Hi!

WordPress 6.4 beta 4 is now available and this marks the end of the beta cycle. The RC1 will be released later today. WordPress 6.3.2 was also released which patches several security flaws. The WordPress photo directory now has over 10k photos and also iThemes has been rebranded to SolidWP.

You can also subscribe and listen to the podcast version of this newsletter on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

Until next week,

Bye!

Team WP-CONTENT.CO

---

Community Sponsors

WP Job Openings – Easy-peasy Recruitment Plugin.
Create a career page and start recruiting talents in a few minutes
Check it out  →

---

📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

WordPress 6.4 Beta 4 released

The beta 4 is available for download and testing now. The RC1 is set to be released later today.

• WordPress 6.3.2 – Maintenance and Security release: This release houses 19 bug fixes on Core, 22 bug fixes for the Block Editor, and 8 security fixes.
• What’s new in Gutenberg 16.8: The latest release allows the cover block to automatically set the overlay color, a new template toggle when editing pages, improvements to the font library, and so on.
• Introducing Block Hooks for dynamic blocks: WordPress 6.4 will introduce Block Hooks, a feature that provides an extensibility mechanism for Block Themes.
• Changes to attachment pages in WordPress 6.4: From WordPress 6.4, attachment pages for new WordPress installations are fully disabled.
• Introducing admin notice functions in WordPress 6.4: The post covers the two new functions arriving in WordPress 6.4.
• Script loading changes in WordPress 6.4: The post covers all the script loading changes in the upcoming WordPress 6.4 release.
• WP-CLI v2.9.0 release date: October 25th: The v2.9.0 release of WP-CLI is scheduled to be published on Wednesday, October 25th, 2023.
• 2024 Community Team Reps nominations and proposal for reps structure: The post outlines the process of nomination and how the new community team representatives for 2024 will be selected.
• Revitalizing the WordPress Showcase: The WordPress Showcase will be updated on Wednesday, October 18th and the post sheds light on the new design and development stages.
• Updates to global header and footer navigation: The post covers the changes that will come to the header and footer navigation on WordPress.org on October 18th.
• WordPress core is now using Playwright for all browser-based tests: All browser-based tests in WordPress core now use Playwright. This includes end-to-end (e2e) tests, performance tests, and visual regression tests.
• New ‘registerInserterMediaCategory’ API: From WordPress 6.4, extenders can register their own inserter media categories and provide users with more options from which to choose.
• Editor Components updates in WordPress 6.4: The post covers all the notable changes made to the @wordpress/components package for the upcoming WordPress 6.4 release.
• Project update: The Guide Program’s first month: The post quickly recaps what the program is all about along with the feedback received and also discusses the future steps.
• WordPress contributors speed up Twenty Twenty-Four default theme performance by 40%: Ongoing work has resulted in a performance bump for the Twenty Twenty-Four theme as compared to its initial days.
• WordPress photo directory hits a new milestone: The WordPress Photo Directory is growing steadily and has over 10k photos now.
• What’s new for developers? (October 2023): The post covers all the new exciting updates that have arrived in relation to plugins, themes, and block development.
• Design Share: Sep 25-Oct 6: The design team has shared an update on a few projects they have worked on over the past couple of weeks.
• Nasdaq Chat: Matt Mullenweg engaged in a conversation with Nasdaq at the Silicon Slopes Summit in Salt Lake City where they talked about the WordPress project, open source, and distributed work.
• Engage a wider audience with ActivityPub on WordPress.com: The ActivityPub feature is now available on WordPress.com across all plans, which will allow blogs to be a part of the fediverse.
• Google Search officially stops indented results: Google has stopped showing indented results, as it wasn’t helpful with continuous scrolling.

🚨 WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES

A collection of web security and vulnerability news and updates for the past week

Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (October 2, 2023 to October 8, 2023)

There were 92 vulnerabilities disclosed in 88 WordPress Plugins.

• Pre-auth arbitrary file upload in User Submitted Posts plugin: An unauthenticated arbitrary file upload vulnerability was patched and users are to update to the latest version immediately.
• Unauthenticated File Upload Vulnerability Addressed in Royal Elementor Addons and Templates 1.3.79: The vulnerability was patched in the latest version and users are to update to the latest version immediately.
• How it works: The novel HTTP/2 ‘Rapid Reset’ DDoS attack: Google explains the novel HTTP/2-based DDoS attack which peaked in August.
• Microsoft’s new AI bug bounty program has rewards up to $15K: Microsoft launched a bug bounty program offering rewards up to $15,000 for finding vulnerabilities in AI systems, aiming to improve AI safety through external security testing.

🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES

Be one of the first ones to explore some fresh plugins and themes

Blogun theme

A lightweight, moderate, and customizable news magazine theme.

• Mindscape theme: A multipurpose theme suitable for a wide variety of sites such as small businesses, startups, or personal portfolio websites.
• Product Comparison Woocommerce theme: A theme suitable for e-commerce businesses, bloggers, and affiliate marketers.
• Marquee running text plugin: The plugin allows users to make marquee text at the top header, with fully customizable options.
• Darken plugin: The plugin allows users to easily configure and switch between dark and light modes in their WordPress dashboard.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

iThemes has become SolidWP

The rebranding from ithemes to SolidWP is complete. Solid Academy is the new face of iThemes Training. The rebranding has resulted in the following changes also, iThemes Security is now Solid Security, iThemes Sync is now Solid Central, and iThemes Backup Buddy is now Solid Backups.

