Hi!

We are just a week away from the official release of WordPress 6.3 which will mark the end of the Gutenberg Phase 2 Project.

Last week our team attended the WordCamp Bengaluru, and it was an absolutely fantastic experience. From the informative sessions to the joy of meeting familiar faces, we are eagerly anticipating the next WCBLR.

We are excited to announce that your favorite podcast is now available on YouTube. Please subscribe and support us.

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

WordPress 6.3 Release Candidate 2 now available

The latest RC is now available for download and testing. Now, we are just a week away from the launch of the final version, which will happen on August 8, 2023.

• What’s new in Gutenberg 16.3?: This is largely a maintenance release, with the focus being on ironing out bugs, but also includes various enhancements.
• Call for volunteers to help with 6.3 Learn WordPress updates: The Training team needs volunteers, in order to update and revise content on Learn.WordPress.org for the upcoming WordPress 6.3 release, expected on August 8th, 2023.
• WP Contributor Mentorship Program: Live Polyglots introduction: An onboarding call will be hosted on Aug 2 at 10:00 am UTC on Zoom, to introduce individuals to the Make Polyglots team and its rewarding contributions to WordPress.
• WordPress performance analysis finds translations may significantly slow down sites: A recent in-depth performance analysis earlier this year showed that translations can have an impact on server response times.
• Start testing WordPress’ new Interactivity API: Developers can follow the API’s “Getting Started” guide on GitHub to scaffold an interactive block with `@wordpress/create-block`.
• Proposal: improve the editor tech workflow for major releases: A proposed solution with the aim to reduce the time needed to update Core with the latest features from the Gutenberg plugin has been published.
• ClassicPress community considers re-forking WooCommerce for Classic Commerce v2: ClassicPress, the fork that has been keeping WordPress 4.9 on life support for those who don’t want to use the block editor, will soon be moving into version 2.0 after the community voted to re-fork a newer version of WordPress (6.x).
• Slack matrix bridge is now available: This will allow users to engage in chat participation from either Matrix or Slack. DMs are not part of the bridge, so on Matrix if you DM people, you’ll only get a response if they also use Matrix.
• Synced patterns: The evolution of reusable blocks: An overview of what can be achieved with patterns and also a quick update on synced patterns replacing reusable blocks from WordPress 6.3 onwards.
• Proposal: Next generation event URL: An update on the progress of one of the ideas proposed in Next Generation Event Tooling has been published. Based on it, the Community Day in Rome will be the first NextGen pilot event to use the new URL mapping structure.
• Announcing OverflowAI: Stack Overflow has announced the roadmap for the integration of generative AI into their public platform, Stack Overflow for Teams, and brand-new product areas.
• OpenAI’s AI Text Classifier is no longer available: Open AI has announced that its AI Classifier is no longer available from July 20, 2023, and the reason for it being its low rate of accuracy.

🚨WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES

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

Wordfence brand being actively used in phishing campaigns

Wordfence has uncovered a campaign where malicious actors use the Wordfence brand image to run a phishing scam on WordPress and Wordfence users.

• Multiple high severity vulnerabilities in Ninja Forms plugin: Three vulnerabilities have been patched in the latest version and all users are advised to update to the latest version immediately.
• Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (July 17, 2023 to July 23, 2023): 62 vulnerabilities were disclosed in 1035 WordPress Plugins and in 90 WordPress themes.
• WordPress vulnerability & patch roundup July 2023: Monthly vulnerability roundup report from Sucuri.

🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES

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

Next Business theme

SEO-optimized and mobile-responsive business theme.

• WZR theme: A theme inspired by Weezer with five style variations.
• Travel FSE theme: A responsive theme suitable for travel websites.
• Easy disable source, no right-click, image and content protection plugin: The plugin allows site admins to enable or disable right-click, view source, copy, paste, and F6 options on their website.
• Awesome view count plugin: The plugin showcases the number of times a post has been viewed.
• Max quantity for Woocommerce plugin: The plugin allows users to set a maximum quantity limit for each product in your WooCommerce store.

💸 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

• Barn2 has acquired the WooCommerce Product Tabs plugin: WooCommerce Product Tabs created by WPConcern has been acquired by Barn2 Plugins. The plugin currently has over 9,000+ active installations.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from WordPress Community

WP Career Summit 2023

Post Status will host the annual career summit on October 20, 2023. It will be an online event and the registration is now open.

• Sponsor the Inclusion in Tech Webinar Series: Underrepresented in tech is looking for sponsors to support their Inclusion in Tech Webinar Series.
• Reaching new heights: Hostinger client base surpasses 2 million worldwide: Hostinger has reached a new milestone of having over two million clients. The first million clients were achieved over the course of 17 years, whereas the next one million only took three years.
• Bluehost Celebrates 20 Years!: A quick look at the inception and major milestones as Bluehost celebrates the 20-year milestone.
• WebDevStudios layoff employees: Mitch Canter on Twitter talks about the recent layoff at WebDevStudios.
• New Nasa website runs on WordPress: Eric Karkovack has shared an interesting finding about the all-new Nasa beta website using WordPress.
• Yoast SEO 20.12: Improvements and fixes: The latest version includes several fixes and enhancements that focus on refining the plugin, optimizing the functionalities, and improving the user experience.
• WooCommerce 8.0 beta 2 released: This beta release includes several fixes, improvements, and enhancements. The final release date for WooCommerce 8.0 is August 8, 2023.
• WooCommerce Blocks 10.7.1 Release notes: This a patch release that includes a fix for a bug with the add to cart button on product pages.
• Introducing WPML ElasticPress 2.0: The plugin will allow users to add an advanced, accurate, and fast search engine to a multilingual WordPress site.
• Gravity Forms is now available on WordPress.com: Matt Medeiros has announced via Twitter that Gravity Forms is now available on WordPress.com for users on a Business plan and above.

INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

• The WordPress dashboard needs some love: From The WP Minute
• Why WordPress is probably right for you: From Rich Tabor
• How Astra increased website traffic by 10% with Microsoft Clarity: From Microsoft Clarity Case Studies
• The little search engine that couldn’t: From The Verge
• How NASA is using WordPress to promote open source technologies: From WPMU DEV
• Hey, can we chat on Zoom real quick?: From Matt Ryan
• WordPress 6.3 features in 6 mins: From Dave on WP
• Techies need marketers: Devin Walker and Matt Cromwell on the power of partnerships to build successful startups: From Plugin.fm
• How to make the most of sponsoring WordCamps: From Post Status
• Giulia Laco on the importance of typography for your websites: From WP Tavern Jukebox
• The rule of thumb: GDPR, plugins, and understanding your data – Interview with Helmut Januschka: From Osom to Know
• Like having 1000 interns: The magic of AI in web development with Josh Koenig: From WPAI – WordPress meets Artificial Intelligence
• Test, don’t guess with Viola Gruner: From Press This
• Customer-centric support: Enhancing the WordPress product experience: From WP Product Talk
• Patterns, Gutenberg 16.3 and WordPress 6.3: From Gutenberg Changelog
• 7 Best WordPress CAPTCHA plugins + a much better alternative: From Jetpack
• Gutenberg vs Elementor: Key differences between WordPress page builders: From Kinsta
• The European Accessibility Act 2025: It may apply to your website: From Kinsta
• Why it’s important to make tech more accessible: From Akamai
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) in WordPress: How to eliminate it: From Torque
• How long SEO takes to work: From Search Engine Land
• The best AI video generators for creators and marketers: From Search Engine Land
• What does the Norwegian meta behavioral ads ban really mean?: From Search Engine Journal
• How we host Ars Technica in the cloud, part two: The software: From Ars Technica

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

• How to create a blog in Laravel: From Kinsta
• Keyword research for SEO: the ultimate guide: From Yoast
• Using custom SlotFill to extend a codebase: From Ryan Welcher
• How to write an online business plan in 2023: From WooCommerce
• How to detect user preferences with CSS: From Speckyboy
• How to scan a website for vulnerabilities: From Sucuri
• Beyond block styles, part 2: building a custom style for the separator block: From WordPress Developer Blog
• Improving website performance with caching: From Learn WordPress
• How to secure your WordPress website in 2023 (Detailed Tutorial): From Elegant Themes
• Creating an automated meeting minutes generator with Whisper and GPT-4: From OpenAI
• How to use product shortcodes in WooCommerce: From Iconic
• How to customize the WooCommerce product page: From Iconic
• Testing WordPress 6.3 – Developer edition: From WordPress TV
• Overcoming writer’s block: Planning a blog’s content: From WordPress TV
• WordPress Developer Hours – Styling Blocks (July 2023): From WordPress TV
• WordPress maintenance: Essential routine tasks & checklist: From Jetpack

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

• WordCamp Kampala on August 5-6, 2023: Tickets are out.
• The WordPress Community Summit on August 22-23, 2023: The Community Summit is an “unconference,” without slides, selected speakers, or planned presentations. 
• WordCamp US 2023 on Aug 24-26, 2023: Contributor day signup is now open.
• WordCamp Kathmandu on September 8-9, 2023: Call for sponsors is now open.
• WordCamp Malaysia 2023 on Sep 9, 2023: Call for speakers and sponsors is now open.
• WordCamp Rochester on September 30, 2023: Call for speakers and sponsors is now open.
• WordCamp Masaka on October 6-7, 2023: Tickets are available now.
• WordCamp Deutschland 2023 on Oct 19-21, 2023: Call for speakers is now open.
• WordCamp Asia on March 7-9, 2024: Call for speakers 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

• 10% off on Crazydomains WooCommerce online store (Coupon Code- BUILDURSTORE)
• 50% discount on yearly and lifetime plans on Variable Inspector Pro
• Up to 50% off on plugins & PHP scripts at CodeCanyon
• 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
• Up to 75% off hosting plans at HostPapa
• 50% off for Advanced Giftcards for WooCommerce plugin
• 55% off for Annual Hosting plans at Nexcess
• 85% 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 
• Upto 95% off for PitchGround products 
• Upto 65% off WordPress Hosting plans at InMotion Hosting
• 73% off hosting plans at SiteGround
• 60% off at Hostgator India
• Up to 85% off on VPS plans at Liquid Web (Coupon Code – SUMMER85VPS)
• 50% off on Managed Dedicated Server Hosting at Liquid Web

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