Show Notes
The Linux Foundation forms new Laminas project to support continued growth of Zend Framework and PHP tooling
From Zend to Laminas
Laminas
Swoole – Production-Grade Async programming Framework for PHP
SymfonyLive London 2019 is coming on September 12th and 13th. This year, we organize the 8th edition of the conference! Join us at the only Symfony conference in the UK for 2 days of Symfony downtown London:
Pre-conference workshop day on September 12th. Workshops topics will be announced soo...
The Laravel team released Laravel v5.8.16 yesterday with new migration events and adds the ‘Renderable’ contract to the MailMessage class.
Visit Laravel News for the full post.
The post Laravel 5.8.16 Adds New Migration ...
As more people look to further their learning online, there has been a growing market for software to help businesses build and sell courses. Known as a Learning Management System (LMS), these niche apps include (more or less) everything you need to get up and running.
Like many other speciality tools, the LMS was at one time standalone, clunky and expensive. However, in recent years there have been a number of options released that fit all manner of needs and budgets. One of the brightest and busiest areas of LMS development have come in the form of WordPress plugins.
Today, we’ll introduce you to a variety of plugins that will take your standard WordPress install and transform it into an educational powerhouse. They offer features such as course building, eCommerce and testing – along with a number of other helpful tools. Some are free, some are commercial, but all can bring online learning to your website.
One of the best known LMS plugins, LearnDash offers a high level of control over just about every aspect of your online courses. It includes a course builder that lets you easily create hierarchical lessons (each with their own set of topics) as well as flexible online testing. There’s also some eCommerce functionality built in, although the plugin is additionally compatible with WooCommerce. In addition, this commercial plugin offers a number of integrations with plugins ranging from membership (Paid Memberships Pro, MemberPress) to bbPress forums.
LearnPress is a free plugin (with multiple Pro upgrade options) that can be used to build and sell online courses. Out of the box, it works with WooCommerce and BuddyPress to help you sell online and communicate with students. There are also a number of free add-ons that offer functions such as prerequisites, offline payments and import/export. Pro add-ons enable assignments, the awarding of certificates and support for a number of additional payment gateways.
A free option with a number of commercially-available add-ons, LifterLMS offers the ability to build multimedia-rich courses. Courses can be single or multi-instructor, have prerequisites and quizzes. Students get their own dashboard to track progress and access account information. They can also be awarded badges based on their achievements. Site owners, meanwhile, have the option to sell courses or make them available for free.
First thing’s first, Moodle is a free, open-source LMS platform. While it features its own set of powerful plugins, there may be times when you want to integrate your courses into WordPress as well. That’s where Edwiser Bridge – WordPress Moodle LMS Integration comes in. The free plugin adds the ability to sell your Moodle courses via PayPal (WooCommerce support is available through one of a number of commercial add-ons). Other features include syncing between WordPress and Moodle, cross-site registration, plus lots of hooks and filters for custom development.
MasterStudy LMS is a free plugin that lets you build and sell flexible online courses. For instance, your courses can contain a wealth of multimedia, including images, videos, graphs and slides. Sell online through PayPal or Stripe and build community with the included messaging system. Students can earn certificates for completing a course and even rate courses they’ve taken. The plugin works with any theme, but use it with the commercially-available MasterStudy theme and get even more custom functionality.
A free WordPress plugin with a Pro option, Namaste! LMS offers a solid variety of features. Create various rules for your courses, assign user roles to students and use the included grading system to track student progress. Students can also earn course certificates. Note that the plugin itself doesn’t offer testing or eCommerce functionality, but is compatible with Watu for testing and WooCommerce for sales. Pro features include the ability to limit course access, award badges and lots of extra usability tweaks.
WP Courseware offers a full suite of functionality in a commercial plugin. Build courses with a drag-and-drop UI, restrict access, drip content and manage your students. Flexible quiz and instructor management systems are also built right in. There’s also integration with a number of membership and eCommerce plugins, along with support for recurring subscriptions.
WPLMS is a bit unique among this group as it is part of a commercial theme (the functionality is not available on its own). That said, it may be a great choice for those looking for an all-in-one solution. Features include a front-end course builder, user activity recording, a notification system, quizzes and even a mobile app. It also integrates with WooCommerce, BuddyPress and popular membership plugins.
Share Knowledge with Ease
While all of the plugins above have their own unique qualities, they all share a common thread: The ability to quickly and easily create an online learning environment. So, no matter where your area of expertise lies, you will be able to share it with the world without a huge investment in development time or even budget.
