Issue #235 | September 2, 2025 | Reading time: 18 mins
Hello!
This week on The WP Week Newsletter, we cover USPTO’s rejection of WordPress Foundation trademark attempts, new accessibility team reps, the release of WooCommerce 10.1.2, Rocket.net joining hosting.com, new projects, and more.
This week, we’re celebrating Onam 🏵️, a festival of joy marked by vibrant decorations, traditional dances, and delicious festive meals.
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, 20i and WP Job Openings
🗣️TALK OF THE TOWN
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has refused the WordPress Foundation’s applications to register the marks “Hosted WordPress” and “Managed WordPress” in the United States.
📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND
All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies
He highlighted the success of WordCamp US, faster plugin reviews, previews of Block Comments and the Command Palette in 6.9, new AI experiments, and announcements of WordCamp Asia 2026 in Mumbai (April 9–11) and WordCamp US 2026 in Phoenix (August 16–19). He also shared that the event was refreshing and a much-needed source of connection. For WC US 2026, community discussions have already begun about the dates, since next year’s schedule places the event from Sunday to Wednesday. Matt also highlighted that WordPress has a Typepad importer amidst the news of Typepad shutting down.
- Portland welcomes WordCamp US 2025: A community gathering: WordCamp US 2025 in Portland brought together thousands of WordPress contributors, innovators, and community members for four days of collaboration, learning, and inspiration. From Contributor Day and Showcase Day to diverse sessions on AI, accessibility, design, and open source, the event highlighted WordPress’s role as both a powerful platform and a global movement. All days and sessions of WordCamp 2025 are now available to watch on YouTube.
- What’s new in Gutenberg 21.5: The latest release introduces a new Accordion block, Command Palette is now accessible in the admin dashboard, and includes various bug fixes and enhancements.
- Stats of Plugins Team after WordCamp US: After WordCamp US, the Plugins Team shared that plugin submissions are up 87.3% this year, with over 60,000 plugins now in the directory. Thanks to AI-assisted reviews and efficient processes, the review queue stays under a week, and overall approval efficiency has improved.
- Update project WP A11y Docs August 2025: Rian Rietveld’s August 2025 update highlights progress on building a WordPress accessibility knowledge base, including a brainstorming session with contributors that defined the need for beginner guidance, reading guides per audience, dedicated how-to test sections, and links to trusted resources rather than rewriting content.
- Introducing Accessibility Team Reps for 2025–2026: Muhammad Yeasin and Krupa Nanda will serve as Accessibility Team Reps, and Nasim Miah will join the team to contribute and gain experience in the role.
- The WordPress AI team has chosen its logo: The GitHub discussion resulted in selecting a logo, referred to as ‘Block Sprinkles,’ from the various options.
- SQL injection vulnerability patched in Paid Membership Subscriptions plugin: In versions 2.15.1 and below, the plugin is vulnerable to an SQL injection, which allows any unauthenticated attacker to inject SQL queries into the database. The vulnerability has been patched in version 2.15.2.
- WooCommerce 10.1.2 released: This release improves email preview functionality, restores persistent cart behavior for better compatibility, and fixes automated order cancellation job scheduling. The team has also issued a developer advisory as the Cart Cross-Sells block will be soft-deprecated in favor of the Product Collection block’s Cross-Sells collection.
- Google AI, ChatGPT rarely agree on brand recommendations: Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode and ChatGPT disagree on brand picks nearly two-thirds of the time, new data shows.
- Google adds guidance on JavaScript paywalls and SEO: Google is apparently having trouble identifying paywalled content due to a standard way paywalled content is handled by publishers like news sites. It’s asking that publishers with paywalled content change the way they block content so as to help Google out.
💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS
- Rocket.net joins hosting.com: The partnership will expand Rocket.net’s services to hosting.com’s customers worldwide, with Rocket.net continuing to operate independently, and as part of this new partnership, hosting.com has appointed Ben Gabler as its Chief Product Officer.
- Elementor Host announces partnership with Patchstack: Elementor Host is enhancing security with built-in Patchstack integration, offering continuous plugin vulnerability scanning, instant alerts, and more.
👥 COMMUNITY NEWS
Updates and News from the WordPress Community
Patchstack announced the creation of an open security alliance, inviting hosting providers, plugin developers, and security companies to collaborate on threat intelligence and incident response to make the web safer through shared expertise and faster information exchange.
- ManageWP has launched a revamped website: The new website is now live after having been previewed a week ago.
- WPML 4.8 released: The latest release rebrands WPML AI to PTC (Private Translation Cloud), a simplified glossary for easier terminology management, transparent translation costs, and much more.
- New milestone reached by GetGenie plugin: The plugin now has over 30k+ active installations.
