Tag: WordPress features

The Future of WordPress: What to Expect (Our Predictions)
Are you curious about the future of WordPress?

With the first 20 years of WordPress history behind us, the platform is already powering 43% of websites. Over the years, WordPress has continued to grow and evolve to meet the changing needs of website owners. But what can we expect in the future?

In this article, we will talk about the future of WordPress and what you can expect.

What Improvements Can We Expect From WordPress in the Future?

WordPress was launched in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. Now that there are over 20 years of WordPress history behind us, you may be wondering what’s coming next.

The future of WordPress is important because it is the content management system (CMS) behind 43% of all websites, including big-name brands like Sony, CNN, Time Magazine, and Disney.

You can expect WordPress to stay modern and relevant and become even easier to use. WordPress is designed to be simple and adaptable, and WordPress developers are already looking a long way down the road and have a detailed roadmap.

In fact, at a recent WordCamp, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg shared that he expects WordPress to be still going strong a century from now.

I could see WordPress being aroundâ€”not just around, but core to the fabric of the webâ€”100 years from now, and I would love to attend a WordCamp Asia in my 80s.

Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Co-founder, WordCamp Asia 2023

With that being said, let’s take a look at what to expect in the future of WordPress. You can use the links below to jump to the sections you are most interested in:
1. Continued Popularity of WordPress

WordPress is very popular. It currently powers 43% of all websites, which translates to 810 million websites in total. This number has also grown a lot when you consider that WordPress was used to build only 29% of websites in 2018.

Besides that, WordPress holds nearly 65% of the global CMS market share. The following chart shows every content management system with more than 1% usage. Nothing comes close to WordPress.

These statistics haven’t gone unnoticed. WordPress has been chosen by the most successful companies in the world. In fact, 38% of the top 10,000 websites are powered by WordPress, including big-name brands like Disney, Sony, Facebook, and more.

As you can see, WordPress currently dominates the website market, and this trend will continue in the future.

WordPress market share numbers have been steady for some time, and other CMS options have also remained steady without large spikes of growth. We expect WordPress will remain popular well into the future.

We can be confident because WordPress is built by a community and doesn’t rely on a single company for its success.

The WordPress community is made up of developers, designers, and WordPress enthusiasts who contribute to its core development, plugin creation, and theme design.

As WordPress evolves, so will the community that supports it. This will make sure that the platform remains a powerful and accessible tool for individuals, businesses, and organizations.

Why not become an active part of the WordPress community? You can get started by simply attending WordCamp or a local meetup. To learn more, see our guide on how you can get involved with the WordPress project.

2. The Growth of WordPress for eCommerce

eCommerce is a rapidly growing industry, and the availability of WordPress eCommerce plugins makes WordPress an excellent choice if you are starting an online store.

There are currently more than 5 million websites powered by the WooCommerce plugin. It has a market share of around 39% among eCommerce solutions, above Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, and others.

That makes WooCommerce the most popular eCommerce platform right now, and its market share has had an upward trend over time. This means we can expect more people to keep using it into the future.

Of course, WooCommerce isn’t the only eCommerce solution for WordPress. If you don’t need a full-blown online store, then you can choose a different eCommerce plugin like Easy Digital Downloads or WP Simple Pay.

Overall, we expect to see faster adoption of WordPress for eCommerce in the future. It’s clear that while WordPress is maintaining its position as a leading website builder, it is also expanding its eCommerce market share.

3. More Artificial Intelligence in WordPress

Matt Mullenweg spoke about artificial intelligence during his AMA (Ask Me Anything) at WordCamp Asia 2023. He sees the potential of AI technologies and encourages people to embrace them to create software, websites, and web content.

But he also recognizes the current limitations. He warns that artificial intelligence is still very young and has a lot of room for improvement. We are also not sure how the economic implications of AI will play out in the future.

So you can expect artificial intelligence to be added to the WordPress core eventually, but not until it’s ready.

In the meantime, you can take advantage of WordPress plugins that use AI. For example, All in One SEO (AIOSEO) has a ChatGPT integration that helps you make SEO post titles and meta descriptions.

Right now, you can also use AI to help you:
- Produce well-researched content
- Come up with more powerful headlines
- Improve your website SEO
- Generate images for blog posts
- Automatically answer common customer questions
- and more
In the future, we expect artificial intelligence plugins to become even smarter, giving us better AI website builders, new content tools, more intelligent chatbots, and advanced automated workflows.

