Author: nektobit

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A Brief Introduction to WordPress 5.0 & Gutenberg

Things Are About to Change on WordPress…

Ever since it was announced back in late 2017, Gutenberg has been quite the controversial topic for web developers and fans of the simple, easy-to-use CMS: WordPress.

The controversy stems from the variety of new changes coming to WordPress core and the huge impact it will have on how we create and interact with websites designed on the popular platform.

As we await the update to WordPress 5.0, it’s important that we understand all of the new changes that will soon be implemented in the coming months, namely the arrival of Gutenberg.

What is Gutenberg?

Gutenberg is a replacement for the aging WordPress Visual Editor that we all know and love (or possibly, hate). It comes as an update to WordPress core, meaning that you will be using it even if you have no extra plugins installed.

With the introduction of WordPress 5.0, Gutenberg will be the new standard tool for building all of your pages.

Regardless of which page builder plugin you use, we recommend that you find out how Gutenberg and WordPress 5.0 are going to affect your favorite plugin. These changes are also going to impact developers, designers, and content editors alike. 

 

Did You Know?

WordPress Gutenberg derives its name from Johannes Gutenberg, the man who invented the printing press in 1440 and revolutionized the way that we publish information.

Rather than writing each letter individually with the stroke of a pen, Gutenberg devised a method of using customized wooden blocks that could be reused and rearranged to print materials quicker, cheaper, and more efficiently.

WordPress Gutenberg aims to achieve that same goal with web development by allowing you to create custom “blocks” of code that can be reused in future projects, saving time for WordPress veterans and making website building easy for new users.

How Do Blocks Work?

Blocks are designed to unify a variety of elements in WordPress that are currently treated as separate objects, such as widgets, shortcodes, embeds, custom post types, formatting, theme options, and meta-boxes.

With the release of Gutenberg, all of these formerly separate pieces will soon come together in the form of blocks. The developers hope that this will provide users with all of the functionality of the current WordPress Visual Editor while making it easier to use and understand.

Rather than building your WordPress site completely from scratch, you’ll be able to use pre-made blocks of PHP, CSS, and Javascript that you have designed beforehand. Just like plugins, you will also be able to download Gutenberg blocks that other developers have created, making it easier for those who don’t have experience with coding.

So, what kind of functionality and features can you expect from a Gutenberg block?

Let’s take a look at a few examples of blocks that are already in development:

  • Pricing Box
  • Testimonials
  • Team Profiles
  • Blockquote
  • Pullquote
  • Number Box
  • Expand/Show More

Once created, you’ll be able to duplicate and use these blocks in all of your projects. The hope is that this will increase productivity and reduce the number of syntax errors found in your code.

To provide a real-world example, imagine building a house with bricks that are already made, rather than having to form each brick individually before you start. Using pre-formed bricks not only saves time but also ensures uniformity and consistency throughout the structure.

What else does Gutenberg have to offer?

 In addition to making designing WordPress sites easier, Gutenberg strives to deliver some new capabilities:

  • Live HTML Preview
  • Recent Blocks
  • New Cover Text Options
  • Autocomplete (similar to what is found in Slack)
  • Table of Contents
  • Anchor Support
  • Word & Block Counts
  • Buttons
  • New Embed Options
  • New Alignment Options

How to Install Gutenberg 

If you would like to give the new editor a spin, you can install it from WordPress.org for free. Although the editor won’t be made standard until the release of WordPress 5.0, you can try it out and see what you think before it launches officially on the platform.

Note: you will need to upgrade to WordPress version 4.9.6 before installing.

It’s also a good idea to get some practice with using the system before it becomes standard and you no longer have the choice between it and the current visual editor.

To learn more about how to use Gutenberg, please read our in-depth tutorial.

Final Thoughts

So, what hopes do we have for this new editor and how will it change your life as a WordPress developer?

Upon visiting the download page, you might have noticed that reviews for Gutenberg are extremely polarized, with 170 of 514 users giving the plugin a 5-star rating and 245 users giving it 1 star.

Ouch.

It’s still too early to tell if Gutenberg will sink or swim, given that the plugin is still in the beta stage and has some technical issues to work out.  It might also be true that most WordPress developers are not yet ready to take the plunge with Gutenberg and are opposed to learning a new system after 10 years of little change.

The response from the WordPress community is still quite alarming and we are curious to see how all of this will play out after WordPress 5.0 releases in mid-to-late 2018.

Whatever the case may be, we certainly hope that the plugin will make all of our lives much easier–once we have learned how to use it.

Discussion 

What are your thoughts and opinions on WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg? Are you excited for the new update or are you dreading the idea of learning a new system, all over again?

If you’ve already tried the Gutenberg beta, please share your experiences with us and let us know what you like and dislike about the new editor. This will help us develop even better plugins in the future, so we can make your job easier.

Join the conversation and leave your comments in the area below:

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Live Documentation – WooCommerce ACH Stripe Gateway

1 About

Since Stripe has accepted ACH payments and WooCommerce has no such functionality we’ve made this plugin for you to easy accept payments from bank accounts via ACH Stripe. Also we’ve integrated Plaid to instantly pay via Online Banking.

You should understand that payments from a bank account are not instant. A payment will be done approximately in 5 days after purchasing. We provide regular ACH Stripe and Plaid because the first provides not-instant bank account verification and it takes 1-2 days. But the second one provides instant verification but it takes fees.

2 Installation

After you have purchased the plugin, you will receive plugin file in .zip package.

