Tim McGiven's Blog, page 25

Hot Off the Press: New WordPress.com Themes for August 2023

The WordPress.com team is always working on new design ideas to bring your website to life. Check out the latest themes in our library, featuring beautiful new options with bloggers, diarists, and creators in mind.

All WordPress.com ThemesTenaz

Tenaz (“tenacious” in Spanish) is a classic magazine theme with a rich, dense homepage perfect for professional bloggers or small media networks. Customizable elements are somewhat limited for this theme, but the black and white color palette is versatile and timeless.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Tomoni

Takashi, the designer for this theme, was inspired by a visit to a design museum in the Roppongi district of Tokyo. Among the beautiful designs displayed there, the wall labels, written in both Japanese and English, also caught his attention. Takashi then started thinking about other examples of when dual language displays are needed, from road signs to posters in large immigrant communities. This theme, tomoni (“together” in Japanese), came to life from that idea.

Tomoni uses Noto Sans and Noto Sans Japanese, which makes both texts visually harmonic. There are eight color variations to suit a wide array of aesthetic flavors.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Entry

Entry is a uniquely styled block theme designed specifically for journalling. It features a blocky grid layout for posts, with every element contained in squared or rectangular shapes. This is a design that makes a statement.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Trellick

Trellick is a minimalist, raw blog theme that strips away the polished veneer of the modern “sameness” of web design — this theme shows the untamed essence of the digital realm. Embracing the architectural concept of Brutalism, Trellick showcases a bold, unapologetic aesthetic.

This design features three columns. The left (header) and the right (sidebar) columns are sticky, and only the main content in the middle column scrolls. The small, square-shaped featured image contributes a distinctive look. Trellick is available in four different color schemes.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Covr

Covr is a beautifully crafted theme that boasts a clean and modern design, specifically created to showcase images in an immersive and captivating way. Its full-width home template elegantly displays your portfolio, photography, or personal blog posts, providing an enjoyable browsing experience for your audience. Whether you’re a photographer, artist, or blogger, Covr is the perfect choice to present your work and make an impact.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

To install any of the above themes, click the name of the theme you like, which brings you right to the installation page. Then click the “Activate this design” button. You can also click “Open live demo,” which brings up a clickable, scrollable version of the theme for you to preview.

Premium themes are available to use at no extra charge for customers on the Premium plan or above. Partner themes are third-party products that can be purchased for $79/year each.

You can explore all of our themes by navigating to the “Themes” page, which is found under “Appearance” in the left-side menu of your WordPress.com dashboard. Or you can click below:

All WordPress.com Themes

The New and Improved Jetpack Mobile Editor

After introducing the Jetpack Mobile app earlier this year, we’re focused on making it the best WordPress experience on your mobile device. We’ve started by updating the design of the mobile editor. 

Below we walk you through the changes we’ve made that streamline your writing and editing experience on mobile. You’ll find these improvements when your app updates to version 22.9.

Fresh color palette 

We’ve replaced soft blue tones with a striking black and white style, which not only looks cleaner but is simply easier to see as well. Overall, we’ve aligned our styles more closely to the WordPress.com desktop experience, including the more familiar block inserter button.

Cleaner top navigation

We’ve hidden the site title to make room for global actions like “Undo.” Your site icon is shown next to the back arrow, where you can tap to leave the editor. We’ve also added a border to clearly separate the navigation bar from your content.

Faster media insertion 

We’ve added in-line media blocks when you have no other block selected, so you can add an image or video faster without opening the full block list.

More space to write

We’ve hidden the blue border around the paragraph block while you’re typing to let you focus on writing.

Unified block controls

It used to be that some block controls were shown on top of the block, taking space from your content. Now all the block controls live in the toolbar, with the settings icon up first.

New ways to move blocks

The up and down arrows, which move blocks within your posts and pages, have moved to the right side of the toolbar. And if you missed it, we introduced drag and drop last year, so you can move blocks manually. 

More to come

You’ll find these improvements when your app updates to version 22.9.

We’ll be continuing to make improvements to the mobile editor. In the meantime, we’d love to hear what you like, what challenges you’ve encountered, and any ideas you have. It may very well shape what we work on next.

Get the app today

New Business-Focused Patterns: Testimonials, FAQs, and More

Have you used Patterns on your site yet? 

These prebuilt, customizable templates can be used to create product listings, customer testimonials, payment interfaces, contact forms, and so much more. All told, we have more than 275+ Patterns you can mix and match in your pages and posts at the press of a button.

