Hello!

We are now just a week away from the release of WordPress 6.5. The RC3 can be expected later today and the WordPress Marketing Team has updated its fundraising policy to allow exceptions for project leadership.

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

Community Sponsor

Omnisend

Boost your sales with email & SMS—without breaking the bank
Check it out  →

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 6.5 Release Candidate 2

The RC2 is now available for download and testing. We can expect RC3 later today.

• Highlights from WordCamp Asia 2024: A quick roundup of the recently concluded WordCamp Asia 2024 held in Taiwan.
• WordPress 6.5 field guide: This guide outlines major developer features and breaking changes in 6.5 and is published in the Release Candidate cycle to help inform WordPress extending developers, Core developers, and others.
• What’s new in Gutenberg 17.9: The latest update brings improvements to the color and typography presets in Global Styles, enhancements to the list block, and more.
• New Feature: Font Library: A quick rundown of the new Font Library feature coming in WordPress 6.5 and its various APIs.
• WordPress 6.5 source of truth: Anne McCarthy has published the source of truth for WordPress 6.5, which allows the community to get the latest information about the upcoming version quickly.
• Discussion on changes needed for Forums to adhere to the Digital Services Act (DSA): An outline of some of the changes that need to be made to the forums in order to adhere to the Digital Services Act (DSA) and make life easier for the Incident Report Team (IRT).
• Sustainability Team self-approval system (formal decision): An overview of the system that the Sustainability Team decided to establish whereby each contributor can manage a deadline for accepting its own changes.
• The WordPress Marketing Team recently updated its fundraising policy: The update makes an exception for the project leadership and this change is the result of Matt Mullenweg using the WordPress Twitter handle for crowdfunding The Bay Lights.
• Should mods delete links on topics when requested?: A proposal has been put forth to discuss how to handle requests to remove links on the forums.
• All new GitHub Deployments from WordPress.com: With GitHub Deployments, users can seamlessly connect their repository to the WordPress.com site in just a few clicks.
• Design Share: Feb 26-Mar 8: The design team has shared an update on a few projects they have worked on over the past couple of weeks.
• Google SGE could cost publishers $2 billion in ad revenue: The Search Generative Experience could cause search traffic to drop by up to 60%, leading to a decrease in digital ad revenue.
• Meta will sunset CrowdTangle in August: Advertisers and publishers will need to seek alternative platforms as CrowdTangle will no longer be available after August 14.
• Google Search Console adds INP Metric In Core Web Vitals report: The Interaction to Next Paint (INP) metric is now included in the Google Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report.

🚨 WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES

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

Critical vulnerability remains unpatched in two permanently closed MiniOrange WordPress plugins

miniOrange’s Malware Scanner and Web Application Firewall plugins contain a critical privilege escalation vulnerability, and both have been permanently closed. Wordfence is urging all users to delete these plugins from their websites immediately, as a fix cannot be expected since the plugins have been permanently closed.

• Critical vulnerability found in GOTMLS plugin: The vulnerabilities that could allow any unauthenticated user to gain remote code execution on the WordPress site were recently patched. All users are to update to the latest version immediately.
• Too much escaping backfires, allows shortcode-based XSS vulnerability in Contact Form Entries WordPress plugin: The vulnerability that enables threat actors with contributor-level permissions or higher to inject malicious web scripts into pages using the plugin’s shortcode was recently patched.
• Privilege escalation vulnerability patched in RegistrationMagic WordPress plugin: The vulnerability that makes it possible for an authenticated attacker to grant themselves administrative privileges by updating the user role was recently patched. All users are to update to the latest version immediately.
• WordPress vulnerability report — March 13, 2024: Weekly report from SolidWP.
• Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (March 4, 2024 to March 10, 2024): There were 72 vulnerabilities disclosed in 55 plugins and 2 themes.

🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES

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

Waver theme

A multipurpose theme with six style variations.

• Travel Blogging theme: A theme suitable for travel websites.
• GazettePress theme: A theme suitable for news and magazine websites.
• GutenKit plugin: The plugin offers Gutenberg’s native drag-and-drop interface, 33+ free block, 6+ versatile modules, and 350+ templates.
• Link Attributes for Publishers plugin: This plugin will automatically update the rel tags for links with specific domains in the classic editor content, and the new core block editor.
• Pattern Wrangler plugin: The plugin helps users manage the block patterns.
• AI Muse – AI content generator & writer, AI image generator, AI assistant plugin: An AI-powered plugin.

💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

• Knit Pay has acquired two plugins: Gautam Garg from Knit Pay on X announced that he has acquired two plugins, UPI QR Code Payment Gateway for WooCommerce and Razorpay Payment Links for WooCommerce from Sayan Datta.
• WordPress.com partners up with Jamie Marsland: WordPress.com has joined hands with Jamie Marsland a well-known YouTuber and the founder of Pootlepress for a new video series called “Build and Beyond”. This series will demonstrate how users can get the most out of the WordPress.com experience.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

New website launched for Scale Consortium

Scale Consortium’s new website is now live. The consortium consists of bigbite, XWP, Human Made, Syde, WebDevStudios, Alley, The Code Company, Crowd Favorite, Reaktiv, and rtCamp.

• All new AI Roadmap Generator: Kamran Ahmed announced via X his new project, AI Roadmap Generator which generates a visual roadmap for users based on the topic.
• Announcing ZipWP onboarding for web hosts: Adam Preiser on X announced the availability of a white-labeled version of ZipWP for web hosts that want to offer AI site building to their hosting customers.
• A host of improvements arrive with the latest version of  MainWP: MainWP v5.0.2 brings updates to the cost tracker module, a new cost summary which is a widgetized page for financial oversights, and more.
• WordPress site builder addon allegedly adds “backdoor” to disable websites: BricksUltimate, an add-on for Bricks Builder, a popular site builder was found to install an anti-piracy script that essentially unpublishes all posts. The WordPress community was against this action and the developer soon issued an open apology and released an update that removed the controversial code.
• An important tip shared by WP-CLI to safeguard websites: WP-CLI on X shared the steps users can take to protect their website if they suspect it has been hacked or infected with malicious code.
• Inpsyde rebrands itself as Syde: In a move aimed at reflecting its evolution and renewed vision, Europe’s biggest WordPress agency Inpsyde announces a strategic rebrand, unveiling its new identity as Syde.
• Essential Addons for Elementor reaches a new milestone: Essential Addons for Elementor now has over 2 million users and has become the most used Elementor addons out there.
• Patricia Brun Torre receives the Yoast Care fund for her contribution to the WordPress community: Patricia Brun Torre a member of the WordPress Community Team is the latest recipient of the Yoast Care Fund.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

• The WordPress community rocks: From Post Status
• The oxygen mask approach to open source: From Lesley Sim
• Sponsorship and community: Our WordCamp Asia 2024: From Barn2 Plugins
• Plugins: WordPress owns the world: From Half-Elf on Tech
• Performance for everyone: Democratizing performance in WordPress: From Pascal Birchler
• In open source, when you align with a project, you align with it’s values: From Aaron Jorbin
• Josepha Haden Chomphosy on navigating WordPress’ evolution, growth and change: From WP Tavern Jukebox
• WordCamp Asia, 2024: From Rich Tabor
• WordCamp Asia 2024 Recap: More commercial, less investment, but still a blast: From Freemius
• Cooking websites: My favorite web design tools: From WPBakery
• How to fix WordPress Gutenberg!: From Jamie Marsland
• What we can learn from the fall of Cwicly: From WP BizDev
• The WordPress versus problem: From Marcus Burnette
• Git going with FSE and block theme development: From Claudio Rimann
• Why keeping up with Gutenberg is a challenge for developers: From The WP Minute
• WordPress media w/ Jonathan Denwood: From The WP Minute
• How to optimize your crawl budget: From Yoast
• What is .htaccess malware? (Detection, Symptoms & Prevention): From Sucuri
• Inside DE{CODE} 2024, WP Engine’s upcoming developer conference: From WP Tavern
• Google’s March 2024 core update: 5 things you need to know: From Search Engine Land
• Google Official FAQ On Pure Spam Manual Action: From Search Engine Roundtable

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

• How to register block variations with PHP: From WordPress Developer Blog
• Introduction to themes for developers: From WordPress TV
• Global settings and styles: From WordPress TV

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

• WPEngine Decode 2024: The registrations are now open and the event will take place on March 19 in the U.S. and March 21 in EMEA.
• WordCamp Europe on 13-15 June 2024: The call for speakers, volunteers and sponsors is live. The call for photographers is now open.
• WordCamp Canada on July 11-13, 2024: The call for speakers, volunteers, and sponsors is now open.
• WordCamp Asia on February 2025: The event is in the early planning stages and the call for organizers 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

• 30% off for 3 months + $1000 migration package for free on Email marketing for WooCommerce by Omnisend (Coupon Code- ONLYWOO)
• 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
• 60% off on the Thrive Suite yearly plan.
• 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
• 50% 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

Latest from WP-CONTENT.CO

---

Team WP-CONTENT.CO

Built with Newsletter Glue.