#215- WordPress Foundation Obtains Trademarks In The European Union, AI Site Builder From WordPress.com

Issue #215 | April 15, 2025 | Reading time: 18 mins

Hello!

This week on The WP Week Newsletter, we cover the WordPress Foundation obtaining trademarks for “Managed WordPress” and “Hosted WordPress” in the European Union, a new AI website builder from WordPress.com, WordPress 6.8 releasing later today, and more.

Wishing you all a joyful and peaceful Easter filled with hope, love, and new beginnings!

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

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🗣️TALK OF THE TOWN

WordPress Foundation obtains trademarks in the European Union

The trademarks for Managed WordPress and Hosted WordPress have been officially registered in the European Union.

📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

WordPress 6.8 Release Day Process

We can expect WordPress 6.8, the only major release of this year, later today, and the release cycle introduced a silent RC4. The 24 hour code freeze is now in place.

PHP 8 support clarification: Use of the “compatible with exceptions” label for PHP 8 support has been retired and has been retroactively removed from all versions. WordPress 6.3 and later is now documented as fully supporting PHP 8.0 and 8.1, and WordPress 6.6 and later is now documented as fully supporting PHP 8.2. Support for PHP 8.3 and 8.4 remains in beta as of WordPress 6.7 and the upcoming 6.8.
What’s new for developers? (April 2025): The updates include the upcoming WordPress 6.8, the release of 6.8 field guide, changes to performance and plugin workflows, and so on.
WordPress.com launches new AI site builder: With the new free AI site builder, users can create a new WordPress.com website in seconds simply by providing a prompt that describes it. Matt posted on X that in the future, the AI builder will work for all WordPress websites.
WooCommerce 9.8: Modernized designs and email previews: WooCommerce 9.8 was released on April 9, 2025 and the set of new features includes new Coming Soon templates, modernized email templates and previews, and much more. WooCommerce 9.8.1 was released shortly to address two bugs. WooCommerce 9.9 will be delayed by one month and will be released on June 2, 2025, as per the current schedule.
Administrative user creation vulnerability patched in SureTriggers WordPress plugin: The vulnerability that allowed attackers to create malicious administrator users when the plugin is not configured with an API key was recently patched. All users are to update to the latest version immediately.
Carding tool abusing WooCommerce API downloaded 34K times on PyPI: A newly discovered malicious PyPi package named ‘disgrasya’ that abuses legitimate WooCommerce stores for validating stolen credit cards has been downloaded over 34,000 times from the open-source package platform.
Google confirms discover coming to desktop search: Google Discover is a feed that shows content based on what you might like. It appears in the Google app, Chrome’s new tab page, and google.com on phones.
Google Chrome adds new tools for better mobile testing: Available in Chrome 134, these tools include CPU throttling calibration and other improvements that help bridge the gap between development environments and actual experiences.
Google adds image search to AI mode, expands to more users: Google AI mode now understands images, allowing you to upload photos and ask questions about them.
Google files new patent on personal history-based search: Google recently filed a new patent for a way to provide search results based on a user’s browsing and email history. The patent outlines a new way to search within the context of a search engine, within an email interface, and through a voice-based assistant (referred to in the patent as a voice-based dialog system).
Shopify CEO’s memo marks a pivotal moment for AI in the workplace: A memo by Shopify’s CEO Tobi Lütke sets a company-wide expectation for the use of AI not just throughout the company but also encourages employees to think about how their end users can use AI.

💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

PaywallProject acquires Newsletter Glue plugin: Tyler Channell of PaywallProject has acquired the plugin. The co-founders of Newsletter Glue, Leslie and Ahmed, will now focus on their events plugin called EventKoi.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

Announcing WPapac, a collective of WordPress professionals in Asia Pacific

Ahsan Parwez has launched WPapac, a new collective for WordPress professionals in the Asia Pacific region, aimed at fostering collaboration, learning, and mutual support. The initiative addresses the gap between the region’s WordPress community and its representation in global events.

