Issue #207 | February 18, 2025 | Reading time: 17 mins
Hello!
Today we cover WordPress Foundation’s effort to trademark the terms Hosted WordPress and Managed WordPress, WordPress 6.8’s adoption of bcrypt for password hashing, WordPress.com’s 100-year domains and plans, and new projects.
WordCamp Asia 2025 is finally here, happening this week in the beautiful Philippines! Hope you all have a fantastic time connecting, learning, and celebrating the community.
Don’t forget to subscribe and listen to the podcast version of this newsletter, where you can hear more details and discussions about these topics and more.
See you next week!
Team WP-CONTENT.CO
🙌 This weekly newsletter is kindly sponsored by Kinsta, Omnisend, and InMotion Hosting
🗣️TALK OF THE TOWN
The WordPress Foundation’s effort to trademark the terms Hosted WordPress and Managed WordPress has been thwarted, for now, following a petition from a dissenting member of the open-source WordPress community.
📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND
All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies
The WordPress 2025 report outlines why WordPress is essential for your long-term strategy. The report touches upon various areas such as the block editor, AI, headless WordPress, and more.
- WordPress 6.8 will use bcrypt for password hashing: The underlying algorithm that’s used to hash and store user passwords in the database will be changed in WordPress 6.8 from phpass portable hashing to bcrypt. The adoption of bcrypt hardens password security in WordPress by significantly increasing the computational cost of cracking a password hash. This update marks the closure of the Trac ticket that suggested this 13 years ago.
- What’s new for developers? (February 2025): The notable developments include the progress of the upcoming WordPress 6.8 along with the recently released WordPress 6.7.2, two new Gutenberg releases (version 20.1 and 20.2).
- Centralize all Learn WordPress resources in one place: The Training Team in order to tackle challenges related to shared content is looking to create a centralized platform where content creators can upload files, ensuring easier management and consistency. This would also allow for easier updates, error corrections, and sharing of resources.
- 30,000 WordPress sites affected by arbitrary file upload vulnerability in Security & Malware scan by CleanTalk WordPress plugin: This vulnerability that made it possible for an unauthenticated attacker to upload arbitrary files to a vulnerable site and achieve remote code execution was patched recently.
- Creative SVG file upload to local file inclusion vulnerability affecting 90,000 sites patched in Jupiter X Core WordPress plugin: The vulnerability that made it possible for an authenticated attacker, with contributor privileges or higher, to upload SVG files to a vulnerable site with malicious content and then include it, and achieve remote code execution has been patched. Users are to update to the latest version immediately.
- WooCommerce 9.6.2: Dot release: This release addresses an unintended style inheritance issue affecting store frontends.
- Developer Advisory: Removal of experimental components: As part of WooCommerce 9.7 the team will be removing a series of experimental components from the @woocommerce/components package. The team has stated to remove the following components:__experimentalWooProductFieldItem, _experimentalWooProductSectionItem, __experimentalWooProductTabItem, __experimentalProductSectionLayout, and __experimentalProductFieldSection.
- WordPress.com introduces 100-year domains and relaunches the 100-year plan: The 100-year domain plan allows you to register your domain for a century and the 100-year plan has been reintroduced with new features such as Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe (LOCKSS) principle storage, Contingency planning for digital security and more.
- Tumblr to join the fediverse after WordPress migration completes: Automattic confirmed to TechCrunch that when the migration is complete, every Tumblr user will be able to federate their blog via ActivityPub, just as every WordPress.com user can today.
- Google Ads releases Performance Max usefulness indicator: Google’s new PMax Usefulness Indicator helps advertisers measure the incremental traffic impact of search themes, improving targeting.
- Google updates product markup to support member pricing & sales: Google updates structured data guidelines, enabling merchants to showcase sale, member, and strikethrough pricing in search results.
- Hackers use Google Tag Manager to steal credit card numbers: Hackers are actively exploiting a vulnerability to inject an obfuscated script into Magento-based eCommerce websites. The malware is loaded via Google Tag Manager, allowing them to steal credit card numbers when customers check out.
💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS
- BigScoots joins new Web Hosting and Cloud Industry Alliance: BigScoots has announced that it has joined the i2Coalition’s Secure Hosting Alliance (SHA). This new alliance consists of 21 hosting providers and affiliated companies, that have come together to strengthen and improve the hosting and cloud landscape by fostering trust, advocating for fair policies, and safeguarding an open and accessible Internet for everyone.
- Cool Plugins acquires two Elementor Form addons: Cool Plugins has acquired Form Input Masks For Elementor Form and Extensions for Elementor Form from Eduardo Villão.
- YASR – Yet Another Stars Rating plugin up for sale: The plugin has over 20k active installs and the monthly profit is mentioned as €597.
