#232 - Phased Plugin Releases, WP Accessibility Docs Project Update

Issue #232 | August 12, 2025 | Reading time: 13 mins

Hello!

This week on The WP Week Newsletter, we cover the phased plugin releases, WP accessibility documentation project update, Matt Mullenweg looking for new editors and writers for WP Tavern, new projects, and more.

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

Plugin rollout: Phased releases

Dion Hulse announced the rollout of phased plugin releases for plugins using Release Confirmation, allowing updates to reach a smaller subset of sites before a full release. The initial strategy delays automatic updates for 24 hours, giving engaged users time to report issues before widespread rollout.

📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

WP Accessibility Docs project update

Rian Rietveld shared an update regarding the project where Phase 1 involves building a dedicated WP Accessibility Knowledge Base site to house accessibility content, while the existing Accessibility Handbook will focus only on team processes. Phase 2 will add a new Accessibility Handbook section to developers.wordpress.org, pulling content from the knowledge base.

First-ever WordPress Campus Connect in Southeast Asia kicks off: The first-ever WordPress Campus Connect in Southeast Asia took place on July 25, 2025, at PHINMA-Cagayan de Oro College, Philippines, bringing together over 100 students, staff, and WordPress community members.
Polyglots Team week in review: The team reported 208 locales, with 69 fully up to date and 37 reaching 100% translation (+4 from last week). Translation contributors grew to 78,266 (+201), and 57.34% of WordPress sites now run a translated version.
Developer Advisory: Changes to session management and cron jobs in WooCommerce 10.1: WooCommerce 10.1 (releasing Aug 11, 2025) updates session management and moves all cron jobs to the Action Scheduler for better performance and reliability. Logged-in user sessions will now be stored only in the session table, with a maximum limit of 30 days. Developers can still adjust durations via filters, but anything above the cap will be reduced and logged as a warning.
Critical vulnerability impacting over 100K sites patched in Everest Forms plugin: A critical unauthenticated PHP object injection vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) affecting over 100,000 sites was found in the Everest Forms plugin (versions ≤ 3.2.2). The flaw allowed attackers on older PHP versions (< 7.1) to trigger malicious object initialization when an admin viewed form submissions. An updated version was released that patched the issue.
Google to enforce EU Political ads rules in ads API and scripts: Starting Sept. 3, enforcements in the Google Ads API and Google Ads scripts will require advertisers to self-declare whether campaigns contain EU political ads – or risk failed API calls and blocked campaign updates.
Google cautions businesses against generic keyword domains: Google’s John Mueller advises small businesses to choose distinctive brand names over generic keyword domains for better search visibility.
OpenAI launches GPT-5 in ChatGPT to all users: The new model is positioned as OpenAI’s most capable and reliable system to date. OpenAI emphasizes a stronger focus on accuracy, instruction following, and long-form reasoning.
Ecosia & Qwant launch European search infrastructure: Ecosia begins using its own search index in France, part of a joint effort with Qwant to reduce reliance on U.S. tech providers.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

WordPress SQLsplorer Challenge

Wordfence has announced the WordPress SQLsplorer Challenge, running until September 22, 2025, as part of the Wordfence Bug Bounty Program. The event expands scope to include all SQL Injection vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins and themes with at least 25 active installs (except high-privileged levels) and offers a 20% bounty bonus for valid submissions.

State of WordPress one year after WCUS 2024: Jeff Chandler sparked a conversation on X about the current state of WordPress, prompted by the upcoming one-year mark since the keynote.
WPTavern not up for sale: Brad Williams, CEO and Co-founder of WebDevStudios asked about this on X, to which Matt Mullenweg replied that he is open to new writers/editors.
Groundhog CRM plugin for WordPress has been closed in the repository: The plugin has been closed by the Plugin Review Team for trademark infringement, as they used WordPress alongside the plugin name.
Patchstack introduced Rapidgate: Patchstack has launched RapidMitigate, an advanced vulnerability mitigation system that surpasses traditional virtual patching. It uses fully programmatic JSON-based rules that target vulnerabilities with high precision, applying them only when needed to minimize false positives and performance impact.

