Month in WordPress: December 2024
Table of Contents
In recent months, Automattic, the company behind WordPress.org and the WordPress trademark, has captured the community's attention with its actions. December has been no exception, and several recent events suggest that this story may have an even greater impact on WordPress's future than you may have anticipated.
1. WP Engine Wins Preliminary Injunction Against Automattic
On December 2, 2024, the Northern California District Court granted WP Engine's motion for a preliminary injunction against Automattic and Matt Mullenweg. The ruling requires Automattic to immediately halt interference with WP Engine's access to WordPress.org, including blocking WP Engine's plugin control and unauthorized auto-migrations. Automattic must:
- Restore WP Engine's access to WordPress.org
- Remove mandatory checkboxes from the login page
- Reinstate access to the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin.
The court found that WP Engine was likely to succeed in its claims of intentional interference with contractual relations, and that the company would suffer irreparable harm without the injunction, citing the loss of clients and market share. The ruling emphasized that the public interest also favored granting the injunction, as the stability of the WordPress ecosystem is crucial for many users.
Automattic responded, stating that the ruling was preliminary and made without the full discovery process, while WP Engine expressed gratitude for the ruling, stating it provided stability for their customers and the WordPress ecosystem.
The injunction remains in effect until the trial’s final judgment is issued.
At the time of writing, Automattic has already complied with the court’s requirements. For example, WP Engine is once again listed as the author of the ACF plugin, and the ACF.com website no longer displays the "unofficial" ACF warning about the WordPress.org page.
2. Automattic Puts Services on 'Holiday Break'
In an announcement, Automattic confirmed that several free services on WordPress.org would be paused for the holidays. These services include new account registrations, new plugin and theme directory submissions, new plugin reviews, and new photo directory submissions. However, services like localization and forums will remain open as they require minimal moderation.
Automattic's leadership emphasized that the decision to pause services was to give both staff and volunteers a well-deserved break. In a lighthearted tone, Automattic clarified that WP Engine would be exempt from these restrictions and could arrange access through legal channels if needed.
Despite the break, Automattic's focus on defending against WP Engine's legal challenges has been consuming significant time, with the potential for personal liability if WP Engine prevails. Automattic hopes to reopen the paused services sometime in the new year, as soon as the legal battles are resolved.
As of the time of writing, the resources that had been paused were already unlocked, with a brief post on make.wordpress.org.
3. Big Players Breaking the Status Quo
Joost de Valk, SEO of Yoast, published a follow-up post in December 2024 titled "Breaking the Status Quo," building on his earlier suggestion that Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic and the WordPress Foundation, step down to allow a more decentralized leadership structure for WordPress.
On the same day, Karim Marucchi, founder of CrowdFavorite (an agency specializing in enterprise-grade solutions) and another key figure in the WordPress community, published a similar post echoing Joost’s sentiments.
Both posts reference each other and align in their call for change, so we’ll focus on the brief overview of Joost’s post below.
In his new post, Joost argues that WordPress has reached a crossroads, with a leadership structure that lacks democracy and is increasingly controlled by one individual. He criticizes the current centralized model, highlighting the growing disenchantment within the community, and calls for a change in leadership to ensure a more inclusive and diverse development process.
He introduces the idea of Federated and Independent Repositories (FAIR) to prevent monopolistic control over WordPress updates, citing the recent issues with the ACF plugin and WordPress.org’s centralized update system. Joost expresses his commitment to the transition and encourages broader conversations within the community about the future of WordPress.
Joost de Valk concluded his December 2024 post, "Breaking the Status Quo," with a plan to begin 2025 by meeting with key leaders from the WordPress community and industry to discuss the future of the platform.
Joost's proposal appears to be an official offer from some of the "big players" in the WordPress ecosystem, setting the stage for a potential leadership change.
Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, responded quietly in the post comments, suggesting that the proposal might need to be done under a different name, separate from WordPress. Mullenweg mentioned that a fresh slate, in terms of trademark, branding, and people, would be required to accomplish the vision Joost outlined.
This response seems to reject the proposal on the current terms. It’s likely that many discussions are happening behind the scenes, and this public exchange serves as a brief and visible preview of the ongoing negotiations and differing visions for the future of WordPress.
For example, just three days before Joost's post, on December 17, 2024, the new WP Community Collective announced its formal nonprofit incorporation. Interestingly, this announcement came several weeks after the event itself, as it was revealed that the incorporation took place on November 13, 2024. The delay in sharing this news adds another layer of intrigue, suggesting that developments within the community are unfolding behind closed doors.
4. Automattic Significantly Reduces Its WordPress Developer Hours
In a significant shift, Automattic has announced a major reduction in its sponsored contributions to WordPress, cutting down its developer hours from a staggering 3,539 hours per week to just 45 hours per week.
It may seem like a response to the court's preemptive ruling and a reaction to the board of directors suggestion discussed earlier.
In its post, Automattic explains that it is seeking to recalibrate its focus due to the significant time and resources currently being consumed by the legal actions initiated by WP Engine, which are supported by the private equity firm Silver Lake.
Automattic's decision to reduce its contributions comes amid growing concerns about the imbalance in how resources are allocated within the WordPress ecosystem. The company plans to align its volunteering hours with other organizations like WP Engine under the Five for the Future program, dedicating 45 hours per week to critical tasks such as security and updates.
Although Automattic's direct contributions to core development will decrease, the company remains focused on its for-profit ventures like WordPress.com, Pressable, WPVIP, Jetpack, and WooCommerce.
