Hello!

Time flies! January is almost over and the WP Community is fully active. There are several scholarships up for grabs and some WordCamps on the horizon. Are you attending any? Do let us know.

Don’t forget to subscribe and listen to the podcast version of this newsletter on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, where you can hear more details and discussions about these topics and more.

See you next week!

Team WP-CONTENT.CO

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📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

Updates to Five for the Future from the Community Summit

Hari Shanker shared actionable recommendations based on Community Summit discussions, including implementing the Make/Contributor Tool into contributor recruitment for Five for the Future, establishing constant communications with current and new pledges, and improving Onboarding Processes for Make/Teams.

• WordPress 6.4.3 RC1 released: It features 5 fixes in Core as well as 16 fixes for the Block Editor. The final release is expected on Tuesday, Janury 30th, 2024.
• The Performance Team has released 2 new plugins: The two brand new plugins announced are Auto-sizes for Lazy-loaded Images and Speculation Rules. Auto-sizes for Lazy-loaded Images plugin implements the HTML spec for adding sizes="auto" to lazy-loaded images while the Speculation Rules plugin adds support for the Speculation Rules API.
• Updates from the Incident Response Team: The Incident Response Team will update its processes and create a more thorough handbook. They also request not to publicly share incident reports and their outcomes.
• Core Editor improvement: Robust Revisions in the Site Editor: WordPress 6.5 is slated to include some impactful changes and new features to the current revision functionality in the Site Editor. A short summary of changes made in each revision is now available and all style revisions can be viewed.
• Proposal: What’s next for the Outreach program: The proposal from Birgit Pauli-Haack suggests renaming the channel from #fse-outreach-experiment to #outreach. Feedback on the proposal is requested by February 12th.
• WordPress Foundation (WPF) is approved for a grant from Google Ads: The grant is for restricted use of up to $10,000 for monthly ads spent through AdWords to support the mission of the WPF.
• Automattic’s big re-org: WordPress.com is going to orient itself more towards developers and have an experience that feels similar to WordPress hosted other places. Also, every Automattician gets a card: Be the Host, Help the Host, or Neutral.
• LinkedIn to sunset lookalike audiences: LinkedIn will discontinue lookalike audiences on February 29. The platform recommends adjusting your audience targeting strategy to either predictive audiences or audience expansion.
• Google issuing suspension threats for non-compliant GDPR consent banners: Google warned website and app owners that they could face account suspension in the European Union (EU) if they display non-compliant GDPR Consent Banners.
• Google launches AI-Powered Chrome update: This update brings in sophisticated AI and machine learning to make browsing smoother and safer.
• Google Ads launches Gemini-powered campaign creation tool: This integration is meant to make it easier to create ad campaigns and help ads connect better with what people are searching for online as search behavior evolves.

🚨 WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES

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

Vulnerability patched in File Manager Pro WordPress plugin

The Arbitrary File Upload vulnerability made it possible for authenticated attackers to create a PHP file that could contain malicious content and be used for a complete site takeover.

• Vulnerability in BlogHub plugin: A stored XSS vulnerability was discovered in BlogHub, a plugin in the CMS October. Update your BlogHub plugin to the latest version.
• Critical severity vulnerability in Better Search Replace WordPress plugin: Successful attacks could lead to arbitrary file deletions, sensitive data retrieval and code execution.
• Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (January 15, 2024 to January 21, 2024): There were 84 vulnerabilities disclosed in 67 WordPress Plugins and 1 WordPress themes that have been added to the Wordfence Intelligence Vulnerability Database.

🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES

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

Ecommerce Landing Page theme

 This theme is specifically crafted to provide a visually appealing and intuitive landing page that captures the essence of your products or services.

• Mediator theme:  WordPress theme for bloggers that seamlessly integrates with Full Site Editing, offering a block-based approach to website design.
• Omnisend for Formidable Forms Add-On plugin: It connects Formidable Forms to Omnisend, automatically sending form data and contact information to Omnisend.
• Advanced Columns Block: Layout builder plugin: Built on the CSS grid foundation, it is a flexible layout builder block for WordPress.

💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

• Optimize Database Plugin joined NerdPress: The plugin was closed in late 2023 and NerdPress reached out to the original developer to see if they could help reactivate it. NerdPress had acquired Hubbub last month.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

Cloudways announced General Availability of Cloudways Autonomous (Previously Autoscale)

Starting from $35/month, Cloudways Autonomous is a hands-off, fully managed solution for WordPress that unlocks the power of Kubernetes for SMBs.