🚀 NEW PROJECTS

Gift Message for Woo: The plugin adds professional gift message functionality to your WooCommerce store, allowing customers to include personalized messages with their orders.
ToolboxWP is now live: A new project by Davinder Singh, this is a resource hub of Tools & Resources for WordPress Professionals.
TableMaster for Elementor: This is a drag-and-drop table builder that integrates seamlessly with Elementor.
All new ClickTock plugin: The plugin, created by Dave Grey, allows users to track time for each task directly within the dashboard, so you always know exactly what to bill clients.
Contributor Photo Gallery: The plugin created by Satyam Vishwakarma allows uers to showcase their photo contributions to WordPress.org/photos directory in beautiful responsive grids on your website.
Introducing WPMade: The website showcases some of hte finest websites built with WordPress.
All-new Web Auditor: The team at rtCamp has released Web Auditor, a tool for one-click website performance audits and real-time optimization experiments.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

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

Why bcrypt in WordPress 6.8 outperforms phpass in security: JuanMa Garrido notes that WordPress 6.8 now uses bcrypt instead of the older phpass for password hashing, making brute-force attacks hundreds of times harder and aligning the platform with modern security standards. From JuanMa Garrido.
Perspectives with Mary Hubbard: Mary Hubbard joins Luke and Jonathan to discuss the open versus closed web, what the WordPress ecosystem can learn from platforms like TikTok, and the importance of digital literacy in a world of AI. From Crossword.fm.
In conversation with Olga Gleckler: Olga Gleckler, a WordPress developer, shares her path from studying computer hardware to advertising, then finding her passion in software and WordPress development. From Seriously, Bud?
Ethics and pricing for WordPress agencies: Kurt and Toby discuss the complexities of pricing, client relationships, and ethics in agency work. They explore the balance between offering expertise and competing with cheaper alternatives, the importance of discipline and motivation in business, and the evolving landscape of marketing strategies. From The WP Minute.
Karla Campos on organising WordCamp US: Karla Campos, lead organiser for WordCamp US 2025 in Portland, shares her journey from long-time community member to first-time flagship event organiser. She discusses balancing volunteer duties with her career, coordinating logistics for 1,000+ attendees, and managing accessibility, visas, and community engagement. From WP Tavern Jukebox.
The current state of the block theme market: Brian Gardner and Mike McAlister join Matt Cromwell & Zack Katz to reveal where the block theme market is headed. From WP Product Talk.
The rise of Substack – How Substack is changing the way we talk about blogging: Substack’s rise signals a cultural and practical shift in online publishing, where writers trade self-hosted independence for platform-driven visibility and built-in audiences. The platform’s branding, default subdomains, and recommendation networks make it easier to be discovered than on a standalone blog. From WinningWP.
Why I built AI personalities to run my company’s social media: James Giroux launched two AI personalities, Kai and Timo, to manage Future of Team’s social media, openly acknowledging that founders can’t be everywhere at once. Kai handles Twitter with weary corporate wit, while Timo brings over-the-top networking energy to LinkedIn. From James Giroux.
The Keller class action lawsuit: An overview of the Keller v Automattic & Mullenweg class action case by Sam Sidler. From The Delta.
WP Engine and Automattic clash over scope of discovery in ongoing legal battle: An August 5 court filing lays bare months of stalled negotiations, with WP Engine accusing Automattic of “stonewalling,” and Automattic claiming the demands are excessive. From The Repository.
WordPress Campus Connect quickly growing with global events, student clubs and scholarships: From Spain to the Philippines, WordPress Campus Connect is expanding with global events, student clubs, scholarships, and local impact. From The Repository.
GoDaddy bringing agentic AI to its platform with Ask Airo: The hosting giant reported its Q2 2025 financial results this week and revealed it’s been testing Ask Airo, a new conversational AI assistant designed to help customers manage domains, sites, payments, and marketing. From The Repository.
WordPress is about to get a whole lot better (exclusive preview): Jamie Marsland explores the brand-new free WordPress menu designer plugin from Mike McAlister.

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

How to make a custom block style in minutes: From Ryan Welcher Codes
How to hack Gutenberg blocks with Style variations and Block variations: From Kinsta

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

WordCamp US on August 26-29, 2025: The call for organizers and sponsor applications is now open.
LoopConf 2025 on September 25: The registration is now open.
SomeConf 2025: The event is in the early planning stages. The call for sponsors and speakers is now live.
WP Suomi 2025 on October 10: The call for speakers is now open.
WordCamp Canada on October 16-17 2025: The call for sponsors is now open. The first round of the speaker list has been published.
WordCamp Asia 2026: It is tentatively planned for early February 2026 and the call for organizers is now open.
WordCamp Europe 2026 on June 4-6: The call for organizers is now open.

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