This update focuses on some small changes that lay the foundation for a better Shifter user experience. Those changes are related to the Shifter Must Use Plugins.
Every site on Shifter launches with a few Must Use (or MU Plugins) which are plugins are get automatically installed and activated. All of these plugins serve a particular purpose while helping Shifter’s static site generator crawl your WordPress site.
To date, we’ve focused on the functionality alone but today we announce some framework changes and an improved UI.
Shifter WordPress API
This is a new addition to the Shifter MU plugin. This plugin acts as the “backbone” and primary means for how WordPress receives and process data from the container environment it’s running on. The most common example of this is retrieving the container ID.
Shifter MU
This is also a new addition and it’s quite simple but vital to the other plugins. Shifter MU acts as a wrapper plugin placing the generator settings options and a new landing page all in one place. In the future, as we introduce new features this plugin will help our developers more easily integrate new UIs or refine existing ones.
Shifter Generator Settings
This is one our first plugins we launched for Shifter and it’s getting an updated look. The primary purpose of the Shifter settings plugin is to give users control what content is generated.
For example, if you do not need media attachment pages for each upload you can skip generating them. Say your theme doesn’t use daily archives? You can skip those too! But that’s not all. You can also skip monthly, weekly, yearly, author archives, and feeds.
By skipping most of the content you do not need or use, you can reduce the time it takes to generate your site by as much as ~70% in most cases.
Longer MFAs Available Now
A few weeks back we introduced MFA (or 2FA) for logins. This helps keep your Shifter account secure against brute force attacks or malicious activity. Today, we announce longer MFA codes for more secure logins.
Generator Updates
Since our last release, we resolved a bug related to the generator failing under some conditions. This will provide better coverage for more sites.