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Create Forms Instantly with New Forminator Preset & Cloud Templates

If you typically spend 30 minutes or more creating forms on WordPress sites, you are going to love Forminator’s exciting new feature … Preset and Cloud Templates! Oh, and did we also mention that you can now easily add star ratings to your forms too?

Save time creating forms with Forminator’s Preset and Cloud Templates.

Forminator now lets you easily create professional forms to suit all kinds of purposes in just a few clicks.

Simply select the type of form you’d like to create from the template gallery, customize it to suit your needs, copy and paste the shortcode where you would like to display your form, and voilá — the task is done … next!

In this short and practical tutorial, we’ll cover the following:

And we’ll also explore:

Let’s jump right in…

Forminator’s Preset and Cloud Templates

From Forminator v. 1.32 onward,  you can easily create forms for different purposes using 27 pre-designed templates (more templates coming soon!).

You can also create custom form templates, save it to the cloud, and reuse these on any site that you manage via the Hub.

To access Forminator’s templates, click on the new Templates submenu in the plugin’s menu.

Forminator - Templates menu.
Forminator has a new Templates submenu.

This brings you to the Templates section, where you can preview all templates, create new forms using any selected template, and create, save, and manage your own custom Cloud templates.

Forminator Templates gallery
Browse all of Forminator’s preset templates in the Templates section.

In addition to viewing and selecting templates, you can use the section’s tabs, search, and filter features to quickly locate a form template and speed up the form creation process.

The Templates section is divided into two main sections:

  • Preset Templates: Here, you’ll find a well-organized collection of predesigned templates created by WPMU DEV’s Forminator team. You can filter the templates by clicking on any Category name or explore the entire range. Additionally, the smart Search field allows you to find templates quickly.
  • Cloud Templates: In this section, you will find all the custom templates you’ve created from forms across all sites linked to your Hub. These templates can be used to build forms on the same site or any other site connected to your Hub.
Forminator Templates section - Navigation and search features.
Use the tabs, search, and filter features to select templates and speed up form creation.

The following basic templates are included for both Forminator free and Forminator Pro plugin versions:

  • Blank – Use this template to create a form from scratch without any pre-set fields.
  • Contact Form – Use this template to collect user information such as name, email, subject, and message.
  • Quote Request – Customers can use a form created with this template to ask for quotes on products or services.
  • Newsletter Signup – Users can subscribe to newsletters using a form created with this template.
  • Registration – Use this versatile template to create registration forms suitable for events, services, or websites.
  • Login – Use this template to create a typical login form for returning users with fields for username or email and password, along with links for account recovery or registration.
  • Create Post – Use this template to easily create frontend forms tailored for user-generated content submissions, with fields for title, content, and attachments.

As well as the basic templates listed above, Forminator Pro includes many other useful preset templates, such as:

  • Event Registration Template
  • Customer Feedback Form
  • Appointment Booking Form
  • Order Form for Small Businesses
  • Job Application Form
  • Volunteer Sign-up Form
  • Course Enrollment Form
  • Real Estate Inquiry Form
  • Medical History Form
  • Restaurant Reservation Form
  • Donation Form
  • Travel Booking Form
  • Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) Form
  • Customer Complaint Form
  • Course Evaluation Form
  • RSVP Form
  • Conference Registration Form
  • Event Feedback Form
  • Home Service Request Form
  • Fitness Class Registration Form

How to Create A Form Using a Template

As mentioned earlier, creating a form with Forminator using templates is really simple, easy, and fast.

For this example, let’s create a Quote Request form.

Head over to Forminator’s Templates section and locate the Quote Request template in the Preset Templates tab.

Forminator - Templates - Quote Request template highlighted.
Let’s create a quote request form using Forminator’s templates.

Hovering over the template item brings up options to preview the template or create a form using the template.

Hover over the template to preview or create a form.

If you choose to preview the template, a full-size preview will load on your web browser, allowing you to see exactly what your form will look like.

Quote Request Template preview.
Here’s a preview of what our Quote Request form will look like.

Click on the Create Form button to create your form.

Quote Request template - Create Form button highlighted.
Click the Create Form button to create and edit your form.

This will load the template into Forminator’s Edit Form screen.

From here, you can simply customize the template’s fields, appearance, behavior, etc. as you would when creating any other form.