4. Easy Collaboration on Multi-Author Blogs

WordPress is about to become more collaborative, adding features needed by multi-author blogs and eLearning sites. This is part of Phase 3 of the Gutenberg project, which is in the planning stage as we write.

For example, WordPress will allow multiple authors to work on the same article at the same time. Think of the experience you have using Google Docs but from your WordPress dashboard.

Authors and editors will be able to write notes to each other and suggest potential edits. You will be able to annotate specific blocks or sections of content and take part in threaded discussions right inside the WordPress content editor.

Website owners will also be able to create editorial workflows for their content team and plan upcoming content on a calendar. Content approval workflows will make sure that specific users or roles will need to review and accept posts before they can be published.

Life is going to become much smoother on multi-author blogs.

5. Multilingual Support in WordPress Core

Since WordPress is used on 43% of the world’s websites, these sites and their content need to be accessible to a global audience. And that means WordPress needs to provide support for multiple languages.

Multilingual websites serve the same content in many different languages. You can allow users to choose their preferred language using a dropdown link, or you can automatically change the website’s language based on the visitor’s geographic location.

Currently, you need to use multilingual plugins to achieve this. Unfortunately, not everyone has the time to install and configure these plugins, and they may have some impact on WordPress performance.

Another problem is that the developers need to maintain each plugin independently, support their users, and keep adding more languages. That’s a lot of work, and it makes sense for multilingual WordPress to become a centralized effort within WordPress core.

That’s the goal of Gutenberg Phase 4, which will launch in 2024 or 2025. It will start to add much-needed multilingual features to the WordPress core.

To start with, WordPress will enable you to manually translate your content into languages of your choice and allow visitors to read the content in a language they can understand.

In time, as the technology improves, WordPress will be able to translate your content on the fly so that it will be automatically available to anyone who reads a supported language.

This will make your content accessible to a global audience, significantly improving your reach and bringing more traffic to your website.

It will also continue to make WordPress even more relevant and popular as we move into the future, as it will be available to everyone, no matter what language they speak.

6. WordPress Legacy Websites, Products, and Companies

As we said at the beginning of this article, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg is looking 100 years into the future as he considers where WordPress is heading.

He suspects that website owners may also have long-term goals for their online projects.

For example, business owners may want to keep permanent documentation of their company’s history. Families might be anxious not to lose valuable photographs and stories. Website owners may also value a permanent online home that adapts to the needs of the future.

As a result, WordPress.com is offering a 100-year “legacy” plan that you can purchase with a single payment. It includes domain name registration and web hosting for the next century.

This will allow users to maintain their online histories without worrying about what will happen when they are gone. Legacy plans can also inspire businesses to think in the extended long term, beyond a typical 5 or 10-year plan.

While WordPress.com isn’t the same as self-hosted WordPress.org, this move toward long-term website hosting plans could signal changes within the overall WordPress ecosystem.

This new plan can set an example for top WordPress hosting providers and plugin developers. They may be inspired to think about marketing their products for very long-term use and building a “legacy”.

It could also change the way that WordPress companies think about their long-term goals. Offering internships and job opportunities to employees’ children and grandchildren could be a more sustainable way to grow a business over time.

FAQs About the Future of WordPress

Before we finish this article, let’s answer a few questions we are regularly asked by our readers about the future of WordPress.

Is WordPress still relevant?

WordPress is now over 20 years old, and new competitors pop up every year. For this reason, some people ask whether WordPress is still relevant.

Since WordPress powers 43% of all websites, it’s more relevant than ever. We hope this article has shown you that it will go on being relevant for decades to come.

We clearly outline why WordPress is relevant and why you should choose it in our guide on the most important reasons to use WordPress.

Is WordPress dying?

With all of its success, some people question how long WordPress can stay on top. There are many rumors that WordPress may die out and stop being popular.

However, when you look at the facts, these rumors are simply not true. There are absolutely no signs that WordPress is dying or its loyal users are about to abandon it.

We have written a detailed guide on the state of WordPress and clearly answered ‘No’ to the question: Is WordPress Dying?

Is WordPress that bad?

You may have heard a tech consultant or a YouTube influencer claim that WordPress is bad.

You might ask, ‘If WordPress is really that bad, then why is it so popular? Why do nearly half of all websites on the web use it?’ The fact is, it’s not bad at all.

