2023. She is also the founder of the WordPress Iloilo meetup group and has participated as an organizer for WordCamp Iloilo events in 2019, 2021, and 2023.

Contributor Day is designed to provide the perfect opportunity for anyone to contribute to WordPress, regardless of skill level. Experienced contributors will be on hand to offer guidance. Hundreds of WordPress enthusiasts and top engineers are expected to participate. With JC leading the event, we know it will be a success.

The post Company News – February appeared first on WebDevStudios.

This historical WordCamp was a superb experience with valuable sessions inside an impressive venue. The side events, food, and just everything were so good! This short blog post featuring the highlights will not do the event justice, but let me try my best. Here we go.

Contributor Day

As a WordCamp Asia 2023 Contributor Day organizer member, I had so much fun. We had a good turnout and active participation from the contributors. It was incredible to have WordPress team representatives come in person and lead the teams.

Six hundred and fifty-three people contributed that day, many of whom were first-time contributors. Contributions included pull requests, patches, theme reviews, translations, etc.

Sessions

The sessions were terrific, featuring a variety of topics and skill levels. There were three tracks, each with a great line of speakers. I learned a lot from the talks.

As a developer, I attended a few programming-related sessions, but there were talks and presentations for everyone, including designers, bloggers, marketers, and business owners. WebDevStudios Account Manager, Laura Byrne, delivered an inspiring talk called “Disillusioned at Age 50: Turning a 10-year WordPress hobby into a successful new career as a woman who doesn’t code.”

Here are the slides. You can also catch Laura’s talk in the video below.

Ask Matt (Mullenweg) Anything

I asked, “How can developers and designers upskill themselves?” The Executive Director of the WordPress project, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, answered that we could accomplish this by participating in do_action hackathons.

Many interesting questions were asked in the “Ask Matt Anything” session. Responding to a question about ChatGPT, Matt recommended we begin by “…leveraging them to improve our productivity than trying to fight them.”

The big announcement was that the collaborative editing, Phase III of the Gutenberg project, would commence soon.

On the fun side, Matt said if he had a time machine, he would like to revisit the day he chatted with Mike Little about forking b2/cafelog as WordPress.

Five for the Future

Matt discussed Five For The Future (5FTF) while answering a question about how open source can thrive. He believes and recommends contributing a small percentage back to open source will keep it growing and thriving. He also highlighted that open source can shine during recessionary times.

I understand the importance of contributions to a project like WordPress, which keeps it one of the top open-source platforms. At WebDevStudios (WDS), we take contributions seriously and continue them without fail. Check out these blog posts if you are curious about 5FTF and how to contribute.

Meeting Teammates In Person

Meeting coworkers for the first time in person cannot be explained in words. When Laura said hello, it took a few seconds for me to believe it was real. Although we are connected online, talking to my teammates in person is a pleasure.

I am an Indian. Engineering Manager, JC Palmes, is a Filipina. Lead Engineer, Ashar Irfan, is from Pakistan, and Laura is from the United States. This event is the perfect place for us to see each other. It is a mix of emotions when we all hang out together.

Thanks to Laura for this gift all the way from New York. Having lunch with Ashar was something special and to be cherished. I mistook three other attendees who looked somewhat similar to Ashar, and this is where swag helps. Luckily, I could identify him by the WebDevStudios shirt that he was wearing.

JC was busy as one of the Global Leads for WordCamp Asia, and the pasalubong she brought for us was terrific. Pasalubong means “gift” in Ilonggo language. Even though I lived in the same city as JC, I had met her only a few times before.

I was feeling unwell right before my flight and thought of canceling the trip, but if I had done that, I would have missed meeting the WordPress community and awesome coworkers.

Reactions to WordCamp Asia 2023

I asked the WDS team who attended the event to describe their WordCamp Asia 2023 experience in one sentence. Here’s what they had to say.

Ashar Irfan

“WordCamp Asia was my first WordCamp ever, and honestly, I enjoyed the whole experience of connecting with the WordPress community. I met with many amazing folks, including some of my wonderful colleagues, and I hope to do this again soon.”