Additionally, if you have Forminator Pro installed, you can easily integrate your quote request form (and all other forms for that matter) with Forminator’s PDF Addon, and all the plugin’s other add-ons and services.

Forminator Edit Form screen with Quote Request Template loaded.
Edit your template or use the default template to create your new form … easy!

If you need help editing, customizing, or publishing forms, check out these great Forminator tutorials:

When you’re done editing your form, save it as a draft or publish it to generate the form’s shortcode.

Forminator form shortcode.
Your form’s now ready to publish!

After creating the form, it will be listed in your Forminator Forms section with all other forms you have created for that site. Go here to edit the form, view stats and submissions, etc.

Forminator Forms Dashboard
Manage your new form in Forminator’s dashboard.

Note: You can also access the Template gallery by clicking on the +Create button in Forminator’s Forms menu or in the plugin’s main dashboard.

Forminator - Create new form button
Clicking on the +Create button is another quick way to bring up Forminator’s templates.

This will bring up a popup modal, allowing you to easily filter, search, and select any of the templates available in the Preset or Cloud template sections.

Forminator's Templates
Select a present or custom template from the pop-up modal to create your new form.

For more information on using templates, see the Forminator Templates documentation section.

Saving Your Own Templates

Forminator not only lets you create forms from preset templates, but you can also create and save any Forminator form as a custom cloud template that can be used on any site that you have connected to your Hub.

To save a form as a cloud template, simply click the Save to Cloud button at the top of the Edit Form screen.

Forminator - Save to Cloud
Click the button to save your template.

You will be given the choice of either saving your form as a new template or overwriting an existing one.

To save your form as a new template, select New Template, give your form a name, and click the Save Template button.

Save Template options
Save your form as a new template or overwrite an existing one.

All of your saved templates will be listed in Forminator’s Templates section under the Cloud Templates tab.

Forminator - Templates Section - Cloud Templates
View saved templates in the Cloud Templates section.

Creating a form using a custom template across all of your different managed WordPress sites is a simple one-click option that serves as an alternative to exporting a form from one site and importing it to another via the Import/Export feature.

Cloud Templates tab - Custom template form creation.
Creating forms from saved custom templates across different sites is easier than using the import/export feature.

For more information about this feature, see Saving Forms as Cloud Templates in our documentation section.

Additional New Forminator Features

Preset and Cloud Form Templates isn’t the only exciting new feature of Forminator.

Let’s look at what else is new in Forminator from version 1.32 onward.

Rating Field

You can now add ratings to your forms using Forminator’s new Rating field.

Forminator Rating field
Meet Forminator’s newest star … Rating field!

This is a great way to allow users to submit reviews and feedback on your site about your products, services, ideas, etc.

For example, here is a front-end form you can add to your site using the Create Post template with the Rating field added that will allow a site owner to collect user-generated submissions.

Create Post Template with added Rating field.
Use the Rating field to collect user reviews on your site.

The Rating field also offers a great deal of customization options under the Settings tab.

This includes specifying a ratings value (from 0 – 50), and adjusting the style and size of the icons, including using different icons (stars, hearts, thumbs, or smiles), different icon sizes (small, medium, and large), and whether or not to display a suffix alongside the ratings (e.g. 3/5).

Forminator’s Rating field offers many customization settings.

For more information on how to use the Rating field and configure its settings, see the Rating Field documentation section.

Select Field – New Multi-Select Style

We’ve also improved Forminator’s Select field.

Forminator - Select field
Forminator’s Select field is now improved.

It now supports modern multi-selection styles and tags, allowing you to provide form users with a better experience.

Forminator Select field - Multi-Select Style.
Improve user experience with the Modern Multi Select style option for the Select field.

With the Modern style set, users can easily add and delete selected items from a dropdown menu into forms as tags.

Selected items display in forms as tags.

For more information on how to use the Multi-Select field and configure its settings, see the Multi Select Style documentation section.

Create Even Faster Forms with Forminator

So, there you have it!

WPMU DEV’s All-in-one WordPress platform is all about helping agencies and web developers grow their business. We not only offer one-click site templates to save time, increase production, and speed up the WordPress site creation process, but we now also have one-click form templates to speed up the process of creating all kinds of forms on all your WordPress sites.

If you have Forminator installed on your site, give the new preset and cloud templates a try (and don’t forget to try out the new Rating field and Multi Select style in the Select field).