That’s why we wrote a detailed guide called Is WordPress Really That Bad? We take a look at common reasons people claim WordPress is bad to help you make the right decision.

What is the future of WordPress careers?

If you are thinking about getting a career in WordPress, then you may be wondering about job security. Will WordPress jobs still be around in the future?

The good news is that the demand for WordPress professionals remains high due to the platform’s popularity and constant growth. Plus, there are lots of WordPress careers for individuals with a wide range of skill sets.

You can learn how to make a living with WordPress in our complete guide to WordPress career options.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn about the future of WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on important reasons why you should use WordPress for your website or our expert picks of the best AI chatbot software for your website.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to ourÂ YouTube ChannelÂ for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us onÂ TwitterÂ and Facebook.

The post The Future of WordPress: What to Expect (Our Predictions) first appeared on WPBeginner.
25.09.2023
Whatâ€™s Coming in WordPress 6.3 (Features and Screenshots)
WordPress 6.3 Beta arrived a few days ago and is expected to be released on August 8th, 2023. This will be the second major release of 2023 and will come with significant new features and improvements.

We have closely monitored the development and tried new features on our test sites.

In this article, we will look into what features are coming in WordPress 6.3 with details and screenshots.

Note: You can try out the beta version on your computer or a staging environment by using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin. Please keep in mind that some of the features in the beta may not make it into the final release.

Here is a quick overview of changes coming in WordPress 6.3:
Site Editor Enhancements in 6.3

The site editor in WordPress came out of beta in 6.2. The upcoming 6.3 will improve the site editor with several new features and enhancements to improve user experience.

New Navigation in Site Editor

WordPress 6.2 introduced a new navigator to the site editor. This allowed users to choose the template or template part they wanted to edit.

WordPress 6.3 will bring improvements to this navigator, allowing users to select not just template or template parts but also pages, styles, patterns, and navigation menus.

The search icon will open the command tool (more on this later), where you can look for the area you want to edit.

You can also quickly open your site in a new tab by clicking the ‘View Site’ button. The button only appears when you take your mouse to the site title and the search area.

Manage Patterns in Site Editor

WordPress 6.3 will also introduce a new and intuitive way to manage patterns. You can view all your patterns inside the site editor.

Clicking on ‘Patterns’ will show the patterns available on your site in categorized sections.

These will include both synced and unsynced patterns that you can use.

Unsynced patterns are standalone patterns that can be inserted at any time. After adding them, you can make changes, and those changes will not affect the original pattern.

Synced patterns can be used across your WordPress website. Changing them will affect the original pattern. They behave like reusable blocks, so all your reusable blocks will also appear here and now be called ‘Synced Patterns’.

At any time, you can click on the ‘+’ button in the Patterns menu to create a new pattern.

You can also manage your custom patterns by clicking on ‘Manage all of my patterns’ in the sidebar.

This will allow you to edit and manage your custom-made patterns and reusable blocks.

Quickly Edit Pages

The site editor will now allow you to easily select ‘Pages’ from the editor navigation menu.

Clicking on this will also show you the pages you edited most recently, enabling you to quickly resume edits on a page you have been working on.

You can also click the ‘+’ button in the navigation menu to quickly create a new page and immediately edit it in the site editor.

Preview Block Themes in Site Editor

When installing classic themes, you can already preview them without activating them on your site. This allows you to preview a WordPress theme without changing your live site.

WordPress 6.3 will also allow users to preview block themes inside the editor. This will help users test-drive a theme before activating it on their sites.

Note: This is an experimental feature that didn’t work well during beta testing on our test sites.

Style Revisions to Easily Undo Changes

WordPress makes it super easy to undo changes to posts and pages using a feature called Revisions.

The same feature will now be available for site editor styles. It will allow you to see the changes you made to your theme styles and undo them if needed.

Simply select a style or block that you want to edit in the Styles panel. Click on the ‘Revisions’ button and then select ‘Revision history’.

This will show you all the changes made to the style of the selected item.

You can then switch between different versions and click the ‘Apply’ button to undo a change and revert to a previous state.

The New Command Tool in WordPress 6.3

WordPress 6.3 will also introduce the new command tool. It will allow users to perform actions quickly using the keyboard.

Simply press the CTRL + K or Command + K keys on your keyboard. This will bring up the command tool, where you can simply start typing to search.

It will then show you matching templates, template parts, patterns, blocks, posts and pages, and more. Selecting an item from the results will open it in the site editor.

