Hi!

A proposal to establish a formal WordPress Sustainability Team is now live and open to feedback from the community. Also, an initiative has been proposed which seeks to iron out the issues when it comes to organizing WordCamps.

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

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📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

Gutenberg 15.9 has been released

This release includes 171 PRs from 56 contributors, and includes several exciting features such as an improved Site Editor user experience and a new command tool with a pending name. A minor version Gutenberg 15.9.1 was also released with 2 fixes – Custom fonts are back again visible on the editor and Social icon colors now correctly reflect changes in Global Styles.

• WordPress 6.4 Development Cycle: The roadmap for the third major release of WordPress in 2023 has been published. The proposed date as of now is on November 7, 2023.
• Proposal: establishment of a formal WordPress Sustainability Team: The three main goals for the proposed Sustainability Team will be to spread awareness about digital sustainability, increasing sustainability during WordPress events, and building an ecosystem that leads on sustainability.
• Two-Factor Auth available to test on WordPress.org: The 2FA for WordPress.org accounts is now open for testing as an opt-in feature.
• WP-CLI v2.8.0 Release Notes: This is a minor release with the primary purpose of polishing PHP 8.1/8.2 support and has had 66 contributors collaborate to get 277 pull requests merged.
• Early speaker and volunteer selection and improved visa support: An initiative has been put forward to avoid last-minute challenges in relation to organizing WordCamps. It seeks to solve the issues related to the timing of speaker and volunteer selections, and also seeks to tackle problems relating to obtaining a visa.
• Google unveils Digital Marketing Playbook amidst privacy changes: The playbook introduces how different key players, such as marketers, agencies, and executives, play a critical role in the future of advertising while keeping privacy at the top of mind.
• Google modifies shopping ads policies to enhance transparency: Google has updated its Shopping ads Policy Center and free listings Policy Center to improve transparency for advertisers and retailers. 
• TikTok dominates short-form content, Instagram Reels not far behind: A study finds TikTok outperforms Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts in user engagement and content frequency, while Reels leads in watch time.
• YouTube is the most profitable platform for creators, survey shows: Creators earn the most from their brand partnerships on YouTube – more than Instagram and TikTok, according to a new survey. On YouTube, 6% of creators earned more than $10,001 per month – compared to 3% of Instagram creators and 2% of TikTok creators.

🚨WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES

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

Jetpack 12.1.1: Critical Security Update

A vulnerability with the API available in Jetpack which could be used by authors on a site to manipulate any files in the WordPress installation was recently patched.

• CVE-2023-2825 vulnerability In GitLab version 16.0.0: CVE-2023-2825 vulnerability allows unauthorized access to GitLab repositories to read arbitrary files. 
• Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection in Gravity Forms Plugin:  If you’re a Gravity Forms user, please update the plugin to at least version 2.7.4.
• Privilege Escalation vulnerability in WPDeveloper’s ReviewX plugin: This vulnerability makes it possible for authenticated attackers to grant themselves administrative privileges via a user meta update. Please update your sites with the latest patched version of ReviewX.
• Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (May 22, 2023 to May 28, 2023): 90 vulnerabilities were disclosed in 77 WordPress Plugins.
• WordPress Vulnerability Report – May 31, 2023: Weekly vulnerability report from ithemes
• WordPress Vulnerability & Patch Roundup May 2023: Monthly vulnerability roundup from Sucuri

🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES

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

Snapfolio theme

A theme that is designed specifically for photographers, artists, and creative professionals.

• Foodie blocks theme: A block theme designed specifically for the modern food blogger with 1-Click Demo Content Importer, unique page templates, block patterns, and more features.
• OutWit Lite theme: A versatile eCommerce WordPress block theme with 17+ block patterns, 15 Templates, and 7 Template Parts.
• Image-bridge plugin: The plugin allows users to add custom image URLs, alt and title attributes to the featured images of your pages and posts, and products.
• Calculate customer’s savings plugin: The plugin shows customers how much they can save in an order.
• WPC variation duplicator for WooCommerce plugin: The plugin allows users to quickly duplicate all properties of a variation into the new one.

INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

• RankMath has been acquired by group.one: group.one which owns the most popular speed optimization plugin WP Rocket and image optimization plugin Imagify has expanded its portfolio by acquiring the SEO plugin, RankMath.
• InstaWP & Atarim to partner: The partnership and integration will result in a much-improved feedback process, collaboration, and cooperation when working with clients.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from WordPress Community

Instacart is adding generative AI to its search experience

Called Ask Instacart, the new search feature is designed to help answer shoppers’ grocery-related questions and give a boost to sponsored product campaigns.