If you are a WPMU DEV member, Forminator Pro offers many more templates (and more are coming soon!)

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Difference Between App Development and IaC CI/CD Pipelines

In the software development domain, implementing robust and efficient processes helps meet the continuously evolving demands of the industry. Essentially, the rapid deployment of both infrastructure and software is crucial to maintaining a competitive edge in the market. Adopting methodologies like Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) are crucial for swift and consistent software delivery. These approaches transform how software and its infrastructure are built, tested, and deployed.

This article explores the fundamental concepts of CI/CD and the differences in application in two distinct areas: conventional software/application development and IaC.  

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Tenv v2.0: The Importance of Explicit Behavior for Version Manager

The explicit behavior of IAC version managers is quite crucial. It is especially critical in the realm of Terraform and OpenTofu because tool upgrades might destroy or corrupt all managed infrastructure. To protect users from unexpected updates, all version managers have to work clearly and without any internal wizardry that cannot be explained without a deep dive into the sources.

Tenv is a versatile version manager for OpenTofu, Terraform, Terragrunt, and Atmos, written in Go and developed by tofuutils team. This tool simplifies the complexity of handling different versions of these powerful tools, ensuring developers and DevOps professionals can focus on what matters most — building and deploying efficiently. Tenv is a successor of tofuenv and tfenv.

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How To Plan a (Successful) MuleSoft VPN Migration (Part I)

You might need to migrate your MuleSoft legacy VPNs to Anypoint VPN. You might be changing your routing, from static to dynamic. Or maybe, you're moving to Cloudhub 2.0. It doesn't matter, you need to migrate your VPN. 

A VPN migration could be a complete nightmare, or it could be a great opportunity to improve your Mule setup. You decide. Many think the key to a good migration is to set up everything correctly. They're wrong. The key to any migration type (VPN, infra, apps... etc.) is to have a PLAN. A GOOD PLAN.

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Java 8 Threading and Executor Services

Understanding Java 8 Threading and Executor Services

Java 8 introduced several enhancements to its concurrency framework, primarily through the java.util.concurrent package. This has made it easier to manage multiple threads and execute tasks concurrently. In this article, we will delve into the concepts of threading and executor services in Java 8, exploring their various types and providing detailed examples to illustrate their use.

Introduction to Java Threading

Threading is the backbone of concurrent programming in Java. A thread is a lightweight process that allows multiple tasks to be executed simultaneously. Java provides two primary ways to create a thread:

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Node.js Walkthrough: Build a Simple Event-Driven Application With Kafka

Have you ever wondered how some of your favorite apps handle real-time updates? Live sports scores, stock market tickers, or even social media notifications — all rely on event-driven architecture (EDA) to process data instantly. EDA is like having a conversation where every new piece of information triggers an immediate response. It’s what makes an application more interactive and responsive.

In this walkthrough, we'll guide you through building a simple event-driven application using Apache Kafka on Heroku. We'll cover:

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Addressing Memory Issues and Optimizing Code for Efficiency: Glide Case

Memory management issues and optimizing code for efficiency are critical aspects of software development, especially in resource-constrained environments like mobile devices.

Glide stands out as a remarkable library tailored for efficiently displaying images on Android devices and beyond. With its robust caching mechanism, handling caching to disk or memory becomes almost effortless. Our ongoing project, Guzel Board, endeavors to deliver a straightforward and cost-effective digital signage solution. Designed to operate seamlessly on HDMI Android TVs or TV sticks like Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV sticks, Guzel Board confronts the challenge of limited memory resources inherent in such devices.

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With Rapid Tech Advancement, Beware the Pitfalls of Centralization

Technology has become a dominant force in how we interact and operate. Now more than ever, we need to be aware of the dangers of centralization including the risks of overdependency.

decentralize.jpg

What do Facebook and North Korea have in common? They're both heavily centralized systems. The dangers of over-centralization were highlighted just a few years ago when a single server failure at a Meta data center in California caused a global outage for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other services. With corporate AI on the rise and ChatGPT poised to become an integral part of your iPhone, it's time to take a closer look at centralized systems and their inherent vulnerabilities.