Block Editor Improvements

WordPress 6.3 will also bring several new features and improvements to the block editor.

Footnote and Details Blocks

WordPress 6.3 will ship with two new blocks called Footnote and Details.

Footnote Block

Before, the block editor had no easy way to add footnotes to a post. Users had to create footnotes or use a third-party plugin.

With WordPress 6.3, users can simply select the ‘Footnote’ option using the three-dot menu in the toolbar.

Details Block

Have you ever wanted a way for users to click on some text to reveal more information? The Details block lets you do just that.

Simply add the Details block and provide the text that will be visible to the users.

Below that, you can add the content you want to hide inside the hidden block.

This content could be text, images, media, and more.

The Details block could be a handy replacement for accordions, which are commonly used to add FAQs or information in a compact style.

Improved Padding and Margin Controls

WordPress 6.3 will also introduce improved padding and margin controls.

Previously, if you unlinked padding and margin controls, they took up a lot of space in the right column.

In WordPress 6.3, padding and margin controls will be more compact and easy to use.

Better Handling of Image Aspect Ratio

WordPress 6.3 will allow users to choose the aspect ratio for an image. This will enable users to easily select the image size while maintaining the aspect ratio.

This ensures that the images will look good in all sizes.

Color and Layout Support for Cover Block

The Cover block will get improvements in WordPress 6.3.

Users can now choose its layout options, similar to the Group block.

The Cover block will now support duotone filters.

Users will also find more design options for text inside the Cover block.

Link Control Enhancements in 6.3

Link control is the tool used by the block editor to add links. WordPress 6.3 will make some adjustments to improve it further.

Users can create a new page directly using the ‘Create Page’ button within the link control tool.

The toggle to open a link in a new tab is also unavailable when adding a link. However, you can edit a link and find the option tucked away inside the ‘Advanced’ setting.

Under the Hood Changes

There are also a ton of changes in WordPress 6.3 intended for developers. Here are some of the new features that you will find in the update:
- Improved emoji loader to reduce the time spent on loading the emoji script. (#58472)
- Defer and async support added to the WP Scripts API. (#12009)
- Fetch priority support added for images. (#58235)
- Skipping lazy loading for images outside the loop in classic themes. (#58211)
- Attempt rollback for failed plugin and theme updates. (#51857)
- Merge get_posts() and get_pages(). (#12821)
We hope this article helped you get a sneak peek into what’s coming in WordPress 6.3.

Comment below to let us know what features you find interesting and what you’d like to see in a future WordPress release!

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to ourÂ YouTube ChannelÂ for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us onÂ TwitterÂ and Facebook.

The post Whatâ€™s Coming in WordPress 6.3 (Features and Screenshots) first appeared on WPBeginner.
10.07.2023

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org (2023) â€” Which One to Pick?

WordPress now makes up well over 1/3 of all internet sites. That’s aÂ lot of websites. However, when we say “WordPress,” that could mean more than one thing. The base WordPress software is the same. But when you decide between WordPress.org vs WordPress.com, you are choosing a very specific set of features over another. While WordPress itself doesn’t change, the day-to-day usage can be pretty different. We want to walk you through both sides of WP so that you can decide which version works best for you and your site.

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What is WordPress?

First off, let’s take a look at WordPress itself. Many see WordPress as a blogging platform, and it is. But over the past couple of decades, it has also become a full content management system (CMS) that can manage every kind of site you could want. Even if you’re not writing and publishing content regularly, you can still easily use WordPress for your website. As a landing page, portfolio, learning management system (LMS), membership site, or even an ecommerce shop.

wordpress.com vs wordpress.org features

In a nutshell (an admittedly big one), WordPress does a lot of things.