For example, in the first half of December, Automattic announced the acquisition of WPAI. WPAI is known for its AI-based products, including CodeWP, an AI-powered IDE for WordPress developers, and AgentWP, an autonomous AI agent capable of executing complex tasks through independent reasoning.
5. This WordPress Month in Numbers
In this ongoing section, we utilize WordPress.org plugin and theme APIs to feature newly published items from this month. It's an excellent opportunity to discover new tools and improve your workflow.
Your interest is crucial for developers, especially in the early stages, and inspires them to continuously improve. Spin up interesting items to see if they fit your workflow.
120 new themes in the WordPress repository
| Plugin | Author | Downloads per day |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ona Architecture Ona Architecture is a sleek and sophisticated WordPress theme designed specifically for architects, interior designers, design studios, construction firms, and creative professionals in the built environment. This meticulously crafted block-based theme offers a clean, minimalist aesthetic that beaut... | DeoThemes | 117 |
| 2. Palawan Palawan is a free and minimal WordPress blog theme. It is a Gutenberg ready WordPress theme and compatible with all blocks and patterns of WordPress. This theme is developed based on customizer settings. You can see the live changes that you have made in customizer. Palawan also comes with added cus... | candidthemes | 105 |
| 3. Newsical Newsical is a versatile WordPress theme tailored for blogs, magazines, and news sites. The 1-click demo import and ready-made designs make setup simple and fast WITHOUT CODING. It’s compatible with popular page builders like Gutenberg, Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi, Brizy, and more, offering fle... | AF themes | 103 |
| 4. Blog Articles Blog Articles is a modern, visually stunning WordPress theme designed for bloggers who seek a unique, ethereal aesthetic. It is a minimal, lightweight, and customizer-based theme for creating beautiful, fast-loading, and accessible websites. This new generation clean design blog theme features sleek... | adorethemes | 102 |
| 5. Cinema House The Cinema House WordPress Theme is a dynamic and visually engaging solution designed for movie theatres, film events, and cinema-related businesses. Whether you're managing a cinema with private rooms, hosting cinema fan events, or promoting cinema discount days, this theme provides everything you ... | pewilliams | 97 |
| 6. Business Consulting Agency The Business Consulting Agency WordPress Theme is a feature-rich, professional tool designed for consulting firms, agencies, and individual consultants. Perfectly tailored for businesses specializing in diverse fields such as business consulting and public relations, crisis management, and market re... | Creta Themes | 92 |
| 7. openmind Openmind is a versatile and visually stunning WordPress theme designed for creative professionals. With its unique and dynamic design, Openmind lets you push the boundaries of business design. The theme offers a highly customizable layout perfect for portfolios, with smooth navigation and an emphasi... | hangouthemes | 89 |
| 8. Spexo Spexo is a lightweight Elementor Theme for WordPress. It is responsive, SEO optimized and optimized for speed. With over more than 100+ advanced Elementor widgets, and multiple pre-built demos that can be imported with just one click. Spexo(formerly SastraWP) is fully compatible with your favorite E... | Templates Coder | 84 |
| 9. Plover Plover is a multipurpose Full Site Editing theme. Plover theme utilizes the WordPress block editor and the extensions provided by the Plover Kit to create unique and eye-catching web design. Dark mode and mobile optimization for better visitor retention. It’s perfect for agencies, companies, and b... | WP Plover | 84 |
| 10. The Free Blogger The Free Blogger is an elegant WordPress block theme for bloggers, writers, and anyone seeking a clean, modern, and responsive design. This free theme offers a minimalist design that's ideal for blogging, news magaines, and personal portfolios, making it a top choice for writers and journalists in v... | Superb Addons | 77 |
| 11. Blockskit Construction Blockskit Construction is a modern and versatile WordPress theme designed for various types of websites including advertising, agency, blog, business, corporate, creative, design, finance, investments, management, marketing, portfolio, smm, startup, web design and more. It offers full-site-editing, ... | BlockskitDev | 66 |
| 12. Opensky An innovative, easily customizable, multi-purpose theme, focused on empowering users to build astonishing WordPress websites. It is mainly designed for small businesses, startups, or personal portfolio websites and works perfectly with Kubio Page Builder which enriches the WordPress block editor wit... | Extend Themes | 62 |
| 13. Electronics Retailer The Electronics Retailer WordPress Theme is a premium, fully responsive theme designed specifically for electronics retailers and e-commerce platforms. It’s perfect for businesses selling a wide range of electronics, from mobile gadgets and wearable technology to home entertainment systems and kit... | VW THEMES | 60 |
| 14. Shoes Store The VW Shoes Store WordPress Theme is a stylish and versatile solution designed for creating professional and visually appealing websites for shoe retailers and footwear brands. Perfect for online shoes stores, women’s shoes stores, and athletic shoes stores, this theme caters to diverse footwear ... | VW THEMES | 60 |
| 15. Supermarket Shopping The Supermarket Shopping WordPress Theme is a powerful and versatile solution for grocery store owners looking to establish a professional online presence. Specifically designed for grocery supermarkets, it offers a user-friendly platform for showcasing products, promotions, and services. Whether yo... | drakearthur | 58 |
| 16. Soul Anchor Choosing the right WordPress theme for your blog is crucial to creating an engaging and functional site. A good blog theme should be responsive, ensuring it looks great on all devices, from desktops to smartphones. It should offer a customizable layout, allowing you to tweak colors, fonts, and desig... | Themes Cart | 54 |