👥 COMMUNITY NEWS
Updates and News from the WordPress Community
WP Gallery’s showcase is now live and viewers can explore some of the best websites made with the WordPress block editor. Users can submit their websites freely.
- WordCamp Asia 2025 all you need to know: The team has published a guide on the important things to take note of when attending the event and also during exploring the Philippines. There are also several side events happening and a detailed schedule has also been provided by the team. They have also announced a career corner and social corner aimed at providing networking and career growth opportunities.
- WordCamp Asia 2025 Patchstack Alliance Capture the Flag event: This an event that will test the participants’ hacking skills. The top five participants will earn cash prizes and the registration is now open.
- E-zone School of Computing’s 1000 WordPress Ninjas project: This project aims at introducing WordPress to 1000 learners from Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary institutions and out of school teens and youth in Uganda.
- Cristian Raiber notes how Pressable hosting automatically loads a tracking script: Cristian Raiber on X posted how Pressable automatically loads a tracking script from a company called Gauges. He voices that this is potentially against GDPR rules and that there is no way to opt out of it.
- Rodolfo Melogli on reserved terms: Rodolfo Melogli who recently faced an issue when using “name” as an input name leading to 404, found about the list of reserved terms in WordPress. As per the codex, the reserved terms should not be used in certain situations as they can interfere with core functionality.
- Jono Alderson blocked by WordPress: Jono Alderson, an award-winning SEO consultant has been blocked by WordPress.org profile on X.
- Cami MacNamara joins the Do the Woo hosting team: Cami McNamara is joining WP Agency Tracks as a co-host with Marcus. Cami, a long-time WordPress professional and the founder of WebCami Agency.
- Amber Hinds on Equalize Digita’s Accessibility Checker plugin being mentioned in NASA Spinoff: This is NASA’s annual publication featuring products they’ve contributed to or supported that benefit the global community. Recently NASA contracted Equalize Digital to evaluate the site according to accessibility requirements.
- SnapWP is now public: rtCamp has made SnapWP, a headless WordPress solution, openly available on GitHub.
- Kinsta supports independent journalism outlets covering the WordPress industry: Kinsta is supporting independent journalists and emerging news outlets in the WordPress ecosystem and the full-year 2025 sponsorship of the sites include The Repository, Do the Woo, and The WP Minute. Besides this, Kinsta is also sponsoring various WordPress events such as the WordPress Accessibility Meetup and the London WordPress Meetup.
- Atarim has launched a Discord community: The Discord community is now open and members of the community can use the space for collaboration, tackle design and client challenges, and build new connections.
- Introducing GenerateBlocks 2.0: This release introduces a new global styles feature, dynamics tags, improvements to query blocks, and so on.
- Meta Box framework is included in Meta Box AIO: Meta Box AIO (All-In-One) is a special plugin that contains all the extensions (free and paid) for all features provided by Meta Box. From the Meta Box AIO 2.0.0 version, the Meta Box framework is included in the AIO version, simplifying the installation and management process.
- WPGraphQL v2.0 released: This release has dropped support for PHP below 7.4 and also for WordPress below 6.0. The new feature set includes a new extensions page, new CLI arguments, and much more.
- WP:25 by Human Made: The virtual conference is set to take place on March 6, 2025. Attendees will get insights into the future of WordPress, top WordPress market trends shaping 2025, and much more. The speakers and various sessions have already been announced and the registration is now open and it is free for all.
- Jason Lemkin on the growth of Shopify: Jason notes that Shopify is growing at 31% with a $11.2 Billion run rate. He has also shared several interesting points such as how offline revenue was up by 33%, B2B growth up 140%, and so on.
🚀 NEW PROJECTS
- EchoDash plugin is now available in the repository: EchoDash an event tracking and analytics platform plugin is now available to users.
- Introducing Merchant Buddy: Nadir Seghir has launched Merchant Buddy, an instantly available search palette for WooCommerce with instant search and keyboard shortcuts.
- Indexing Insight is now live: Adam Gent has launched Indexing Insight, a unique tool that helps you monitor Google indexing for large-scale websites with 100,000 to 1 million pages.
- Robert DeVore has released two new plugins: The two new plugins are Pattern Pal, a new free WordPress® plugin that leverages OpenAI to generate custom block patterns right inside the WordPress® editor and Email Designer for WooCommerce®, an experimental plugin that brings block-based email customization to WooCommerce® for the first time.
- Introducing Excalidraw Block: James LePage has introduced Excalidraw Block, a custom WordPress block that allows users to embed an Excalidraw editor directly into the post editor. This allows users to create and edit diagrams within WordPress.
- EDD Changelog plugin from Jack Arturo: This plugin adds a beautiful changelog display shortcode for Easy Digital Downloads products.
