July marked a significant period for WordPress, characterized by substantial advancements in AI, automation, and community-driven projects. A number of plugins introduced practical AI functionalities directly within the WordPress dashboard, streamlining both content development and SEO processes.
The WordPress community experienced notable growth. WordPress.org initiated a new internship opportunity for university students. WooCommerce implemented crucial accessibility enhancements. Multilingual capabilities were broadened across frequently used tools.
This CanadaCreate Spotlight edition highlights the most impactful news items, updates, and noteworthy tools.
📌 CanadaCreate Spotlight brings you a monthly roundup of the most important WordPress news, updates, and community happenings. 📅✨
Got something to share? Whether it’s a new product launch, a significant update, or an exciting event, reach out to us through our contact form, and your news could be featured in the next edition! 💬
AIOSEO Launches Built-in AI Content Generator to Boost Content Creation 🪄
All in One SEO (AIOSEO) now offers an AI Content Generator directly in the WordPress editor, enabling you to produce content more efficiently, refine it for better performance, and defeat creative blocks.
This feature is built into the AIOSEO sidebar in the block editor, eliminating the need to navigate between different applications during the writing process.
You can use the AI generator to write optimized SEO titles and meta descriptions that improve click-through rates. It can also generate content sections like FAQs with schema or article summaries.
💡The AI Content Generator is available to both Lite and Pro users. All in One SEO Lite users receive free credits to get started, while Pro users can access the feature through their existing license.
AIOSEO’s tool facilitates content promotion by creating customized posts for platforms like Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. It also provides the ability to revise particular sentences or entire paragraphs to align with your brand voice or target demographic.
This update also provides support for the llms.txt file. This file directs AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to your key content. This enhances their comprehension of your site and enables them to provide links to it in their responses.
WPForms Launches Entry Automation—Your Form Data Now Manages Itself
WPForms now offers Entry Automation, a new feature enabling you to establish automated, scheduled processes for your form entries.
Manual form data management is a thing of the past. You can now automatically export or delete entries based on rules you specify using Entry Automation.
For each form, you can establish a unique schedule and configure actions to execute on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, down to a specific date and time.
During entry exportation, you can employ smart filters to pinpoint the precise data for inclusion, based on form fields or status. The CSV file is then automatically delivered to your inbox, ensuring you stay informed about important leads.
If you are managing leads, registrations, or surveys, Entry Automation will save you a significant amount of time. Furthermore, it keeps your database organized by eliminating outdated or irrelevant entries on a timetable that you determine.
Entry Automation is a significant enhancement if you depend on information from forms. It streamlines manual processes and ensures structured, uniform submissions.
WordPress AI Building Blocks Introduced—MCP, SDKs, and Smart APIs for the Future of Publishing
The WordPress project has announced its strategy to incorporate AI into the core of the platform. This new plan presents multiple ‘Building Blocks’ to establish a cohesive, ethical AI structure throughout the WordPress environment.
For those who develop, the AI team is launching new AI Software Development Kits (SDKs). These kits will simplify the process of integrating robust AI capabilities into plugins and themes, while maintaining a consistent user experience.
Smart APIs are central to this framework, enabling WordPress to interface with various AI services. This empowers users to select their preferred models, avoiding reliance on a single provider.
The Abilities API is a critical component. It establishes a universal communication method, enabling AI systems like ChatGPT and Claude to comprehend your site’s capabilities and execute functions such as content creation or media management.
The main objective is to democratize AI for site owners, providing widespread access to powerful tools while upholding user control and open-source values. These foundational components pave the way for future advancements, including AI-driven editing tools and more intelligent media management.
CanadaCreate Turns 16 Years Old
This month, CanadaCreate celebrated our 16th birthday. Since our website was founded in 2009 by Syed Balkhi, CanadaCreate has grown into the largest free WordPress resource for beginners.
The core objective has consistently been to ensure WordPress enables anyone to build a website, irrespective of their technical expertise.
To commemorate this milestone, CanadaCreate organized a massive giveaway, distributing over $20,000 worth of prizes. Eighty-seven winners received premium WordPress plugins and tools to aid in expanding their online presence.
We are extremely thankful 🙏 for the community’s support, which has been instrumental in CanadaCreate’s growth and success. We anticipate continuing to provide valuable tutorials, guides, and resources for many years ahead.
Free Recurring Payments Now Available on WP Simple Pay —No Upgrade Needed
WP Simple Pay has extended recurring payments to all users by incorporating the functionality into its free Lite version. Previously, this feature was exclusive to Pro users; now, all can establish and oversee subscriptions without needing to upgrade.
This is a big update for small businesses, creators, and nonprofits that rely on recurring revenue but don’t need a full eCommerce setup. You can now accept donations, membership fees, or payments for ongoing services right from your WordPress site.
Setup is still simple. You can create a Stripe subscription plan with preset weekly, monthly, or yearly billing, then link it to a payment form on your site in minutes.
The update also adds new form templates and improved security, powered by Stripe’s Unified Payment Element (UPE). By unlocking this key feature, WP Simple Pay helps more users build sustainable revenue directly on WordPress.
WordPress Credits Program Brings University Students Into Open Source
The WordPress Credits program, recently launched by WordPress.org, aims to integrate university students into open-source development. This initiative functions as an internship, linking students with mentors to collaborate on actual WordPress projects.
Students from diverse academic backgrounds can now contribute to WordPress’s core, themes, plugins, and community teams through this program. They can also earn academic credit, giving developers, designers, and writers practical experience.
