This issue of The WP Weekly is packed with tons of new WordPress goodness including new launches, a lot of new plugin releases, a few cool things, new feature updates of various products, and a look at the state of security in the WordPress ecosystem. So, let’s unpack!
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What’s Buzzing in WordPress 💖
- New Plugins… a small but useful plugin that allows you to remove the @user autocomplete feature from the Gutenberg block editor – for sure a distraction for a few users. Another small but practically useful plugin, Float FAQ plugin allows you to create a floating box displaying FAQs (questions and answers) listing along with the interface to write FAQs content within the dashboard.
- The Cool Ones… after being in pursuit for 13 years, folks at Gravity Forms are super happy to be the owner of Gravity(dot)com domain which for now redirects to the existing Gravity Forms website (till they launch something new, maybe!). Inspired by Wapuu (the cute WordPress mascot), here is an upcoming super cute and colorful Wapuu Alphabet for kids ebook (and book) by Raitis Sevelis.
- Big Changes… Thrive Themes recent changes now allow the purchase of products individually for a single or more website as against previously with only all products access via Thrive Suite subscription. Also, the new Elementor v3.6.0 Beta 3 release has introduced Flexbox containers (experiment) bringing the power of CSS Flexbox to Elementor – definitely a good direction!
Extended WordPress Buzz 🔥
- WP Ecosystem… do you wish to offer your WordPress products and services to the WordPress(dot)com user? Well, a little window has opened and this might pick up pace rather quickly – in a good way! Also, WPExperts team has acquired another plugin in the span of 10 days, the Password Protected plugin that has over 300,000+ installs.
- Dev Things… If you are a plugin developer or wish to become one, then this exhaustive guide by Ronald Huereca is worth bookmarking as it explains the whole process right from deciding the name of the plugin to support, reviews, feedback, and marketing aspects. Also, David Vongries has launched the pro version of Kirki (toolkit for the WordPress customizer) featuring extensions for tabs, input slider, responsive controls, headlines, dividers, and more.
- New Launches… Alex de Borba and Nicolas Lecocq have launched the Olympus Pro theme with an offer of 50% off discount for the first 100 sales that come with unlimited activations. David McCan did a video deep dive exploring this theme’s options and features. Gravity Forms Entry Blocks is a new addon that adds a block to the Block Editor for displaying and editing entries of Gravity Forms.
- More Launches… Rebrand Press has a collection of plugins that lets you rebrand (aka white label) popular plugins like LearnDash, LifterLMS, BuddyBoss, Elementor, Cartflows, Fluent Forms, and more. Also, SiteOrigin Post Carousel Widget has a new theme style called Overlay that displays big images with overlay of background gradient and post titles text effect.
- Blocks Life… Kadence Block 2.3.0 has added a new Google Maps Block to the free version of the plugin. David McCan explored options and features available in this new Google Maps Block. Also, check the listing of 15 WordPress themes that support full site editing goodness for the block editor users.
Quick Bits 👍
- Bock editor powered art named MOBA (Museum of Block Art).
- Expandable post excerpts effect quick code by Mohamed Atta.
- WP Offload Media 2.6 now with integration for BuddyBoss.
- Jeff Golenski shared new look WPScan – now part of Automattic.
- WordPress 6.0 adds a performance bump for custom pages.
- Matt Mullenweg in conversation at the Tim Ferriss podcast.
How is the State of WordPress Security?
Well, 99.42% of security vulnerabilities were caused by themes and plugins (not surprising). The WordPress core contributed just close to 0.58% of security vulnerabilities. The biggest eye-opener, there has been 150% growth in vulnerabilities reported in 2021 compared to 2020! All this and more insights in the State of WordPress Security Report by the PatchStack team.
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