• Introducing UiChemy: With UiChemy from POSIMYTH Innovations it is possible to convert Figma design templates to editable WordPress websites in Elementor and Gutenberg support is coming soon.
• Pods Introspective: 15 years later: A major milestone for Pods Framework as they celebrate the 15-year milestone and this post covers their journey so far.
• Jetpack 12.7 – AI excerpts, newsletter tiers, improved social sharing and more: The latest update brings an all-new feature that generates excerpts for content using AI, newsletter tiers, the blogroll feature is brought back, and so on.
• Torsten Landsiedel explains what happened to the WpSEO plugin: This thread on X covers what happened to the WpSEO plugin after Sergej Müller stopped developing for WordPress.
• Michelle Frechette seeking community volunteers for a new project: Michelle Frechette is planning to create a WordPress wiki and is looking for community volunteers who are interested in contributing to the project.
• Colin Stewart receives the Yoast Care fund for his contribution to the WordPress Core Team: Colin Stewart who is a part of the WordPress Core team and also a maintainer of the Upgrade/Install and Filesystem API components has bagged the Yoast Care fund.
• Felix Arntz has resurrected his plugin: The Attachment Taxonomies plugin has received its first update after a six-year hiatus.
• Ahrefs is preparing to stop renewing around 15% of legacy subscriptions: Dmytro Gerasymenko, the founder and CEO of Ahrefs has explained on X the reason behind such a decision.
• Playground-based pull requests previewer: Adam Zieliński has created a Playground-based Pull Requests previewer for WordPress Core.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

More blog posts and podcasts from WordPress Community you don’t want to miss

• Plugins: My way or nothing: From Half-Elf on Tech
• Demystifying WCAG 2.2: From Viget
• Top languages by GDP in 2023: What to choose for your website: From Translate Press
• Leaving XWP, but Not WordPress: A brief respite: From Jonny Harris
• Birgit Olzem and Jill Binder on creating a diverse and sustainable WordPress community: From WP Tavern Jukebox
• Press This: Understanding the Fediverse: From Torque
• HTTP/3 and WordPress: Understanding and using HTTP/3: From Torque
• How TechCrunch spent $1 million rebuilding their website: From Pootlepress
• E-E-A-T optimization: How to rank your site higher: From RankMath
• 8 Tips for using WordPress tags & categories for SEO: From SEOPress
• How do I optimize videos for various platforms and screen sizes?: From Yoast
• What are YMYL websites? How does Google evaluate these?: From Yoast
• How to use headings on your site: From Yoast
• What is HSTS: HTTP strict transport security: From Sucuri
• Why WordPress theme & plugin demos aren’t easy: From The WP Minute
• Achieving business goals through enhanced customer experience in WordPress: From WP Product Talk
• How to prepare for Google SGE: Actionable tips for SEO success: From Search Engine Land
• Is HTTP/3 the future of the web?: From Delicious Brains

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

• Choosing and installing a theme: From Learn WordPress
• Custom Database Tables: From Learn WordPress
• Turn Your Passion Into Impact by Building an Online Course: New course from WordPress.com
• Dynamic editor plugin icons!: From InnerBlocks
• How to add read more tag in WordPress: From RankMath
• How to block IPs, countries, and regions from accessing your WordPress website: From Patchstack
• How to customize your WordPress theme: Methods and best practices: From WPMarmite

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

• : The online event by Cloudways will help you prepare for the Black Friday Cyber Monday sales season. Registrations are now open.
• WordCamp Deutschland 2023 on Oct 19-21, 2023: Call for speakers is now open.
• WordCamp Tegal on October 22, 2023: The registration of participants is now open.
• WordCamp Mumbai on October 28-29: The call for sponsors is now open.
• WordCamp Montreal on November 8-9, 2023: Tickets are available now.
• Gaddy’s Award November 9, 2023: Registrations are now open for those who wish to attend the event where they will celebrate the winners of the first Gaady’s awards, honor the advances in digital accessibility, and support the work of the foundation.
• WordCamp Manila on November 11, 2023: The call for speakers is now live.
• WordCamp Udaipur on December 2, 2023: The call for speakers and sponsors is now open.
• WordCamp Ahmedabad on December 9, 2023: The call for sponsors is out.
• WordCamp Asia on March 7-9, 2024: Share your personal stories of contribution at WordCamps

🎁 WORDPRESS DEALS OF THE WEEK

Just the best deals of the week, again, handpicked by yours truly!

EXCLUSIVE DEALS

• 4 Months free offer on hosting plans of WP Engine (Coupon Code- FREEDOMTOCREATE)
• 15% off yearly plans at Videvo (Coupon Code – WPV15)

OTHER DEALS

• Up to 40% off for CartFlows
• Up to 42% off on domains on Namecheap
• 25% discount on all Moosend monthly plans for 1 month, valid from October 7- 31, 2023(Coupon Code- SPOOKYMOO25)
• Up to 75% off on plugins, themes and hosting at WP Hive
• 50% off Web Hosting Packages at StableHost (Coupon Code – 50OFFYEAR1)
• 80% off for plugins at WPPool
• Up to 75% off hosting plans at HostPapa
• 50% off for Advanced Giftcards for WooCommerce plugin
• 60% off all hosting plans at Nexcess
• 85% off at AtlasVPN 
• 20% off for Fluent Forms plugin
• 50% off at Formidable Forms
• 20% off for FluentCRM plugin
• 50% off for WP Social Ninja plugin 
• Upto 95% off for PitchGround products 
• Upto 65% off WordPress Hosting plans at InMotion Hosting
• 77% off hosting plans at SiteGround
• 60% off at Hostgator India (Coupon Code – SUNSHINE)
• Up to 74% off on 24 month VPS Plans at Liquid Web
• 50% off on Managed Dedicated Server Hosting at Liquid Web

Latest from WP-CONTENT.CO

---

Team WP-CONTENT.CO

Built with Newsletter Glue.