If you’ve never used Patterns before, they’re like any other site element: Access them by hitting the inserter (or “+”) button at the top left of the page or post you’re working on, then selecting the “Patterns” tab. You can also click on the “Explore” button to bring up our entire library of Patterns, organized by category.

Let’s take a look at a few of the newest business-focused Patterns we’ve added to our library. 

Testimonials

Boost trust and credibility for your small business with compelling testimonials. Choose from a number of carefully crafted Patterns to beautifully showcase customer stories and experiences on your website.

Services

Every small business website needs a services section, delivering clear information about your offerings. Whether you’re a restaurant, beauty salon, or local cleaning service, we have the perfect Pattern to showcase your products and services.

Pricing

A well-designed pricing section can be the centerpiece of your business website and a big sales driver. We’ve added a number of Patterns to our library that will make this task easy and fun!

FAQ

Answer common questions about your business, services, prices, and more with a beautiful and functional Frequently Asked Questions section. Adding one to your website is as easy as picking one of our FAQ Patterns, and customizing as desired with your own colors and copy.

Contact

A contact page is a must-have in order to easily connect with visitors, encourage inquiries, solicit feedback, and discover new business opportunities. Pick a Pattern that best suits your business and you’ll never miss a lead.

Payments

Accept credit and debit card payments effortlessly with our Payment Button Block. Choose from a range of stylish design options, making the payment process even more convenient and visually appealing for your customers.

Explore all of our Patterns!

Let our patterns library spark your creativity. We have options for featured products, menus, events, coupons, and more. Dive in by exploring all the hundreds of patterns in the WordPress editor. 

If you’re intrigued by Patterns but don’t have a site yet, get started by creating your own unique design today: 

Start creating

Transfer Your Google Domains to WordPress.com—On Us

A domain is your most valuable online asset. A great domain name says something about you—your personality, your work, your creative spark. People understand this intuitively: when coming up with new ideas for a business or website, we don’t start with design or specific content. We start by giving it a name.

But if your domain name is currently with Google Domains, things recently became complicated. You may have heard that your account has been sold to Squarespace. Everything is expected to transfer and close later this year.

Fortunately for you, you’re not locked into that deal. And we think we can do better. For the first million domains that move from Google to WordPress.com, we’ll pay your transfer fee, which also extends your registration for an additional year. 

That’s just the beginning. Here’s our commitment to you when you bring your domain from Google to WordPress.com:

Your renewal price will be the same or even lower than what you were paying with Google Domains—and that goes for every one of the 400+ top-level domains (TLDs) we offer. This will also apply to existing WordPress.com customers across most domains, meaning that in many cases we’re lowering your prices!This isn’t a temporary thing. We’re committed to keeping domain prices low, and will only raise them if our wholesale costs go up (we’ll run our domains business like Costco).Get started now

You may know WordPress.com as a leading platform for building stunning websites, but we’ve been a domain name provider for over a decade. You don’t even need a site or hosting plan to manage your domains with us. 

And you’re getting much more than just a URL:

Performance: Our DNS speeds are faster than Google, GoDaddy, and DigitalOcean. But don’t take our word for it. Feel free to check for yourself at dnsperf.com.   Privacy: Unlike at many other registrars, privacy protection is free. (There are a few exclusions for non-U.S. domains.) Security: We install SSL for free for all domains hosted with us. And when you host your site at WordPress.com, we provide serious security features to keep your site running smoothly such as real-time backups, one-click restores, malware scanning, WAF (web application firewall), DDOS mitigation, and more.

What it really comes down to is that WordPress.com, along with the larger Automattic family, is committed to the open and inclusive web. Our mission is to democratize publishing for the entire world. Ultimately, we will always support your ability to truly own your content and identity on the web. 

And it all starts with your domain.

Get started now

Even More New WordPress.com Themes for July 2023

The WordPress.com team is always working on new design ideas to bring your website to life. In July, we published so many new designs that a “Part Two” of our monthly theme roundup is in order. Check out these latest stylings especially if you have a blog or portfolio.

All WordPress.com ThemesFotograma

To create Fotograma, our designers borrowed from the fun and unique Stacks theme, which gives your website the look of a professional presentation. To that concept, we added a Cover Block to make this a one-page portfolio theme perfect for a photographer who wants to make a big visual impact.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Curriculum

Curriculum is a resume-like theme that echoes the structure of a professional profile page like you’d find on LinkedIn. It features original a unique visual structure and navigation, and a primary content area that’s perfect displaying your education, experience, work portfolio, and other information.