• A new Jotform Academy: It features video-based courses that guide you through Jotform’s suite of products and tools.
• MSME.Page – a Google Business Site Alternative for India: It a made-in-India project to make digital presence affordable & accessible for small and medium businesses across the nation.
• Tammie Lister released Editortips: He shares WordPress block and site editor tips.
• Marcus Burnette’s WP Photo Directory Stats: It shows stats about Photo Directory like the number of photos, contributors, moderators, pending photos and breakdown of photos by colour and category.
• Try.new – ZipWP website shortcut: Visit try.new in your browser for a free WordPress testing environment. To try out a specific plugin or theme, go to its repository page and replace ‘wordpress’ in the URL with ‘zipwp’. No registration required.
• New SEOPress pricing starting March 1, 2024: SEOPress PRO will remain at $49/year but with a limit of 5 sites and a new plan at $149 per year for unlimited sites. Take action before March 1, 2024 to save and continue to benefit from SEOPress PRO at the old price. 
• Freedom Grants from Audrey Scholars program: If you are an open source contributor, and you feel your current political environment is incompatible with open source values, you can now apply for a grant to help you get set up in a new environment. 
• Wordfence Bug Bounty Program Extravaganza is back: Through February 29th, 2024, all researchers will earn a 6.25x multiplier on all awarded bounties making the top bounty $10,000.
• The first LGBTQ+PRESS Empowerment Grant: LGBTQ+ folks interested in contributing to WordPress can receive a $500 grant to participate in and complete the WordPress Mentorship Program. The funding is proudly powered by Queeromattic, the collection of queers within Automattic.
• Applications for the WordCamp Asia Diversity Scholarship are now open: This scholarship provides financial assistance to 2 individuals to attend WordCamp Asia.
• NP Digital’s study on AI vs. human-generated content: They went through 744 articles in 68 websites across 5 months and concluded human content was more effective and AI content grew slower and hit a wall faster.s
• Wordfence CLI 3.0.1 “Ghost Rider” released: It has a much requested new feature: automatic remediation. Wordfence CLI can scan thousands of sites at once, and uncover massive infections. Automatic remediation provides a way to remove this malware en masse.
• Rocket.net redefines disaster recovery for WordPress: They now have another backup vendor in parallel to the JetBackup system – Acronis so that their customers have double protection.
• Recap of #WPGivesAHand 2023: 16 companies participated and donated $11,200 to 9 diverse charitable organizations, supporting causes ranging from fighting climate change to alleviating poverty.
• Brian Coords built a working CSS class manager+code editor inside the WordPress block editor: The end goal would be maintainable CSS in the block editor while also loading as little CSS as possible on the frontend.
• 75% of top brands fall victim to fraud in Google Search Ads: Consequences range from financial losses for the targeted business to customers becoming victims of fraud, according to a new report by search marketing security firm, Marcode.
• Apple podcasts embraces the crazy ones: Transcripts are now available in the Apple podcast app.
• PHP version stats: January, 2024: Right now PHP 8.1 is the oldest supported version. There seems to be a slightly faster adoption of PHP 8.3 compared to PHP 8.2

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

• Data liberation needs to happen within WordPress, too: From The WP Minute
• Multi-currency awesomeness with EDD & Cloudflare: From Joost de Valk
• Static vs. dynamic blocks: What’s the difference?: From WordPress Developer Blog
• Important WordPress Gutenberg updates to be aware of: From SKT Themes
• Cybercriminals crave cookies, not passwords: From Cybernews
• Effective spam defense for WordPress Forms: From The Admin Bar
• Compromised passwords: Why they occur & how to avoid them: From Jetpack
• From Builder to Blocks: A Rebuild Experiment: From Always Open Design
• Facebook, TikTok, X collect data when sending iPhone push notifications: From Mashable
• ChatGPT vs. Google Bard vs. Bing Chat vs. Claude: Which generative AI solution is best?: From Search Engine Land
• Google SearchLiason: 4 Reasons why a webpage couldn’t rank: From Search Engine Journal
• Why Google SGE is stuck in Google Labs and what’s next: From Search Engine Journal
• The importance of product testing in WordPress: From Do_the Woo
• Michelle Frechette on advocating for accessibility and diversity in the WordPress community: From WP Tavern Jukebox
• Interview with Matt Mullenweg, Co-founder of WordPress & CEO of Automattic: From WP-Tonic
• All about Email Authentication: From Kitchen Sink WP

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

• Building dynamic block-based attachment templates in themes: From WordPress Developer Blog
• How to disable specific blocks in WordPress: From WordPress Developer Blog
• How to identify anonymous functions in WordPress: From Tom McFarlin
• Statamic for WordPress developers – intro: From Maciek Palmowski
• Extending ACF Blocks with Block Supports: From ACF
• How to reset your WordPress site: From RankMath
• Power up WordPress with Python and Redis: From Kinsta
• Logging slow queries with Active Support Notifications: From Kinsta
• YouTube advertising: The ultimate guide: From Search Engine Land
• How to create a landing page with WPBakery AI: From WPBakery

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

• WordPress Photo Festival 2024 on February 3rd – 10th 2024: The online event is organized by the Kerala WordPress community. Submit your photos with the hashtag #WPKeralaPhotos to win $100.
• WordCamp Pune on February 17th, 2024: WordCamp Pune 2024 is looking for sponsors.
• WordCamp Asia on March 7-9, 2024: The organizers are on the lookout for passionate individuals to lead the Community Team Table during the Contributor Day.
• WordCamp Europe on 13-15 June 2024: The call for speakers, volunteers and sponsors is live.
• WordCamp Canada on July 11-13, 2024: The call for speakers is out.

🎁 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

• 40% off for 4 months on all hosting plans + 40 free migrations at Cloudways  (Coupon Code – BFCM4040)
• 53% off for NordLocker
• 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 77% off hosting plans at HostPapa
• 50% off for Advanced Giftcards for WooCommerce plugin
• Upto 55% off hosting plans at Nexcess
• 86% off at AtlasVPN
• 20% off for Fluent Forms plugin
• 60% off at Formidable Forms
• 20% off for FluentCRM plugin
• 50% off for WP Social Ninja plugin 
• Upto 95% off for PitchGround products 
• Upto 75% off WordPress Hosting plans at InMotion Hosting
• 83% off hosting plans at SiteGround
• 60% off at Hostgator India (Coupon Code- SUNSHINE)
• Up to 74% off at Liquid Web
• 52% off on Managed Dedicated Server Hosting at Liquid Web

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