Issue #167 Loop WP

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Hi, friend. 👋

Welcome to Issue #167 of Loop WP!

Last week, we explored View Transitions, WordPress 6.9, and a debate surrounding themes.

This week, we take a look at what the WordPress AI Team is cooking up and continue our look at themes as we ask the question, “Should we pause the default theme”?

Let’s go! 👇

Should WordPress Have This?

🚨 Wix announced an AI Visibility Overview Citation & Sentiment Tracking Tool.

It made me ask the immediate question, “Is this something the AI Team should include in WordPress?”

I know the AI Team (Loop WP Issue 160) has plans, and we discussed some of those last week:

• Considering launching a “canonical” AI‑focused plugin (think Abilities API) instead of baking AI into Core.

• AI assistants (think something similar to Sidekick for Shopify)

• A “possible” long-term plan: “WapuGPT” – an LLM tool trained on WP docs for support.

🧠 WordPress can’t (and shouldn’t) add every AI feature that a competitor offers, but Shopify is leading the way with Sidekick. Tools similar to Wix would also be very helpful.

WordPress needs to listen to its users and watch its competitors and their consumers, if we are going to offer a truly viable AI ecosystem for WordPress.

I suppose more considerations of AI implementation in WordPress (Core) will be:

• Monetisation.

• The influence of Automattic on the direction AI in WordPress should take. 🤷‍♂️

✨ You can already see some of the “Building Blocks” for AI that the AI Team are developing and get involved with the “AI Experiments” plugin, which will allow you to:

• Synergistic Architecture: The PHP AI Client, Abilities API, and MCP Adapter work together to enable seamless AI provider switching, capability‑aware interactions, and external site management.

• Hands-On AI Experiments: The AI Experiments Plugin offers real-world demos that let users plug in any AI provider, leverage WordPress capabilities, and connect to MCP servers for enhanced control.

• Playground for Innovation: Users can explore various AI models, refine workflows, and shape the future of AI-powered WordPress through hands-on experimentation and feedback.

🚨 Then, of course, there’s the recent launch of the AI Toolkit from WP Engine, which has some very interesting features worth considering.

What are your thoughts, friend?

What If We Paused Default Themes?

🧠 In the News & Tips section of this newsletter, Brian Coords and Matt Meideros discuss this topic, and I also discussed this topic in last week’s newsletter from the perspectives of:

• WordPress 6.9.

• And discussions amongst some big names in WordPress.

✅ Brian Coords (as well as Mike McAlister) were two of those “big names”, and in Brian’s blog this week, he clarified his thoughts on Kevin Geary’s statements.

It’s a must-read article (and different from the one at the bottom of this newsletter); I agree with Brian, and he explains things much better than I ever could.

🤔 This week, I wanted to continue the discussion. Tammie Lister, in her article, asks the question, “What if We Pause Default Themes“?

It’s a thought-provoking article and one brought to my attention by Marcel Bootsman, who highlights four key areas from Tammie’s article that the community could focus on if resources for a default theme were redirected:

• Improving education on block themes.

• Enhancing core design tools.

• Revitalising the community theme project.

• Fixing areas where themes are not working well.

💡 For someone who uses the Block Editor very rarely and doesn’t use FSE themes in the wild (I can’t remember the last time I used a default theme). It certainly makes sense to me to pause development on any future default themes.

What are your thoughts, friend?

Back & Forward

🤯 Thanks to Jono Alderson for the tip on this one, but you have to check out the new feature plugin No-cache BF Cache - “Instant Back/Forward Navigations in WordPress” from Weston Ruter.

Put simply, the plugin:

✅ To see the effect, you must log out and log back in again, ensuring "Remember Me" is checked.”

Skip to the demos at the end of Weston’s article if you don’t want to understand the mechanics, but oh my days, is this awesome!! 🤩

It’s early days, but I’ve installed it on all my production sites, and I’ve had no issues so far. It’s a pure joy!

💡 Some of my sites couldn’t find the plugin via “Keyword” in the “Add Plugins” screen using the search “No-cache BFcache“, however searching for “nocache-bfcache“ worked for those sites.

That’s It For This Week 👋

📢 If you subscribed in the last couple of weeks, over the summer (starting two weeks ago), I’ve been running a slightly different newsletter format, and it’s been going really well.

I might even keep the new format.

If you’re a regular subscriber, friend, would you like to see a return of the plugin, theme, or single-topic deep dives after the summer? 👇

See you next week! 😀

Weekly WordPress News & Tips

This week's excellent and insightful WordPress News & Tips:

• Speaker Announcement - LoopConf Announces Its First Four Speakers, with More to Come. (LoopConf)

• Meet Hoverly - Add nice on-hover effects to your links and headings in WordPress. (Karol K.)

• Frontend Masters - Custom Select (that comes up from the bottom on mobile). (Chris Coyier)

• Now In Force - The Ultimate Guide to the European Accessibility Act for WordPress. (Equalize Digital)

• 🤯 Quick Edit - A new feature coming to Ollie Pro, but should Core think of including it too? Mike has already iterated on this! (Mike McAlister)

• Webmasters - Are WordPress Themes Dead + Best AI Workflows ft. Matt Medeiros. (Brian Coords & Matt Medeiros)

• Google Site Kit - The most trusted WordPress plugin brand in 2025? (Fueled)

• Add To Cart - Ecommerce essentials, reimagined with WooCommerce 10.0. (WooCommerce)

• Giving Back To You - How Open Source Contributions Elevate Your Professional Journey. (Felix Arntz)

• Minutes - Board of Directors Meeting Minutes (Q2 – July 2, 2025). (The WPCC)

• Checkout Summit 2026 - The global conference for WooCommerce Makers. (Rodolfo Melogli)

• A Complex Conversation - Navigating Client Relationships. (The WP Minute)

• WordPress Test Team - New QA Report Aims to Bridge the Gap Between WordPress Testing and Core Teams. (The Repository)

• 😎 Database Studio - for WordPress sites is now publicly available as a Beta feature for all Kinsta-hosted sites. This looks very cool! (Kinsta)

• Wapuuno - Today I learned we’ve had Wappuuno Cards for nearly 10 years!! (WP Tavern)

• Tutorial -Master Theme Styles in Bricks Builder 2.0. (WPTuts)

• 7 Million Websites - Equalize Digital’s Role in Enhancing WooCommerce Core and Extensions. (Equalize Digital)

If you have a question about this email or WordPress, please reply, and I will respond as soon as possible.

👋 Until next time,