How WooCommerce Plans To Boost Developers & Merchants via @sejournal, @martinibuster

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WooCommerce announced their roadmap for the aboriginal of WooCommerce, emphasizing two-way connection with the developer ecosystem successful bid to beryllium responsive to their needs which further the goals of improving the acquisition for developers, merchants and customers.

WooCommerce highlighted 7 important areas for innovation and six circumstantial areas that are targeted for enhancements that volition amended developer and merchant experience.

1. Stronger WooCommerce And Developer Communication

WooCommerce precocious launched a newsletter that seeks to support developers successful the look with the latest WooCommerce news, offering aboriginal previews of caller features, positive tutorials and different accusation that volition support the assemblage successful the loop.

The announcement explains 3 benefits of the newsletter:

  1. “Exclusive Insights:
    Gain entree to behind-the-scenes cognition and tips that tin elevate your improvement game.
  2. Latest Content:
    Engage with recently published blog posts and documentation, showcasing our latest releases, resources, advisories, and more.
  3. Feature Updates and Announcements:
    Keep your projects existent by receiving the latest updates connected caller features and indispensable changes successful WooCommerce.”

2. Upgrading The WooCommerce Blog and Documentation

Another country of betterment that relates to connection is to emphasizing the authoritative WooCommerce blog arsenic a reliable root of accusation that’s important to developers.

WooCommerce is besides committing to improving their documentation with much guides, step-by-step tutorials, champion practices and besides making it easier to navigate and find needed information.

The roadmap explains:

“Our extremity is to capable important cognition gaps successful areas specified arsenic extensibility, artifact development, and taxable customization, empowering developers to commencement and thrive connected our platform.

This is simply a invited quality for developers. One idiosyncratic commented connected X (formerly Twitter):

“Coincidentally, I saw this instantly aft speechmaking my developers’ frustrations astir the documentation for the caller merchandise exertion successful our interior discussions – truthful it’s bully to spot that improving this is connected the roadmap.

Specifically, we person respective plugins which adhd functionality to the ‘Edit Product’ screen, truthful we request to integrate them with the caller merchandise editor. My developers are uncovering this unnecessarily hard because:

– The developer accusation astir each diagnostic is scattered passim aggregate quality articles erstwhile it should beryllium collated successful 1 location.

– The links to the GitHub discussions astir the caller Product Editor successful the “Roadmap Insights” articles constituent to the WooCommerce Product Block Editor treatment class (which doesn’t beryllium anymore) alternatively of the caller WooCommerce New Product Editor one.

– We’re reluctant to update our plugins that integrate with the variations exertion due to the fact that the hooks and filters required for this hold are presently marked arsenic experimental, truthful we mightiness person to redo enactment if they alteration successful future.

– We were expecting to spot a timeline for the caller merchandise exertion successful January/February but this inactive isn’t clear, truthful we don’t cognize however heavy to prioritize the changes successful our plugins.”

3. Improvements To REST API V3

Improvements to the REST API v3 are a apical priority, with a absorption connected backward compatibility. They are besides committing to reducing the backlog of issues and caller diagnostic requests positive improving API performance.

They besides said they would absorption on:

“…upgrading API documentation, mistake handling, and debugging capabilities.”

4. Improve Feedback Loop connected Extensibility

A feedback loop is the connection betwixt WooCommerce and the developers who usage it, with the extremity of betterment being a collaboration that results successful a superior merchandise that amended serves developer and merchant needs.

Extensibility refers to the flexibility of WooCommerce to beryllium extended and adapted, which is an important payment of WooCommerce. Thus, 1 of the “destinations” successful the WooCommerce roadmap is to marque definite that it is adaptable and easy molded by developers.

Communication betwixt developers and WooCommerce is simply a cardinal portion of maintaining and improving the extensibility of WooCommerce.

WooCommerce commented:

“As we marque caller features the default experience, we are moving to make abstraction for collaboration with our developer assemblage successful bid to refine these features, incorporated feedback, and gradually determination towards afloat adoption.

In the past year, we person begun utilizing GitHub Discussions, Developer Office Hours, and different sources of feedback to signifier and prioritize extensibility points successful particular. This iterative process not lone enhances the level but besides strengthens the ecosystem, making WooCommerce a much robust solution for everyone.”

5. WooCommerce Is Committed To A Block-Based Future

WooCommerce committed to a 100% block-based diagnostic improvement successful precocious 2023 arsenic portion of a imaginativeness of making WooCommerce easier to usage for non-coders. A 2nd information is to make a much adaptable buying level to physique upon. As portion of this committedness WooCommerce is signaling that present is the clip to halt relying with older solutions similar shortcodes and bequest APIs.

The connection read:

“If your solutions are inactive relying connected shortcodes oregon different bequest APIs, it’s clip to clasp blocks and modernize your approach.”

WooCommerce announced steps they are taking to span the modulation to a afloat block-based improvement platform:

  • Adding much resources to the WooCommerce Developer Documentation
  • Increased frequence of connection connected the WooCommerce blog
  • More posts to present caller features tutorials for however to usage them
  • A renewed absorption connected creating video tutorials

6. Streamlined onboarding:

WooCommerce is focusing connected further simplifying the process of mounting up a store and getting online faster. They are besides improving the workflow for developers who acceptable up stores for merchants. They said that their acquisition from simplifying the setup process was an astir 60% summation successful completion rates.

7. Modern Store Customization

Another absorption is connected being capable to integrate the customization options disposable to WordPress successful wide but WooCommerce is besides looking into creating afloat optimized commerce-based themes that are circumstantial to WooCommerce.

They write:

“While we’re ensuring compatibility with each block-based themes successful the WordPress ecosystem, we’re besides exploring what it would look similar to supply our ain afloat block-based, commerce-optimized taxable retired of the box.”

Six Specific Areas For Future Improvements

  1. Flexible merchandise management
  2. Optimized bid absorption and fulfillment
  3. Revamping merchant analytics
  4. Accessible stores
  5. Evolving checkout experience
  6. Better integration of bid confirmation with summary and shipping information

WooCommerce Roadmap Leans In On Community

The Roadmap outlined by WooCommerce recognizes that the idiosyncratic assemblage is its strength, frankincense it’s focused connected gathering a stronger merchandise based connected what developers request to supply merchants with the ecommerce acquisition merchants expect. Focusing connected creating much documentation and videos shows that WooCommerce is engaging to enactment the WordPress developer assemblage and intends to stay the starring ecommerce platform.

Read the WooCommerce roadmap announcement:

WooCommerce successful 2024 and beyond: Roadmap update

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Luis Molinero