| 17. Yuki Ever Blog Multi-purpose and Customizable Free WordPress Blog Theme. based on the modern and highly customizable Yuki multipurpose WordPress theme. You can fully customize your site with rich customize options. It is perfect for personal bloggers and content publishers. | WP Moose | 52 |
| 18. Shoppy Shoppy – Multipurpose WooCommerce WordPress Theme. This Theme comes with high-quality Prebuild Home Pages and many built-in awesome inner pages. An WordPress Theme is a powerful tool for creating a professional and visually appealing online store. With a well-designed theme, you can quickly and ea... | britetechs | 49 |
| 19. wp news wp news - Simple and professional WordPress news theme created for online news website or for personal blogs. | ordasvit | 47 |
| 20. Patterns Agency Patterns Agency is a modern WordPress theme designed specifically for agencies, offering a professional and customizable foundation for creating stunning websites. With full support for WordPress Full Site Editing (FSE), this theme allows users to effortlessly edit headers, footers, templates, and g... | PatternsWP | 44 |
| 21. Sunbrake Sunbrake is an innovative, easily customizable, multi-purpose theme, focused on empowering users to build astonishing WordPress websites. Sunbrake is mainly designed for small businesses, startups, or personal portfolio websites and works perfectly with Kubio Page Builder which enriches the WordPre... | Extend Themes | 44 |
| 22. SharkWave Elevate your online presence with SharkWave, a cutting-edge WordPress theme designed for full-site editing. Immerse yourself in a seamless website customization experience where every element is at your fingertips. From dynamic homepage arrangements to personalized portfolio showcases, SharkWave emp... | themegrovewp | 44 |
| 23. SKT Lights Illuminate your website. with the SKT Lights free theme, perfect for showcasing lamps, lighting fixtures, bulbs, chandeliers, luminaires, lanterns, fluorescents, and spotlights. This flexible and scalable theme supports SEO plugins, one-click demo import via Elementor, and WooCommerce compatibility ... | sonalsinha21 | 42 |
| 24. Titan Business Agency The Titan Business Agency WordPress Theme is a versatile and dynamic solution designed for agencies offering a range of services like business consulting, digital marketing, web development, SEO, and more. Perfect for agencies of all sizes, including branding, advertising, and creative agencies, thi... | Titan Themes | 41 |
| 25. Workwaves Workwaves is a modern and alluring WordPress theme designed for professionals and businesses aiming to make a bold statement online. With clean lines, sleek animations, and a sophisticated color palette, Workwaves combines a professional aesthetic with a hint of intrigue, drawing users in with its i... | jokerthemes | 41 |
| 26. Expose Business Expose Business is a Full Site Editing Business WordPress theme. This theme is designed specifically for businesses in Business Consulting, IT Solutions, Creative Agencies, Financial Advisory, Transport & Logistics, and many more. This theme provides a professional and modern look, making it an ... | kantipurthemes | 40 |
| 27. Blogger Newspaper Blogger Newspaper ( Newspaperss Child Theme ) is a WordPress theme designed specifically for various types of websites related to news, including magazines, publishers, blogs, editors, online and gaming magazines, and personal blogs. It is also optimized for SEO, and its design is widget-based, allo... | Silk Themes | 40 |
| 28. Freelance Portfolio The Freelance Portfolio WordPress Theme is a versatile and dynamic solution for showcasing your work in an elegant and professional manner. Designed for freelancers, artists, designers, photographers, and content creators, this theme provides an ideal platform to build a creative portfolio website. ... | Titan Themes | 39 |
| 29. Medical Pharmacy The Medical Pharmacy WordPress Theme is a versatile and feature-packed solution specifically designed for pharmacies and medical businesses. Whether your focus is on pharmacy drops, pharmacy tablets, or personal care products, this theme offers a professional platform to effectively showcase your of... | Creta Themes | 39 |
| 30. Real Estate Manager The Real Estate Manager WordPress Theme is a powerful and feature-rich solution designed specifically for property managers, real estate agents, and agencies to efficiently manage and showcase their properties. Tailored for real estate management services, this theme offers a seamless user experienc... | themespride | 38 |
| 31. Cruiser The Cruise Shipping WordPress Theme, a cutting-edge solution designed specifically for cruise lines, travel agencies, and maritime enthusiasts to create stunning websites focused on cruise shipping experiences. This premium block editor WordPress theme offers unparalleled customization, leveraging t... | risingthemes | 37 |
| 32. CreationWP CreationWP is a dark Professional and modern feature-rich multipurpose interior design WordPress theme. CreationWP can be used to create a range of various websites with WordPress. The theme is especially for interior designers, architecture, furniture shops, construction, fashion, online shop, wedd... | Theme Arile | 36 |
| 33. BC Store Elevate your eCommerce website with BC Store, a sleek and trendy multipurpose WooCommerce theme designed for businesses of all kinds. Its fully responsive layout ensures your site looks its best across devices, maximizing your brand’s online appearance and boosting the customer experience. The the... | aThemeArt | 36 |
| 34. Minimalist Blogify Minimalist Blogify is a responsive WordPress personal blog, influencer and newspaper theme for WordPress. The theme's elegant and minimalistic look makes it an attractive choice for bloggers and writers who aim to have a user-friendly and modern website. It's created to work well with any sort of ni... | SuperbThemes | 35 |
| 35. Kindergarten Preschool The Kindergarten Preschool WordPress Theme is a beautifully designed, user-friendly solution tailored for early childhood education providers, including kindergartens, daycare centers, and preschools. This theme is specifically created to meet the needs of young learners and their families, offering... | Creta Themes | 34 |
