Hi!
WordPress 6.3 is set to arrive today and will mark the closure of the Gutenberg Phase 2. Also, we got a preview of what the website-building process will be like with AI.
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,
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📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND
All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies
WordPress 6.3 Release Candidate 4 now available
This is an unplanned RC release to address a bug and will not impact the general WordPress 6.3 release date.
- WordPress Remembers: WordPress has created a special page to commemorate and pay tribute to the valuable contributors who have been a part of the community but have since passed away.
- WordPress offers free transfers for domains from Google Domains: WordPress.com offers to cover the domain transfer fees for the first 1 million Google Domains customers, plus an extra year of registration.
- Concerns over the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA): The post outlines WordPress’ take on CRA.
- WordPress 6.3 release day process: Automattic sponsored contributor, Héctor Prieto has shared the release process for the upcoming WordPress 6.3.
- WordPress 6.3 performance improvements: This post summarizes the performance improvements that are part of the upcoming WordPress 6.3.
- BuddyPress 12.0 to introduce Community Visibility Feature that restricts access to members only: The Community Visibility setting makes it possible to create a private community site without adding any plugins to BuddyPress.
- Whose ticket is it, anyway?: The post tackles a few of the concerns with regard to ticket ownership, milestones, and merging the tickets in a milestone into the Core.
- Recap: Inaugural NextGen Pilot Events: An overview of the first two NextGen WordPress pilot events that were held in July 2023.
- Announcing the first Learn WordPress Course Cohort: The first ever Learn WordPress Course Cohort will start the week of the 4th of September, 2023, and end the week of the 9th of October, 2023. The topic of this cohort will be “Developing your first WordPress Block”.
- Introducing the Training Team Guide Program!: The program seeks to foster a collaborative environment for new contributors to learn and grow alongside seasoned contributors.
- Hallway Hangout: Extending blocks with custom design tools: The next Hallway Hangout that will happen on August 17, 2023, at 1:00 PM CST (18:00 UTC), will cover how to create custom design tools for blocks from a theming perspective, learn how to move beyond the Block Styles API and create your own custom controls and also cover the current limitations of theme development and how block development can be used to extend block themes.
- Design Share: Jul 3-Jul 28: The design team has shared an update on a few projects they have worked on over the past couple of weeks.
- Meta to get consent before collecting data for targeted advertising in Europe: The company put forward the proposal in a bid to try and end a year-long dispute with the European Union over the legality of its targeted ad operations.
- Introducing AudioCraft: A generative AI tool for audio and music: This AI tool will allow users to make high-quality audio and music from text and will consist of three models.
- OpenAI files trademark application for GPT-5: The application is currently awaiting examination by the USPTO and was filed on July 18, 2023.
🚨WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES
A collection of web security and vulnerability news and updates for the past week
WebToffee addresses Authentication Bypass vulnerability in Stripe Payment Plugin for WooCommerce WordPress Plugin
The vulnerability makes it possible for an attacker to gain access to the accounts of users who have orders. These users are typically customers but can include other high-level users when the right conditions are met. The vulnerability was patched in version 3.7.8.
- Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (July 24, 2023 to July 30, 2023): 64 vulnerabilities were disclosed in 66 WordPress Plugins and 3 WordPress themes.
- Authenticated RCE in JetElements for Elementor Plugin: The vulnerability which allowed a user with a minimum role of Contributor able to execute arbitrary PHP function to achieve code execution was patched. All users are advised to update to the latest version immediately.
🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES
Be one of the first ones to explore some fresh plugins and themes
Jadro theme
A minimal and lightweight theme with 6 style variations suitable for blogs, small businesses, startups, law firms, and other creative agencies.
- Pineapple WPEX theme: A minimal theme for bloggers with 8 style variations.
- Easy album gallery plugin: This allows you to create a photo gallery on your website with a few simple steps.
- Comment form WP plugin: The plugin allows users to customize and modify the website’s comment form.
👥 COMMUNITY NEWS
Updates and News from WordPress Community
ZipWP, AI-powered WordPress website creation platform
The CEO of Brainstorm Force Sujay Pawar, and WordPress influencer Adam Preiser have created ZipWP, which uses AI to create websites in just 60 seconds. Adam Preiser has done a detailed video that shows what the entire process will be like.
- Katie Keith to join the Do the Woo Host Team: Katie Keith from Barn2 Plugins will be the new co-host for the series Woo Biz Chat alongside Marcus Burnette.
- Melapress is now live: WP White Security has completed its rebrand to Melapress.
