Weekly WordPress News: Welcome to 2021 In WordPress

Hey, WordPress friends.

We are back with you after taking off a couple of weeks for the holidays. We enjoyed our break and we hope you did as well. Beyond that, Happy New Year! Here’s to 2021 being better than 2020 – it can’t be any worse (we hope).

This week, we’ve got a big batch for you since we missed some important events that happened over the holidays. Liquid Web acquired the biggest WordPress events calendar plugin, WordPress.com launched a new service that might have some web developers scared, and lots more.

We also have some good “year in review” posts for you in the resources section.

Let’s get to all of this week’s WordPress news…

WORDPRESS NEWS AND ARTICLES

• WordPress.com Rattles Freelancer Community with New Website Building Service Launch – will be interesting to see how this works out. Prices are from $4,900.
• If You’re Afraid of Automattic Making $5K Websites, You Need to Change Your Approach – another thought on Automattic’s new service.
• The Events Calendar Plugin is Joining the Liquid Web Family – Liquid Web/iThemes made another big acquisition, snapping up The Events Calendar. iThemes already recently acquired Restrict Content Pro.
• AMP Under Fire in New Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google – will be interesting to see how this plays out.
• Elementor Cloud Intro: A Hosted Environment for Your Elementor Sites – learn about Elementor’s new cloud offering.
• Shutterstock Launches Its Own Official WordPress Plugin – Shutterstock launched its own plugin for easy WordPress images.
• All in One SEO Plugin Turns on Automatic Updates without Notifying Users, Removes Functionality in Latest Release – automatic updates causing some grief.

TUTORIALS AND HOW-TOS

• How to Embed Google Sheets in WordPress: Tutorial & Plugins – how to add Google Sheets to your WordPress site.
• HubSpot WordPress Integration: 3 Ways to Connect Your Site to HubSpot – how to connect HubSpot to WordPress.
• How to Optimize the WooCommerce Category Page for More Sales – don’t let your category pages go to waste.
• A Guide to the WordPress Template Hierarchy (2021 Edition) – learn about the template hierarchy.
• Want To Get Started With Dynamic Content In WordPress? – using dynamic content.

RESOURCES

• 7 Best WooCommerce Reports And Analytics Plugins For Your Store – check out the best WooCommerce reporting plugins.
• Izo Theme Review: Launch a Professional Website in Under 30 Minutes – we review the Izo theme.
• 2020 Year in Review: Business in the Front, Business in the Back –  from Delicious Brains.
• WP Buffs 2020 year in review
• 2020 End of Year Review – from Matt Report.