| 36. Education Management The Education Management WordPress Theme is a versatile and powerful solution designed to help educational institutions build a robust online presence. This theme is tailored for schools, universities, online education platforms, and any institution offering education services. It’s ideal for mana... | Titan Themes | 33 |
| 37. Digitala A beautiful, very customizable, multipurpose theme that you can use to create amazing websites through drag and drop. It comes with a pre-designed home page, 5 header designs and over 35 ready-to-use content blocks that you can easily customize. You can also design your own custom blocks by combinin... | Extend Themes | 32 |
| 38. BlogArc Meet BlogArc, a sleek, fast, and mobile-friendly WordPress theme perfect for digital storytelling and journalism. Designed for seamless customization, BlogArc offers modern templates suited for any niche, including sports, fashion, tech, and more. Empower your online publishing journey with lightnin... | wpmotif | 31 |
| 39. Writely Blog Writely Blog is a high-quality WordPress theme expertly crafted by Shadow Themes to enhance your blogging journey. Ideal for personal blogs, portfolios, business websites, and more, this theme effortlessly blends elegance with functionality, ensuring your site leaves a lasting impression. Designed t... | shadowthemes | 30 |
| 40. Zummo Prime Zummo Prime takes the bold foundation of Zummo to the next level, delivering an enhanced visual experience for modern agencies, designers, and businesses. With refined aesthetics and polished design elements, Zummo Prime ensures your website leaves a lasting impression. Built with the same Full Site... | Effe Themes | 30 |
| 41. FSE Travel Blog The FSE Travel Blog WordPress Theme is the ultimate theme for travel enthusiasts and bloggers to share their adventures with the world. Designed specifically for travel blogs, it caters to a variety of niches, including adventure travel blogs, family travel blogs, and solo travel diaries. Whether yo... | Creta Themes | 30 |
| 42. Jewelry Blocks The Jewelry WordPress Theme is an ideal solution crafted specifically for jewelry businesses, designed to create a visually captivating and professional online storefront. Ideal for fine jewelry, fashion jewelry, or custom pieces, it allows jewelry store owners to showcase their collections in an el... | pewilliams | 30 |
| 43. Magty Magty serves as an all-in-one solution for magazine publishers aiming to create rich content experiences. With its stylish design and intuitive features, Magty helps publishers, bloggers, and content creators to captivate their audience with engaging content. | unfoldwp | 29 |
| 44. WENS Haelo WENS Haelo is a WordPress theme designed to meet the needs of business and corporate websites, combining sleek, professional aesthetics with cutting-edge functionality. Ideal for startups, agencies, and enterprises, this theme delivers a visually stunning and performance-driven online presence. The ... | WEN Solutions | 29 |
| 45. Yaatra Blog Yaatra Blog is a clean and classic theme that is perfect for any kind of personal and professional blog. It is lightning fast and fully responsive. Hence, It beautifully presents your content in the spotlight. Theme is SEO friendly, translation ready, GDPR compliant as well as Gutenberg compatible. ... | CodeVibrant | 28 |
| 46. Blockskit Consultancy Blockskit Consultancy is a modern and versatile WordPress theme designed for various types of websites including advertising, agency, blog, business, corporate, creative, design, finance, investments, management, marketing, portfolio, smm, startup, web design and more. It offers full-site-editing, a... | BlockskitDev | 28 |
| 47. Advantura Trails Advantura Trails is a versatile and feature-rich Full Site Editing (FSE) theme, crafted to help you build impressive and user-friendly travel websites. With its drag-and-drop page builder, this theme offers unlimited design flexibility, making customization simple and intuitive. By integrating the f... | WP Travel | 28 |
| 48. MegaVolt Electrician Electrician WordPress Theme has been crafted by a team of web design experts after a deep study of Electrician niche. The designers and developers studied the market and tis trends; client psyche, spent hours reading buyer psychology and their triggers. Electrician WP templates are designed to ensu... | luzuk Themes | 27 |
| 49. Expose Construction Expose Construction is a sleek and modern WordPress Theme designed specifically for construction, renovation, factory, engineering, handyman, building, architecture, interior and development-related businesses. The theme features a clean and professional design that is both aesthetically pleasing an... | kantipurthemes | 27 |
| 50. Eco Green The Eco Green WordPress Theme is a thoughtfully designed solution for eco-conscious businesses and organizations dedicated to promoting sustainable living and green practices. This theme is ideal for green startups, eco-friendly innovations, sustainable tourism initiatives, and renewable energy solu... | Abu Turab | 27 |
| 51. Legacy Book Club Legacy Book Club is an elegant WordPress theme crafted especially for book clubs and literary communities. Designed to cater to online and independent book clubs, it offers and engaging platform where members can discuss books, share recommendations, and organise events. This theme is perfect for bo... | legacythemes | 27 |
| 52. JewStore JewStore is a responsive and modern WordPress theme designed specifically for jewelry stores and blogs. The theme is fully integrated with WooCommerce and comes with a lot of options and settings, making it easy and quick to create a jewelry store from scratch. JewStore has many advantages that set ... | wpdevart | 26 |
| 53. Classified Ads Listings Classified ads listings is a modern and responsive WordPress theme designed for classifieds boards and recruitment directory websites. It is fully customizable and easy to use, Classifieds utilises the power of the WordPress block editor, Bootstrap to be able to create a fast loading modern classifi... | AyeCode | 26 |
