AMP plugin update: action required

It’s a year since AMP was first introduced: and VIP clients are among the many leading publishers who have embraced the new format. Some have built their own bespoke output templates; but most are using the template which ships with the plugin, either as-is or with modest enhancements.

To mark the anniversary, and reflect the growing visibility of AMP online, we’ve extended the WordPress.com platform’s support for the format. Users now have control over the colors of their AMP output from the AMP Customizer, which can also be extended to support other options. We’ve also added compatibility with some of the newer features added to the AMP spec.

These enhancements required us to make some potentially breaking markup changes.

To protect our clients from unintended consequences, VIP sites hosted on WordPress.com have been set to continue publishing AMP using the original output template.

We will switch all VIPs over to the new template at 1000 Eastern (1400 UTC) on October 25, giving you two weeks to test your customizations, and update if necessary. If you can’t meet this deadline, you can continue to use the old template using this helper function:

if ( function_exists( 'amp_backcompat_use_v03_templates' ) ) {
    amp_backcompat_use_v03_templates();
}

The old template will remain available within the plugin until the end of the year. If you still prefer to continue using it, you should copy it into your theme and load it using a variant of the backcompat function mentioned earlier.

The open source AMP plugin is also being updated with the new features, including the same changes to the markup of the default template. Clients on VIP Go should test any customizations locally before updating live sites. The same helper function can be used to call the original template if required.

Thanks to our partners at 10up and Alley Interactive for their contributions to the development of the plugin since its launch.

Update (2016-10-26): All VIPs using the default template or without the back-compat function have now been switched over to the new template. If you encounter any issues or need anyone help upgrading, please get in touch.

Frontend Uploader v1.1 is now available

A new version of the Frontend Uploader plugin has been committed to the shared plugins repository. V1.1 is intended to replace v0.9.4. This upgrade includes;

  • Refactored admin list tables to prevent “Headers already sent error”
  • Added Recaptcha support
  • Added option to auto-append uploaded images to posts
  • Preserve values in text fields on failed upload
  • Minor impovements
  • Bugfixes

We encourage all VIPs using Frontend Uploader to upgrade to this version by specifying the version parameter of wpcom_vip_load_plugin() like so;

wpcom_vip_load_plugin( 'wp-frontend-uploader', 'plugins', '1.1' );

If you have any questions please open a ticket where we’ll be happy to assist you transition to the newest version.

Facebook Instant Articles v3.0 now available!

A new version of the Facebook Instant Articles plugin has been committed to the shared plugins repository. V3.0 is a feature and bugfix release and is intended to replace v2.11 and includes;

  • Fix versioning – use WP style
  • Ignore hyperlinks with a #
  • Allow filtering of post types used in the feed
  • Use v2.6 of the Facebook API
  • Coding standards & whitespace fixes
  • Load Facebook SDK over HTTPS
  • Avoid crawling of 404s
  • Replace social embeds with interactives
  • Use submission ID to check status in the admin
  • Fix over-zealous escaping

We encourage all VIPs using Facebook Instant Articles to upgrade to this version by specifying the version parameter of `wpcom_vip_load_plugin()` like so;

wpcom_vip_load_plugin( 'facebook-instant-articles', 'plugins', '3.0' );

This also means that we are now deprecating v1 and intend to remove the plugin in one month, on 9th August. v2.11 will remain available for those who want to use it, but we strongly encourage you to upgrade to v3.0.

As we approach the removal date for v1 we’ll contact any VIPs still loading that version.

If you have any questions please open a ticket where we’ll be happy to assist you transition to the newest version.

Bitly: Scheduled Maintenance on Monday, June 20th, 2am-4am EDT

Bitly has scheduled platform maintenance for Monday, June 20th from 2am to 4am EDT. More details are on their status page.

Since their API will be down during this time, VIP clients who use the our Bitly plugin for custom shortlink creation will instead fall back to the default “wp.me” shortlinks until API access is restored. Once the API is online again, Bitly shortlinks will be backfilled in hourly batches.

In addition to the above, we’ve also compiled a list of clients who make extensive use of the Bitly plugin, and we’ll be reaching out to you individually.

Announcing Co Authors Plus Social Pack

Edit Guest Author ‹ VIP Hosting Test Site — WordPress

WordPress.com VIP is happy to announce the immediate availability of Co Authors Plus Social Pack, a brand new plugin developed by Automattic to add social media fields to Guest Author profiles and provide integration with WordPress.com Sharing.

Now, you can easily save an Author’s social media information with their profile, as well as attribute Tweets sent from the WordPress.com Sharing Tools to the author that wrote the post, simply by checking the appropriate box on their profile page.

Additionally, sites now have the ability to mark the Author as a ‘Related’ account to be suggested by Twitter once a post has been shared, making it even easier for your site’s visitors to engage with your authors.

To get started, simply enable the plugin at VIP -> Plugins -> Co Authors Social Pack. All social media fields are loaded automatically with Guest Author profiles, so retrieving the values is as easy as:

$guest_author->twitter;

Development is happening over at https://github.com/Automattic/Co-Authors-Plus-Social-Pack – pull requests and issues are always welcome!