![\"WPBeginner](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/wpbeginner-spotlight-january-featured.png\")
<\/figure>\n\u2139\ufe0f WPBeginner Spotlight<\/a> brings you a monthly roundup of the most important WordPress news, updates, and community happenings. \ud83d\udcc5\u2728<\/p>\n Got something to share? Whether it\u2019s a new product launch, a significant update, or an exciting event, reach out to us through our contact form<\/a>, and your news could be featured in the next edition! \ud83d\udcac<\/p>\n<\/div>\n WP Media Cleanup<\/a> is a new plugin from the team behind Duplicator that helps you find unused WordPress images in your media library and remove them safely. <\/p>\n Whether you manage one site or fifty, it\u2019s a simple way to reclaim disk space, reduce hosting bills, and speed up site maintenance tasks.<\/p>\n It\u2019s helpful because WordPress creates multiple image sizes for every upload (thumbnails, medium, large, and more). Over time, those extra files can pile up and quietly eat up your storage space.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a problem because unused image files can make backups bigger, slow down migrations, and increase hosting storage usage. Manually figuring out which image sizes are safe to delete is also time-consuming and easy to get wrong.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how WP Media Cleanup helps:<\/p>\n Simply run a scan, and it will show you all the unused images and their variations that you can safely delete from your media library. <\/p>\n Your deleted images are then moved into a separate temporary location for 30 days. <\/p>\n And the best part is that you can undo your action by simply restoring it if needed.<\/p>\n For more details, read the full announcement<\/a>. <\/p>\n WP Media Cleanup<\/a> is available as a standalone plugin (starting at $29\/yr). It is also included bundled in the Duplicator Pro Elite plan.<\/p>\n WPForms<\/a> has officially launched its new Quiz Addon<\/a>, making it easy for WordPress users to create interactive quizzes without complex setup, third-party tools, or expensive software.<\/p>\n Quizzes are widely used for engagement, education, and lead qualification. However, building them has traditionally required conditional logic, manual scoring, and extra testing to make sure everything works correctly.<\/p>\n The Quiz Addon is designed to simplify quiz setup, scoring, and results tracking in WordPress. Users can get started with the WPForms AI form builder or choose a ready-made quiz template.<\/p>\n The addon works inside the WPForms drag-and-drop builder, so you can create a quiz<\/a> and manage entries without leaving WordPress.<\/p>\n WPForms Quiz Addon supports three quiz types:<\/p>\n Quiz results flow directly into WPForms\u2019 entry management system, where you can view detailed responses, analyze performance, and export results for reporting or collaboration.<\/p>\n Results can also trigger notifications, email sequences, or CRM integrations based on quiz outcomes. <\/p>\n Considering WPForms\u2019 recent automation integrations<\/a> with n8n<\/a> and Make.com<\/a>, this allows site owners to create smarter workflows based on quiz responses.<\/p>\n The Quiz Addon is included with WPForms Pro and higher plans.<\/p>\n Mary Hubbard, Executive Director of WordPress.org, shared big picture goals for 2026<\/a> in a recent post.<\/p>\n This year, there will be a strong focus on building momentum, improving collaboration, and making it easier for contributors to participate across the WordPress project.<\/p>\n A key highlight is the return to three WordPress releases per year, with WordPress 7.0 planned to launch alongside WordCamp<\/a> Asia (April 9, 2026). The release is positioned as a major step into Phase 3: Collaboration.<\/p>\n WordPress 7.0 Update \ud83d\udca1:<\/strong> The new release is expected to bring real-time co-editing to the block editor, along with improvements to media handling, responsive design controls, and new creative tools to make site building faster and more flexible.<\/p>\n Beyond Core development, the roadmap also talks about responsible AI adoption, stronger community onboarding, and more investment in meetups and education programs to support long-term growth.<\/p>\n Charitable has released new security<\/a> and spam-prevention features<\/a> designed to help nonprofits protect their donation forms while keeping the experience smooth for supporters.<\/p>\n Donation spam is a growing issue for fundraising websites<\/a> because it fills dashboards with fake entries, harms reports, and wastes valuable time. Charitable\u2019s latest updates focus on stopping abuse early while making cleanup easier when spam does slip through.<\/p>\n Charitable Lite now includes built-in CAPTCHA support, while Charitable Pro adds advanced controls, such as IP management and rate limiting, for layered protection across donation forms, registrations, and other submission flows.<\/p>\n For organizations managing large campaigns, these updates help keep donor records accurate, reports meaningful, and fundraising workflows distraction-free.<\/p>\n The updates are now available in both Charitable Lite<\/a> and Charitable Pro<\/a>.