| 54. AgroVision FSE The AgroVision FSE is a free green farm WordPress theme design for organic food, agriculture, organic food store, organic agriculture, farmer. This theme is the best option for all sorts of farm-related websites like dairy farms, orchards, animal husbandry, organic farming, coop, etc. With multiple ... | gracethemes | 26 |
| 55. Resume Kit Dark Resume Kit Dark is the perfect WordPress theme for resume or portfolio website. Its sleek, dark design exudes professionalism and style. With its clean layout and easy-to-use customization options, you can create a website that truly reflects your unique brand. Whether you're showcasing your skills,... | Noor Alam | 25 |
| 56. IT Real Estate IT Real Estate is a child Theme to IT Residence WordPress Theme featuring a brand new Header Layout for the theme. This new layout offers more in terms of design choice as well as utility as well as the ability to filter properties based on different parameters. Theme provides support for all popula... | indithemes | 25 |
| 57. Janeymag Janeymag is a stylish and modern WordPress theme, tailored for creating personal, travel, beauty, lifestyle, news, or photography blogs and websites. It supports seamless customization via the WordPress Live Customizer, offers WooCommerce compatibility, and ensures a mobile-friendly experience. | alexvtn | 25 |
| 58. Fast Food Joint The Fast Food Joint WordPress Theme is a visually dynamic and feature-rich template designed for fast food outlets, burger joints, and quick-service restaurants. Perfect for eateries aiming to establish a strong online presence, this theme caters to a variety of businesses, from local fast food join... | astertheme | 25 |
| 59. Legal Justice The Legal Justice Free WordPress Theme is a clean and professional theme designed for legal professionals, including law firms, attorneys, legal advisors, and consultants. Offering a sleek and responsive design, this theme helps law practices establish an online presence that is both trustworthy and... | CA WP themes | 24 |
| 60. Rasa Travel Rasa Travel is an elementor based WordPress Theme that provides a pre-built template suitable to travel agency websites. This theme can be customized very easily with the available theme options in the theme. This theme provides a detailed documentation to setup the theme and demo import. It is full... | creativthemes | 24 |
| 61. Prime English Classes The Prime English Classes WordPress Theme is a tailored solution for educators, language schools, and tutors offering English language courses. It’s designed to cater to a diverse audience, from students seeking intensive speaking courses to professionals enrolling in English for business communic... | themeignite | 24 |
| 62. Prime Education Learning The Prime Education Learning WordPress Theme is a comprehensive and versatile solution designed specifically for schools, tutors, and educational institutions. Whether you’re running a primary education school, managing higher education programs, or offering adult education and vocational training... | themeignite | 24 |
| 63. Brahma Mastering the Web’s Genesis – Innovate, Design, Dominate!!. Brahma is a free WordPress Full Site Editing (FSE) theme that helps users create beautiful, unique, and desirable websites. With its cutting-edge design, minimal and clean layout, Brahma is perfect for all kinds of businesses. It empowe... | shanesh1 | 24 |
| 64. Toothwise Toothwise Dental is a comprehensive, full site editing WordPress theme tailored specifically for dental practices, dentists, and dental clinics, offering a seamless user experience with extensive customization options. This dentist-focused theme is designed with an intuitive layout, catering to the ... | flythemes | 24 |
| 65. nexo Lightweight and performant theme ideal for blogs and portfolios. Customizable header and footer, enabling or disabling the search button and widgets in the articles. | andreadev93 | 23 |
| 66. Bright Blog Bright Blog is a versatile and responsive WordPress theme designed for bloggers and writers. Ideal for a wide range of blog categories—including personal, lifestyle, wellness, culinary, beauty, fashion, and travel—it adapts to your unique content needs. With extensive customization options such ... | Ascendoor | 23 |
| 67. Pastry Shop The Pastry Shop WordPress Theme is a charming, feature-rich website template designed specifically for pastry shops, bakeries, and dessert cafés. Ideal for showcasing artisanal pastries, gourmet creations, and a diverse pastry menu, this theme provides bakery owners with a professional online prese... | Mizan Themes | 22 |
| 68. Rev Digital Products The Rev Digital Products WordPress Theme is a versatile and premium solution tailored for businesses specialising in selling Rev Digital Products online. Designed with a sleek, modern interface, this theme offers an ideal platform for creating professional websites dedicated to digital downloads, on... | revolutionwp | 22 |
| 69. Terminal News Terminal News is a modern, versatile WordPress theme with a sleek retro-terminal aesthetic, ideal for news platforms, blogs, gaming sites, and creative projects. It features a polished, responsive design for seamless use across devices and offers pre-built demos for quick setup. Fully widgetized and... | adorethemes | 22 |
| 70. Travel Destination The Travel Destination WordPress Theme is a dynamic and visually appealing solution tailored for travel agencies, tour operators, and travel bloggers. Designed to capture the essence of wanderlust, this theme is perfect for showcasing travel booking services, from budget travel booking to luxury tra... | omegathemes | 21 |
| 71. Spike Music Spike Music is a responsive WordPress theme created especially for music artist, singer, producer and band to showcase their records, songs and videos to connect with their fans. It supports responsive layouts built especially for music industry related website so it looks great on all devices. | kortezthemes | 21 |
| 72. Lawfiz One Lawfiz One is a sleek, modern WordPress theme designed for law firms, attorneys, and legal consultants. It features customizable sections for showcasing services, testimonials, and client success stories, along with built-in appointment booking and a contact form for easy client engagement. Responsi... | spiraclethemes | 20 |
