Well, it’s that time of the year again. Leaves are falling, Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back in season at Starbucks, and many parents are gearing up for their little Superheros and princesses being on an inevitable sugar-high in the next couple days. Daily life aside, it’s also time for Elegant Themes’ This Month in WordPress — October 2014 Edition!

We have a lineup of great WordPress based articles from around the web and we hope you enjoy.

This Month in WordPress

BuddyPress 2.1.1 Update

Last month, BuddyPress released their “Pasty” update that made quite a few “under the hood” tweaks, as well as adding a more fluid approach to using @mentions in the system.

This month, BuddyPress released a minor (and expected) update that helped fix some bugs since the 2.1 update. On the more exciting end of the spectrum, there is already talk of a 2.2 update in the works that should be expected to be released sometime during the beginning of next year. The upcoming release will add Composer compatibility to the core of the plugin, which is something that many developers are sure to leap for joy over.

MediaPress for BuddyPress: A Match Made In Heaven?

More good news for all you die-hard BuddyPress users out there. The beginning of October also brought a long-awaited and longed for plugin for BuddyPress — a media plugin to end all media plugins for BuddyPress (maybe?).  If you’ve used BuddyPress for any length of time, then you know that BuddyPress has been in need of some help in the media department. Well, the new MediaPress plugin has jumped in to lend a helping hand.

MediaPress has photo, audio, and video support as well as a drag and drop uploader interface built right into the plugin, along with a whole other array of impressive features that are worth taking a look at. The plugin is brand new and currently in the Beta phase of its release. As that is the case, there are going to be bugs and glitches that need to be addressed.

Thankfully, the developer (Brajesh Singh, a longtime BuddyPress developer) has made promises for future improvements on the plugin and is looking for feedback and ideas for tweaks and updates to come. Whether or not the plugin will be the media plugin for BuddyPress that will end all media plugins is still in the air, but hopes are high with this one.

If you’d like learn a bit more about MediaPress, or would like to download the Beta version the plugin, you can do so at the link below:

• Presenting MediaPress: The Only Media Plugin Your Will Ever Need For BuddyPress

Float Like A Butterfly With Monarch

Okay guys, you’ve waited and your patience has paid off! A couple months back, Nick announced that the team was working on a new social media plugin called, Monarch. Well, towards the end of this month, Elegant Themes released the new plugin to the world with a huge response of excitement from the Elegant Themes and WordPress community alike.

Speaking from purely my own opinion on the matter, Monarch is by far one of the most beautiful and comprehensive social sharing plugins that I have ever seen and used — it was a love at first click thing for me.

But that’s not all that Nick has up his sleeve for the Elegant Themes community. Many of you (and myself included) have been eagerly awaiting the release of the new theme, Extra. Though an exact release date has yet to be announced, I think Monarch is sure to give us an idea of just how amazing the Extra theme will be.

You can read more about Monarch and Extra below:

• Say Hello To Monarch, A Better Social Sharing Plugin For WordPress
• A Closer Look At Extra And Why It’s Going To Be Our Best Magazine Theme Yet

Other Great Stuff From Around The Web:

• A/B Testing: The Scientific Method To Optimize Your Website | Jordi over at Torque explains what A/B testing is and gives some useful insight into the method, as well as some suggestions on A/B testing tools that can be used in WordPress.
• WooCommerce: Checkout, Shipping and Accounts Settings | Although WooCommerce is an amazing e-commerce plugin, it can still be a little tricky to setup correctly. If you’re having issues with your WooCommerce settings, then Rachel’s article on Tuts + is sure to help. She gives a detailed walkthrough of some of the settings in the WooThemes plugin.
• Is Your Marketing Copy Working To Sell Your Products? | There is a large difference between simply writing and writing marketing copy that is actually effective. Brenda touches on 4 points to consider with regards to your marketing copy, and offers suggestions on how to test how well your words are working.
• What You Need To Know About Being A Web Developer | Charlie Patel is a long time web developer and offers his answers to a few choice questions given to him during an interview about what it takes to be a web developer. His post is a little on the short side but still offers some great advice for aspiring web developers.
• How A Four Second Longer Loading Time Can Cause You To Lose 50% Traffic | This is the kind of thing that’s hard to explain to anyone who doesn’t run a website, but if you’re a site owner then you know the panic that sets in when you check your traffic stats only to find that they dipped dramatically. And imagine the panic you’d feel if you lost half your traffic! Vladimir with ManageWP wrote a detailed post about how just a few seconds of lag in page load speeds caused the traffic to ManageWP to take a turn for the worse.
• Media Temple Managed WordPress Hosting Review | Managed WordPress hosting has been gaining some popularity in the past few years — something this is understandable considering all that is offered. Sourav at WPKube takes a closer look at Media Temple’s managed WordPress hosting service to see just what the company has to offer to its users.
• Pagely Review: Fine-Tuned Managed WordPress Hosting | While on the topic of managed WordPress hosting, Michael with Tuts + takes a closer look at what features Pagely offers to those looking for managed hosting for their website.
• Creating Beautiful and Effective Landing Pages with WordPress | Landing pages are an important part of conversion for every website; they can capture leads or prompt a specific action on your site. Melissa at WPMU Dev touches on some important elements of a good landing pages and suggests both free and premium options for integrating landing pages into your WordPress site.

Highlights From The Elegant Themes Blog

• 12 WordPress PayPal Plugins That Make Accepting Payments Easy | Brenda offers brief overviews of 12 PayPal plugin options for WordPress in order to ease the management aspect of buying and selling on your WordPress site.
• Using Markdown In WordPress | Ever read about Markdown and thought, “What the heck is that?” Well, thankfully, Jay took the time to explain just what Markdown is, how it works, and options for integrating it on your WordPress site.
• How Small Businesses Can Benefit From A Content Marketing Strategy | Marketing your business in general can be a daunting task and Content Market is usually like treading new and murky waters for many small business owners. In this article, I touch on what Content Marketing is, how it doesn’t have to scary or complicated, and I share my personal story of how I’ve seen the good that can come from Content Marketing for small businesses.
• Does Your Reputation Proceed You? How To Build Cred As A WordPress Developer | Brenda gives some great advice on how and why building a good reputation as a developer can help you succeed.
• How To Be Productive As A Web Designer | Being productive is sometimes easier said than done. If you’re a web designer looking for pointers on how to boost your productivity and speed with certain tasks, then be sure to check out these tips and tools that I use to keep my sanity as a designer.
• Using Pods and Divi To Easily Transform WordPress Into A Highly Customizable Content Management System | Josh covers how to use Pods in Divi to create custom post types that create something a little different.

 Wrapping It Up

October has been yet another month of epic proportions for the WordPress community, and as always, we have more on the blog to come. But we still want to hear from you guys. What would you like us to cover in the months ahead? Let us know with your comments. We’ll do our best to turn your ideas into posts!

Thumbnail Image by Author T-Kot via Shutterstock

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