1. Twenty Sixteen Theme launched;
2. WordPress.com replaces PHP with JavaScript;
3. Automattic Releases WordPress App For Windows Desktop;
4. WordPress Multilingual, finally explained;
5. Optimus – WordPress Image Optimizer.

Twenty Sixteen Theme launched

When i first looked at Twenty Sixteen i thought i’m actually looking at the old Twenty Ten, because of how it looks, but Sixteen is bringing some new and interesting features like:

• Optional sidebar
• Multiple menu positions and a social menu
• Overhanging large images
• Post intro and pull quotes

Looking at the number of active installs, more than 200k, the conclusion is that the community reaction to it is good.

WordPress.com replaces PHP with JavaScript

WordPress.com has replaced PHP with web technologies and a RESTful back-end API for the administration console. Automattic decided back in 2014 to create a new admin interface called Calypso built using web technologies –JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Node.js, React, Flow, WebPack, Babel – and accessing the back-end through a RESTful API.

The new interface is a single page application with a responsive design adapting to screens of various sizes. Calypso is fast with near instant page loads, instant publishing, in-page previews for multiple targets, and changes are applied in real time without reloading. One of the benefits of using a JavaScript responsive design is that creating desktop or mobile clients is much easier than before.

Automattic Releases WordPress App For Windows Desktop

The new Windows app uses web technologies combined with native features, such as notifications, offline features and various operating system integrations. One of the most important new features is the editor. Automattic now provides a sleek new design with very few buttons on the screen. It’s more about writing and immersing yourself in your words and less about tweaking the post options. If you need more options, you can still go to the WordPress admin panel on the web. But many occasional bloggers would rather use a clean interface and forget about the options they weren’t using anyway.

WordPress Multilingual, finally explained

I’m sure that many of us had to deal in past with a multi language site issue. There are a lot of plugins doing this but there are just a few doing it right. For everyone interested in this topic, the article from wplang.org is very well written and contains a lot of valuable info. Enjoy!

WordPress Multilingual, finally explained

Optimus – WordPress Image Optimizer

Image optimization is for sure a very hot topic and a persistent issue for a lot of developers who are familiar with scenarios like when clients are uploading huge pictures and than are complaining of the site loading speed. The Optimus plugin is trying to offer a solution for the image optimization problem. It’s main features:

• It can compress both PNG AND JPG formats.
• It compresses WordPress generated thumbnails. This feature sets Optimus aside from desktop optimization tools like Photoshop or JpegMin.
• It can compress heavy images, up to 5mb.
• It can compress unlimited amount of images
• It can optimize A WebP Images. WebP is a more efficient image format developed by Google and OptimusHQ can optimize images in this format.
• Optimization of Images could be over an HTTPS connection and it has a developer API.
• It can optimize both Baseline and Progressive images.

The plugin’s free version can be downloaded from the WP repository, and the premium versions can be bought from here.