| 73. Recipe Quest Recipe Quest is a free recipe WordPress theme that helps you build professional food blogs and recipe websites with ease. With access to over 1600 Google Fonts and unlimited color options, you can customize your site to perfectly match your brand identity. It integrates with the WP Delicious plugin ... | WP Delicious | 20 |
| 74. Blog Reflection Introducing Blog Reflection – your ultimate WordPress blog theme for the modern storyteller. With its sleek design and versatile features, Blog Reflection elevates your news, magazine, or publishing website effortlessly. Customize your layout with ease, choosing between left, right, or full-width ... | mycodecare | 20 |
| 75. Travel Compass Travel Compass is a dynamic WordPress theme designed specifically for travel websites, offering a perfect blend of aesthetics and functionality. Built with Elementor and compatible with the WP Travel Engine plugin, this theme provides an effortless solution for travel agencies to create stunning, pr... | WP Travel Kit | 19 |
| 76. Pixel Transport Welcome to Transport WordPress Theme, where your logistics and transportation needs are met with precision and care. With a fleet of modern vehicles, cutting-edge technology, and a dedicated team, we ensure that every package, load, and shipment arrives on time and in perfect condition. Freight Forw... | ThemePixels | 19 |
| 77. Ethical Hacking The Ethical Hacking WordPress Theme is a dynamic and modern website template tailored specifically for cybersecurity professionals and ethical hackers. Designed for individuals and organisations offering ethical hacking training, penetration testing services, or cybersecurity awareness programs, thi... | wpelemento | 19 |
| 78. Gutenify Restaurant Gutenify Restaurant is modern block-based theme where you can build your own unique looking website by using WordPress Blocks Editor. Gutenify Restaurant is a multipurpose block based free theme, the theme is built in accordance of Full Site Editing features introduced in WordPress 5.9, which means ... | CodeYatri | 19 |
| 79. BlogBull BlogBull offers a fresh, modern twist on blogging and magazine-style websites. With its sleek, minimalist design, it's the perfect theme for sharing your thoughts on technology, the latest news, or new products. Made for creative minds, BlogBull works great for a wide range of topics. Whether you're... | wpinterface | 19 |
| 80. Astrocare AstroCare is a modern, responsive WordPress theme designed specifically for astrologers, Horoscope, Kundli, Panchang and Astro Services. With its sleek design and powerful features, AstroCare makes it easy to create a professional website that captivates visitors and enhances your online presence.As... | BurgerThemes | 18 |
| 81. Consultant Appointment The Consultant Appointment WordPress Theme is a dynamic and user-friendly platform designed to help businesses streamline their appointment scheduling process. Whether you are a doctor, therapist, hair stylist, or personal trainer, this theme offers a powerful appointment booking system that allows ... | revolutionwp | 18 |
| 82. WorkFolio Workfolio is a sleek WordPress theme ideal for showcasing your portfolio, skills, and achievements. Its modern design and easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor let you effortlessly display your work. Fully responsive and optimized for multimedia, social media, and SEO, Workfolio ensures your portfolio lo... | ankitmishra69 | 18 |
| 83. The Home Decor The Home Decor WordPress Theme is a sophisticated and feature-rich platform tailored to meet the needs of home decor stores, blogs, and design professionals. Whether you're a business owner or a creative individual, this theme provides a versatile foundation for showcasing trendy home decor items, f... | Misbah WP | 17 |
| 84. Personal Bodyguard The Personal Bodyguard WordPress Theme is an ideal theme designed for personal security services, including private security firms, bodyguards, and personal safety escorts. Tailored specifically for businesses offering security solutions, this theme offers a professional, trustworthy online presence... | WP Radiant | 17 |
| 85. SmoothOne WordPress theme designed for ultimate smoothness. Perfectly crafted for furniture and real estate websites, this theme offers sleek transitions, minimalistic layouts, and seamless navigation. Showcase properties or furniture collections with effortless style, ensuring a user experience that’s as r... | realtimethemes | 16 |
| 86. Expert Blogger Blogs are in huge demand for they help the blogger to attain multiple objectives. Whether you or your client is an entrepreneur looking to expand his following or you own an ecommerce store, or are marketing a new concept, technology, or a are in the process of introducing or launching a new product... | luzuk Themes | 16 |
| 87. Lightreal Lightreal is a premium WordPress theme designed specifically for real estate agencies. It features a sleek, modern design with smooth scrolling for a seamless user experience. Lightreal offers customizable templates tailored to showcase properties beautifully, with a focus on usability and aesthetic... | realtimethemes | 15 |
| 88. Koinonia Koinonia is a WordPress theme designed for non-profit organizations and community-driven projects. Perfect for showcasing services and initiatives that bring people and pets together, it’s an ideal choice for those who share a passion for caring, connection, and our furry companions. | Automattic | 14 |
| 89. Pet Accessory Store The Pet Accessory Store WordPress Theme is a sleek, user-friendly solution tailored for businesses specializing in pet products and accessories. Designed to cater to pet lovers and shop owners, this theme provides an ideal platform to showcase a wide range of offerings, from pet cooling mats and pet... | themagnifico52 | 14 |
| 90. Bosa Logistics Bosa Logistics is multipurpose business theme. Bosa Logistics is beautiful, fast, lightweight, responsive, extremely customizable, multipurpose theme that you can use as a foundation to build versatile sites such as business, cargo, corporate, logistic storage, logistic warehouse, logistics, packagi... | Bosa Themes | 13 |
| 91. Personal Coach Lite The Personal Coach Lite WordPress Theme is a streamlined, user-friendly theme specifically designed for personal trainers, coaches, and fitness professionals. Whether you specialise in personalised fitness plans, sports conditioning, or post-injury recovery, this theme offers the perfect platform to... | themagnifico52 | 13 |