Pregnancy brings with it a wave of happiness and celebration for the entire family, but at the same time it also comes with a lot of stress, health issues and myths. Since ages there have been various myths, which are passed on from generation to generation.
Well, as we mentioned most of these myths around pregnancy just add on to the stress and fear surrounding the health of the mother and baby. Hence, we thought of sharing an insight into these myths and how far they are worth trusting.
Here are a few food myths around pregnancy you must read before following:
Dairy and nuts can be harmful for the baby
This is a common myth that the mother should avoid eating peanuts and dairy based products as it is believed to make the baby allergic.
Reality:
There’s is no harm in eating milk based products and peanuts during pregnancy. However, if the mother is allergic to such foods in that case one should avoid it. However, a few foods are not good for consumption during that time and they include raw meat or fish, raw or partly cooked eggs, and soft-serve ice cream.
Overeating for the baby
According to a common belief many people suggest eating for two during pregnancy and it is believed to provide the baby ample nutrition.
Reality:
Overeating is just not good for the body as it ends up affecting your liver. It is harmful for the mother as well as for the baby. Hence, one must avoid this practice and rather going for a wholesome healthy and balanced diet is the key to good health, and is enough to provide ample nutrition to the baby.
Avoid hot baths and use of artificial chemicals
This common myth is not exactly wrong. In fact, blistering hot water can lead to hormonal changes and can lead to discomfort and feel warmer than usual, especially during pregnancy.
Same is the case with artificial chemicals such as dyes and paints, which can be harmful for the mother as well as for the baby. One should also avoid all types of food coloring.
Colorful schemes and geometric solutions were named two leading trends in the graphic design sphere earlier this year. Many respectable artists and analysts have bet on these two approaches to prevail in 2019. And their predictions are coming true. Bright visual identities as well as those that feature clever geometric compositions appear here, there and pretty much everywhere.
Even though these two trends perfectly exist on their own, offering designers a vast scope of opportunities, it seems that they can make a cute couple and produce an even more significant impact together. This alliance is not just a colorful scheme used in tandem with a geometric approach. It is a true symbiosis where splashes of color are enclosed within various geometric frames.
Sometimes they interact with each other, sometimes they work separately. Nevertheless, together they create unique abstract scenery that adorns the backgrounds of various elements of brand identity – starting with business cards and ending with packaging. Colorful and shaped designs are a trend-within-a-trend that excites the audience and encourages designers to practice their creativity.
Let’s consider some exciting projects as examples.
The Complete Toolbox for Designers Unlimited Downloads: 500,000+ Print & Web Templates, Actions, Brushes, Mockups & Much More!
We are going to start our collection with a representative example, Personal Branding by Allyssa Ellis.
The goal behind this branding was to introduce Allyssa’s bright, fun and charismatic personality to the audience. And she has nailed it. The brand identity establishes a positive mood from the first look here. The shapes are smooth and feel elegant, whereas the color scheme is pastel. That adds to the feminine atmosphere. The project is fully in line with the artist’s creative thinking and character.
The design will take you aback with its bright personality. Even though the chaotic explosion of vibrant tones has been coordinated here, nevertheless it feels like an artistic outbreak. The project aims to represent young creatives, so it is not surprising that it has such a bold and a bit strange appearance. Note how the colors overlap letters here, erasing the border between foreground and background. The idea is just brilliant.
Unlike the two previous examples that exude eagerness of youthfulness on all fronts, this brand identity project looks mature and stately. Golden blotches of various shapes give the composition a bit of luxury feel. Note how easily and naturally the artist managed to combine such drastic colors as lime and turquoise. They have pulled off a fantastic result.
Created by Kristina Hristova, this project looks positively odd. It certainly has an artistic quality that sets the tone to an appropriate one for the museum theme. It seems like one of the installations from the modern art gallery.
Each flyer strikes an eye with its intricate design, with well-thought-out layering and color combos. At some point, it even reminds us of a scrapbook style. Yet with some modern tricks and moderate usage of layers. This project naturally breaks away from the rest of the crowd.
Deriving colors from the airport terminal design and inspired by traditional Chinese window lattice, this is an outstanding project. There are only sharp angles and rectangles: they make the visual identity look techy and business-like. The coloring adds to the overall aesthetics and makes things appealing to the eye.
Guided by the client’s aim to cultivate the idea of luxury living and a spirit of the citadel of traditions that is London, Cansu Merdamert has dealt with one of the most beautiful and challenging color combinations out there.
