Hello folks 👋
We hope you had a great start this year. Our January was action-packed as rtCampers gathered for rtParty 2023 🎉
Following our campus hiring drive spanning from October through December 2022, we onboarded 23 new trainees for our January batch, and are very excited to see what our fresh talent brings to the table, as we grow together. We also launched our Express Campus 3.0 which started on 23rd January 2023.
Our QA team has launched API Playwright Utils – a test automation framework built on Playwright. It includes custom utils for all kinds of test cases and streamlines web application deployment. Go through its rundown here. Along the same lines, you can also check out our previously launched Visual Automation framework. If you’re looking to explore test automation or have other QA needs, you can explore our range of services, or just start a conversation with us!
From July 2023, Google will discontinue standard Universal Analytics properties, meaning websites will have to inevitably move to Google Analytics 4. Read about the different options available to you as a switch-up guide for the GA4 transition on our blog.
We’re set for an abuzz trip to Asia’s first flagship WordCamp, happening on 17-19 February 2023, in Bangkok, Thailand. If you’re attending, do check out rtCampers Prasad Nevase and Rahi Prajapati‘s talks on ‘Using WordPress.org APIs for community‘ and ‘Getting your designer ready for Gutenberg‘. Or you could just holler when you find us at our booth, we’re always up for a conversation 🙌
WordPress News Snippets
- Automattic extends its Blaze Ad Network, which debuted last year for Tumblr, to WordPress.com websites via Jetpack. It enables website owners to advertise on WordPress.com website builder and Tumblr. On a related note, Jetpack has also revamped its mobile app.
- Yoast launches its Yoast SEO 20.0 plugin for WordPress, with an all-new admin user interface for the dashboard. The sidebar menu is simplified, requiring fewer clicks and a color-coded card-style interface for settings with on/off toggles. Yoast built this UI with its open-sourced React components library.
- WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shares about Big Picture Goals 2023, highlighting the three pillars of CMS, Community, and Ecosystem. WordPress aims to complete the Gutenberg Phase 2 development and prepare for Phase 3, with a focus on APIs for developing collaborative features. To explore how you can contribute, you can check out the list of teams, and the Core channel.
- Awesome Motive begins the year with two acquisitions. One is the Duplicator plugin, used for migrations and backups, with a user base of around 1.5 million, while the other is Thrive Themes, a suite of WordPress plugins with around 2,00,000 users.
From Around the Web
- Google is discontinuing Google Optimize, which will no longer be available after 30th September 2023. Users are recommended to download their historical data before its sunset. Google is building UX and A/B testing capabilities into Google Analytics 4.
- Gartner reckons that despite economic challenges, global IT spending will grow by about 2.4% in 2023. Software and IT services are expected to witness the largest growth, as enterprises may spend up to USD 4.49 trillion.
- Germany-based DeepL raises funding as it aims to target enterprise customers with AI-enabled language translation service. Its translation API can be utilized with a custom plugin, enabling language translation from the WordPress dashboard.
- Microsoft makes big moves in the Artificial Intelligence domain, announcing the availability of its Azure OpenAI Service and investing in OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT. Azure OpenAI Service incorporates tools like GPT-3.5, Codex, and DALL-E 2.
- Web development platform Netlify acquires Gatsby Inc., developer of the GatsbyJS frontend framework. The deal aims to advance the adoption of composable architectures for decoupled web applications. GatsbyJS will remain an open-source framework.
Events
- WordCamp Europe 2023 releases its first batch of tickets, available now. The event will be held on 8-10 June 2023 in Athens, Greece. Its call for volunteers is also open.
- YoastCon 2023 tickets are now available. The one-day SEO conference by Yoast is to be held on 11 May 2023, in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
- Late Bird and Last Minute tickets for Laracon India 2023, which is to be held on 25-26 February in Ahmedabad, India, are up for grabs.
Water Cooler
Popular on our #watercooler Slack channel.
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