So, buckle up for an excursion into the domain of system theory, where we will explore the fundamental differences between centralized and decentralized organization and uncover what makes centralized systems so vulnerable. Armed with this knowledge, we'll ponder whether concentrating AI development in the hands of a few corporate giants is a smart move or a recipe for waking up in a Philip K. Dick novel.

The System Theory of Centralization vs. Decentralization

System science aims to understand the function of different components within complex systems to enhance overall efficiency and reliability. My first encounter with this field was when blockchain technology emerged. Heres an excerpt from an article I wrote at that time, which should clarify the concept of centralization versus decentralization and why blockchain was a revolutionary concept for system scientists (although the latter is not the point of this article)

Try asking Google whether the earth is flat. The answer is clearly a simple no, but the search results will include plenty of dissenting opinions. This is because the Internet is decentralized in both its organization and logic. The fact that it is not subject to a central authority has many advantages, but also means that there is no one to vouch for any of the information it offers.

Most states are the polar opposite of this, they have a centralized logic and organization. They are subject to the control of an institution (i.e. the government) that vouches for content and prescribes procedures (e.g. through laws).

Then there are systems with centralized organization and decentralized logic. They are managed institutionally but allow for individual use. A Word file is a good example, as it can be processed on any computer outfitted with the same software. The workflows are predefined by the program, while the contents can be individually edited by each user.

This is the system theory that underlies our experience of everyday life. A fourth option a system that is logically centralized and organizationally decentralized, hence independent and yet reliable seemed improbable. Then along came blockchain.

Source: Goethe Institute

Many corporations today incorporate processes that are logically decentralized (e.g., independent decision-making within departments) yet they are organizationally centralized, making their components heavily interdependent. Such centralized corporate structures have advantages, including clear command chains and streamlined processes. However, their vulnerability and over-dependence by users pose significant risks.

The Dangers of Centralization

At the heart of the debate between centralization and decentralization lies the question of efficient resource management, with centralized systems often claiming greater efficiency. For instance, its more straightforward for everyone to line up at the school cafeteria and receive their lunch rather than everyone preparing their own meal individually. However, the academic debate on whether centralized or decentralized systems are more efficient remains unresolved and varies depending on the type of system in question. Its important to clarify that my focus on centralization here concerns globally available services controlled by a handful of large corporate entities. So, we're not discussing the logistics within a single school cafeteria, but rather a hypothetical global network of cafeterias relying on a singular distribution chain, where one point of failure could leave all kids without lunch.

This leads us to a fundamental issue that renders centralized systems highly vulnerable: if the central node is compromised or fails, the entire system collapsesa single point of failure can bring down the whole network. Consider the example of GPS. Whether you use Google Maps, Waze, or another navigation app, they all depend on GPS. If GPS were to fail due to a cyberattack or another unforeseen issue, youd better know how to read a map.

In addition to risks associated with single points of failure and overdependency, centralized systems have other significant drawbacks. They can stifle innovation, reduce operational flexibility, create bureaucratic inefficiencies, and limit responsiveness to individual needs. Furthermore, the concentration of power within centralized systems can make them not just vulnerable but also potentially dangerous. Economist Leopold Kohr, who fled the Nazi regime, devoted his life to arguing that overly large systems are the root of many societal evils. In his book The Breakdown of Nations (1957), he states:

there seems only one cause behind all forms of social misery: bigness. Oversimplified as this may seem, we shall find the idea more easily acceptable if we consider that bigness, or oversize, is really much more than just a social problem. It appears to be the one and only problem permeating all creation. Wherever something is wrong, something is too big.

He then builds an extensive argument that there are natural boundaries to growtha sentiment that was further elaborated on by The Limits of Growth some 15 years later, and is shared by many economists today. The solution, Kohr argues, is healthy decentralization. In respect to governance systems, that means a division into small states, resulting in a system where less power is divided into more hands, which could theoretically prevent atrocities like nuclear warfare and genocides that historically have been the hallmarks of large nations and empires.

Such dangers are still relevant today, and due to technological advances and the rise of global communication networks, the notion of threatening bigness has entered an entirely new domain. Today, a handful of tech giants control most of our communication, our personal data, what we see, what we hear, and where we go. Besides the Orwellian vibes, this concentration of power bears serious dependency risks. And with AI development being controlled and driven by the exact same data-oligarchs, wed better be careful all this rapid technological growth does not eventually backfire.