WordCamp Europe 2025: Sali, Basel: WordCamp Europe 2025 will be held in gorgeous Basel, Switzerland, from June 5 to 7. The schedule has been published and includes a fireside chat with Mary Hubbard and Matt Mullenweg.
2024 Annual WordPress Security Report by Wordfence: Key findings include a 68% increase in vulnerabilities in 2024 compared to 2023, with 81% of disclosed vulnerabilities having a ‘Medium’ severity CVSS score. Additionally, around 35% of all vulnerabilities disclosed in 2024 remain unpatched as of 2025.
2025 WordPress Professionals Survey results: 1,233 WordPress Professionals participated in The Admin Bar’s 4th annual WordPress Professionals Survey. The average hourly rate is $96.36 while the average website project price is $2,500 – $4,999. 24.4% use Bricks to build websites and 57.3% use AI. 46.5% are cautiously optimistic about the future of the WordPress project
20i launches Autoscale, a brand new WordPress hosting platform: Autoscale is a next-gen, autoscaling cloud hosting platform designed for high-traffic websites and demanding applications. It offers high-frequency CPUs, fast connectivity, ultra-low latency, and real-time autoscaling of PHP workers to handle unlimited concurrent users. With built-in global CDN and edge pre-caching, it delivers lightning-fast load times worldwide.
Advanced Site Metrics from Pressable: The new feature allows access to traffic volume and performance trends, cache efficiency insights, visitor traffic by region, visualized on a world map, and much more.
Win $1,000 cash: demonstrate your Hostinger Horizons website: Hostinger is hosting the Hostinger Horizons Showcase Competition, inviting creators to build and share web apps using their new AI-powered tool, Hostinger Horizons. Participants can win $1,000 in cash, tech prizes, and get featured across Hostinger’s platforms.
ACF 6.4 released: This release brings full support for WooCommerce’s High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) to ACF PRO, ensuring ACF works seamlessly with the latest WooCommerce features.
Melapress unveils its new logo: Melapress has revealed its updated logo and refreshed visual identity.
HeroPress swag now available through WP World’s swag store: $5 of each sale goes to support ongoing operation at HeroPress.
The WP Data Dashboard has been discontinued: The WP Data Dashboard project, created to analyze and visualize data within the WordPress ecosystem, has been sunsetted. The decision was based on the community’s lack of adoption of Full Site Editing (FSE) and concerns over the reliability and validity of WordPress.org data.
Projects from 10up and Human Made were nominated for the 2025 Webby Award: The Harvard Gazette developed by Human Made and Microsoft Research and Harvard School of Public Health developed by 10up were announced as nominees in the 2025 Webby Award.
Rocket.net is looking for beta testers for their upcoming WooCommerce scaling feature: Ben Gabler on X announced Rocket.net’s latest innovation for WooCommerce, a new feature designed to tackle scaling issues during flash sales. They’re now looking for beta testers to try it out.
Jason Coleman on creating a managed hosting platform tailored for Paid Memberships Pro sites: He highlighted the need for a managed hosting solution tailored specifically for Paid Memberships Pro sites, citing the shortcomings of existing hosting providers in performance and support, and also due to the changing landscape of WordPress.
Barn2 Plugins’ YouTube channel has reached a new milestone: The channel now has over 8,000 subscribers.
Join the PHPCS 4.0 rewrite live streams: Juliette Reinders Folmer is hosting live streams on April 14, 15, 17, and 18, 2025, and during these sessions, the community can review the changes made to the 4.0 branch, ask questions, and provide input on various updates.
Pooja Derashri receives the Yoast Care fund for her contribution to the WordPress community: Pooja Derashri, a valued member of the WordPress Community Team is the latest recipient of the Yoast Care fund.
Zero email will be the first fully serverless email service that’s completely based on Cloudflare ’s infrastructure: The announcement was made on X by Adam (Founder and CTO).
Check out the “Get Hired” page on WP World: If you’re on the lookout for opportunities or talent, take a moment to check out the new “Get Hired” page.

🚀 NEW PROJECTS

All new WP Since: Eduardo Villão has launched WP Since, a tool that scans your WordPress plugin to detect all used core symbols and validates them against their official since versions for accurate compatibility checks.
Introducing WordPressHooks Extractor: The new tool created by Balazs Piller allows users to extract action and filter hooks from any WordPress plugin or theme. The results are then provided in Markdown format, ready to use with ChatGPT or other AI tools for customization assistance.
BobWP, Wired for Open launched: Bob Dunn intends to publish a brief daily blog post each morning covering his experiences related to life and business over the last four decades.
Vishal Kothari founder of Tyche Softwares ventures into the Shopify platform: They have launched their first Shopify app, Flexi Delivery & Pickup Date, and it is an equivalent of their WooCommerce plugin, Order Delivery Date Pro.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

