Takeaways from April 2020 Meetup: Get Answers on Your WordPress Project

For our April 2020 meetup, we held our first virtual meetup.

Here are a few notes and highlights from our April 13, 2020 meetup, hosted by co-organizers Randy Walker and Deborah Edwards-Onoro.

First Virtual Meetup

• Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we held our first virtual meetup using Jitsi, a free, open-source video-conference platform.
• If you’re interested, here’s a helpful resource for using Jitsi. (Start with section 3. Tips and Tricks)
• The meeting wasn’t recorded, but we used the chat feature to share information and resources. 

WordPress 5.4 Released

• Default full-screen editor (can be disabled)
• Two new blocks: Social Icons and Buttons
• Streamlined user interface
• Welcome Guide modal 
• More features and updates in WordPress 5.4

What Membership Plugins have People Used?

1. Ultimate Member
2. WooCommerce Membership

Recommendations for User Role Plugins

1. James asked about user role plugins to provide more options that the WordPress-provided user roles
2. Some recommended plugins included User Role Editor and Advanced Access Manager 

How to Improve a Slow-loading Page

1. Lots of different ways to check site performance and speed
2. Two free options: GTMetrix and Google’s Page Speed Insights
3. Both offer analysis and tips for improving performance 
4. Page Speed Insights provides mobile and desktop performance, with targeted development and design recommendations for improvement
5. For a recent site, Deborah used Page Speed insights to increase mobile performance from 38 to 88 and desktop performance from 41 to 92 for a client site.

Setting up a Local WordPress Environment

TJ List shared Laragon, a free option for setting up a local WordPress environment. TJ said he had a site up and running quickly, without the headaches and issues of setting up XAMMP.

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