Beautiful green, yellow and red conveys the deluxe atmosphere without feeling posh. The smooth shapes make the design feel friendly and inviting, as well as meet the business side of the project.
John Dias’ project is just amazing. Bright colors, with purple used as the primary, along with a bunch of primitive geometric shapes. They look childish, but skillfully establish a positive feeling here. The duotone photography made in beautiful yellow and green perfectly blends in and pleases an eye from the first glance. The design sets the proper tone for the company as well as makes the message sound “loud”.
While all of the previous examples have more or less sleek aesthetics, the brand identity concept created by this Cairo-based artist certainly looks sharp – literally and figuratively. Various colorful polygons form the scenes here. The typography with acute letterforms completes an ensemble. Targeted at youth, the project easily meets Generation Z with its bold and daring look.
Much like the previous example, LFD’s brand identity also has many sharp angles and irregular polygons. They also overlap each other, creating an intricate layered complexity.
However, this time the color scheme is not as daring as in the case of Academy. On the contrary, the tones perfectly complement each other, creating a true harmony in the design. The beautiful patchwork that reminds of raw pieces of leather effortlessly portrays the fashion industry that stands behind this project.
Circles, circles, circles. The divine geometric shape takes center stage in this visual identity, working dynamics and metaphors into the project. You will find bright colors that are shaped in primitive geometric forms. Whereas horizontally split layouts identify the horizon to enhance the idea, beautiful photos make the concept closer to people.
The beauty of Ideafix lies in a fantastic mixture of lovely soft colors and various geometric forms. There are waves, zigzags, circles, checkered patterns, polka dots and so on. The typeface with shifted coloring nicely finishes off the design, making the composition feel complete. The project looks simple yet attention-grabbing.
Tandem Trends
Each trend has its pros and cons. Both are able to draw and maintain the user’s focus on brand identity. They can be used to create a magnificent design that borders with the artwork. Each one has its own life. However, when working together, they become a powerful couple.
The bright scheme in tandem with a geometric approach does not produce an ornate outcome. On the contrary, the primitivism of shapes, especially circles, softens an impact generated by the vibrancy that comes from the coloring.
Geometry helps to create order out of chaos and, at the same time, achieve an outstanding abstract art that conveys emotions and feelings. Add this to the fact that these two solutions are currently in fashion, and you end up with a powerful tool for grabbing attention.
Version 5.2 of WordPress, named “Jaco” in honor of renowned and revolutionary jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. New features in this update make it easier than ever to fix your site if something goes wrong.
There are even more robust tools for identifying and fixing configuration issues and fatal errors. Whether you are a developer helping clients or you manage your site solo, these tools can help get you the right information when you need it.
Site Health Check
Building on the Site Health features introduced in 5.1, this release adds two new pages to help debug common configuration issues. It also adds space where developers can include debugging information for site maintainers.
PHP Error Protection
This administrator-focused update will let you safely fix or manage fatal errors without requiring developer time. It features better handling of the so-called “white screen of death,” and a way to enter recovery mode, which pauses error-causing plugins or themes.
Improvements for Everyone
Accessibility Updates
A number of changes work together to improve contextual awareness and keyboard navigation flow for those using screen readers and other assistive technologies.
New Dashboard Icons
Thirteen new icons including Instagram, a suite of icons for BuddyPress, and rotated Earth icons for global inclusion. Find them in the Dashboard and have some fun!
Plugin Compatibility Checks
WordPress will now automatically determine if your site’s version of PHP is compatible with installed plugins. If the plugin requires a higher version of PHP than your site currently uses, WordPress will not allow you to activate it, preventing potential compatibility errors.
The minimum supported PHP version is now 5.6.20. As of WordPress 5.2*, themes and plugins can safely take advantage of namespaces, anonymous functions, and more!
With the addition of webpack and Babel configurations in the wordpress/scripts package, developers won’t have to worry about setting up complex build tools to write modern JavaScript.
*If you are running an old version of PHP (less than 5.6.20), update your PHP before installing 5.2.
The Squad
This release was led by Matt Mullenweg, Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and Gary Pendergast. They were graciously supported by 327 generous volunteer contributors. Load a Jaco Pastorius playlist on your favorite music service and check out some of their profiles:
Also, many thanks to all of the community volunteers who contribute in the support forums. They answer questions from people across the world, whether they are using WordPress for the first time or since the first release. These releases are more successful for their efforts!