Just imagine if all Google services went down for a day. The implications would extend far beyond the inconvenience of using another search engine. Your browser data and passwords, your authentication apps, your calendars, everything you have stored in the cloudif all that disappeared, chaos would surely ensue in one form or another.

Decentralize!

Yes, humanity would most likely recover from such disruptions, but it is crucial to recognize that we are currently in the early stages of a great technological transformation, comparable to the Industrial Revolution. AI is rapidly evolving, improving, and increasingly blurring the boundaries between whats real and whats not. The biggest stakeholders are the usual suspects: Google/Alphabet, Meta, Apple, and Microsoftwith OpenAI morphing into the unexpected lovechild of the latter two. As technology advances and markets become monopolized, further centralization and concentration of power are almost inevitable.

So, what can we do about this? Admittedly, from an individual standpoint, there are no simple solutions. While smaller alternatives to all the major services exist, convenience often outweighs the effort required to diversifybecause it is simply easier to use one account for everything, get all services from one provider, and store all files in the same cloud. However, spreading awareness about the dangers of centralization is essential. It enables individuals to balance convenience against the risks of over-dependency and make informed decisions. Ultimately, it is up to each of us to ensure we do not become overly reliant on any single platform, tool, or corporationand to prevent systems from becoming too big.

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On-Demand-Schedulers With MuleSoft CloudHub APIs

In some projects, there might be many scheduler-based applications, and the testing team from either source or target systems doesn't have access to the Anypoint platform to run schedulers whenever required; thus, having to rely on MuleSoft developers to run the schedulers for them. In this article, you will learn how to create a simple web page using HTML for fetching the user's input and use CloudHub APIs to run the schedulers based on the user's inputs provided.

This will save a lot of time for the testing team to test the integration in the lower environments. I would recommend not using this for testing in production as if someone misuses it by running the schedulers more frequently, then integration might break.

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Data Governance: Data Integration (Part 4)

What Is Data Governance?

Data governance is a framework that is developed through the collaboration of individuals with various roles and responsibilities. This framework aims to establish processes, policies, procedures, standards, and metrics that help organizations achieve their goals. These goals include providing reliable data for business operations, setting accountability, and authoritativeness, developing accurate analytics to assess performance, complying with regulatory requirements, safeguarding data, ensuring data privacy, and supporting the data management life cycle.

Creating a Data Governance Board or Steering Committee is a good first step when integrating a Data Governance program and framework. An organization’s governance framework should be circulated to all staff and management, so everyone understands the changes taking place.

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LLM Orchestrator: The Symphony of AI Services

The evolution of software architecture and process orchestration reflects a continual quest for optimization and efficiency, mirroring the progression in the domain of AI model development. From monolithic architectures to service-oriented designs and beyond, each phase has built upon its predecessors to enhance flexibility and responsiveness. This journey provides a valuable framework for understanding the emerging paradigm of the LLM Orchestrator.

Monolithic to Modular: The Foundations

Initially, software systems were largely monolithic, with all components tightly integrated into a single, indivisible unit. This architecture made deployments simple and straightforward but lacked scalability and flexibility. As systems grew more complex, the limitations of the monolithic design became apparent, sparking a shift towards more modular architectures.

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Hammerspace Empowers GPU Computing With Enhanced S3 Data Orchestration

Hammerspace Tackles the Challenges of GPU Computing

Hammerspace, a pioneer in data orchestration, recently announced a significant advancement in its Global Data Platform during the 56th IT Press Tour. With the addition of the S3 interface, Hammerspace now enables S3 applications to seamlessly connect and leverage its automated data orchestration capabilities. This enhancement allows object data to be efficiently orchestrated to GPU resources alongside existing file data, unlocking new possibilities for organizations looking to optimize their data management and accelerate innovation.

According to Hammerspace Founder and CEO David Flynn, enterprises face major challenges when adopting GPU computing for AI, machine learning, and data analytics. One of the biggest hurdles is accessing available GPUs, whether in an organization's own data centers or in the cloud. An even greater challenge lies in identifying relevant data sets and placing that data in proximity to the compute resources.

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Mastering System Design: A Comprehensive Guide to System Scaling for Millions, Part 2

In the first part of our system design series, we introduced MarsExpress, a fictional startup tackling the challenge of scaling from a local entity to a global presence. We explored the initial steps of transitioning from a monolithic architecture to a scalable solution, setting the stage for future growth.

