Hello!

WordPress 6.5 “Regina”, the first major release of 2024 is here with a host of new features and improvements. In the coming days, Woo.com will be reverted back to Woocommerce.com. Also, a new local development environment is coming from WordPress.com.

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

WordPress 6.5 “Regina” released

WordPress 6.5 “Regina”, the first major release of 2024 is here. This release includes a new Font Library, Interactivity API, Block Bindings API, and so on.

• WordPress.org gets a refresh: WordPress.org has received a redesigned homepage and Nick Diego explained the redesign and what it aims to accomplish.
• Hostinger added to WordPress.org recommended hosting list: Hostinger became the latest entrant into the WordPress.org recommended hosting list. Audrey Capital-sponsored contributor Samuel “Otto” Wood added Hostinger to the list on March 28, 2024.
• Dropping support for PHP 7.0 and 7.1: Support for PHP 7.0 and 7.1 will be dropped in WordPress 6.6, scheduled for release in July 2024. The new minimum supported version of PHP will be 7.2.24. The recommended version of PHP remains at 7.4 or greater.
• Conducting WordPress performance research in the field:  An overview of how the members of the WordPress Performance Team and HTTP Archive have collaborated on a tutorial and reference Colab that explains how to use HTTP Archive and BigQuery for WordPress and performance research.
• WordPress Contributor Mentorship: 2024 Q1 Cohort Graduates: The cohort kicked off on February 19 and wrapped up on March 29. 10 of 44 mentees and 14 of 28 mentors contributed to WordPress 6.5. Another highlight of this cohort was that six of the graduating mentees were supported by an LGBTQ+ empowerment grant.
• Hallway Hangout: Let’s chat about what’s next in Gutenberg: The upcoming Hallway Hangout scheduled on Apr 25, 2024, will discuss the developments happening within the Gutenberg project and plugin.
• Suggested updates based on feedback of the events.wordpress.org site: An overview of the feedback received for the new WordPress Events Page along with the next steps to be taken by the Community Team.
• WP-CLI Hack Day on April 26th, 2024: The third edition of WP-CLI Hack Day is fast approaching and the goal of this event will be to finish the day with 20 pull requests that have been merged during the event.
• WooCommerce 8.8 is delayed: WooCommerce 8.8 initially scheduled to be released on April 9, 2024, has been postponed to April 10, 2024. As per the team, the reason for the delay is the migration from Woo.com to Woocommerce.com.
• Studio, a new local solution from WordPress.com: Studio is an upcoming new local development environment from WordPress.com. Those who are interested can sign up for the email list to get early access and updates.
• Google ‘considering Hubspot acquisition’: The search giant has allegedly been in discussions with Morgan Stanley about how much it should offer to buy the online marketing software company, which is said to be valued at $35 billion. However, no offer has yet been made.
• Meta plans a less punitive AI-generated content policy: Meta’s updated policy on AI-generated content for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads emphasizes transparency over content removal.
• OpenAI announces instant-use ChatGPT—No login required: ChatGPT announced that as of today it is rolling out the ability for anyone to use it without having to sign up or log into the service.

🚨 WEB SECURITY & VULNERABILITIES

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

Unpatched authenticated RCE in Oxygen and Breakdance Builder

Patchstack a week back reported about an RCE vulnerability in the Oxygen and Breakdance builder that is yet to be patched. But Breakdance has come forth and declared that this is not a valid RCE report.

• XSS vulnerability affects Beaver Builder WordPress page builder: The popular Beaver Builder WordPress Page Builder was found to contain an XSS vulnerability that can allow an attacker to inject scripts into the website that will run when a user visits a webpage. All users are to update to the latest version immediately.
• Critical vulnerabilities patched in REHub theme and plugin: The vulnerabilities have been patched and all users are advised to update to the latest version as soon as possible.
• Unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability patched in LayerSlider WordPress plugin: The vulnerability that can be leveraged to extract sensitive data from the database, such as password hashes was patched recently.
• Arbitrary file upload patched in WEmanage App Worker WordPress plugin: The vulnerability that makes it possible for authenticated users such as subscribers and customers to upload arbitrary files to a vulnerable site and achieve remote code execution was patched.
• Magento Shoplift: E-commerce malware targets both WordPress & Magento CMS: Sucuri explains how they recently cleaned up malware from a WordPress site that was infected with a recent variation of “Magento Shoplift” malware.
• WordPress vulnerability report — April 3, 2024: Weekly vulnerability report from SolidWP.
• Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (March 25, 2024 to March 31, 2024): There were 375 vulnerabilities disclosed in 297 plugins and 7 themes.

