Llamas in Space: The Woolly Frontier

 

– ‘good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you happen to be hiding out there on the globe today! Coming to you LIVE from …'

 

Salutations & Reminders:

Welcome to Episode 633 – Llamas in Space: The Woolly Frontier – We've got a couple of great in-depth plugins to cover for you, some recent news in both the WordPress World and the Tech World in general, and some awesome WordPress Tips!

Hoping everyone is keeping well with the oncoming season changes! I know my humans-in-training and I are starting to feel a little blah as the weather shifts and changes around us.

Still looking for any suggestions from those out there who are good with games! Thoughts on creating this idea of Plugin Battle Royale? Shoot me a message at amber@wppro.ca! Good or bad ideas – the worse the better 'cause usually genius comes from the supposed ‘bad' ideas – all are welcome! And don't worry, you will absolutely get credit! Unless you don't want it and wand to remain anonymous – that's an option too!

A few reminders before we start the show today….

Reminders:

• Be sure to check out our newer news thing called N3w$ 4 Y0u! You can find it on our homepage right next to the latest podcast, and on our left-hand menu!
• Show starts at 12:30pm Pacific Time every other week on Monday! Join in for the pre-stream entertainment at about 12:15ish! You'll find the show notes on the home page of wppluginsatoz.com within 24(ish) hours after every show!
• This is a value for value show dear listeners, help us get some loven by hitting some like buttons, sharing an episode or two, or lovingly forcing your family members to listen to us by cranking our show way up! After all, you can't go wrong helping out the longest running WordPress Podcast!

Don't run away at the end either – we got some good questions and some awesome conversation coming up!

...When you see this in the notes, it means we didn't read this on the show. The only way to find this information out is to read our Show Notes!

…You can send any questions/suggestions or notes saying ‘hi' over to me at amber@wppro.ca, or hit up our site wpppluginsatoz.com/contact – Be creative with the title so that the spammer eater doesn't eat your note though!

 

---

Let's start the show with this weeks Featured Artist:

Artist: 

Grok! You can check him and his artistic talents out by going here and following the directions.
You will wind up being re-routed to here, and although you are getting a sort of lame version you will at least be getting an idea of the real Grok!
The other option, and the best one really 'cause you will be able to get the full version of Grok, is to go to the X (formally Twitter) site and pay for premium for proper access to Grok.

Grok seems to have gotten an idea of what Harry Potter was about… and then gave it his own rural English country twist… Gotta admit, this is certainly suggestive of Halloween!

We would love some new art from our Producers out there! If you are so inclined, you can send it into us at https://wppluginsatoz.com/artwork/. If you need some inspiration, you can always go to our site wppluginsatoz.com and check out our Art Vaults – you will find the link for it on the left hand side.

…We can NEVER have too much art!

 

---

Breaking News in the WordPress World at large!! 

This is just a little taste of what will come out on Wednesday for everyone! Send anything in to me at amber@wppro.ca that you think should go into the Wed's N3W$ 4 Y0U!

News this week:

WordPress Vulnerability Report – August 28, 2024
(https://solidwp.com/blog/wordpress-vulnerability-report-september-11-2024/) – In this report there are only 64 vulnerabilities; 64 of these are Plugins – 45 plugins have been patched so far.
All themes are currently in great condition!

WordPress Vulnerability Report from PatchStack
(https://patchstack.com/database/) – These guys always have the latest information on what is going on regarding the latest in vulnerabilities. At the time of writing this, the most recent issue was ‘Login with phone number' plugin – has an authorization bypass to privilege escalation vulnerability. Be sure to check out this list for yourself!

WordPress.org introduces new security measures for Plugin and Theme authors
(https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-introduces-new-security-measures-for-plugin-and-theme-authors) – Starting October 21st, 2024, WordPress.org is rolling out NEW SECURITY MEASURES aimed at enhancing the safety of accounts with commit access to plugins and themes. Automattic-sponsored developer Dion Hulse is the bringer of this news to the wider world. WordPress.org will also be bringing in SVN passwords for committing changes to plugins and themes. This is meant to be a separate layer of security. To learn more you can check out the article here in the show notes.

WordPress 6.6.2 released with 26 bug fixes
(https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-6-2-released-with-26-bug-fixes) – Released on September 10, 2024 – there were 15 bug fixes to Core and 11 to the Block Editor. Remember, this is just a short-cycle maintenance release, WordPress 6.7 is scheduled to come hurling at us on November 12, 2024 – 2 days before my birthday! I can guess what I will be spending MY birthday doing this year…
To see a list of the fixes in greater detail be sure to check out the link here in the show notes!