- WP Accessibility Day call for volunteers now open: The 24-hour volunteer-run event on October 15–16, is calling for volunteers to help with roles such as emceeing, moderating sessions, supporting logistics, reviewing videos, and providing translations.
- WP Engine is now ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified: This recognition, along with its earlier SOC 2 Type II compliance, underscores WP Engine’s commitment to protecting customer data and providing enterprise-grade security for WordPress sites.
- Oliver Sild on the lack of security talks at WCUS 2025: He expressed disappointment that WordCamp US didn’t feature any security talks this year, noting that upcoming regulations like the Cyber Resilience Act will significantly impact WordPress and open-source security, making these discussions more important than ever for the ecosystem. He is also preparing part two of Patchstack’s analysis on how web hosts defend against WordPress-specific vulnerabilities and is seeking a third party to independently verify our testing methods and results.
- WordPress Documentation as Markdown Files for LLMs has been updated: The project now includes the WP-CLI documentation too.
- Michelle Frechette’s giveaway for reaching 20k followers on X: Prizes include a chance to win an autographed copy of A Good Firm Handshake ($20 value), plus their choice of either two 1-hour “Pick My Brain” sessions ($300 value), personal branding coaching ($500 value), or public speaking coaching ($600 value), along with a $50 coupon for downloads in the Marketing Boutique.
- Devin Walker has left Liquid Web and StellarWP: Devin Walker, co-founder of GiveWP, has announced his departure from Liquid Web and its StellarWP brand. After more than a decade building GiveWP and contributing to WordPress, Walker reflected on the plugin’s journey, its acquisition by Liquid Web, and the growth that followed. He will continue working within WordPress through projects like WP Rollback Pro.
- Weston Ruter has joined WP Engine: After his WordPress contributor role at Google was eliminated, Weston Ruter has joined WP Engine as a principal software engineer, where he’ll continue his work on WordPress core performance.
- Aaron Campbell has joined Monarx: Aaron Campbell announced he has joined Monarx as Vice President of Product, where he’ll focus on advancing product strategy for the company’s cybersecurity solutions for web hosts.
- The Block Developer Cookbooks US debut: Ryan Welcher shared that it made its US debut at WordCamp US 2025, and this repository contains all of the create-block templates for the recipes that can be found at the Block Developer Cookbook.
- Explore the WordPress AI Chatbot: Felix Arntz shared the GitHub repo for the WP AI SDK Chatbot demo from Matt Mullenweg’s WCUS 2025 keynote for interested folks to explore. This SDK implements a basic AI chatbot demo using the PHP AI Client SDK and the WordPress Abilities API.
- Anne McCarthy has shared a list of former Automattic colleagues who are open to work: The list includes former Automatticians impacted by layoffs who are open to new opportunities, including engineers, designers, marketers, support specialists, and product managers.
- The Plugin Review Team reviewed nearly 310 plugin submissions during WCUS 2025: Courtney Robinson highlighted on X about this, and most of the reviews were done by Evan Herman.
- Jamie Marsland on Prabin’s commitment to attend WordCamp US: Jamie highlighted that Prabin traveled for 33 hours from Nepal, showing incredible dedication.
🚀 NEW PROJECTS
- Introducing WazChat: The plugin enables direct WhatsApp communication between your website visitors and your team.
- Telex has been launched: Automattic has launched Telex, an AI-assisted authoring environment for WordPress blocks.
- Activity Log Pro: A new activity monitoring and audit log plugin for WordPress. Track user actions, system changes, and security events with a clean UI and GDPR-ready features like IP anonymization and retention controls. There is also a pro version offering more features such as advanced IP privacy controls, IP location mapping, JSON feed export, and more.
- CiaoCliente launching soon: Pasquale is developing a new plugin for managing quotes and projects, and is now seeking 10 beta testers. The testers will receive a lifetime Pro license and earn a 50% lifetime commission on all referrals.
- Toggle Content Block: The plugin created by Bhargav Bhandari allows users to create two separate sections, left content and right content, and switch between them instantly.
- BlaBlaBlocks Tabs Block: The plugin allows users to create responsive tabs effortlessly.
- All new Displace CLI: Created by Eric Mann, this allows users to deploy WordPress to Kubernetes across any cloud provider.
- Simpull is now live: Justin Sainton has launched Simpull, a WordPress product incubator that turns user ideas into reliable, license-free plugins built by senior engineers.
- FBT Templates for Bricks Builder: The plugin created by Khan, adds free and premium Bricks Builder templates to the Bricks editor.
- Cimo plugin: The plugin developed by Benjamin Intal optimizes and converts your images instantly as you upload, even before the files are added to your Media Library.
- ConvesioAI launched: This is an AI-powered platform that empowers customers to directly manage, diagnose, and optimize their WordPress sites.