🔌 NEW PLUGINS & THEMES

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

Fotograma theme

A portfolio theme for photographers.

• Bute theme: A blog theme that has a full-screen front page.
• Warble theme: A theme for musicians.
• Echo Rewards plugin: A WooCommerce referral plugin.
• Order Tags plugin: This plugin allows users to easily assign tags to orders.

💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

• Announcing the integration of Zyro with Hostinger: Zyro has been fully integrated with Hostinger and this strategic alliance signifies a major milestone as all Zyro services and clients have successfully transitioned to Hostinger.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

Beaver Builder on celebrating 10 years of success

 A huge milestone for Beaver Builder as they complete 10 years, and on reaching this occasion they take a look at how it all started and also provide a glimpse of the future plans.

• ZipWP launched Blueprints: The latest update to ZipWP has introduced a new Blueprints feature which allows users to share a copy of their WordPress site with anyone using a simple link, which they can further customize.
• HubSpot has relaunched CMS Hub as Content Hub: Content Hub is an all-in-one, AI-powered content marketing software that helps marketers create and manage content that fuels the entire customer journey.
• PHP_CodeSniffer 3.9.1 released: This release contains documentation for several news sniffs and various bug fixes.
• Paid Memberships Pro v3.0 released with a host of new features: The latest update makes improvements to the membership management feature, a new subscriptions table, improved offline payment processing, and more.
• WebAIM’s 2024 report on the accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home pages: As per the report there was a notable increase in the number of detected accessibility errors, though a small decrease in number of pages with WCAG conformance failures.
• A look back at the ten years of GravityKit: Zack Katz founder of GravityKit talks about the journey of how GravityKit came into being, the rebranding, and the focus for the next ten years.
• JetFormBuilder WordPress plugin turns three: JetFormBuilder on reaching its three-year milestone, has shared how its journey started, and how it progressed over time.
• 5K WordPress themes reviewed by Ganga Kafle: Ganga Kafle a member of the WordPress Themes team has reached a milestone of having reviewed 5000 WordPress themes.
• Samah Nasr joins Underrepresented in Tech: Samah Nasr has joined the Underrepresented in Tech project as cohost and partner.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

• A WordPress 6.5 sneak peek: From WordPress Briefing
• WordPress 6.5: From Rich Tabor
• WordPress security process broken? Soflyy pushes back against vulnerability reports: From WebTNG
• Tammie Lister on the journey through design and theming: From WP Tavern Jukebox
• How Senol Sahin launched the first AI-powered content creation plugin on the WP.org repo: From Freemius
• Justin Ferriman on how underdog entrepreneurs can overpower bigger software competitors: From Freemius
• WordPress.com has Studio, a native app for running WordPress locally, and GitHub deployments: From Chris Coyier
• Sunshine Photo Cart accessibility audit: Alex Stine and Amber Hinds: From Equalize Digital
• Cloudfest and Hackathon 2024: From Patricia BT
• Cooking Websites: My favorite web design tools: From WPBakery
• [First look] 2 New AI website builders for WordPress: From WPCrafter
• Are we going too far in WordPress critiques?: From The WP Minute

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

• Introduction to Playground: running WordPress in the browser: From WordPress Developer Blog
• Exploring WordPress 6.5: From Learn WordPress
• The WordPress REST API: From WordPress TV
• Customizing WordPress for developers: developing custom REST API endpoints: From Kinsta
• How to parse Gutenberg content for headless WordPress: From Kinsta

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

• Networking at WordCamps on May 13, 2024: This event by Support Inclusion in Tech will help you make the most of your WordCamp experience. Ticket sales go to 1 local SiNC speaker applicant.
• WordCamp Europe on 13-15 June 2024: The call for speakers, volunteers and sponsors is live. The call for photographers is now open.
• Uganda Website Projects Competition 2024 on July 5th, 2024: Organized under the theme, “Problem Solving With WordPress”, it is a dynamic next-gen event that brings together high school and university students. The call for sponsors and projects is now live.
• WordCamp Canada on July 11-13, 2024: The call for speakers, volunteers, and sponsors is now open.
• WordCamp US on 17-20 September 2024: The tickets are now available.
• 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

• 40% off for 4 months on all hosting plans + 40 free migrations at Cloudways  (Coupon Code – BFCM4040)
• 53% off for NordLocker
• Up to 50% off on EchoRewards PRO.
• Up to 75% off on plugins, themes and hosting at WP Hive
• 50% 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

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