Our 2021 Recap and WordPress Plugin Update Journey

2021 Recap and WordPress Updates

Over the past year, we’ve transitioned to become part of the LiquidWeb family of brands and have launched over 100 releases. We're sharing an inside peek into our 2021 journey and highlighting several of the features we've introduced. Take a look.

It’s mind-blowing to think how 2021 flew by so fast. Just yesterday, or so it seems, we were saying goodbye to 2020, wondering if a new year would finally give us a break from the COVID-19 mayhem. To add to the ambiguity, we were facing a major shift as a team. However, despite being surrounded by questions of how the year would progress, we had one goal in mind: To keep improving our WordPress plugins for the community we love.

Transitioning from Modern Tribe Events Calendar

Since 2009 when The Events Calendar was first published on the WordPress repo by Modern Tribe, we grew rapidly from a single plugin to an entire suite of event-focused solutions for WordPress users. In January of 2021, this remarkable growth led to our being acquired by LiquidWeb from Modern Tribe–a major transition in which our team of 50+ folks moved from one amazing company to another. Our friends at Modern Tribe are a world-class agency providing services to reputable organizations like Harvard University and Nike. Likewise, our new parent company, LiquidWeb, is one of the leading managed hosting service providers in the industry. We’ve got a great history, and an undoubtedly bright future ahead of us. Learn more about this transition in this post by our General Manager, Zach Tirrell. 

The Birth of StellarWP

The journey continued and in May of 2021, StellarWP was launched and became home to all of LiquidWeb’s WordPress solutions. StellarWP encompasses some of the most beloved and dependable tools in WordPress and our sister companies now include GiveWP, iThemes, Restrict Content Pro, Kadence, LearnDash, Iconic, and Orderable.

WordPress Plugin Updates. New Features Released in 2021

Amidst the changes, transitions, and movements, our focus remained to make our products better. We pushed out 108 releases that included bug fixes, updates, security patches, and enhancements. As we walk down our 2021 memory lane, here’s a recap of the many new features we released across all our products in the past year. 

Event Tickets & Event Tickets Plus

Edit Event Tickets Programmatically 

Released in: Event Tickets 5.1

Release date: February 16, 2021

In a nutshell: You can now use a simple function to edit event attendees and ticket orders.

This feature opened up a slew of possibilities for our users who are developers or prefer to make website changes programmatically. With this feature, you can add and update event attendees, fetch orders, and make ticket changes, using a WordPress function. This new function is capable of calling data from ticket orders using the tribe_tickets_orders() function, which also supports e-commerce providers for Event Tickets Plus.

Attendees Report Update 

Released in: Event Tickets Plus 5.2

Release date: February 16, 2021

In a nutshell: You can now manually add and edit attendees directly from the Attendees Report screen.

With this new feature, users can manually make changes to their attendees, assign them to specific tickets and RSVPs, and edit custom registration field information. Add attendees as the administrator from this page and simply choose the ticket or RSVP to add them to. From there, a ticket will be created and emailed to the attendee. 

Resend Tickets 

Released in: Event Tickets Plus 5.2.5

Release date: June 9, 2021

In a nutshell: Administrators can now resend tickets to attendees.

We’ve now created an easily accessible resend tickets link on the Attendees screen so that administrators can simply resend tickets to attendees who need to have their tickets emailed to them again.

Attendee Regeneration

Released in: Event Tickets Plus 5.2.7

Release date: July 6, 2021

In a nutshell: Users can now regenerate attendees when using WooCommerce.

This feature allows users to regenerate attendees from the WooCommerce Orders page. We’ve added some new functions so that users can customize this behavior programmatically as well. In addition, this came with enhanced WooCommerce templates for showing ticket and attendee data in Order details pages and emails.

Tickets Commerce

Released in: Event Tickets 5.2.0, Event Tickets Plus 5.3.0

Release date: November 3, 2021

In a nutshell: Introduces Tickets Commerce, our free ecommerce solution.

Tickets Commerce is our new and improved ecommerce solution to help you sell tickets for free. With features like an easy PayPal integration, brand new checkout and success pages, and a new payment tab for Event Tickets, this is a game-changer for our free Event Tickets plugin users. We’ve got lots of resources to help set you up with Tickets Commerce in our Event Tickets guide.

The Events Calendar & Events Calendar Pro

Elementor Compatibility

Released in: Events Calendar Pro 5.4.0

Release date: March 2, 2021

In a nutshell: Adds compatibility with Elementor, including the ability to use Elementor’s four native Events Calendar widgets seamlessly with our plugins.

This feature improves upon the compatibility with Elementor, most significantly by adding the ability to use Elementor’s native widgets with an Events Calendar Pro integration. With this integration, users can add one of the widgets to any page builder area created with Elementor and have a calendar displayed anywhere on their WordPress site. You’ll also find support for changing the number of events to display per page within the [tribe_events] shortcode via the events_per_page argument and additional Elementor filters to further customize the calendar appearance.

Month View Customizer Option

Released in: The Events Calendar 5.7.0

Release date: May 27, 2021

In a nutshell: Adds new Month View options to the WordPress Customizer.

With this feature, users can now more easily edit the styles of the Month View calendar, right from the WordPress Customizer, without any additional coding or CSS knowledge, when using our updated calendar views. You can now alter the colors for each aspect of the Month View calendar with just a click of a button.

Summary View

Released in: Events Calendar Pro 5.7.0

Release date: May 27, 2021

In a nutshell: Introduces Summary View for Events Calendar Pro users.