- All new MonsterUI from Isaac Flath: MonsterUI is a Python/fasthtml library that simplifies web development by combining the best of modern UI frameworks like FrankenUI, Tailwind, DaisyUI, and HighlightJS.
🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS
More posts and podcasts from the WordPress Community you don’t want to miss
- WordCamp Asia 2025 misses target for local speaker representation: Lawrence Ladomery highlights that local speaker representation at WordCamp Asia 2025 has decreased by 2% compared to WordCamp Asia 2024. From WP BizDev.
- WordCamp Asia 2025 gears up for its biggest event yet: Q&A with Shusei Toda & Yuli Yang: WordCamp Asia global leads Shusei Toda and Yuli Yang discuss organizing this year’s event amid ongoing tensions in the WordPress community. From The Repository.
- I read the “Official” WordPress in 2025 Report – It’s just a piece of enterprise PR: Karol K from WPShout shared his opinion of the recently published WordPress in 2025 report, and stated, “it’s mostly just a piece of enterprise PR designed to get big-company execs comfortable dropping seven figures on WordPress projects.”
- Backing the builders: Why Greyd is sponsoring WP Core contributors: Greyd is sponsoring WordPress leaders Tammie Lister and Jessica Lyschik to invest in the platform’s future. Greyd believes in the importance of the WordPress site and block editors. From Greyd.
- How to think about pricing on day 1: Lesley Sim has shared a practical, stress-free approach to pricing a software product on day one. She talks about how pricing can be changed at any time, the price discovery process, and more.
- Loving the WordPress block editor as a team: Jen Miller explains how the team at WebDevStudios came to fall in love with the WordPress block editor. From WebDevStudios.
- In conversation with Nathan Wrigley: Bud Kraus is joined by Nathan Wrigley, where they go over his life experiences, web development career, and WordPress journey. From, Seriously Bud?
- Making a career from WordPress: Laurence Bahiirwa, a WordPress developer at Freemius and the creator of the TechiePress YouTube channel shares his journey from being a high school ICT teacher to freelancing and eventually landing a role at Freemius. From The WP Minute.
- Building complex layouts in the WordPress block editor: A step by step breakdown: Elliott Richmond shows how simple it is to replicate a complex website layout using only the block editor without touching a single line of code.
- Experimenting with Conversational Voice AI: Rich Tabor shares his experience on cloning his voice with PlayAI to create an ai voice support agent for his WordPress theme, Kanso.
🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE
Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle
- Advanced WP_Query filtering and sorting techniques: From Advanced Custom Fields
- Ultimate block list to stop AI bots: From Perishable Press
- Creating a WordPress plugin with Cursor: From Delicious Brains
- How to add an add-to-cart button to your WooCommerce store: From Kinsta
📆 SAVE THE DATES
Do not miss a WordPress event ever again
- WordCamp Asia on February 20-22, 2025: Tickets are out now.
- Women in Tech on March 8, 2025: The registrations are now open.
- WordCamp Mukono on March 8, 2025: The tickets are now available.
- The Dutch PHP Conference 2025 on March 18-21, 2025: The tickets are now available.
- EmpowerWP Bhopal on March 9, 2025: The event is in the early planning stages.
- PressConf 2025 on April 23-26: A conference for WordPress Professionals and the tickets are now available.
- WordCamp Lisboa 2025 on May 16-17, 2025: Tickets are now available.
- WordCamp Europe on 5-7 June 2025: Tickets are expected to be available soon.
🎁 WORDPRESS DEALS OF THE WEEK
Again, these are the best deals of the week, handpicked by yours!
EXCLUSIVE DEALS
- 4 Months free offer on hosting plans of WP Engine (Coupon Code- FREEDOMTOCREATE)
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- 15% off yearly plans at Videvo (Coupon Code – WPV15)
MORE DEALS
- 50% off for the first 6 months on all monthly standard plans at Kinsta
- 50% off on Paid Memberships Pro from February 20th-24th
- 50% off 3 months on Liquid Web’s Bare Metal server hosting
- 40% off for Constellation plugin
This weekly newsletter is kindly sponsored by awesome WordPress Companies 🦸♂️🙌
Last but not least, updates from WP-CONTENT.CO 👇
There are different ways how a visitor ends up on your website – from ads to word of…
Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt of Emilia Capital have announced that they have acquired Post…
Thanks to the efforts of dedicated contributors from around the world, the WordPress Photo Directory has now surpassed…
With the recent turmoil in the WordPress ecosystem, including legal battles and community unrest, many users are seeking…
Team WP-CONTENT.CO
Issue #207 | February 18, 2025 | Reading time: 17 mins
This weekly newsletter is kindly sponsored by Kinsta, Omnisend, and InMotion Hosting
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