Welcome to SolidWP

The other day, I was searching the web and came across a WordPress blog post about code refactoring. Nothing newsworthy there, but something jumped off the page and caught my attention, maybe because the iThemes-SolidWP rebrand has dominated my thoughts for nearly a year: proper justification and clear rationale.

Proper justification and clear rationale,¹ one of the sniff tests that code refactoring must pass to be considered a valuable use of resources. 

That’s what I want to share with you: The justification and rationale behind the SolidWP product enhancements and our decision to focus on products that form a solid foundation for every WordPress website you build. Plugin development that doesn’t have user needs central to its vision ultimately serves no one. iThemes, now SolidWP, built its brand on being user-centric. The rebranding and re-engineering of our core products is no different. 

We’re most excited about the integration of Patchstack into Solid Security Pro. This means you don’t need to jump on every vulnerability the second you learn about it — we do it for you. And, you don’t need to worry about vulnerabilities for which the developer has issued no patch — we patch it for you. 

We call it always-on security and it’s a game changer for site builders, developers, solopreneurs, and really anyone who takes security seriously but can’t be everywhere all at once all the time. 

This is a significant change in our product and one that is centered solely on you, the user. Check out our awesome demo for Solid Security with developer Timothy Jacobs. 

Cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated every day. It’s challenging for WordPress site builders and developers to stay ahead of them. Adding a safety net like Patchstack is our way of saying, “We’ve got your back.” 

Other enhancements to Solid Security – both Basic and Pro – we think you’ll benefit from are: 

• New and improved UI/UX
• Dedicated User Security Screen
• New vulnerabilities screen
• Improved site scanner

Proper justification and clear rationale for improvements are at the heart of our work on Solid Backups (formerly iThemes Backup Buddy). 

With Solid Backups we bring you increased stability and improved usability. Reliability, peace of mind, and ease of use are central to any backup solution. We check the box in each of these areas with Solid Backups. 

Watch the video detailing our work on the file restore process to see how we’ve simplified the process from start to finish. 

One piece of customer feedback we took great care to act on was the impact on server load during the backup process. Our activation scheduler calculates what your server can handle when batching file move jobs. We also have automated verification that the files you selected to restore were successfully restored! 

Users will also benefit from: 

• Improved compatibility with Dropbox, G Drive, S3, & more
• User-pleasing design and UI/UX refresh
• Major code refactor

Ease of use and improved visibility into important site functions are at the heart of our work on Solid Central (formerly iThemes Sync). 

The health and performance of the websites you manage aren’t important only when you’re sitting at your desk. You need visibility when you’re on the go as well, which is why we improved mobile styling and ensured that you can view all actions from your dashboard on a mobile device. Click here to see our demo. 

You’ll also appreciate: 

• A redesigned reporting section where you can see everything you need upfront in a clean, sleek way. 
• Revamped UI 
• Better integration with Solid Security and Solid Backups 
• Bulk actions like plugin and theme updates save you tons of time

Our SolidWP Customer Experience Team 

This isn’t something we discussed in our rebrand communications, but it’s an important brand enhancement that will make a difference in the customer experience. 

Our customer experience team is committed to ensuring your success with all our products. Our knowledgeable customer success team members strive to respond to every request in 2 to 4 hours (Monday to Friday during regular business hours). 

You’ll get actionable feedback and insight into your SolidWP technical problems and a resolution in hours, not days. 

Find out more about our support commitments to you here.

What’s Next?

We are committed to providing you with a solid foundation for every WordPress website you build; that’s our focus today and moving forward. How do we help you build a solid foundation for your business? How do we contribute to your success?

As we continue to innovate, every decision we make will be able to answer this question: What is the proper justification and clear rationale for this decision based on what our customers need?  

Thanks for being part of this journey. 

Notes

1. WordPress Core Handbook, Code Refactoring documentation. <https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/contribute/code-refactoring/> ↩︎