- WPBakery 7.0: Redefining user experience with a major branding update: The latest update introduces a modern branding and interface redesign, and also includes new features such as blank page wizard and custom JavaScript.
- WPML 4.6.5 – Seamless compatibility with WordPress 6.3: This version is fully compatible with the soon-to-be-launched WordPress 6.3 and bids farewell to support for PHP 5.6 in favor of PHP 7+.
- CovertKit updates WordPress Plugin, adds members only content, newsletter feed, and product embeds: ConvertKit has updated its official WordPress plugin and WooCommerce add-on to support a range of new features.
- InstaWP announced two new integrations: The latest integrations are with SlimSEO and Mailtrap.
- Elementor is taking us back in time: In a recent post, Elementor calls our attention to the fact that it’s been 32 years since the first website was published.
- Kirki Premium is available for free for all: The Kirki Premium is now free for all including all its pro extensions for the theme developers.
- Kraft Builder: This is a new WordPress theme builder and the beta version is now available for users to try out.
- Introducing Jetpack Newsletter: Your ultimate growth engine: The highlight of the Newsletter feature is that it allows users to send blog posts as newsletters, and the other features include the ability to create a signup form using the subscribe block, import subscribers, and so on.
- AI for WordPress 2: The next chapter: The second edition of the AI for WordPress will take place in September 2023. The attendee and speaker registrations are now open.
- Announcing Notion, Google Docs, and Intercom integrations: DocsBot now officially supports integration with Notion, Google Docs, and Intercom.
- All new Conversational forms add-on: The new add-on allows users to create modern, interactive, engaging, and distraction-free forms that help to increase conversion rates and involves no code.
- HPOS: full rollout delayed: The team has decided to delay the full rollout to all new WooCommerce stores until WC 8.2, due to some issues that were found during the testing stage.
INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS
More blog posts and podcasts from WordPress Community you don’t want to miss
- Plugins: Bad Thief: From Half-Elf on Tech
- Dan Walmsley on how WordPress can adapt to the reality of AI: From WP Tavern Jukebox
- From great idea to greater brand: Hadas Golzaker on why product makers have to keep branding in mind: From Plugin.fm
- Paid advertising for WordPress Products: the why and the how: From WP Product Talk
- We want your inspiration! Announcing WPMotivate Stories: From WPMotivate
- Kraft theme builder preview: From David McCan
- What do freelancers need from WordPress?: From The WP Minute
- Why I contribute to the open-source WordPress project: From Patricia BT
- Demystifying the WordPress vulnerability landscape: 2023 Mid-year Wordfence intelligence WordPress vulnerability review leveraging ChatGPT: From Wordfence
- Zoom has “Zoom fatigue,” requires workers to return to the office: From Ars Technica
- How Wix ADI elevates website creation for everyone: From Wix
- 7 Best local WordPress development environments in 2023: From Jetpack
- Big changes coming to WordPress 6.3 with Justin Tadlock: From Press This
- WordPress Sustainability Team: Here’s what it’s all about: From Torque
- How tracking backend activity improves WordPress security: From Speckyboy
- Live Q & A: Design systems and theme.json: From Gutenberg Times
- Tech experts are starting to doubt that ChatGPT and A.I. ‘hallucinations’ will ever go away: From Fortune
- The best AI tools for global SEO expansion: From Search Engine Land
- Can search engines detect AI content?: From Search Engine Land
🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE
Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle
- Understand and use WordPress nonces properly: From WordPress Developer Blog
- Beyond block styles, part 3: building custom design tools: From WordPress Developer Blog
- How to add tables to your site: From Learn WordPress
- Olga Gleckler: Contributor Mentorship: How to start contributing to the WordPress Core: From WordPress TV
- Blogging with WordPress: Basics: From WordPress TV
- What is Error 404? How to fix & troubleshoot 404’s on your site: From Sucuri
- Build blocks with AI: From Rich Tabor
- How to set up Amazon SES for WordPress emails: From Delicious Brains
- Deploying WordPress on AWS EC2: A beginner’s guide: From Aman Pathak
- How to build a Slackbot with Node.js and Kinsta API for site management: From Kinsta
- How to clone a WordPress site using the Kinsta API and React: From Kinsta
- WooCommerce and Elementor: How to build a store with style: From Kinsta
- How to easily add a booking form in WordPress (2023): From Elegant Themes
- How to Prevent and Manage Online Payment Fraud in 2023: From WooCommerce
- How to create a link building strategy: From Search Engine Land
📆 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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