Another awesome week in WordPress news. This week we’ll lead with some news then follow up with tips and advice that will enable you to run WordPress like a pro.
First up is a few announcements on what is coming in WordPress 4.5:
Customizer Improvements in 4.5
In addition to the ~35 defects that were fixed in this release, there were also ~17 features and enhancements that were made. What follows are some highlights, starting with some smaller enhancements and then listing out full posts that document the larger features. Setting-less Controls (#35926) Sometimes controls need to be added which don’t directly have associated Customizer Improvements in 4.5
Embeds Changes in WordPress 4.5
After the introduction of the embeds feature in WordPress 4.4 there have been a few significant changes in 4.5 to make embeds more robust and easier to customize. 
There were two minor changes to the <iframe> embed code: The iframe’s title attribute has been adjusted to better describe its content for improved accessibility. Embeds Changes in WordPress 4.5
Performance improvements for images in WordPress 4.5
WordPress 4.5 includes a few performance enhancements for images. Increased image compression for custom sizes WordPress 4.5 increases the amount of compression applied to intermediate sizes by changing the default quality in WP_Image_Editor from 90 to 82. As noted in the proposal for this change, this results in a noticeable reduction in file sizes with little change in visual Performance improvements for images in WordPress 4.5
Automattic Acquires Majority Stake In Pressable
Automattic now owns a majority stake in Pressable, a managed WordPress hosting company. Though Automattic has been a primary shareholder in the company since April, Vid Luther, CEO of Pressable, handed over his shares. Because Automattic Acquires Majority Stake In Pressable
Facebook’s Instant Articles WordPress Plugin Now Available
WordPress.com VIP and Facebook this week announced the Facebook Instant Articles plugin for WordPress, a free, open-source solution designed to dramatically cut the page-load time of articles opened within Facebook. The plugin is entirely open Facebook’s Instant Articles WordPress Plugin Now Available
“No Frameworks” Policy In WP Plugin Directory: Is It Justified?
If you have been following WordPress news of late, you might be aware of the recent policy change introduced by the plugin review team last week: from now on, no frameworks will make it to the “No Frameworks” Policy In WP Plugin Directory: Is It Justified?
Image Recycle: Compress Images and PDF files To Increase the Speed of Your Website
Image Recycle is a an automatic image and PDF compression service which can reduce the size of these types of files while keeping the quality the same as the original. This will help speed up your website by reducing waiting times for these assets to download – if you use a lot of images this Image Recycle: Compress Images and PDF files To Increase the Speed of Your Website
When to Use the WordPress REST API – and When Not To
To REST or not to REST? While the new API will solve lots of problems and have more uses than we’ve even begun to explore just yet, it’s no magic bullet. If you’re still trying to understand how the API works, here’s a great explainer. When to Use the WordPress REST API – and When Not To
The Best Beginners User Guides for WordPress
New to WordPress and have no clue where to start from? Wouldn’t it be good if WordPress shipped with a user manual? While there is no official user manual apart from the extensive documentation (which might not be so suitable for beginners), there have been some great efforts at producing such beginners user guides. Here are the best we’ve come across. The Best Beginners User Guides for WordPress
How to Bulk Add Posts and Pages in WordPress
Do you want to quickly bulk add posts and pages in WordPress? There are times when you need to quickly create bulk posts and pages, just to see how it all looks on your site. In this article, we will show you how to bulk… Read More » How to Bulk Add Posts and Pages in WordPress
How to Launch Your Marketplace Using WordPress
Shopping online is quite common today, and why not? You can purchase anything now using your laptop or mobile device. Online marketplaces brings that much convenience to you and also maintain their quality, that’s how this business is done. In this article, we will show you how easy it is for you to have your own market and how quick you can build it. How to Launch Your Marketplace Using WordPress
Thumbnails courtesy wordpress.org, .torquemag.io, wplift.com, wpmudev.org, wpmayor.com, wpbeginner.com