Summary View is the first new calendar view that we’ve released since our plugin’s inception! This new view gives users a quick overview of upcoming events and shows the title, date, and time of each event. You can enable Summary View under Events Settings > Display and check Summary under Enable Event Views.

Events Bar Customizer Option

Released in: The Events Calendar 5.8.0, Events Calendar Pro 5.8.0

Release date: July 1, 2021

In a nutshell: Events Bar WordPress Customizer option is now available.

We’ve added the option to edit the colors of the events search bar, using the WordPress Customizer. Now you can make quick color changes to this element without having to use any CSS code.

Customizer Font Controls

Released in: The Events Calendar 5.9.0

Release date: August 24, 2021

In a nutshell: Expands WordPress Customizer support with new font options.

This feature adds the ability to make additional font family and size changes from the WordPress Customizer. Previously, this option was only available as an extension, but now we’ve added it as part of our core plugin to allow even more customizations without using any additional coding. You can find the font option in the WordPress Customizer under The Events Calendar > Global Events.

Events Manager

Released in: Events Calendar Pro 5.9.0

Release date: August 24, 2021

In a nutshell: Events Manager offers a new way to add, edit, and delete events from the backend.

Events Manager is a brand new way to manage all of your events with Events Calendar Pro. You can find Events Manager by clicking Events in the WordPress admin menu, then the Manager button at the top of the screen. There, you’ll see what looks like the calendar that you typically see on the front end, except you can hover over your events and edit, delete, or view them from there.

Single Event Redesign

Released in: The Events Calendar 5.10.0, Virtual Events 1.7.1

Release date: October 19, 2021

In a nutshell: Upgrades the appearance of the single event page when using the Block Editor.

With this release, we’ve improved our single event page when using the Block Editor. You’ll find a fresh, modern appearance that matches the other calendar views. We’ve also added a virtual events placeholder block to begin working on allowing users to add a virtual event when using the Block Editor. If you decide that the single event redesign just isn’t for you, have no fear because you can still use the legacy designs! To do so, just add a constant to your wp-config.php file and you’ll be back in business.

Event Statuses & Shortcodes to Blocks

Released in: The Events Calendar 5.11.0, Events Calendar Pro 5.10.0

Release date: November 17, 2021

In a nutshell: New event statuses (Scheduled, Canceled, Postponed) and added new event blocks.

This release gave our customers the ability to add an event status to events. Previously only available as an extension, you can now find the event status options in the right-hand sidebar where you create your events. We’ve also added an Events List block and Mini Calendar block that you can add when using the Block Editor.

Subscribe to Calendar

Released in: The Events Calendar 5.12.0, Events Calendar Pro 5.11.0

Release date: December 2, 2021

In a nutshell: Adds new subscribe options to the “Export Events” link at the bottom of calendar views and single event view.

This feature adds new subscribe to calendar options for Google Calendar and iCalendar. Previously, only export buttons were available on calendar pages. When events were exported, they did not have the ability to receive updates to events. Now, users can see new and modified events on their personal calendars, once they subscribe to your WordPress calendar.

Virtual Events

how-to-set-up-calendar-virtual-events

Hybrid Events

Released in: Virtual Events 1.3.0

Release date: April 20, 2021

In a nutshell: Adds the option to mark an event as a hybrid event.

Hybrid events include the best features of both virtual and in-person events and now they are included in our Virtual Events plugin. They come with a dedicated hybrid event icon, displayed on all calendar views so that users can easily scan through your events and determine which event is a hybrid one.

Multiple Zoom Hosts

Released in: Virtual Events 1.4.0

Release date: May 10, 2021

In a nutshell: Allows users to choose multiple and alternative hosts with Zoom.

Users can now select from multiple Zoom hosts and choose alternative hosts when generating new Zoom meetings and webinars on their WordPress sites. Once connected to your Zoom account, you can choose a host from the dropdown menu right where you configure your virtual events.

Multiple Zoom Accounts 

Released in: Virtual Events 1.5.0

Release date: June 10, 2021

In a nutshell: You can add multiple Zoom accounts within the admin.

With this release, users can now add multiple Zoom accounts to toggle between under Events Settings > Integrations. You’ll find a new step added where you configure virtual events on the single event page to select which account you’d like to use.

YouTube Live

Released in: Virtual Events 1.6.0

Release date: July 26, 2021

In a nutshell: Adds support for YouTube Live as a virtual event video source.

We’ve added a YouTube Live integration that allows you to livestream your YouTube Live events  from your WordPress site. This lets users stay on your website instead of directing them away to YouTube in order to watch your live event. Once configured, you can select your YouTube channel right from the dropdown where you configure virtual events.

Facebook Live

Released in: Virtual Events 1.7.0

Release date: October 12, 2021

In a nutshell: Adds support for Facebook Live as a video source.

You can now embed Facebook Live on your event page with this new integration. Once you add your Facebook page (or multiple pages) to the settings, you’ll find Facebook Live as a video source option. This is a great way to keep your users on your event page instead of directing them away to Facebook.

And so much more

Wow, what a year! That’s our 2021 in a nutshell. So much more happened that we can’t cover in one post. We couldn’t have done any of this without support from users like you all across the globe. Huge thanks to our awesome team of developers, support heroes, marketers, and administrators who work day and night to make things happen here at TEC. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve got up our sleeve for this year. Check out our blog and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on our releases and happenings as the year progresses. From our team to yours, we wish you a happy, successful, and safe 2022.