| 92. Constructionn Constructionn is a free and versatile WordPress theme designed for construction, building, and architecture websites. It’s perfect for businesses in contracting, building, or architectural services, offering a solid foundation for a professional and engaging online presence. This construction them... | Good Looking Themes | 13 |
| 93. MiniMiniBlog MiniMiniBlog is a theme designed for personal blogs that are also accessible from mobile devices. This theme offers nine different filter effects for images and featured images. It also offers an effect that shows or hides the filter as the cursor hovers over the image. | Tommaso G. Scibilia | 12 |
| 94. Tasteful Recipe Tasteful Recipe is a free recipe WordPress theme that helps create recipe websites and food blogs with ease. The theme's mobile-friendly design ensures your site looks great on any device. Optimized for SEO and speed, the theme helps your site load quickly and rank higher in search results. It adds ... | WP Delicious | 12 |
| 95. Casthub A theme specially crafted for users who want to publish their show episodes on a professional hub site. | Automattic | 12 |
| 96. freshaura Discover a clean and modern WordPress theme designed to showcase your content beautifully. With responsive design and customizable features, it’s perfect for bloggers, creatives, and small businesses alike. | barande | 11 |
| 97. Classic Law Firm The Classic Law Firm WordPress Theme is a sophisticated and highly functional theme designed specifically for law firms of all sizes, from boutique to international practices. This theme provides a professional, user-friendly platform for establishing a strong online presence, ideal for showcasing l... | classictemplate | 11 |
| 98. Elite florist The Elite Florist WordPress Theme is a versatile, beautifully designed platform crafted specifically for floral businesses, offering an ideal online presence for florists, floral shops, and flower delivery services. With its clean and elegant layout, this theme allows users to present their floral a... | Mishkat | 11 |
| 99. Fondasi Starter Block Theme | LokusWP | 10 |
| 100. Cuisinecater Cuisine Cater is a modern, responsive WordPress theme designed for restaurants, catering services, and food-related businesses. It features customizable layouts, menu showcases, booking integration, and WooCommerce support for online orders. | losjod | 10 |
| 101. Psychedeli Psychedeli is the ultimate WordPress theme for bloggers and artists seeking to showcase their vibrant journeys through the captivating visuals of the '60s. Designed with passion and creativity in mind, Psychedeli is your gateway to effortlessly share your psychedelic adventures and thought-provoking... | Automattic | 10 |
| 102. All Cleaning Services The All Cleaning Services WordPress Theme can also be an excellent choice for cleaning services. With its clean and professional design, it effectively highlights your services. Fully responsive and easy to customize, it's ideal for cleaning businesses, janitorial services, and home maintenance prof... | hemaganuwala | 10 |
| 103. Kartnic Kartnic is crafted to be a lightweight and fast WordPress theme, ensuring your site loads quickly and efficiently. A fresh install of Kartnic adds less than 10kb (gzipped) to your page size, making it an excellent choice for performance-conscious users. We fully leverage the block editor (Gutenberg)... | Niteen Maurya | 10 |
| 104. Kamana Kamana, a dynamic child theme derived from the Martanda WPKoi theme, offers a contemporary, solid, pink design for unique portfolio, business or agency websites. It's a versatile multipurpose theme ideal for showcasing your art, business, event, portfolio, blog, webshop, or products. Kamana seamless... | wpkoithemes | 10 |
| 105. Flextra Flextra WordPress Themes are designed to cater to a wide range of website needs with a focus on pixel-perfect design and functionality. Here’s a general description of what you might expect from Flextra themes. Flextra WordPress Themes are known for their attention to detail and high-quality desig... | wpdive | 9 |
| 106. Professio Professio is created for individual teachers based on Annalee, a theme designed for personal coaches. | Automattic | 9 |
| 107. Fashion Accessories The Fashion Accessories WordPress Theme is a stylish, versatile website template crafted for accessory shops, boutiques, and designers who want a sophisticated online platform to showcase their products. This theme is designed to highlight a variety of accessories, from trendy jewellery and luxury b... | themespride | 9 |
| 108. The Green The Green Lite WordPress Theme is an eco-friendly and minimalist design ideal for businesses and individuals focused on sustainability, nature, and green initiatives. Its clean and modern layout is perfect for showcasing environmentally conscious products, services, or content with a professional lo... | ammarsaif | 9 |
| 109. Urbem Urbem is a spin-off of Vitrum, a theme composed of wide-width layouts with generous space for images and bold type sizes. | Automattic | 9 |
| 110. Dadaist Dadaist is a theme designed to celebrate Dadaism and its great artists. A theme design full of diverse typefaces and background images to wrap a unique blog design. | Automattic | 8 |
| 111. Marsh Singer Marsh Singer is a beautifully designed WordPress theme, suitable for musicians, artists, music bands, producers or anyone working in the music industry. This theme is built in elementor which is extremely flexible, intuitive and easy to use, packed with lots of features, making it a powerful and com... | creativthemes | 8 |
| 112. Vueo Vueo presents a portfolio theme that offers a distinctive perspective on your gallery entrances. Alternating the aspect ratio of the query loops crafts a visually stunning pattern for an enhanced viewing experience. | Automattic | 8 |
| 113. Don Quijote Inspired by the literary masterpiece by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Don Quijote is a theme designed for personal blogs that are also accessible from mobile devices. This theme offers nine different filter effects for images and featured images. It also offers an effect that shows or hides the filt... | Tommaso G. Scibilia | 7 |