WordPress 6.7 roadmap includes new default Theme, APIs, and Media enhancements
(https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-7-roadmap-includes-new-default-theme-apis-and-media-enhancements) – Speaking of that oncoming major release – here is a pretty good roadmap to give us an idea of what to expect! At least this is what everyone who is creating all this is aiming for. This new default theme seems like a decent idea, their idea is to go back to basics really, and have a fairly empty theme. I think this will wind up helping in the long run and hope it works out the way they are aiming for! Be sure to check out the link here in the  to read more on it!

WordPress Community Team to close inactive Meetup Groups by September 16, 2024
(https://wptavern.com/wordpress-community-team-to-close-inactive-meetup-groups-by-september-16-2024) – For those who have sorta forgot about their Meetup's out there, might want to think about heading in and checking to see if there is actually any activity going on. And if your group is inactive, grab up all the contact info and just close it yourself.

These shot-for-shot remakes of Minecraft Movie trailer make the official one look fake in comparison
(https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/these-shot-for-shot-remakes-of-the-minecraft-movie-trailer-make-the-official-one-look-fake-in-comparison/) – This is something I wanted to bring forward for all those out there who, like my daughter, are so absolutely disappointed and rather disgusted by the attempt being sorta-kinda made to bring Minecraft to life. This is a link to some videos made by fan creators that are just way better so far then the movie itself, and really it's pretty awesome to check out!
So don't worry everyone, the internets got your back here – don't go watch the real movie, just look for the fan creations and enjoy the movie that way.

Some Extras – check out the N3W$ 4 Y0U coming out on Weds for more, or you can check out our Facebook or Twitter!

Five for the future site relaunched with a block-based design
(https://wptavern.com/five-for-the-future-site-relaunched-with-a-block-based-design)

WordPress blog WPLift joins E2M Solutions
(https://wptavern.com/wordpress-blog-wplift-joins-e2m-solutions)

Automattic is migrating Tumblr to WordPress
(https://wptavern.com/automattic-is-migrating-tumblr-to-wordpress)

Pedraum Pardehpoosh joins Automattic as VP of product
(https://wptavern.com/pedraum-pardehpoosh-joins-automattic-as-vp-of-product)

Complete list of artificial intelligence-powered WordPress plugins
(https://wplift.com/top-ai-wordpress-plugins/)

WordPress training team seeks ideas to attract new learners
(https://wptavern.com/wordpress-training-team-seeks-ideas-to-attract-new-learners)

Key insights from WooCommerce survey 2024
(https://wptavern.com/key-insights-from-woocommerce-survey-2024)

State of CSS 2024 survey now open
(https://wptavern.com/state-of-css-2024-survey-now-open)

Can marketing save WordPress?
(https://thewpminute.com/can-marketing-save-wordpress/)

How to create a classic WordPress theme: step-by-step
(https://kinsta.com/blog/create-classic-wordpress-theme/)

 

---

Dragon Rating Time!

John's Plugin

Block All Emails

https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-all-emails/

 

The Lowdown:

Stops all outgoing emails to ensure no emails are sent from your WordPress site, particularly useful for staging environments. This plugin is compatible with PHP versions 5.0 through 8.3 and has been tested up to WordPress version 6.6.

Rating 5 Dragons

 

---

WordPress Tips

We would love to hear some tid bit tips from some of our producers out there – what did you figure out by breaking something? Or what did you need to learn in order to help someone? You can send these tid bits into me at amber@wppro.ca

 

Whenever you find yourself falling into a slump, that is the perfect time to try something new or start a new project! Even if you don't REALLY have the technical time for it, make the time. Spend some time re-creating one of your sites, or continuing on a random project site! Do something to help you feel the joy and excitement you felt at first in the industry, this way you don't wind up fully losing your love for what you do!

And if you REALLY don't have the time to do this? Try doing something new and exciting on the sites you are currently working on. Make sure of course that you are on a DEV site, but try something new and exciting! See what happens in this dev site if you break it and rebuild it – do something crazy!

DEV sites may be for serious business, but really DEV sites are just playgrounds right? Find something to do that you seriously enjoy in that DEV site for your client – and if you actually do something really awesome, show it off to your client and see if they wanna go in that direction!

Sometimes we just need to reach back to where we started in order to find that flame. Don't let the busy schedule of work weight you down and cause your flame to go out – if you fall out of love with what you do you may not be able to get it back – and that would just suck!