  • To install the plugin, go to Admin Panel > Plugins.
  • Click the “Add New” button > then “Upload Plugin” button.
  • Select .zip package & click “Install Now”. After that activate the plugin and start to use it.

Remember that you should have the WooCommerce plugin working on your site!

3 Getting Started

After you have installed and activated the plugin you should go to WooCommerce>>Settings>>Checkout>>ACH Stripe.

Let’s introduce all the settings.

  • Enable/Disable – enable or disable the ACH Stripe gateway
  • Title – title of a payment method to be displayed on a checkout page
  • Description – description of a payment method to be displayed on a checkout page
  • Company Name – your company name. It will be displayed at the bottom of a payment form in accordance with ACH Authorization
  • Process Orders Immediately – allows you to process orders money are not received yet. Very useful for subscriptions.
  • Test Mode – enable test mode where you can test payments from some test bank account
  • Test Secret Key, Test Publishable Key – necessary in a test mode. You can get it from your Stripe dashboard
  • Live Secret Key, Live Publishable Key – necessary to receive a real payments. You can get it from your Stripe dashboard
  • Logging – enable/disable logging to a log file in WooCommerce>>System Status>>Logs

4 Plaid Integration

If you want to let your customers pay via their Online Banking just go to WooCommerce>>Settings>>Checkout>>Plaid.

Let’s introduce all the settings.

  • Enable/Disable – enable or disable the ACH Stripe gateway
  • Title – title of a payment method to be displayed on a checkout page
  • Description – description of a payment method to be displayed on a checkout page
  • Test Mode – enable test mode where you can test payments from some test bank account. More about Testing in Plaid
  • Client ID, Public Key, Secret – necessary to receive payments. You can get it from your Plaid dashboard
  • Logging – enable/disable logging to a log file in WooCommerce>>System Status>>Logs

Remember that you should connect your Stripe and Plaid accounts here.

 5 Setting up your Stripe Dashboard (READ ATTENTIVELY!)

You have to set up the Stripe Dashboard to automate the processing of orders.

Follow the path from the image, but remember to check in what mode (test or live) you are!

When you click the Add endpoint button in the Stripe you will see the following popup:

First, go to your website admin panel to WooCommerce->Settings->Checkout->ACH Stripe.

Here you will see the blue button – click it and go to the Stripe Dashboard. Paste the copied endpoint to URL to be called field. The Filter event should be Select types to send. And you have to choose:

and Add endpoint.

And voila!

This route is needed to send messages from the Stripe about different charges statuses – pending or succeeded.

ACH has its own advantages and disadvantages. The main minus is that money will be transferred to your account not immediately. Shortly, a few days should pass to change the payment status from ‘Pending’ to ‘Succeeded’. Read more here.

So, the most part of popular payment gateways has no such a problem. Hence, we’ve got a dilemma: change an order status to “Processing” in advance considering that the money will be transferred in a few days or wait until the money will be received and then change an order status.

To solve this we have an option in Admin panel.

By default, all the orders will be processed only after corresponding charges in the Stripe will be succeeded! This is made to you not be worried that you have sold any product but haven’t received the money.

But you should understand that such an approach can be confused for your customers. So, it is depending on your business. Read more here.

6 Subscriptions

The plugin provides the WooCommerce Subscriptions. Well, the Stripe has its own Subscriptions API. But the official Stripe implementation of the WooCommerce Subscription is the simple charge creation.

When you pay for some WooCommerce Subscription you will see the simple charge in your Stripe Dashboard.

7 Deposits

The plugin provides it like a charm. This is because Deposits in WooCommerce is the separate system that pass the already end amount for a charge. So it is no matter for Stripe – you just make a simple payment and then make an invoice for your customer.

8 Payment Process

The payment process differs in test and live modes. This is because of the Stripe has test bank account already verified and this allows us to avoid a verification via micro deposits. But with the live account your customers should first verify their bank accounts via micro deposits and then pay for their purchases.

First, customer chooses some products and places an order. After this an email will be sent to him with the later instruction. Also it will contain a link to the payment page.

Note: be sure that you are able to send emails from your site!

Two micro withdrawals will be done in 2-3 days and when it will be done your customer need to go by that link and make a payment. When he make a payment, he will have to enter those 2 micro withdrawals. So after this his bank account will be verified and he will be able to make any purchases without it.

Remember that after your customer has made a purchase he will receive the email with all the instructions.

9 Conclusion

We highly recommend you to read ACH Authorization to avoid any disputes about charges or fees. We provide a checkbox for customers to authorize you to electronically debit their accounts.

Also, the plugin provides WooCommerce auto-refunds via Stripe.

 

 

Hope, you will enjoy this plugin. And we also will be glad to help you!

Our support

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Live Documentation – WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Assistant

1 About

It was so many times… A customer was putting items into a cart… And he was going out… without placing an order…

Are you agree? You even don’t know how many customers abandoned their not empty carts and left your website for unknown reasons. Of course, we can’t permeate in a customer mind.

But with Abandoned Cart Assistant plugin, you will have a detailed statistics of what product was the first for a customer, where he has gone after and what product or page was the last in his route on your website.

You will see abandoned and completed carts and it will help you to decide if your business is as good as it should be.

You also will be able to send emails to all the owners of abandoned carts and ask them what was wrong with their shopping. To provide a collecting of emails the topbar getting the email address was designed. Continue reading Live Documentation – WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Assistant