- WordPress Blocks and Editor book: An upcoming book by senior developer Paulo Carvajal, spanning 14 chapters, it is aimed at WordPress developers, agencies, technical content creators, and site builders. It will cover everything from extending existing blocks to building custom implementations and enterprise-grade solutions.
🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS
More posts and podcasts from the WordPress Community you don’t want to miss
- Website performance overtakes inventory management as top Black Friday strategy, Woo survey finds: A new Woo survey of 249 merchants and 12 agencies finds a growing preparation gap in Black Friday readiness, with larger merchants prioritizing website performance, advanced payment options, subscriptions, and early planning, while smaller businesses still focus mainly on inventory. From WooCommerce.
- Restoring trust requires repair: The long path toward accountable leadership in WordPress: Sé Reed shared why she is not attending WordCamp US 2025, citing nearly two years of harassment, retaliation, and unresolved Code of Conduct reports against WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg. She described the damaging personal and professional impact, criticized WordPress leadership for ignoring accountability, and called for independent reviews of how her reports were handled. From Sé Reed.
- Interview on Rocket.net joining Hosting.com: In this exclusive interview, Konrad Keck sits down with Seb De Lemos and Ben Gabler to break down the full story behind the Rocket.net + Hosting.com deal.
- Michelle Schulp Hunt on WordCamp US 2025: She reflects on attending WordCamp US 2025, feeling nostalgia and change since first attending in 2011, and finds gratitude in reconnecting, speaking, and embracing personal growth and life’s transitions.
- Christian Taylor tested every major WordPress host’s support: Christian, along with Mike Demo, spent over six months testing to determine which managed WordPress hosts have the best customer service, evaluating Kinsta, Hostinger, InMotion, Rocket.net, WP Engine, WordPress.com, and BigScoots.
- BlackRock has once again devalued its shares in Automattic: BlackRock devalues its shares in Automattic again, now worth just 32.6% of its 2021 Series E valuation. From the Delta.
- The WordPress Campus Connect Anthem: This video captures the energy and spirit of WordPress Campus Connect. From classrooms to workshops, from first steps with WordPress to building real-world skills, this initiative is shaping the future of students in technology. From Ajmer WordPress Community.
- How AI is shaping brand perception, and what you can do about it: Ahad Qureshi explores how AI is reshaping brand perception and, more importantly, what you can do about it. From Yoast.
- Dave Winer on the need to think different about WordPress: He urges people to see WordPress not just as a CMS, but as a platform comparable to Mastodon or Bluesky, with powerful APIs, real-time RSS (rssCloud), strong federation potential, and an open ecosystem. From Dave Winer.
- Judge weighs Automattic’s bid to dismiss WP Engine’s antitrust claims: A federal court is considering Automattic’s bid to dismiss most of WP Engine’s lawsuit, following a hearing that probed monopoly claims and Matt Mullenweg’s public attacks on the company. From The Repository.
🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE
Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle
- Refactoring the multi-block plugin: Build smarter, register cleaner, scale easier: From WordPress Developer Blog
- Unregistering style variations in a WordPress block theme: From Kinsta
📆 SAVE THE DATES
Do not miss a WordPress event ever again
- LoopConf 2025 on September 25: The full schedule is now available.
- WordCamp Gdynia 2025 on September 26–28: The tickets are now available, and the full schedule has also been published.
- SomeConf 2025: The tickets are now available.
- WP Suomi 2025 on October 10: The tickets are now available.
- WordCamp Canada on October 16-17 2025: The call for sponsors is now open. The first round of the speaker list has been published, and the tickets are also now available.
- WordCamp Nepal 2026 on January 23-24: The call for media partners is now open.
- WordCamp Asia 2026 on April 9-11: The venue has been announced.
- WordCamp Europe 2026 on June 4-6: The call for organizers is now open.
🎁 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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MORE DEALS
- Up to 50% off on BookingPress plugin
- 50% off 3 months on Liquid Web’s Bare Metal server hosting
- 20% off for Constellation plugin
- 20% off for the lifetime plan for the Modern Cart for WooCommerce plugin.
- 33% off for the Uncanny Automator plugin.
This weekly newsletter is kindly sponsored by awesome WordPress Companies 🦸♂️🙌
Last but not least, updates from WP-CONTENT.CO 👇
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has refused the WordPress Foundation’s applications to register the marks…
Based on the initial proposal by Matt Mullenweg, WordPress.org has introduced a new plugin update approach called “phased…
The WordPress Accessibility Team is seeking two new Team Reps to join their ranks. These new representatives will…
Earlier this month, the WooCommerce team announced progress on their first official block-based theme, code-named “Purple.” On July…
Team WP-CONTENT.CO
Issue #235 | September 2, 2025 | Reading time: 18 mins
This weekly newsletter is kindly sponsored by Kinsta, 20i and WP Job Openings
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