…Some random entertainment in the World of WordPress!

…Matt's Famous Quotes
https://www.idrlabs.com/quotes/matt-mullenweg.php

…The hall of shame via Automattic:
transparency.automattic.com/tag/hall-of-shame/

 

---

Amber's Plugin

Toggle/Hide/Show Admin Bar

https://wordpress.org/plugins/toggle-hide-show-admin-bar/

 

The Lowdown:

I came across this gem recently – a plugin to hide your admin bar. This may not seem like something worth your time at first – but when you are working on a site that has a lot of minute spacing bits up at the header area, and you need to be able to see the whole thing – this can come in endlessly useful!

I have in the past used plugins to move the admin bar to the bottom, or to make the admin bar invisible – although none of the ones I have used in the past were quite as light as this one, and one of the ones I tried in the past completely crashed when I turned on Woo Commerce.

This plugin though, it's light and plays so well with others! At least so far as I have tested it at this point.

Once downloaded and activated, you will find the dashboard for this plugin under ‘Settings', ‘Toggle Admin Bar'.

On the dashboard you will see 4 options – whether to show the toggle on the left or right hand side at the bottom of your screen, always show it or only on hover, then the background and text colour that best suits your site. You can put in the code for your preferred colour, or just choose a colour option already there.

One thing I noticed, when you tell this guy to ‘only show on hover' on the right hand bottom corner, it does not fold in properly like it does on the left hand side.

That was the only issue I found, and really it's not that big of an issue in my opinion as it still works, it just does not look as pretty.

Sometimes, function over fashion is way more important! Also, hopefully Jorge Del Campo the creator is listening in and will head off to fix it!

This is a lovely light plugin that works really well and will make your life easier, I highly recommend giving it a go!

Rating: 5 Dragon

 

---

Earn yourself a Producership Credit!

There are a lot of ways that you as our Producers can utilize us as your tool to help yourself out, and help us at the same time – get a producership credit, do an interview, donate some time to get your name up here, all kinds of things! You can look further into the Producership credits options by going to our site wppluginsatoz.com and clicking on Time, Talent, or Treasure in our main menu.

 

---

Miscellaneous Announcements from all:

Have an announcement like a meetup, or to announce you'll be on stage at a WordCamp? Let us know and we will add it here and help get your news out to the world!

do_action Bhopal – September 15

WordCamp US – September 17-20

WordCamp Pontevedra sobre emprendimiento – September 21 – 22

WordCamp Bretagne – September 27

WordPress Diversity Day Valencia – September 28

To see the entire list you can follow the link here in the show notes, then click on ‘More WordCamps' right below the list of the next 5. https://central.wordcamp.org/

If you are interested in finding a WordPress Meetup somewhere around the world you can go check out the places here: https://www.meetup.com/pro/wordpress/

Keep checking back every week to find out what else is going on!

And remember, the show notes found at wppluginsatoz.com have a whole lot of extra information to grab up that we don't read on air so be sure to check them out!

 

---

How to reach us:

Feel like sending us something through the snail mail system? You can do that thanks to our brick and mortar address that we provide for you!
You can also reach us the more common way of the internets – have both of our internets available down below for ya!

WP Plugins A to Z
C/O John Overall 
20-754 E Fairview Rd. 
Victoria, BC  V9A 5T9  
Canada

John:

• My website:http://www.johnoverall.com/
• WordPress Emergency Support:http://wppro.ca/wpemergency
• email:john@wppro.ca

Amber:

• email: amber@wppro.ca

 

---

John’s Plugin:

Block All Emails By WPDuck.com

• Stops all outgoing emails from your WordPress site
• Compatible with PHP 5.0 – 8.3
• Compatible with all emails

Rating: 5 Dragons

 

Amber's Plugin: 

Toggle Hide/Show Admin Bar By Jorge del Campo

• Easy to use
• Customizable
• Nice and light

Rating: 5 Dragon

 

---

Q & A Time with Amber – Catch this info on our YouTube Channel

If you have questions you would like to have asked on the show, send them in to me at Amber@WPPro.ca – we may never stump my dad, but we can get some good conversation out of him at least!

• Why do shortcodes slow down sites?

• Will it slow down your site if there are old shortcodes that don't actually do anything anymore?

Questions asked after closing credits:

• Can old shortcodes that no longer do anything on your site be a security risk at all?

• Is there an easy way to get rid of all the old shortcodes, or do you have to painstakingly go through and delete them one by one?