JC Palmes

“I was thrilled to be one of the members of the Global Leads trio for WordCamp Asia. It was both an amazing and a very stressful experience. Although I did not see any of the talks from start to finish, I know they all went well. Just seeing the faces of everyone made all the stress and internal drama worth it. I finally got to connect actual persons to their names and Zoom faces. One of my most memorable experiences was finally meeting Laura and Ashar (it took me a few seconds to realize it was him); Lax, too, but I’ve met him already.”

Laura Byrne

“I loved my first time in Asia and meeting my colleagues. The first person I met was Lax, who is just as warm and welcoming in person as he is online. As a Global Lead Organizer, JC was constantly in motion. It was impressive how many things she dealt with while never looking tired. It was the first time I ever met Ashar or spoke to him. We’ve only ever briefly interacted in Slack before. He has such an outgoing and joyful personality, which I’d never realized from only meeting him on Slack. He’s also really tall; I wasn’t expecting that. You don’t know where to look when you’ve only seen someone as a Zoom avatar.”

WordCamp Asia 2023 in Pictures

A Million Thanks

I want to thank this WordCamp’s leads, organizers, volunteers, sponsors, and attendees. Almost 1,300 people attended, which is a considerable number for the first-ever flagship WordCamp in Asia.

On a personal note, I am grateful for the efficient remote work processes at WDS and the generous paid time off to attend. We send virtual tacos as a token of appreciation to our colleagues at work. I badly wanted to send hundreds of tacos to everyone who made this one memorable!

It felt sad when the event was over, but I look forward to attending other WordCamps and WDSCamp,  our annual retreat, and meeting all my coworkers this year!

The post Highlights from WordCamp Asia 2023 appeared first on WebDevStudios.

Here is the latest installment of WebDevStudios company news for December. Check out what our team was up to this month.

Holiday Festivities

As everyone knows, WebDevStudios (WDS) likes to keep our remote work culture fun and engaging. We had a slew of festive activities to celebrate the winter holidays and new year, beginning with our most important activity.

WDS Charity Challenge

Giving back is important to us. We do this monthly by participating in Five for the Future, but we also do it annually by raising funds for charity.

We divided our group into two teams for this year’s Charity Challenge. You can contribute to each team’s efforts. Below are links to support the charity of your choice.

• Save the Children
• Coded by Kids

Make your donation soon. Our fundraising efforts end on December 31st.

Secret Santa

Our website company held a Secret Santa gift exchange. We used Elfster to assist with randomly selecting gift recipients and Secret Santas.

Participants met for a scheduled event via Zoom. One by one, each team member revealed their gift. It was a great time and bonding opportunity.

Festivus Tree Contest

WDS teammates submitted their holiday trees to compete for the best. Senior Frontend Engineer, Alfredo Navas, won this year’s competition.

Ugly Sweater Contest

Trees and gifts are great, but no winter holiday is complete without the donning of the ugliest sweater you own. We had a contest to prove it. Marketing Manager, Laura Coronado, won with her holiday pink flamingo sweater.

WordCamp Asia

We said it once. We’re saying it again. WordCamp Asia 2023 is the hottest ticket in the world, especially because it’s been long sold-out.

Earlier this month, WDS Backend Engineer, Lax Mariappan, participated in an a WordCamp Asia Contributor Day livestream presentation where he shared his WordPress journey. You can watch it on YouTube.

WordCamp Asia has now announced its final schedule after publishing eight announcements of speakers. Among those featured is WDS Account Manager, Laura Byrne. Her talk is titled “Disillusioned at Age 50: Turning a 10-year WordPress hobby into a successful new career as a woman who doesn’t code.”

You should also note that Lax is a WordCamp Asia Contributor Day organizer and WDS Engineering Manager, JC Palmes, is a Global Lead of the event. Keep up with WordCamp Asia by visiting the event’s website.

WordPress State of the Word

On December 15th, State of the Word was presented in person in New York City and livestreamed on YouTube. This event is the annual keynote address delivered by the WordPress project’s co-founder, Matt Mullenweg.

You can watch the presentation in its entirety below. Pay special attention at 1:38:00 when Laura Byrne convinces Matt to commit to another all-women release squad WordPress release in the second half of 2023.

