You may have noticed we’re big fans of WordPress here at Leaving Work Behind. We always recommend the platform if you’re new to blogging, and with good reason. It’s easy to use and powerful enough to enable you to create and sustain a popular blog. However, if you want to get the most out of WordPress, you’ll need to stay up with the latest developments in the platform.
Luckily, there are hundreds of websites devoted to bringing you the latest news when it comes to WordPress. In this article, I’m going to introduce five of my favorite WordPress news sites. Some of them even publish excellent tutorials, so they’re definitely worth paying attention to. Let’s start with WordPress.org!
1. The WordPress.org Blog
Aside from being the official home of WordPress, this website also doubles as the largest repository for free plugins and themes. As if that weren’t enough, you can also find community forums, get involved with the platform’s development, and stay on top of the latest WordPress news. To find them, you’ll need to jump to WordPress.org’s blog section.
Inside, you’ll find information about the latest updates to the platform. Plenty of other websites cover these, but it’s always best to hear things directly from the people who work on improving the platform.
If you’re interested in keeping up with WordPress development, you should definitely check out WordPress.org’s blog from time to time. You can also find out about upcoming releases, features, and change logs, so it’s an excellent overall resource for any WordPress enthusiast. The downside is the blog isn’t updated that often since they only use it to announce important updates, so you’ll need to check back periodically.
2. WP Tavern
WP Tavern is one of the rare WordPress websites that’s entirely devoted to news about the platform. Most other sites that cover WordPress news also publish tutorials, opinion pieces, and the like. However, this one is all about news, all the time.
A regular month at WP Tavern features news about upcoming or recent WordPress releases. You’ll also find articles about WordPress conferences, events, and new plugins. For example, lately, there’s been a lot of talk about Gutenberg on the site since it’s one of the most significant changes to hit WordPress in years.
My favorite part of this site is a lot of its articles spark lengthy debates in the comments section, which are great to find out what people really think. Considering the broad range of topics WP Tavern covers, it’s worth checking out whether you’re a WordPress newbie or veteran. Also, they publish news almost daily, so you’ll want to visit back often.
3. CodeinWP
CodeinWP is one of my favorite sites for long-form articles about WordPress. They publish one monthly article covering all the latest news related to the platform. In between, they also talk about related topics such as hosting, WordPress tutorials, and more.
Since this article is focused on the news side of things, their monthly roundups are a godsend. I check them out every month to see if I missed any important WordPress-related news and they do an excellent job summing things up, so I don’t have to read dozens of articles to catch up.
While anyone can benefit from CodeinWP’s monthly news roundups, their usual articles usually target more experienced WordPress users. They tend to be long and heavy when it comes to data, which is excellent, but it also means you might want to set some time aside to read them.
4. WPLift
WPLift publishes all kind of WordPress-related articles, from news to reviews about themes, articles, and everything in between. They’re my favorite source when it comes to finding out about new and interesting plugins since there are so many, finding ones with potential can be a bit of a hassle.
I’m kind of a plugin nut, in that I like to know about as many of them as possible so I can figure out which one to use in any given situation. However, I’m very picky about the ones I set up, so I also appreciate WP Lift’s in-depth plugin reviews.
If you’re looking for a new theme, they also publish brief blurbs about standout releases. Overall, WP Lift is an excellent website to help you keep up with WordPress components, and it updates almost daily.
5. WPBeginner
WPBeginner is one of the most popular WordPress-related websites around, period. If you’ve ever looked for a tutorial on how to do something using WordPress, chances are you’ve run into their articles. They have a massive library of content and they also publish articles about the latest WordPress news regularly.
For example, they are an excellent place to find out about upcoming WordPress releases and features, with a small dose of commentary. They also publish news about upcoming deals and savings for WordPress components, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the site if you’re looking to stretch your budget.
The only downside is, the news portion of the site doesn’t update that often – mostly when there are big WordPress releases. However, they publish almost daily guides and tutorials on how to use the platform, which makes it an invaluable resource for WordPress users.
Conclusion
WordPress may be easy to use, but there’s also a lot of depth to the platform. If you’re 100% new to blogging, we recommend you check out our Beginner Blogging course, which will walk you through the process of setting up your website. Once you have WordPress set up and running, you’ll also want to stay on top of what’s going on with the platform, such as the latest plugins to come out.
As far as I’m concerned, these are the best websites to keep up with the latest WordPress news:
Do you have any questions about WordPress itself you’d like to ask? Feel free to do so in the comments section below and I’ll get back to you!