In this split layout design, the right side offers a “sticky” profile image while the left side features a large block of scrollable content. We chose a high-contrast color palette of blue with cream for the default style; there’s also a variation in maroon if you prefer something a little bolder.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Bute

Bute is a simple blogging theme that features a full-screen Cover Block on the home page. It’s epic in every way, inviting the reader directly into whatever adventure you’ve embarked on yourself.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Loïc

Loïc is a theme designed with writers in mind. One small detail that sets it apart: for most pages and templates, we’ve replaced the site title with the post or query title. And whereas most of our modern themes utilize a sans serif font family, with Loïc we opted for Crimson Text, which is a serif typeface often found in book printing.

We’ve provided a total of six style options for this theme, allowing you to effortlessly transform your website’s tone to suit your individual aesthetic.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Artly

Artly is a blog theme designed for publications that place a premium on visuals. Its modern, offset layout for posts and pages allows you to showcase your content in a stunning but also functional way.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

To install any of the above themes, click the name of the theme you like, which brings you right to the installation page. Then click the “Activate this design” button. You can also click “Open live demo,” which brings up a clickable, scrollable version of the theme for you to preview.

Premium themes are available to use at no extra charge for customers on the Premium plan or above. Paid themes are third-party products that can be purchased for $79/year each.

You can explore all of our themes by navigating to the “Themes” page, which is found under “Appearance” in the left-side menu of your WordPress.com dashboard. Or you can click below:

All WordPress.com Themes

New Free Course—Newsletters 101: From Basics to Automation and Monetization

Unleash your inner creator! Dive into the exciting journey of crafting captivating newsletters with WordPress.com’s newest course: Newsletters 101: From Basics to Automation and Monetization. 

This completely free online course is designed to share the key skills of creating, managing, and monetizing your newsletter. Whether you’re a blogger, entrepreneur, or part of a non-profit organization, this is your gateway to reaching the hearts and minds of your audience directly in their inboxes.

Let’s dive in!

The power of newsletters

Newsletters offer creators and businesses a unique advantage: a simple way to establish a personal, direct line of communication with their audience, free from the whims and distractions of social media algorithms. Publishing a newsletter can help you forge stronger relationships with your subscribers, nurturing a loyal following over time.

And newsletters are an invaluable tool for generating revenue, too. People who sign up for your newsletter are much more likely to be interested in what you have to offer, which means they’re more receptive to your ideas, recommendations, and products.

Get set up for success

In this course we’ll walk you through the basics of setting up a newsletter, even if you don’t have a website. And if you already have a website you’d like to turn into a newsletter, we’ll also guide you on how to do so with just a few clicks. 

Our Newsletters 101 course will get you started with what you need no matter where you’re at or what your niche is. You’ll find pro tips, ideas, how-tos, and resources for getting the most out of your newsletter. 

The best part? The course is free and no registration is required. Just click the button below and get started!

Access Newsletters 101 NowUnleash your monetization potential

Want to make money through your newsletter? We’ve got you covered! We’ll walk you through setting up paid subscriptions, so you can start generating recurring revenue by simply sharing what you’re passionate about. 

We’ll also explore affiliate marketing, a way to earn commissions through carefully curated product recommendations. Plus, we’ll guide you on integrating ads or sponsored content, offering a win-win scenario where your audience benefits from valuable content, and you earn from your efforts.

Making it real

You might be thinking, “I’m not a techie, can I really do this?” Absolutely, yes! In this course, we break down everything into bite-sized pieces, making it simple to follow along, no matter your technical abilities.

And to support you on the way, we have an Education Community Forum where you can ask questions and celebrate your progress. 

See you there!

Access Newsletters 101 Now

PS: Get the best out of our learning resources by checking out all of our courses, live webinars, and recorded replays. 

Hot Off the Press: New WordPress.com Themes for July 2023

The WordPress.com team is always working on new design ideas to bring your website to life. Check out the latest themes in our library, featuring beautiful new options with bloggers and creators in mind.

All WordPress.com ThemesKigen

One of the meanings of the Japanese word kigen is “the origin.” As such, this theme offers a biographical representation of your work.

