Hi everyone! Here’s a snapshot of some of the excellent WordPress.com community advice, insights, and updates that we enjoyed over the past month.

What’s new

Introducing Your New Social Icons Widget

The Social Icons Widget allows you to connect your site to your favorite social media networks. You can activate it by going to My Site → Customize → Widgets. Check out the full guide to using the new widget or just watch the video above to learn more.

An All-New Media Library for the WordPress iOS App

In May we launched a new media picker for Android iOS users, and in June, we announced a new media library in the 7.8 release of WordPress for iOS. It includes a top-level section for each site you manage. With one tap from the details menu, you can view all your media, search, edit metadata, delete items, and upload new items. How’s that for efficiency? Download the easy to use WordPress app for iOS and Android.

Designing for [X]: Visual artists

New Theme: AltoFocus

The AltoFocus theme features a tiled layout that’s designed to help visual artists showcase their talents. The grid automatically shifts to accommodate new posts, no matter the screen size. Try it out, leave a link to your AltoFocus-themed site in the comments, and tell us how well you think it shows off your best work.

In your toolbox: inspiration + insights

Blogging Made Easier: Five Tricks You Should Know

Leif Singer, part of the design and research team at WordPress.com, shared a few features that streamline your publishing experience, including how to easily add images to posts and respond quickly to comments. We hope these tricks help you accomplish your site and blogging goals.

101 Books to Dive Into This Summer

Illustration by Maya Sariahmed

TED Ideas (powered by WordPress.com VIP) compiled dozens of recommendations by TED speakers and published a summer reading list to conquer all others. Whatever your areas of interest, you’ll find something excellent on this list.

Quotables: “We are─or at least I am─equipped with this expansive mental chest of drawers. Each drawer is packed with memories, or information. There are big drawers and small ones. A few have secret compartments, where information can be hidden. When I am writing, I can open them, extract the material I need and add it to my story.” – Haruki Murakami’s Advice to Young Writers (Longreads).

Now following

WordPress.org’s new monthly updates, which has launched with a few awesome announcements for June.

Photographer Sean Strecker’s new site, strex.blog, shows off works like this photo of a winter sunset overlooking Burleigh Beach.

Follow us on Twitter for insights about the WordPress.com community, writing tips, plus the top daily business, technology, and social media news. Tweet using the hashtag #PoweredbyWordPress to share your latest work.

That’s all for now!

What did you love about your own work in June? Comment with a link to a post you’re proud of or something new you learned about designing your site. Feeling motivated? Download the WordPress app on iOS and Android.