WordPress Features, Perks, and Details:

It is open-source software, through the GPL license, and receives consistent and regular updates that add new features and polish and enhance old ones.
Simple-to-use interface, both as an administrator and content creator.
The Gutenberg block editor is intuitive and allows full-site customization immediately on installation.
- Additionally, content can be designed around various structures. Custom post types, possess unique metadata, various taxonomies, and more. These allow for impressive organization.
WordPress is a full CMS:
- Content creation (blogging, podcasting, video, streaming, etc.)
- Static landing pages
- Media management
- User management built into the base software which can be utilized for membership sites or e-commerce shops.
The WordPress themes system gives 100% customization of every aspect of your site.
Themes do more than just alter the design, but also add and adjust functionality.
- Thousands of freeÂ and premium themes (such as Divi) out there for you to choose from, many available and hosted by WordPress itself.
WP can be hosted anywhere. It is near-universally supported by web hosts, with some excellent choices including Pressable and WPEngine.
WordPress domain and URL customization within the dashboard
Built for speed and page-load times
Custom widgets provide page-by-page customization in almost any area such as sidebars, footers, and headers.
WordPress is extensible, meaning that anyone can create a plugin to hook into the CMS and add a feature or change how something works.
Developers can do so much through the WordPress APIs, from the REST API to HTTP requests, URL routing, and MySQL databases, WordPress is ready for translation, user management, data manipulation, and whatever features they can dream up.

Don’t Forget the People!

On top of all the technical things that WordPress can do, the community that surrounds the software is tight-knit and welcoming. You can attend WordCamps to learn about it, go to Meetups in your town, or even just participate in social media groups and forums to meet people who can help you, work with you, and even become your friends.

You get all of these with both versions of WordPress. With all that in mind, both technical and social, let’s look at WordPress.org vs WordPress.com individually to consider their strengths and weaknesses.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Pricing

WordPress.com offers a variety of plans, ranging from a free plan with basic features to a business plan with advanced features. The free plan allows you to create a website with limited features and includes a WordPress.com subdomain. The paid plans range in price from roughly $4 per month (billed annually) for a personal plan to $45 per month for an e-commerce plan. The more expensive plans offer more advanced features and customization options.

With WordPress.org, the cost of web hosting can vary depending on the provider and the plan you choose. For example, some popular hosting providers like SiteGround and Green Geeks offer starter WordPress plans that start at $2.95 per month, while other premium providers like WPEngine might start at $20 per month.

Additionally, you will need to pay for a domain name, which typically costs around $10 to $15 per year. Providers such as GoDaddy and HostGator offer both domains and hosting plans, but it’s generally recommended that you purchase a domain separately from a provider such as NameCheap.

By purchasing your domain from a separate domain registrar, you can have more control over your domain and avoid potential issues that may arise from having your domain and hosting with the same provider. Additionally, using a separate domain registrar may give you more flexibility to switch web hosting providers in the future, without having to transfer your domain to a new provider.

	WordPress.com	WordPress.org
Hosting	$4-45 per month	$2 – $20 per month for starter plans
Domain	FREE	$10-$15 per year

What is WordPress.org?

WordPress.org is very likely the software you mean when discussing generic “WordPress.” The version put out byÂ .org is the self-hosted, independent, open-source version of the WordPress CMS.

wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

Backed by The WordPress Foundation,Â WordPress.org isÂ free to install and use in whatever way you see fit. Obviously, there are some catches to that, but if you want to use WordPress in its most open and available way possible, head toÂ WordPress.org and download it.

You may also see theÂ .org version of WordPress referred to as “self-hosted WordPress,” meaning that the software itself is free, but as previously mentioned, you must have a web host (such as SiteGround or Flywheel) to install it on. (Technically, you can run WP on your local machine, too, but that’s generally done for development and troubleshooting.)

The Pros for WordPress.org Installations

There are quite a few drawbacks to WordPress.com vs WordPress.org. The biggest and most prominent benefit of usingÂ .org installations of WordPress come with the total freedom to do what you want. Outside of your hosting provider, you are not bound by any terms of service, content limitations, or what kinds of development, themes, or plugins you can use on your site.

You always own your content, too. You do not grant any services or platforms even the slightest consideration for what you write or put up. The absolute freedom of building and content production is the hallmark of WordPress and was one of the reasons it was created and released as open-source software.

As we mentioned, you can use any theme, and any plugin, and do any kind of development that you want on your site. With WordPress.com (which we will get to below), you are limited to using approved plugins and themes, meaning that the freedom to haveÂ exactly the site that you want is impossible. YouÂ can get the exact site you want with .com, but you have to pay for the ability piecemeal. That isn’t the case with .org installations.

Additionally, you can run any ads you want on your site, use any sort of monetization you want, paywall anything you desire, and sell any kind of products in your WooCommerce store. Only the terms of use for the ad networks and services you choose to use will limit what you can and can’t do.

