The release candidate for the next version of ACF is available. In addition to WordPress 6.5 support, it is also the release that will require an activated pro license to use pro features (regarding changes for plugins that include ACF Pro).

Lots of companies are adding an AI site builder. ThemeIsle’s has a twist – it is open source and available on GitHub. Want to see what is involved in creating a site builder powered by AI or want to make your own?

The Builderius Team has plans to improve the free version to make it more powerful and add features usually restricted to pro versions.

A Hallway Hangout is planned for agencies and freelancers to discuss using the Sited Editor for client sites. It looks like they plan to discuss the difference in workflows between using a Classic theme and the Site Editor.

Josepha suggests the formation of a WordPress Media Corps, a vetted group of media partners who would could attend project briefings and be privy to forward-looking plans.

Facebook is owned by Meta. Meta has a newish Twitter clone called Threads. They have announced that Thread’s users will be able to share their posts on the fediverse using the ActivityPub protocol. WordPress has a plugin for sharing via ActivityPub. It is interesting as this may put some pressure on X to be more open.

Google is going to require disclosure for AI-generated content on YouTube. Overall, this seems like a good move. I hope they are able to enforce it.

Congratulations to the WPDeveloper team on Essential Addons for Elementor reaching 2 million+ active installs. There have been some security issues and advertising in the admin, but the WPDeveloper team obviously knows how to find the balance between ease of use, features, and price to please users and grow the product.

A couple of WordPress 6.5 release blockers surfaced, one related to the Font Library and the other related to Synced Pattern Overrides. Here is a discussion of the issues, together with the decisions. The short version is that the Font Library will be included in 6.5 and Synced Pattern Overrides will be pushed to 6.6.

Beyond these two issues, the discussion brings to light future plans for block themes. There are plans for “composability” for block themes. From Wikipedia: “Composability is a system design principle that deals with the inter-relationships of components. A highly composable system provides components that can be selected and assembled in various combinations to satisfy specific user requirements.” The news here is that the plan is to allow block themes to be split into components and allow users to swap components (such as fonts) without changing themes.