As we continue this journey, Part 2 focuses on the critical role of the caching layer. We’ll delve into the technological strategies and architectural decisions essential for implementing effective caching, which are crucial for handling millions of users efficiently. architectural decisions pivotal for scaling to meet the demands of millions.

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WPBeginner Spotlight 01 – Plugin Acquisitions, New Features + More WordPress News

In the month of June 2024, we’ve seen a lot of exciting developments in the WordPress community.

From AIOSEO plugin acquiring the LowFruits keyword tool to the WordPress core team releasing the beta version of WordPress 6.6, the list goes on.

And that’s just a couple of the stories we have uncovered this month.

Read on for the latest WordPress news from this month’s edition of WPBeginner Spotlight.

This is a new monthly series called WPBeginner Spotlight, where we will be covering all the behind-the-scenes news from the world of WordPress.

Have any big WordPress news that you’d like to see in next month’s column, like a new WordPress brand acquisition, merger, or a flagship feature release? Then, please use our contact form to share it with us.

Top WordPress news for June 2024 with WPBeginner Spotlight

All in One SEO for WordPress Acquires LowFruits Keyword Tool

The popular WordPress SEO plugin All in One SEO for WordPress has acquired LowFruits, a popular keyword research tool.

Ben Rojas, President of All in One SEO, described the acquisition in his announcement post in the following words:

Recognizing the challenges of finding keywords that you can rank for and drive qualified traffic, we spent over a year exploring various ways to improve keyword research for our users.

After careful consideration, it became evident that acquiring LowFruits was the best solution to offer a comprehensive, user-friendly tool that addresses this need.

Ben Rojas – President of AIOSEO

LowFruits is a keyword research tool that helps users find low-competition keywords to rank for easily and drive more traffic to their websites.

LowFruits keyword finder tool

LowFruits will continue to operate independently, maintaining its unique features and functionality. This means that users won’t necessarily need to use All in One SEO for WordPress to benefit from LowFruits.

However, the All in One SEO team believes that combining both tools will give their customers a competitive advantage in search rankings.

LowFruits offers two pricing plans: a ‘Pay as you go’ plan and a subscription plan for $249/year.

WPCode Launches a Free Search & Replace Plugin for WordPress

Popular code snippets plugin, WPCode, launched a free Search & Replace Everything plugin for WordPress.

Our founder, Syed Balkhi, shared more details in a blog post here at WPBeginner.

Search & Replace Everything is a comprehensive tool that allows you to search and replace things easily in WordPress.

Instead of writing complex SQL queries, people can work with a simple user interface to enter what they want to find and what to replace it with.

Search and Replace Everything UI

The plugin then shows users a preview of items it found matching their search term and how they would look after they have been replaced.

Users can limit their search to specific database tables. It is quite fast and is designed to efficiently handle database operations on larger websites. Plus, users can also use the Search & Replace Everything Plugin to replace an image in their WordPress media library with a different image.

There is a free version of plugin available on WordPress.org, but it also has a paid plan (Starting at $29/year). This gives you access to additional features, such as historical data and the ability to undo an action.

WordPress.com Launches Studio for Windows

Earlier this year, WordPress.com launched Studio for MacOS, a local WordPress development environment.

Recently, they also launched Studio for Windows.

WordPress.com Studio

As a local development environment, Studio makes it easy to create and develop WordPress sites on your computer (localhost). It is open-source software available on GitHub and can be forked easily.

While using Studio, users can optionally sign into their WordPress.com account and easily share their sites with clients and team members. These demo sites are temporary and deleted after seven days.

Users can also export their local site and then import it into any WordPress hosting plan using tools like Duplicator.

WordCamp Asia and WordCamp Europe Dates and Venue Announced for 2025

The WordCamp Asia team has announced that the event will take place from February 20 to 22, 2025, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, Philippines.

Similarly, following the conclusion of WordCamp Europe 2024, the dates for 2025 have been revealed. WordCamp Europe 2025 will be held in Basel, Switzerland, from June 5 to 7, 2025.

The dates for WordCamp Europe conflict with the popular Muslim holiday, Eid-ul-Adha, which is likely going to have an impact on attendance.