The Cons for WordPress.org Installations

As with anything, there are downsides to WordPress.org installations, too. The most prominent of which is that same freedom that is its primary draw. By being fully in control of your site, you are also fully in control of maintenance, purchase of themes and plugins, additional development, and any hosting issues that might come up.

Additionally, you have to sort through web hosts, making sure that the one you choose offers everything you need. (For instance, Pressable is a fantastic host for WordPress, but they don’t offer email service.)

PROS	CONS
FREE to use	Must maintain on your own
Self-hosted	Premium themes and plugins cost extra $$$
Freedom to choose plugins, themes, and hosting provider	Sift through choices of hosting provider
Owning your content	May have to pay for domain
Paywall content
Host ads, sell unlimited products

Who is WordPress.org For?

WordPress.org is for anyone who wants a website. Really. If you want a website of any sort, WordPress.org can create it for you. With full freedom and ownership of your site, design, and content, there is no reason not to give it a shot. With having responsibility for your site one of the only real drawbacks to using WordPress.org, it is a fantastic option for anyone who wants a website.

What is WordPress.com?

wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

To start with, WordPress.org vs WordPress.com is comparing software to a service/platform. WordPress.com is a free website service, not a free website software like .org. You don’t have to download anything or install it. You sign up for an account and create a site that is hosted by WordPress.com vs WordPress.org, where self-hosting is required. To do so is free. You will be given a choice of templates and suggested plugins and a yoursite.wordpress.com URL.

Essentially, everything is handled for you from the moment you sign up. Which, like .org‘s freedom, is .com‘s primary benefit and detriment.

The Pros of a WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Website

If you’re looking for a free, no-frills, no-hassle website, WordPress.com vs WordPress.org can give you that. From the moment you sign up, you’re walked through the process of setting up the site. Pick a name and URL and theme. Then you’re free to start publishing content immediately.

You don’t have to find a host because WordPress.comÂ is your host. They give you a decent, albeit limited, amount of space per site (3 GB) before requiring you to pay for a plan. If you are looking for a 100% free site where you can get started from nothing in essentially moments, you can do that here. No hosting costs, and no domain registration, just sign up and go.

They also handle backups and maintenance and upgrades for you. Meaning that you won’t have to worry about your site getting security holes in it from not having X, Y, or Z plugin at its newest version.

The hosting is the same that powers Pressable, and it’s top-notch. You won’t have to worry about your site’s stability when using WordPress.com.

The Cons of a WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Website

The limitations that come with a WordPress.com vs WordPress.org site tend to be the main things that drive people away from the platform. BecauseÂ .com is aÂ platform and not just software, the company that runs it (Automattic) is out to make a profit. So like any free service on the internet, you only get the most basic elements for free.

If you want a custom URL (mysite.com instead ofÂ mysite.wordpress.com), you have to pay extra. To use any theme you want (from their approved list), you have to pay extra. Same for plugins. Want a run an e-commerce site? Yup, upgrade your plan. Do you see the pattern here?

WordPress.com also shows ads on your site and doesn’t pay you for them. At least, if you’re a free member. The saying “if you’re not paying for a product, youÂ are the product” holds very true here. Automattic definitely profits off your use of their service, whether you pay or not. (And in this case, at the expense of your users’ experiences.)

You cannot use external services such as Google Analytics or Google AdSense, but you can apply for their proprietary ad system and use Jetpack stats. Unless, of course, you upgrade to a higher plan.

And finally, you are bound by the WordPress.com EULA and ToS. Which means that they have the right to do with your site what they want. While you own the content there, they may choose to use it in advertising. And if they decide your content violates their terms, they can take your site offline without your consent (or knowledge, sometimes).

Who is WordPress.com For?

In its free version, WordPress.com websites are for people who want a no-frills publishing experience that doesn’t require any upkeep. Using theÂ .com version of WordPress means that you can get your work out to the world with zero upfront cost and very little effort and almost no maintenance.

If you need a temporary site or a demo or just a place to blog as a diary/journal, .com can certainly be what you want.

Also, WordPress.com is an option for people who run high-revenue businesses and high-traffic sites who also want a hassle-free experience. The WordPress.com VIP packages (starting at $2,000 per month) are about as hands-off as any website can get that’s WordPress-based, but it’s priced out of nearly everyone’s reach. The VIP portion of WordPress.com is targeting Fortune 500-level companies, not every other person who needs a free website for a bit.