<\/p>\n WPConsent, the popular privacy compliance plugin for WordPress, has introduced advanced display rules<\/a> that let you control when and where cookie consent banners appear. This can help you stay compliant with privacy laws<\/a> like GDPR and CCPA while cutting down on unnecessary popups.<\/p>\n With this update, you can decide who sees the banner based on login status, user roles, or specific pages. For example, you can hide the popup for admins and other logged-in users while they\u2019re working in the dashboard.<\/p>\n The new controls also help businesses avoid distractions during critical moments, such as checkout or cart pages, where interruptions can negatively impact conversions.<\/p>\n The advanced display rules are available for WPConsent Pro<\/a> users and higher, giving site owners greater flexibility to show the right message to the right visitor at the right time.<\/p>\n WPCode<\/a> has released version 2.3.2, introducing a new Live Preview feature<\/a> that lets users see CSS and SCSS changes in real time while editing code snippets.<\/p>\n For many WordPress users, making small design changes often means repeatedly saving code, switching tabs, and refreshing pages to see results. This trial-and-error workflow can slow down even simple styling updates.<\/p>\n Live Preview shows changes in a site preview inside the WPCode editor, so you don\u2019t have to save, switch tabs, and refresh to check your work.<\/p>\n This makes it much easier to fine-tune elements like button colors, font sizes, spacing, and layout tweaks. <\/p>\n Instead of guessing how a change will look, users can adjust values and see the outcome as they type.<\/p>\n SCSS users benefit even more from this update. With WPCode Pro, SCSS snippets are now compiled automatically and previewed live, eliminating the need for separate build tools or external workflows.<\/p>\n Formidable Forms<\/a> has introduced a new Coupon feature<\/a> that lets site owners add discount codes directly to WordPress payment forms without creating duplicate forms or manually adjusting prices.<\/p>\n Running promotions with complex forms has traditionally been messy and error-prone. The new feature simplifies promotional pricing by letting users apply coupon codes without manual price changes.<\/p>\n Coupons can be managed from a central dashboard, where site owners can control expiration dates, usage limits, minimum order requirements, and which forms each code applies to. Discounts can start and end on their own based on your dates.<\/p>\n This makes the feature useful for early-bird pricing, limited-time sales<\/a>, affiliate promotions, and customer-specific discounts.<\/p>\n Coupons can be added to forms as a Coupon field. When users enter a valid coupon, the form will automatically adjust the pricing fields to reflect the discount.<\/p>\n The Coupon feature is available in Formidable Forms Business and Elite plans, giving advanced users a cleaner way to run promotions inside WordPress.<\/p>\nReclaim WordPress Disk Space and Cut Hosting Costs with WP Media Cleanup<\/h4>\n
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![\"WP](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/scan-results-unused-variations-1-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"restore](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/restore-deleted-versions.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWPForms Launches Quiz Addon to Help Users Build Interactive Quizzes in Minutes<\/h4>\n
![\"WPForms](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/wpforms-ai-quiz-form-example-1.png\")
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![\"Quiz](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/quiz-entries-wpforms.png\")
<\/figure>\nWordPress Shares Big Picture Goals for 2026<\/h4>\n
Charitable Adds Built-In Security, Spam Protection, and Easier Donation Cleanup<\/h4>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/charitable-security-features.png\")
<\/figure>\n![\"CAPTCHA](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/charitable-captcha-protection.png\")
<\/figure>\nWPConsent Adds Advanced Display Rules for Cookie Consent Banners<\/h4>\n
![\"WPConsent](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/wpconsent-hide-bannerr-rules.png\")
<\/figure>\nWPCode Adds Live Preview for CSS & SCSS Snippets to Speed Up Design Changes<\/h4>\n
![\"WPCode](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/wpcode-css-preview.png\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Live](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/wpcode-preview-css.png\")
<\/figure>\nFormidable Forms Adds Built-In Discount Codes to WordPress Payment Forms<\/h4>\n
![\"Formidable](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/formidable-couponse.png\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Formidable](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/formidable-coupon-entry.png\")
<\/figure>\nIn Other News<\/strong> \ud83d\uddde\ufe0f<\/h4>\n
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![\"All](\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/aioseo-logo-icon.png\"){kind=icon}
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