Google Web Stories WordPress Plugin Gets First Major Update

Google Web Stories WordPress Plugin Gets First Major Update

Google is rolling out the first major update to its Web Stories plugin for WordPress which accompanies three helpful new features.

Google’s Web Stories for WordPress version 1.1 enables site owners the ability to:

• Add GIFs to Web Stories via integration with Tenor.
• Make Web Stories with a greater variety of typography options.
• Add captions to Web Stories with video content.

Here’s a list of each of the new updates.

GIFs!

Google is integrating Tenor into its Web Stories plugin making it possible to add GIFs using a simple drag and drop interface.

But these aren’t simply regular GIFs. “As an added bonus,” Google says, “we use high performance video instead of the GIF format behind the scenes to make sure stories load quickly.“

With this upgrade users of the plugin can search through a huge library of GIFs using keywords, then click and drag one into the Web Story.

It’s designed to be nearly as simple as adding GIFs to an Instagram or Facebook story.

New Typography

Clients will have the option to choose new font styles from a list of great content sets while making a Web Story.

Google partnered with typography experts at iA, known for an application called iA Writer, to guarantee the highest quality of typography craftsmanship.

A personal note here – I’ve been using iA Writer on a daily basis for years to draft my articles. It’s my writing application of choice in huge part due to how aesthetic the fonts are.

Google notes of the particular fonts picked for the Web Stories plugin are created with editorial use-cases in mind.

“The result is a set of carefully created combinations that let you mix and match different harmonious typography, and a dynamic toggle (“Fonts in Use”) that shows you only text sets that match what you’re already using, so you can be confident that your choices pair well together.”

Video Captions

Users of the Web Stories plugin can now create more accessible content by adding video captions.

Video captions can be uploaded directly in the editor. As long as they’re formatted in the required VTT format they can be immediately added to all videos.

These updates are now available by updating the Web Stories plugin from the WordPress backend.

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