WP Product Talk

Before Twitter Spaces was shut down, Kimberly Coleman, Co-Founder of Paid Memberships Pro, hosted a spaces event with WDS CEO, Brad Williams as a guest. Brad talked about our participation in Five for the Future, saying, “We’ve been participating in Five for the Future for eight years now and have contributed 11,000 hours of company time to WordPress.”

As of the publication of this blog post, you can still access the recording on Twitter, although that could expire any day. Act quickly and listen now while you still can.

Pluginize

Here are the latest Pluginize plugin updates you need to know about.

WP Search with Algolia

Last month, we released Version 2.3.1. This Uis a minor update to fix an immediate bug that was introduced in the previous release.

Custom Post Type UI (CPTUI)

In December, we released three updates for CPTUI, our most popular plugin.

• Version 1.13.2: Removes the forcing of underscores in taxonomy slugs, making it easier to optimize taxonomies for SEO purposes
• Version 1.13.3: Features PHP8 compatibility fixes as well as third-party taxonomy filters added
• Version 1.13.4: A bug fix release

WebDevStudios Is Hiring

Do you want to know the best way to kick off the new year? It’s with a new job! WebDevStudios is now recruiting:

• UX Designer
• Backend Engineer
• Frontend Engineer

Don’t put off your goals any longer. Visit our Careers page and apply online today.

From our team to you and yours, happy holidays and new year. We’ll see you in 2023.

The post Company News – December appeared first on WebDevStudios.

Keep reading for the latest in WebDevStudios company news.

CPTUI Nears Another Milestone

While our most popular plugin isn’t quite there yet, we’re too excited to wait to share this amazing company news. Custom Post Type UI (CPTUI) is nearing 10,000,000 all-time downloads.

You read that right—ten million downloads!

It was just last May that WebDevStudios (WDS) celebrated CPTUI achieving 1,000,000 active installations. Soon, we’ll have another milestone to commemorate. When we reach it, we will announce it here.

WebDevStudios Goes Headless

It’s time to drink our own champagne.

Our WordPress agency can’t stop talking about headless technology. We’ve blogged about it. We presented a webinar on Headless WordPress in October. And now, the WebDevStudios website is going headless, too.

WDS Co-Founders, Brad Williams and Lisa Sabin-Wilson, announced last week that WebDevStudios.com will be relaunched with a new look and as a fully decoupled setup.

Stay tuned for more on this piece of extraordinary company news.

Upcoming Events

Yup. Events are still happening. Nowadays, we’ve become accustomed to them happening virtually, but WordPress events still continue to be a great source of information and inspiration.

WordFest Live

First, it’s one of our favorites—WordFest Live. This festival of WordPress is happening March 4, 2022.

Sessions and speakers have been announced. Among them is WDS Website Specialist, Christina Workman, whose talk is titled “Colouring for Relaxation (Yes, You Can!).”

Christina’s session will occur at 7:15 p.m. UTC. Register at WordFest Live’s website.

Post Status Twitter Conference

Post Status just announced their first-ever Twitter conference. Taking place May 24, 2022 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST, the event is now accepting applications from presenters.

It’s too soon to tell if WDS will have any team members presenting at the event, but we know for sure some of us will be in attendance. We’re saving the date. You should, too.

WordCamp Asia

Consider this a tease. WDS Senior Frontend Engineer, JC Palmes, is one of the lead organizers for WordCamp Asia. According to her, team members for WordCamp Asia are being recruited.

A call for additional volunteers will go out soon. Dates for the event have not been announced.

WebDevStudios Is Hiring!

Did you know when you work for WDS, you can work from anywhere in the world? That’s because we operate as a 100% distributed team.

WDS is currently recruiting for:

• Lead Engineer
• Business Development Associate
• UX Designer
• Frontend Engineer

We’re also searching for Backend Engineers to join our team. WDS is looking to fulfill such a role with a preferred schedule of 3pm-11pm ET (8pm-4am UTC) or 11pm-7am ET (4am-12pm UTC).

Please browse our Careers page to see all of our job listings. Apply online today.

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