Kigen’s simple portfolio design is straightforward: The front page has a gallery at the top, followed by a column block with links to social media as well as space for your “About” or “Bio” content. The font, Newsreader, conveys a classical sense while maintaining an authoritative feel.

We’ve added some playfulness to the bottom border, which is an easily changeable or removable pattern.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

BSoJ

BSoJ is a simple blog theme inspired by the infamous “Blue Screen of Death” that would appear on the Microsoft Windows operating system after a fatal error. This version gives that screen a far more joyful vibe.

The original Blue Screen of Death.

While our design keeps the iconic white text on blue, it uses a livelier font pairing of Anonymous Pro and Josefin Sans. The font sizes are intentionally small (equivalent to 14px for body text) and sit on a narrow column (400px width max).

If you’re feeling like adding some classic ’90s nostalgia to your online footprint, consider the BSoJ theme.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Optimismo

Inspired by a UK rave party flyer in the late ’80s, Optimismo is a simple blog theme with a bold aesthetic. The theme features a somewhat unusual homepage that displays the five latest blog post titles, along with a large headline and the site title. We usually go with left-aligned designs, but wanted to break our own rules a bit and went center-aligned with Optimismo.

If you want to make a bold splash with your blog, this is a great theme to use.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Lineup

Lineup is a ’90s D.I.Y. fanzine-inspired theme that lists entries with bold typography and color. Our designer on this theme noted that he was really into hardcore punk in his younger days and loved reading about them in fanzines. They were raw, crude, and often printed with a single color.

Lineup only uses black and red, and most of the text is intentionally the same large font size. Because of that, the default content width is wider than usual (940px max). Additionally, all images will appear with a duotone filter.

This theme probably isn’t for everyone, but if punk rock is your aesthetic, Lineup is perfect.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

Jinjang

Jinjang is a blog theme with a split 50:50 layout, inspired by the Chinese philosophical concept of yin-yang. It’s stark and bold and uses a large font throughout the theme.

The black left column is sticky—making the navigation always visible—so only the right column scrolls. It’s a rather striking and versatile design, if we don’t say so ourselves.

Click here to view a demo of this theme.

To install any of the above themes, click the name of the theme you like, which brings you right to the installation page. Then click the “Activate this design” button. You can also click “Open live demo,” which brings up a clickable, scrollable version of the theme for you to preview.

Premium themes are available to use at no extra charge for customers on the Premium plan or above. Paid themes are third-party products that can be purchased for $79/year each.

You can explore all of our themes by navigating to the “Themes” page, which is found under “Appearance” in the left-side menu of your WordPress.com dashboard. Or you can click below:

All WordPress.com Themes

Make Your Site Faster With Our Global Edge Cache

No matter your website’s goals, speed and efficiency are key. The bottom line is that you want your website to be fast and accessible for visitors, no matter where they are in the world.

WordPress.com’s Global Edge Cache (pronounced like “cash”) makes your site load faster for visitors around the world by taking advantage of our global network of data centers. This feature is always enabled on Free, Personal, and Premium sites. For our Business and Commerce sites, you can now manage the Global Edge Cache settings from the “Hosting Configuration” page.

What is global edge caching?

Say your website is hosted at one of our data centers in Amsterdam and a visitor from Cape Town wants to access it. The request from the visitor has to travel halfway around the world and back again to be fulfilled—that is, load the site on their device. 

Through some backend technical wizardry, our Global Edge Cache means that the request only needs to travel to Johannesburg and back, saving your visitor tens or even hundreds of milliseconds. It may not seem like much, but when you’re online, every millisecond counts. 

In short, enabling this caching feature brings your content closer to your visitors, wherever they might be. This means faster load times, less waiting, and a better overall experience. And as we all know, a happy visitor is more likely to become a loyal customer or follower.

Speed up your site with three simple steps

The WordPress.com Global Edge Cache is always enabled for sites on Free, Personal, and Premium plans. On a Business or Commerce site, you can enable Global Edge Cache from the Hosting Configuration page.

Here’s how to do it: 

From your dashboard, go to Settings → Hosting Configuration.Scroll down to the “Cache” module.Click the toggle for  “Enable global edge caching for faster content delivery.”

Once you click that toggle, you’re all set! 

Build your future on WordPress.com

Many hosts charge extra for this kind of edge caching, or require integration with a third-party provider. On WordPress.com, global edge caching is included on every plan, without any bandwidth restrictions.

