Weekly WordPress News: WordPress 4.9.6…A “Major” Minor Release?

This week, we got the release of WordPress 4.9.6. True to the numbers, it’s technically a minor privacy and maintenance release. But because it adds some big new features to tackle the GDPR, some people think it straddles the line between minor and major release.

CodeinWP also published the results of their 2018 hosting survey. And we rounded up some WordPress businesses that are still publishing income reports.

We also got a Lifetime Special from WP Compress. WP Compress Auto-Optimizes your new images daily so that you don’t get penalized for slow load times. With their Lifetime Membership, you’ll never need to worry about slow loading images dragging down your site again.

Let’s get to all of this week’s news…

WORDPRESS NEWS AND ARTICLES

• WordPress 4.9.6 Privacy and Maintenance Release – adds new features to address the GDPR.
• Warning: WordPress 4.9.6 Really is a Major Update – should there have been a WordPress 4.10?
• 7+ WordPress Businesses That Actively Share Income And Transparency Reports In 2018 – ever wondered how much money there is in WordPress? Here are some examples.
• [RESULTS] 2018 WordPress Hosting Survey – CodeinWP just published the results from their 2018 hosting survey.
• To Free Up Resources, WordPress.org Plugin Review Team Begins Closing Unused Plugins – this is a pretty big change.

TUTORIALS AND HOW-TOS

• WordPress and CSS Grid: Building a flexible listing template (2, 3 or 4 columns) – grids are a super important concept to understand.
• How to Create a Custom Settings Panel in WooCommerce – using code.
• How to Avoid Common WordPress Theme Development Mistakes – don’t make these mistakes.
• How To Pay Outsourced Developers – Codeable shares some thoughts.
• Moving A WordPress Root Install To A Subdirectory Install And Vice Versa – Delicious Brains shows you how.
• 5 Things I’ve learned building my first blocks for Gutenberg – from Robert DeVore.

RESOURCES & DEALS

• WP Compress Lifetime Membership –  you’ll never need to worry about slow loading images dragging down your site again.
• 20+ Examples Of Big Brands Using WordPress Actively In 2018 – we updated our post with an all-new list of brands using WordPress.
• WooCoinbase Review: Add Coinbase Commerce Gateway To WooCommerce – this plugin helps you add Coinbase Commerce to WooCommerce.
• CSS Hero Review: Makes Theme And Plugin CSS Beginner-Friendly –  check out our review of the brand new version of CSS Hero.
• Changes that Affect Theme Authors in WordPress 4.9.6 – read this if you’re a theme dev.
• Stacy Kvernmo and Development Process – Episode 79 of How I Built It.