Why WordPress maintenance could be key for your freelance business: Eric Karkovack highlights that as the web design industry matures, freelancers are facing fewer opportunities for new projects. From The WPMinute.
Greyd Conversations – Building upon WordPress Core: Jessica Lyschik speaks to Ollie Co-Founder Mike McAlister where they discuss the benefits of their mutual approach of building products based on the Block & Site Editor of WordPress. From GreydSuite.
Milana Cap on the Interactivity and HTML APIs, and their enormous potential: Milana Cap discusses WordPress features developers should know about, such as the Interactivity API, which allows blocks within WordPress to communicate with each other, and the HTML API. From WPTavern Jukebox.
Matt Medeiros took WordPress.com’s new AI builder for a spin: He shared his first impressions and experience in a detailed video.
What could Bill 96 mean for your multilingual SEO strategy in Canada?: Tom Rankin explored what Bill 96 means for your website’s multilingual SEO strategy and also explained how to maintain compliance while preserving your search visibility. From TranslatePress.
How to come up with new product ideas for your e-commerce store: Gina Lucia provided valuable insights on how to come up with viable product ideas, validating these ideas, and how to launch and promote your product ideas. From Iconic.
Vetting AI tools in 2025: The panel discussion Luke Patterson will lead at DE{CODE} 2025, along with Justin Castilla of Elastic Search and Anthony Moore and Jeffrey Zalischi of Trew Knowledge Agency, will explore practical, high-ROI AI applications for WordPress. From Delicious Brains.
Google now wants your marketing emails. Literally.: Joost de Valk discusses the recently introduced update to Google’s Merchant Center documentation called “Marketing content usage”, why it matters, and what you should do. From Progress Planner.
Progress Planner’s new integration with Yoast: With this new feature, Progress Planner’s assistant, Ravi, will help you take full advantage of Yoast SEO by checking whether you completed the most important setup tasks. From Progress Planner.
WordPress product price hikes hit harder than you think: Opting for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) offers a fair solution by adjusting prices based on local economic conditions. From Gaurav Tiwari.
Navigating the accessibility landscape: Real stories with Bud Kraus: Anne Bovelett is joined by BobWP, with guest Bud Kraus, who provides insights into the hurdles and triumphs of accessible online shopping from his perspective as a visually impaired user. From Doo the Woo.
How Philip Levine balances managing hundreds of sites and avoiding burnout: Philip Levine, the owner of South Florida Web Advisors shared his journey from starting with static HTML sites to managing hundreds of WordPress websites and how he leverages networking, tools, and automation. From Do the Woo.
WordPress through the years: Insights on Themes, Block editors, and AI with Hendrik Luehrsen: This podcast episode discussed the evolution of WordPress, the rise and fall of WordPress themes, and explore the impact of new technologies like AI on the ecosystem. From Osom to Know.
Layoffs: Survivor’s guilt and fear of being next: Michelle Frechette highlighted the challenges faced by both those who have been laid off and those still employed during layoffs. From Post Status.
Git turns 20: A Q&A with Linus Torvalds: Taylor Blau sat down with Linus Torvalds—the creator of Git and Linux—to discuss how it forever changed software development. From GitHub.
Inside Woo: In this episode of the WP Minute+ Podcast, Matt is joined by James Kemp, Core Product Manager at WooCommerce and long-time WordPress entrepreneur, to take a behind-the-scenes look at the WooCommerce ecosystem. From The WP Minute.
Building your community on authentic content, with Kyle Van Deusen: Kyle Van Deusen sheds light on the origins of Admin Bar, community management, content creation is a team effort, not just one person’s responsibility and much more. From PublishPress.

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

How to auto-deploy and update a static WordPress website: GitHub to web host: From WP Workshop
Enhancing WP_Query Performance in WordPress: From Jonathan Harris
WordPress + Loveable beginner’s guide: From Pootlepress
What is a WordPress sitemap, and how do you add one to your site?: From WordPress.com
How to customize WooCommerce order emails: From Kinsta
504 Gateway Timeout error: The complete guide to solving it: From WPMarmite

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

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 now available.
WPCampus 2025 on July 23–25, 2025: The call for proposals is now open.
WordCamp US on August 26-29, 2025: The call for organizers is now open.
SomeConf 2025: The event is in the early planning stages. The call for sponsors and speakers is now live.
WordCamp Canada on October 16-17 2025: The call for sponsors is now open.
WordCamp Asia 2026: It is tentatively planned for early February 2026 and the call for organizers is now open.

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