| 114. Samata Samata, a dynamic child theme derived from the Martanda WPKoi theme, offers a contemporary, colorful design for unique portfolio, business or agency websites. It's a versatile multipurpose theme ideal for showcasing your art, business, event, portfolio, blog, webshop, or products. Samata seamlessly ... | wpkoithemes | 7 |
| 115. Prime Events The Prime Events WordPress Theme is a professional, feature-rich template designed for event planning businesses, wedding planners, corporate event planners, and party organizers. It provides the perfect platform for showcasing your event planning services with a sleek and modern design. Whether you... | themeignite | 7 |
| 116. Wind Energy The Wind Energy WordPress Theme is a modern, responsive website template designed specifically for businesses and organizations within the wind energy industry. This theme provides a professional platform for showcasing wind energy production, renewable energy solutions, and sustainable wind energy ... | omegathemes | 7 |
| 117. VW Bakers The VW Bakers WordPress Theme is a great solution designed for bakeries, cake shops, and artisan bakers looking to establish a professional and visually stunning online presence. Crafted to cater to the unique needs of baking professionals, this theme is perfect for showcasing your freshly baked goo... | VW THEMES | 7 |
| 118. SugarTaste Elegant theme with an old-fashioned flavor with a left-hand bar and a demonstration block pattern. This theme offers nine different filter effects for images and featured images. It also offers an effect that shows or hides the filter as the cursor hovers over the image. | Tommaso G. Scibilia | 5 |
| 119. Goldy Clinic Goldy Clinic is a clean, modern, user friendly, responsive and highly customizable WordPress Theme. you’ll easily find the design of this theme impressive and suitable for your Website. This Goldy Clinic WordPress theme, carries an abundance of crucial features and functionalities. For instance, f... | inpersttion | 5 |
| 120. Movaone Movaone is a WordPress theme whose design is optimized to prioritize display on mobile devices such as smartphones. | miroku | 4 |
6. New to the Web Platform
Traditionally, we review changes and improvements across the web platform as a whole.
- @page at-rule: Allows control over dimensions and margins for printed documents, ebooks, or slides.
- CSS ruby-align and ruby-position: Properties to control the positioning and alignment of ruby text.
- Customizable Scrollbars: New properties (scrollbar-gutter, scrollbar-width) allow for enhanced scrollbar styling.
- ::target-text pseudo-element: Enables styling of text highlighted by URL text fragments for better visibility.
Useful to know: What does mean ruby in HTML? The <ruby> element in HTML is used to mark up ruby text, which is small text placed above or below a base text to provide additional information or pronunciation. Ruby text is often used in languages like Japanese and Chinese, where it is used to annotate characters with their pronunciation or meaning.
7. AI news
AI is expected to impact all areas of technology, so in this section, we'll review major AI announcements and updates that aren't directly related to WordPress.
7.1) OpenAI Introduces Sora: AI Video Generation Model
OpenAI has publicly introduced Sora, a new AI-powered video generation model, now available at Sora.com. This model allows users to create realistic videos from text prompts, a significant advancement in AI’s ability to understand and simulate reality.
The latest version, Sora Turbo, is much faster than its initial preview and is being released as a standalone product for ChatGPT Plus and Pro users.
Key Features:
- Users can generate videos up to 1080p resolution, with durations of up to 20 seconds in widescreen, vertical, or square aspect ratios.
- Sora allows for easy integration of text, images, and videos, offering tools like a storyboard tool to precisely specify inputs for each frame.
- A community feed showcases recent creations from other users.
Sora is available to ChatGPT Plus users at no extra cost, with Pro plan users gaining access to additional features, such as increased video generation limits, higher resolutions, and longer durations. The technology is still in early stages, with limitations such as unrealistic physics in some videos, but OpenAI is working on refining these issues.
Sora’s release includes safeguards, such as C2PA metadata for transparency, visible watermarks, and efforts to block harmful content like child abuse materials and deepfakes. The launch aims to spark creativity and explore new video storytelling possibilities, with further improvements planned for the future.
7.2) ChatGPT Introduces New "Pro" Subscription
ChatGPT has launched a new Pro subscription, priced at $200 per month, offering access to OpenAI's most advanced models and tools. This plan includes unlimited access to OpenAI's o1 model, along with other variants such as o1-mini, GPT-4o, and Advanced Voice.
A key feature of ChatGPT Pro is o1 pro mode, which uses additional compute power to deliver more accurate and reliable answers, particularly for complex problems in fields like data science, programming, and case law analysis.
Main Features:
- Pro Mode: Enhanced performance for more challenging tasks, with improved reliability and comprehensive responses.
- Better Benchmarking: In external evaluations, o1 pro mode outperformed previous versions (o1 and o1-preview) in math, science, and coding benchmarks.
- Extended Usage: Pro users benefit from increased computational power for more difficult queries, offering a substantial advantage for researchers, engineers, and those needing cutting-edge AI for productivity.
ChatGPT Pro is aimed at professionals requiring high-level AI assistance, providing more compute-intensive features that enable faster, more reliable outputs. Users can access pro mode via the model picker, with a progress bar displayed for longer answer generation times.
In the future, OpenAI plans to continue expanding the Pro subscription with more powerful capabilities, while gradually making these improvements available to other users as well.
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