This is just one more reason why WordPress.com stands out as the premier managed WordPress host. Be it staging sites, SSH and WP-CLI access, or unified site management, we’re always working on new tools to make WordPress.com an essential component of your development workflow. 

What other features would you like to see? How can we make WordPress.com an even more powerful place to build a website? Feel free to leave a comment or contact our friendly support team. And be sure to follow our develop blog to stay up-to-date with everything we’re doing to make your behind-the-scenes experience even better. 

Introducing Footnotes, Details Block, and Writing Flow Improvements

The team at WordPress is always working to enhance your writing and publishing experience, whether adding brand-new features or fixing bugs and minor inconveniences. The latest round of updates includes a feature you’ve long been asking for, a new block, and a few improvements to the general flow and convenience of publishing. 

Let’s take a look! 

Hide content with the new Details Block 

The new Details Block features a drop-down arrow that reveals hidden information when clicked. This block provides a way to hide content that some readers might not want or need to see — detailed event information, fine print notices, methodology or research notes, spoilers for books and movies, even the punchline to a joke. It’s basically a way for readers to opt-in to viewing some bit of content. 

We’ve been using the Details Block internally at WordPress.com for ages, and we’re excited that it’s now been brought outside our digital office walls. 

Source your work or add context with footnotes

You’ve been asking for footnotes, and we’re glad to let you know that this feature is now available in the editor! 

To add a footnote: 

Click the small “More” arrow in the action bar that appears while editing a post/page, just to the right of the link icon.Select “Footnote” at the top. From there, your cursor will automatically move to the footnote for you to add a reference or comment. Improve your writing flow with these small changes 

In addition to the new Details Block and Footnotes function, we’ve made a few small improvements to the overall writing flow that will make your writing and editing a bit smoother. 

“View post” button added 

It used to take multiple clicks from the editor to view published posts or pages. This inconvenience has been remedied with a new button at the top of the editor. When you click it you’ll be taken to the published post/page in a new tab. 

“Switch to draft” button moved 

This button has been placed next to the “Move to trash” button on the right sidebar. When you click “Switch to draft,” a confirmation box will appear asking you if you’re sure about un-publishing the post/page. 

“Preview” button enhanced 

The preview button has been streamlined and enhanced so that the icon displayed matches the device you’re previewing. “Desktop” mode, the default, displays a laptop icon while “Tablet” and “Mobile” display those respective devices. 

Are there other features that would your writing, editing, and publishing experience even better? Let us know in the comments!

Upcoming Webinars: Discover the Power of Custom Headers

Few things command as much attention from your website visitors as the header. Beyond providing a practical spot for your logo and page navigation, it sets the tone for your entire site. With quality design and precise calls-to-action, it will guide users, improve conversions, enhance engagement, and optimize their journey through your site.

With the new Site Editor, anyone can easily create a stand-out header without writing a single line of code. Whether you’re a business owner or a passionate blogger, this webinar will empower you to create headers that represent your brand and resonate with your audience.

During this live demonstration, our experts will cover everything you need to know about customizing your site header:

Learn how to select, customize, and replace header template parts in the Site EditorDiscover how you can easily add and edit your site title, logo, social media links, a search bar, and other blocks in your custom headerGain confidence in adding and customizing menus for site navigation

Attending this session is free and concludes with a live Q&A, so come prepared with your questions. If you aren’t able to attend any of the three sessions, we’ll send out a recording afterwards. So be sure to register below:

Register for this webinarDon’t miss our other July webinars

We’ve arranged a series of engaging webinars this month, introducing you to the dynamic features of the WordPress Site Editor and the critical role a custom domain plays for your site. Both sessions aim to provide the tools required to elevate your WordPress.com site to new heights.

Mastering Custom Domains

Create a distinct online presence that reflects your brand and distinguishes you from competitors. Join us as we guide you through finding, registering, and linking a custom domain to your WordPress.com site. You will also gain a better understanding of how to set up a domain-specific email address and its consequential effect on increasing your email open rates.

Register for this webinarSite Editor vs. Page Editor: Editing your entire site in WordPress

In this session where we’ll guide you in customizing every element of your WordPress site, from top to bottom. With our user-friendly Site Editor tools, you can personalize your entire website without needing coding experience!

Register for this webinar

Join us for our WordPress.com live webinars, carefully crafted with both beginners and seasoned site owners in mind. All our sessions are free to attend and conclude with a lively Q&A session, so you can engage directly with our expert Happiness Engineers.