Weekly WordPress News: Welcome to 2022 In WordPress

Happy New Year, WordPress friends!

We are back with your latest dose of WordPress news after taking a couple of weeks off for the holidays. We enjoyed our break and we hope you did as well. Here’s to a better year for all of us!

This week, WordPress 5.9 gets ready for prime time with its first release candidate. The official release is scheduled for January 25th – mark it on your calendars. 

Beyond that, the first Gutenberg release of the year delivers a lot of new neat features. 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 5.9 RC 1 – now available and ready for testing.
• WP Engine Adds Frost to Open Source WordPress Project – Frost will be a freely-available project going forward.
• What’s new in Gutenberg 12.3? (5 January) – the first Gutenberg release of 2022.
• Gutenberg 12.3 Introduces New Blocks, Design Options, and a Complete Core Blocks Reference – dive right into some of the big features.
• We have big news: Yoast SEO is coming to Shopify – launching on January 18.
• Gutenberg Hub Launches a Block-Based WordPress Theme Directory – all the block themes officially hosted on WordPress.org.
• WordPress 5.9 Performance Improvements – performance enhancements to look forward to.
• Anariel Design Releases Bricksy, Its Third WordPress Block Theme – a free modern block-based WordPress theme.
• Elementor 3.5: Create Innovative Websites, Faster – introducing improvements to your workflow and new design capabilities.
• WordPress Vulnerability Report: January 2022, Part 1 – the regular vulnerability report of this year.

TUTORIALS AND HOW-TOS

• How to Build an Online Community Website – Best Method in 2022 – from Cozmolabs. 
• How to Find Wholesalers for Your Online Marketplace – a starter guide.
• The Essential WooCommerce Maintenance Checklist – for WooCommerce store owners.
• How to Easily Optimize CSS Delivery in WordPress – to avoid potential CSS loading issues.
• How to Make Your WordPress Website CCPA Compliant – a detailed guide.
• Want to Accept E-signature in WordPress Form? – how your users can digitally sign documents in WordPress.
• How to Remove Your Site from Google’s Blacklist – why your site was flagged and how to prevent it from happening again.

RESOURCES

• Gravitec AppSumo Deal – $49 lifetime deal.
• WP Reset Team Plan – $49 lifetime deal on this tool at AppSumo.
• 7 Best WordPress Cookie Consent Plugins in 2022 – including free and paid plugins.
• WP Tavern’s 2021 Year in Review – some of WP Tavern’s 2021 highlights.
• 2021 year in review – check out the story of 2021 at Barn2. 
• WPForms 2021 Year in Review – check out WPForm’s milestones.
• Sam Chason is reshaping the college moving experience – the latest at Matt Report.