WordCamps are community-driven WordPress events organized globally, with dozens of events held in over 65 countries. WordCamp Asia, WordCamp Europe, and WordCamp U.S. are among the largest, attracting WordPress enthusiasts from around the world.

WordPress.org Plugin Directory Now Shows Up to 10 Million Active Installs

The WordPress.org plugin directory previously capped the active install count for plugins at 5 million. However, several plugins had install counts exceeding this cap.

The limit has now been raised to 10 million active installs. Plugins with the highest install counts can be viewed in the Popular tab on the WordPress.org Plugins website.

active plugin installs increased

Currently, only four plugins have over 10 million installs (Elementor, Contact Form 7, Yoast SEO, and Classic Editor), followed by WooCommerce (7M installs), Akismet (7M+ installs), and WPForms (6M+ installs).

All in One SEO Launched SEOBoost

Another big news from the team behind All in One SEO for WordPress was the launch of SEOBoost, an on-page SEO optimization tool.

It simplifies the content creation workflow, covering everything from keyword research and brief creation to content optimization and SEO audits.

SEOBoost website

Users can start with the topic reports, create content briefs, and optimize their content for higher rankings, all from the same dashboard.

The content optimization tool uses AI-powered analysis to help you create high-ranking content. It analyzes the top 30 ranking topics related to your keyword and identifies the most used and prominent keywords to add to your content.

SEOBoost is currently offering a 14-day free trial. Paid plans start at $22.50/month.

WordPress 6.5.4 and 6.5.5. Were Released

WordPress 6.5.4 was released as a maintenance and bug fix update. This update was rolled out because of a bug that prevented plugins from redirecting users upon activation.

WordPress plugins use this functionality to run onboarding wizards and help their users set up the plugins properly.

The fix was a collaborative effort involving teams from Automattic, Awesome Motive, Elementor, StellarWP, and other core team members.

WordPress 6.5.5 was a security release that included three security fixes, so it’s highly recommended to upgrade your site.

Hostinger Surpassed 100M Euros in Revenue

Hostinger (a popular WordPress hosting company) announced its financial results for 2023, with remarkable performance. The company’s total revenue increased by 57% year over year, reaching €110.2 million by the end of the year.

Hostinger’s CEO, Daugirdas Jankus, commented on the performance:

Each year, we are growing rapidly towards our ambitious goal of becoming the world’s No. 1 web hosting business. 2023 was no exception when we steadily grew our results. While we may look like a big business in our region, we still have a long way to go in the global market.

The company credits its success to new innovations that have expanded its customer base. For example, Hostinger is actively developing AI-enhanced products to simplify the online experience for its users.

WordPress 6.6 Beta Was Released

The beta version of WordPress 6.6 was released for testing. This release will feature new data views, overrides in synced patterns, a consistent publishing experience, and more.

For more details on this, you can see an overview of what’s coming in WordPress 6.6.

In Other News:

  • WPForms Introduced Repeater Fields – Repeater fields allow users to insert form fields as needed. For instance, they can be helpful if you are creating a booking form and want users to add multiple names to their booking. A repeater field allows users to just click on the (+) and add another name.
  • Joost de Valk has launched a new tool called Progress Planner to help website owners stay motivated and continue making progress.
  • The team at Sugar Calendar announced a full revamp of their Event Calendar plugin that allows you to display events on your site, sell tickets, and so much more.
  • MonsterInsights Released Site Notes Automation Addon – MonsterInsights’ new addon allows users to automate site notes using Uncanny Automator or a direct API. This enables users to automate site notes and save important information automatically.
  • Bluehost has launched an agency partner program providing access to discounts, free cloud hosting, priority support, and education.
  • Gravatar has announced the launch of Profiles as a Service, so now you can create a comprehensive online profile page with Gravatar.

That’s all for this edition of WPBeginner Spotlight.

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The post WPBeginner Spotlight 01 – Plugin Acquisitions, New Features + More WordPress News first appeared on WPBeginner.

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The Role of AI in Low- and No-Code Development

Editor's Note: The following is an article written for and published in DZone's 2024 Trend Report, Low-Code Development: Elevating the Engineering Experience With Low and No Code.

The advent of large language models (LLMs) has led to a rush to shoehorn artificial intelligence (AI) into every product that makes sense, as well as into quite a few that don't. But there is one area where AI has already proven to be a powerful and useful addition: low- and no-code software development.