Issue #169 Loop WP

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Hi, friend. 👋

Welcome to Issue #169 of Loop WP!

Last week, a new Wappu game was unleashed! Imran Siddiq asks if there is a WordPress inner circle, and Jamie Marsland asks if WordPress needs to evolve.

This week, Hostinger enters the Agentic WordPress sphere, and Shopify makes a huge AI announcement that should cause concern for WooCommerce. And finally, we have some easy mega menus coming to the block editor.

Let’s go! 👇

WordPress Is About to Get a Whole Lot Better

Last week, I mentioned in the News & Tips section that Mike McAlister was releasing the Editor Suite.

The initial buzz around Mike’s announcement was positive, and then Mike gave Jamie Marsland access, who made this video. 👇

🔥 I’ve got to say this is looking brilliant, and the reactions across social media have shared the same positivity…well, except for Matt.

Good news (Matt 😉), as Jamie said, Mike is kindly releasing the plugin on .org for free. Incredible stuff from Mike and Patrick! 🎉

Something like this is long overdue, and I can’t wait to try it.

Agentic WordPress

🤖 Back in Issue 166, I mentioned Angie - “the first agentic AI plugin for WordPress” from Elementor.

Now Hostinger is launching Kodee. In their launch announcement, the reveal includes a WooCommerce store, and that has me most intrigued (The Repository has more details in their Agentic AI article).

Agentic Commerce

With Hostinger in mind, that brings me to another announcement where things are about to get wild.

WooCommerce is not even close to this, and I don’t know how we get here either.

🚨 Agentic Commerce Has Arrived - Add Shopping to your AI Agent 👇

We talked in detail about WooCommerce vs Shopify, and a lot of it was AI-based back in Issue 159, and this further adds fuel to the challenges WooCommerce faces to stay relevant in an Agentic Commerce world.

🧠 I know WordPress has an AI Team, but there doesn’t seem to be any focus on WooCommerce, and I know the WooCommerce team themselves are not sitting idly by.

WooCommerce has many strengths compared to Shopify, but will these strengths be enough as things stand?

The Website Builders Collective is Shutting Down

Mike Oliver (one of my favourite designers) is shutting down his community, “The Website Builders Collective”.

Announcement below. 👇

🚨 It’s not quite goodbye, as Mike will continue to create tutorials and templates, but they will be hosted on his website using Fluent Community.

I’m part of the community and have also purchased his previous products:

• GenerateBlocks Pro Wireframe Pattern.

• How to Build Lightweight WordPress Websites with GeneratePress & GenerateBlocks.

👀 So, I can’t wait to see what Mike has coming next.

In an email to community members, Mike said:

🙌 I can’t thank you enough, Mike, for the wonderful inspiration that you have been and for how much you’ve supported and helped grow the GeneratePress community.

Introducing “Tea Time”

🫖 WPKitchen have started Tea Time — a small, unofficial giveaway tied to WordCamp US 2025. We're sharing 100 cups of tea with WordPress professionals in Pakistan.

WordCamp US attendees will select winners, while friends in the WordPress community sponsor the cups.

Each $5 cup covers the tea, delivery, and our admin costs — bringing comfort, culture, and connection across borders.

💡 If you are interested in sponsoring, you can find out more over at WPKitchen.

That’s It For This Week 👋

📢 So, friend, as we continue our summer series of Loop WP in a more condensed format, if you have:

• A piece of news,

• A product or some thoughts about WordPress or WooCommerce…

… and you would like to share it, reply to this email and let me know.

I can’t promise that I will share it, but you never know.

See you next week! 😀

Weekly WordPress News & Tips

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

• No More Purple -WooCommerce Block Theme: An update on our strategy. (WooCommerce)

• The Value of Content - Why Semantic HTML matters for SEO and AI. (Barry Adams)

• 50% Robot - The web isn’t URL-shaped anymore. (Jono Alderson)

• ⚡️ Bolt - Can AI Really Code Websites Now? (WPTuts)

• Learning SEO - How to Optimize during the Great Decoupling or How to Optimize for Zero Click Search? (Alyeda Solis)

• Good & Bad News - 2025 mid-year WordPress vulnerability report. (Patchstack)

• Higher Education Report - WordPress Holds Ground in Higher Ed, but the Sector Is Demanding More, According to New Report from Human Made & WP Campus. (The Repository)

• FlowMattic 5.2 - Introducing MCP Servers. (FlowMattic)

• Interview - Automating WordPress form and checkout testing with Matt Schwartz of CheckView. (WP Builds)

• Ramblings Return! - Learn more about WordPress performance, tutorials, WordPress content, and occasionally the odd topic. (Remkus de Vries)

• Free Shipping - Tactics to boost sales and AOV. (WooCommerce)

• AI Building Blocks - Key celebrations included the publication of the roadmap, all four repositories going live, the first PHP AI Client PR being merged, and the growing community interest. (WordPress AI Team)

• WordCamp Dhaka 2025 - 18th – 19th October 2025. Senaprangan, Dhaka Cantonment, Dhaka. Sponsors are now being called. (WordCamp Dhaka)

• Can it Survive? - You might be ghosting the internet. (BBC & Lily Ray)

• How Far Can You Go? - WordPress as a low-code platform. (Kinsta)

• Mac Only - This Free Tool Will Save You HOURS Coding! (WPTuts)

• Why It Matters - How I Moved Customizer CSS to an External File. (Matt Cromwell)

• AI Search: The Future - AI Mode is just too good to ignore. (Barry Adams)

• Inside Enqueue - A New Developer-Focused WordPress Event Coming to APAC. (The Repository)

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

👋 Until next time,