• WooCommerce 7.7.2 fix release: It introduces a few fixes for issues that were introduced in the 7.7.1 release.
• Oxygen 4.6.2 released: It is a hotfix release to correct an issue caused by a change to Section display properties in 4.6.1. 
• Web.com announced two new AI-based tools: The AI Writer tool is for customers, while the AI Domain Name Generator is free and available for anyone to use without having to sign up for anything.

🔖INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

• All about OWASP Large Language Model (LLM): From Astra Security
• History of ChatGPT: A timeline of the meteoric rise of generative AI Chatbots: From Search Engine Journal
• Wix changed how websites are built and why you should pay attention: From Search Engine Journal
• Greenshift and Cwicly compared: From David McCan
• Open source Is freedom: From WPMotivate
• Mike McAlister on why block themes are the future: From WP Tavern Jukebox
• Gutenberg vs Classic Editor: 29 reasons to switch (or stay put): From Torque
• How do you rank FSE Block Themes currently?:  From Remkus de Vries
• How to get started with WordPress: From Kadence WP
• Beyond the usual: The underappreciated power of AI & ChatGPT: From Kim Doyal
• Things i’ve learned from the WordPress community: From Speckyboy
• WP 20th anniversary: cast of characters part 2: From The WP Minute
• The magic behind your WordPress post: A beginner’s guide to databases: From Pootlepress

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

• How to secure WordPress Login URL: From Patchstack
• How to update, install & remove WordPress plugins & themes with WP-CLI: From Sucuri
• Laravel Eloquent Relationships: An advanced guide: From Kinsta
• Managing a WordPress multisite network: From Learn WordPress
• AI Hacks: Improve customer experience with AI-Powered form submission confirmation emails: From Beaver Builder
• Small business SEO and local search: the ultimate guide: From YoastSEO
• JavaScript features you need to know to master React: From Kinsta
• How to reduce DNS lookups to speed up a WordPress Site: From Jetpack
• How to establish your brand entity for SEO: A 5-step guide: From Search Engine Land
• A beginner’s guide to editing the WordPress theme.json file: From Pootlepress
• How to install Laravel on Windows, macOS, and Linux: From Kinsta
• Content mapping: Who, what, where, when, why and how: From Search Engine Land
• How to switch from a classic to a block theme: From Learn WordPress
• Using block inspector sidebar groups: From WordPress Developer Blog

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

• WordCamp Europe 2023 on June 8-10, 2023: Tickets are available now.
• WordCamp Cartagena on June 10-11, 2023: Tickets are available now.
• WordCamp Iloilo on July 8, 2023: Call for sponsors is now open.
• WordCamp Bengaluru on July 29, 2023: Call for speakers is now open.
• The WordPress Community Summit on August 22-23, 2023: In the early planning stages, the Community Summit is an “unconference,” without slides, selected speakers, or planned presentations. 
• WordCamp US 2023 on Aug 24-26, 2023: Call for sponsors is now open.

🎁 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

• 50% discount on yearly and lifetime plans on Variable Inspector Pro
• 33% off on Paid Memberships Pro plugin (Coupon Code – LOVE23)
• Up to 50% off on plugins & PHP scripts at CodeCanyon
• Up to 40% off on Astra theme
• Up to 40% off for CartFlows
• 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
• 40% off at OceanWP
• Up to 75% off hosting plans at HostPapa
• 50% off for Advanced Giftcards for WooCommerce plugin
• 33% off for Annual Hosting plans at Nexcess
• 83% off at AtlasVPN 
• 30% off for Fluent Forms plugin
• 50% off at Formidable Forms
• 20% off for FluentCRM plugin
• 50% off for WP Social Ninja plugin 
• 10% Store Wide Discount for PitchGround products (Coupon Code – PG-D7WCAD75F)
• 68% off WordPress Hosting plans at InMotion Hosting
• 73% off hosting plans at SiteGround
• 60% off at Hostgator India
• 75% off VPS Monthly Plans at Liquid Web
• 50% off on Managed Dedicated Server Hosting at Liquid Web

Latest from WP-CONTENT.CO

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Team WP-CONTENT.CO

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