Initially developed with the University of Pisa, the pilot program has garnered considerable interest. The WordPress Foundation now seeks to expand the initiative by inviting additional universities and educational institutions to participate.
The program helps bring new talent into the open-source community. By building a steady pipeline of contributors, WordPress is investing in the project’s long-term growth and innovation.
Charitable Unlocks Square Donations and Donor Trust to Add Social Proof to Your Fundraising Campaigns
Charitable has released two significant updates to enhance WordPress fundraising. The plugin now features a direct Square integration, providing an alternative payment gateway for donation collection.
Available for both Lite and Pro users, it supports credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Integrated into the core plugin, a separate add-on isn’t necessary, resulting in improved performance.
The second new feature is DonorTrust, a tool designed to increase conversions using social proof. It displays small, real-time notifications on your site whenever someone makes a donation.
These non-intrusive popups are fully customizable and can be configured to show donor names, locations, and donation amounts. Seeing other people donate builds trust and adds urgency, making visitors more likely to give to your cause.
BuddyBoss App: Multilingual App Interface Now Supports 20+ Languages
BuddyBoss has made its mobile app more accessible to global communities by adding full multilingual support. App users can now switch the entire interface to their preferred language from profile settings, creating a more inclusive experience
The app automatically detects a user’s device language on first launch and includes built-in translations for over 20 languages, including Spanish, French, German, and Japanese. This covers all core interface elements, including buttons and navigation menus.
This is a major advancement for international SEO for community owners. It’s especially useful in regulated markets such as the EU and Canada, where native-language support is often a requirement. All BuddyBoss App users can access this feature without additional charges.
Although the app interface translates automatically, community owners have the option of using WPML’s AI-driven services to translate custom content, such as pages and posts. This offers a completely localized experience, assisting you in connecting with members worldwide.
WPCode Just Made Custom Snippets Smarter—38 Tags and a New Import Tool
WPCode has enhanced its popular code snippets plugin with powerful new smart tags and a migration tool. The latest version adds 38 smart tags that let you insert dynamic information into your snippets.
These tags work like dynamic placeholders, helping you create personalized, context-aware content without writing complex PHP. That means your snippets are easier to reuse and adapt across your site.
The smart tags can pull data from popular plugins like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, and All in One SEO. For example, you could automatically insert a product’s price or a post’s SEO title into a custom script.
The update also includes a new import tool specifically designed for users of the old Post Snippets plugin, which is no longer maintained. It helps you safely migrate your existing snippets to WPCode in just a few clicks.
SearchWP Adds Multiple Results Templates, Compatibility with Site Builders, and Promoted Search Ads
SearchWP has released a major update that gives site owners significantly more control over their website’s search results.
You can now create multiple search results templates to display different layouts for different types of content.
For example, you could show a grid layout for WooCommerce products, a list view for blog posts, and a unique design for documentation pages, all from the same search bar. This helps create a more intuitive experience for your visitors.
SearchWP has also improved compatibility with popular site builders like Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, and Bricks. You can now use dedicated blocks for adding search forms and results pages directly within your favorite WordPress page builder, without needing to mess with shortcodes.
The update also adds Promoted Search Ads—a way to feature specific content at the top of search results for certain keywords. It’s like an internal ad system, great for highlighting products, cornerstone content, or special offers.
In Other News
- WPConsent now includes one-click geolocation-based consent settings with built-in templates for GDPR, CCPA, and more. It also lets you block custom scripts and iframes before consent, helping your site stay compliant across regions.
- Easy Digital Downloads Pro now includes built-in EU VAT handling, making compliance much easier for digital product sellers in the EU and UK. The update adds automatic tax rates, real-time VAT number validation at checkout, and integrated reporting tools.
- Tickets are still available for WordCamp US 2025 (August 26–29 in Portland, Oregon). Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn, network, and connect with WordPress professionals from around the world.
- Wholesale Suite now supports automatic invoicing and payment charging, which streamlines the checkout process for wholesale customers using Net 30/60/90 terms. It’s a big time-saver for managing recurring B2B payments.
- WooCommerce 10.0 was released on July 14 with major upgrades. These include WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility compliance, shareable checkout links, improved cart performance, and an experimental new Add to Cart block powered by the Interactivity API.
- WordPress 6.9 is tentatively scheduled for release in December 2025, continuing to build upon the collaborative tools and design enhancements seen in previous 6.x versions. Be on the lookout for upcoming feature previews.
- Formidable Forms now provides the ability to include dynamic graphs within emails and PDF reports, and it requires no JavaScript. This new enhancement automatically transforms interactive charts into static images, facilitating the seamless sharing of visual data summaries.
New Plugins & Tools
- Envira Gallery CDN – A new service is available that automatically distributes your WordPress images via a Content Delivery Network (CDN). This speeds up the loading times of your photo galleries for users globally.
- WPConsent (🔥trending) – This rapidly expanding WordPress plugin simplifies cookie popup management and privacy compliance. It gives you tools to easily handle cookie consent and privacy rules on your WordPress site.
- User Comment Delete – Allows logged-in users to delete their own comments using a link next to their comment.
That’s a wrap for this month’s CanadaCreate Spotlight! We hope you enjoyed catching up on the latest news and updates from the WordPress ecosystem.
Got a product launch, feature update, or cool project you think we should cover? Send us a message, and we might feature it in our next edition.
We’ll see you again next month with another round of WordPress news. Thanks for reading and being part of the CanadaCreate family.
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