PROS	CONS
FREE to use	Only basic elements are free
Easy set up	Certain plugins are prohibited
Hosting is provided	Ads are shown that you don’t get paid for
Free domain	Custom domain costs extra
JetPack provided	No Google Analytics integration
Security is provided	You don’t own your content

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Alternatives

If you are interested in checking out alternatives to WordPress.com or WordPress.org, check out our comparison of WordPress vs HighLevel, WordPress vs Wix, and WordPress vs Weebly. They are all somewhat similar to WordPress and can give you insiintot on comparable platforms for your consideration.

The Verdict: WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

Overall, our verdict is that WordPress.org is by far the superior product. While you do have a little more to handle on your end as a site owner and user, the freedom you get (for free) is just too much of an incentive. Not being upsold to use whatever plugins or themes you want (even if you’ve purchased them) alone is worth using .org.

	WordPress.com	WordPress.org
Pricing	Free – $45 per month	Free + hosting fee
Domain	Free	$10 – $15 per year
Monetization allowed	Selling products, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts and ads visible on site	Unlimited
Allows plugins	With business or eCommerce plans	Yes
Own your own content	No	Yes
Google Analytics	With premium plan and above	Yes
Backup and storage	Yes	With plugin
eCommerce	Must purchase premium plan	With plugin
	WordPress.com	WordPress.org

WordPress.com is an absolutely solid platform. If you decide to host your website through their service, it will be stable, easy to use, and it will have very little trouble. But if you want anything else, it will cost you. If you have the budget for it and don’t want the responsibility, consider a .com site. However, even though you have to pay separately for .org hosting, the cost is generally lower and you can run more sites than just one on that hosting service.

In the end, whether you go with WordPress.com vs WordPress.org, you still get to use WordPress. And that’s a win, no matter which side you’re on.

What are your thoughts on WordPress.com vs WordPress.org? Let us know in the comments!

The post WordPress.com vs WordPress.org (2023) â€” Which One to Pick? appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

27.02.2023

Whatâ€™s Coming in WordPress 6.2 (Features and Screenshots)
WordPress 6.2 Beta arrived a few days ago and it is expected to be released on March 28th, 2023. It will be the second major release of 2023 and will come with significant new features and improvements.

We have been closely monitoring the development and trying out new features on our test sites.

In this article, weâ€™ll give you a sneak peek into what features are coming in WordPress 6.2 with details and screenshots.

Note: You can try out the beta version on your computer or on a staging environment by using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin. Please keep in mind that some of the features in the beta may not make it into the final release.

Here is a quick overview of changes coming in WordPress 6.2:
Full Site Editor Comes Out of Beta

The new full site editor feature in WordPress will come out of beta with the final release of WordPress 6.2.

This completes a significant part of the WordPress development roadmap.

The site editor feature is now stable for the community to create block-based themes and experiment with their own WordPress websites, plugins, or themes.

Note: Full site editor is available with block themes that support this feature. You can try it out even if you are using the older classic editor with a block-enabled theme.

Browse and Choose Templates to Edit

Previously the Site Editor loaded the Home template of your theme by default. This left many beginners wondering which template or template part they needed to edit.

With WordPress 6.2, the site editor will load the template preview window first. From here, you can browse different templates and see a preview of what it looks like.

Then you can simply click on the Edit button to start working on the selected template.

Once you are done editing the template, don’t forget to click on the Save button to make your changes go live.

After that, you can click on the WordPress logo in the upper-left corner of the screen to bring back the template browser sidebar.

Now if you need to edit a different template, then you can choose it from here. Otherwise, you can simply click on the WordPress logo again and exit the Site Editor.

Add Custom CSS to Your Theme or Specific Blocks

In the last few WordPress releases, the site editor hid the ‘Theme Customizer‘ which made it difficult for users to add custom CSS to their themes.

WordPress 6.2 will allow users to switch to the Styles panel and select Custom CSS from the menu.

From here, users will be able to save Custom CSS that applies to their entire theme.

What if you wanted to save custom CSS that only applied to a specific block?

WordPress 6.2 will also allow you to add custom CSS for specific blocks. From the Style panel, click on the Blocks menu.

On the next screen, you will see a list of blocks. Simply click on the block where you want to apply your custom CSS.

Under the block styles, click on the Additional CSS tab.

If you want to conditionally add CSS or keep your custom styles outside of theme specific settings, then we recommend using the free WPCode plugin.

New and Improved Navigation Menus

Adding navigation menus in the full site editor has been a bit difficult for users. WordPress 6.2 will try to solve this by improving the way users can create and manage menus while using the site editor.

First, instead of editing the menu items inline, you can now add, remove, and edit menu items in a subpanel under the Navigation block.

From here, you can add a new menu item by clicking on the Add Block (+) button. You can also just drag and drop menu items to rearrange them.

Want to create a new blank menu or reload an older one? Simply click on the three-dot menu and then choose a menu you created earlier or create a new one.

Colors to Indicate Template Parts Being Edited

WordPress 6.2 will also highlight the template part that you are editing, and that changes will be made on a side-wide, global scale.

The element will be bordered in a color and have a template part icon attached.

This will help users realize that instead of editing the specific page or post, they are now editing a template part and this change will affect other pages on their site as well.

See Styles for All Blocks in The Style Book

The site editor in WordPress 6.2 will ship with a ‘Style Book.’ Simply switch to the Styles panel and then click on the style book icon.

This will show you all the blocks, and how they are styled in your theme.

You can locate a block much more quickly this way, and then click to edit it directly.

After that, you can change its appearance and style and customize it to your own requirements.

Copy and Paste Block Styles

Now that editing block styles and appearance has become so much easier, there is a need to easily copy and paste these styles.

WordPress 6.2 will allow you to simply copy block styles by clicking on block options and then selecting ‘Copy Styles’.

After that, you can click to edit a different block and select ‘Paste styles’ from the block options.

Your browser will ask for permission to allow your website to view the contents of the clipboard. You need to click ‘Allow’ to continue.

Classic Widgets Import as Template Parts in Block Themes

Users with classic widget themes lost their legacy widgets when they switched to a block theme. WordPress 6.2 will provide a nice fallback to that by converting legacy widgets into special Template Parts when switching themes.

You’ll need to enter the site editor and edit the template where you want to import the widgets. After that, create a new template part by clicking on the Add New Block button (+).

From the template part settings panel, click on the Advanced tab to expand it and you’ll find the option to import a widget area from your previous theme.

Separate Sub Panels for Block Settings and Styles

With WordPress 6.2, the editor will show two sub-panels for a block. One for the block settings and the other one for styles.

This will help users understand where they need to look if they want to change the appearance of a block.

A New Distraction-Free Mode is Introduced

Historically, WordPress has always provided options to hide the formatting buttons and toolbars on the post editor screen.

However, WordPress 5.4 made the editor full-screen by default. This allowed users to have a much cleaner writing interface, but there was no distraction-free mode.

WordPress 6.2 will remedy that and will come with a completely clean and calm distraction-free mode. Users will be able to choose it from the editor settings.

Once chosen, the distraction-free mode hides all editor control elements.

As you can see below, toolbars, side panels, and the top bar are nowhere to be seen.

Improved Pattern Insertion with New Categories

WordPress 6.2 will simplify the Pattern Insertion panel. Instead of showing previews and a drop-down menu of categories, it will show the categories first.

There are two new categories of Patterns added for the Header and Footer sections.

Clicking on a category will show you the available patterns that you can use.

You can then just click to insert a pattern into your template and start editing it.

For more details, see our tutorial on how to use patterns in WordPress.

Miscellaneous Changes

Download Link For Media Files – The media screen will now show a Download File link in the list view.

Openverse Integration to Add Free Images – Openverse offers royalty-free open-source images.

With WordPress 6.2, users will be able to find and add those images from Add New panel.

New Icon for the Settings Panel – The icon to display the settings panel previously used a gear icon.

It is now represented with a panels icon.

Under The Hood Changes

There are a ton of changes in WordPress 6.2 intended for developers. Here are some of the changes that you will find in the update:
- Faster updates by moving directories instead of copying them. (Details)
- A new switch_to_user_locale() function is introduced. (Details)
- Create autosave revisions only when content is changed. (Details)
- Add a style variation tag to themes that use style variations. (Details)
Overall WordPress 6.2 beta 1 includes 292 enhancements, 354 bug fixes for the editor, and more than 195 tickets for the WordPress 6.2 core.

We hope this article provided you with a glimpse of what’s coming in WordPress 6.2.

Comment below to let us know what features you find interesting and what youâ€™d look to see in a future WordPress release!

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The post Whatâ€™s Coming in WordPress 6.2 (Features and Screenshots) first appeared on WPBeginner.
27.02.2023