Balance has been Restored to WordPress Plugins

John's Intro:

It's Episode 607 and we have plugins for  Redirecting, Hiding the Notices… and WordPress News. It's all coming up on WordPress Plugins A-Z!

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

Amber's Rant:

Welcome to Episode 607 – Balance has been Restored to WordPress Plugins – 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!

So we were gone for a bit longer than originally planned… but we are back now! Happy Belated BC Day to everyone who's in the province!

We are in for another heat wave this week, hoping everyone is keeping cool and drinking lots of liquids and everything! Remember to take in some salt with your liquids as well otherwise you won't be able to keep yourself hydrated!

Some reminders before we start the show today….

Reminders:

• Remember that the show starts at 12:30 PM Pacific Time, with a pre-stream starting around 12:15 PM Pacific Time. Pre-stream is where we twiddle with the dials and knobs and really just warm up our voices, so join in for some entertainment value!
• Our show notes for each episode can be found at wppluginsatoz.com – the newest show notes will be up within 24 hours and on our front page!
• Don't forget that this is a value for value show, and that you are a big part of it's creation! You are our producers, and we need you to help us produce! Get out there and hit some like buttons, share an episode or two, and let people know that you help to produce the longest running WordPress Plugins podcast!

That's it for reminders, don't forget to stick around until the end of the show for some possibly life altering advice!

...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: 

Greg's Graphics (Greg Holdsworth)  — https://gregsgraphics.com

I have always been amazed by the ability of people to do this with the rocks. I know they aren't actually glued together though they always look like it to me.

Going through the Art Vaults is awesome, but we would love some new art! You can send it into us at https://wppluginsatoz.com/artwork/. You can also check out the art vaults yourself there too!

…We can NEVER have too much art!

Breaking News in the WordPress World at large!! 

…If I missed something, shoot me a link at amber@wppro.ca – it may show up on the next show!

News this week:

WordPress Vulnerability Report – July 27, 2023 (https://ithemes.com/blog/wordpress-vulnerability-report-july-27-2023/) – We have a long list of plugins that have been patched, so be sure to check those out!

Notice from this morning added: Patchstack lists multiple high-severity vulnerabilities in the Ninja Forms plugin. It is recommended that you update to version 3.6.26 ASAP.

Unpatched plugins I recognize easily: WPS Limit Login, Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons, Google Map Shortcode, WP Emoji One, WP Quick Post Duplicator, Remove Duplicate Posts, and WP Logger. There are a total of 66 this week, so be sure to go through your and your client's sites after checking this list yourself.

Theme Vulnerabilities: There is a list with a total of 54 WordPress themes, some of them have been fixed since this list was released, I have listed out below the ones that have not been fixed as of the morning of August 14.
Yuki, Techism, SalesZone, Brand, WP Sierra, Eighteen Tags, Hasium, Salzburg Blog, Speculor, Aquarella Lite, Consultpress Lite, Topcat Lite, Shuban, Purus, Elation, Gutenbook, Chained, LearnMore, WPCake, PixiGo, WP Moose, G Blog, Cuisine Palace, Agncy, Travel Agency Booking, Villar, BlogsHub, Viralike, NewsHit, Simplifi, Roven Blog, Krste, Unakit, Temp Mail X, Rovenstart, Bani.

WordPress 6.3 “Lionel” (https://wordpress.org/news/2023/08/lionel/#utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=social) – Named after Lionel Hampton, the celebrated American Jazz artist. 6.3 has been released, though my own recommendation is that you do not update immediately – let others update and report the issues and save yourself the hassle. If you wait for a bit, the kinks will mostly be gone and you will be able to update without too much worry. There seems to be a lot that they put into this update, loads of things that you can now do in the Site Editor, better creation and syncing capabilities, and officially the Command Palette. This appears to be the name that everyone agreed on the most for the command center console thing. If you are wanting to learn more about what is inside this most recent update named Lionel, be sure to follow the link for this in our show notes!

WordPress kicks off admin design overhaul with discussion on initial mockups (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-kicks-off-admin-design-overhaul-with-discussion-on-initial-mockups) – Gutenbergs phase 3 is focused on collaboration on the admin revamp as part of the road map. This will be a huge change for everyone, and a rather monumental task – though it has been talked about how WordPress's admin design is aging, and there have been some inital mockups this last week by contributors. You can check these out by following the link for this in our show notes. Although the initial mockups are really rather broad strokes, this is something to keep in mind – people like myself who like to be able to use muscle memory to find what they need will have to get used to a whole new design when this update comes through. Eventually we all have to update… reading through this article gives you an idea on which direction we are likely to head for the revamp, and so far a lot of people who use WordPress who are rather worried about these changes that are coming our way.

Guetenberg 16.4 introudces experimental auto-inserting blocks (https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-16-4-introduces-experimental-auto-inserting-blocks) – Auto-inserting blocks experimental feature allows developers to specify a location in which the block will be auto-inserted, such as before or after a template. The block can then be repositioned after insertion using the editor tools. I can see how this would be useful, and this will apply to both the frontend and to the site editor (via the REST API). The hope is that this improves the extensibility of block themes through plugins. Hopefully it works the way they are hoping.

The first learn WordPress course cohort will teach participants how to develop blocks (https://wptavern.com/the-first-learn-wordpress-course-cohort-will-teach-participants-how-to-develop-blocks) – This course deadline to apply is August 20, 2023, and the course will run from September 4th until October 9th. What you will get in the course is:

• Week 1: Introduction, preparing your environment for block development.
• Week 2: Using create-block to scaffold your first block, Internationalisation.
• Week 3: Block styling, block supports, block controls
• Week 4: Block attributes, block components
• Week 5: Interacting with WordPress data
• Week 6: Dynamic blocks

May be worth checking out if you are still having troubles wrapping your mind around Gutenberg.

WordPress Plugin Review Team addresses backlog of 900+ plugins, implements strategies to improve approval process (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-plugin-review-team-addresses-backlog-of-900-plugins-implements-strategies-to-improve-approval-process) – WordPress' plugin review team has been wading through a backlog of over 900 plugins awaiting approval this last week. Current count is about 870 in the review que, average wait time is 61 days before initial review. They have opened more applications for team members, selected new team reps and have more than 20 applicants who have expressed interest in volunteering. Hopefully this helps out, though if you are in the que for review yourself, be aware that it will likely take a bit longer than expected to get your plugin through the process.

Should you keep or delete old content in WordPress? (Expert Opinion) (https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/should-you-keep-or-delete-old-content-in-wordpress/) – This is a really useful article that goes over the issues one comes across with older content in WordPress, offering various scenarios on what happens when you go ahead and delete your old content, how scheduling regular content updates can be helpful, and how promoting your old evergreen posts (and what an evergreen post is) can be helpful as well. There are a few more things that this article goes over as well like ‘unpublish posts while waiting to rewrite them' – that one is a good one to think about when you go to rewrite anything really.

I think this is a great article especially for those who are new to writing any kind of content for their site – it reminds me of what I learned when I was trying to get a newspaper up and going in high school. Very good knowledge to have, and you can use it pretty well anywhere in your life where there are things you are writing!

The Extras – check out our Facebook, or Twitter page for even more!

WordPress 6.3 ‘Edit Everything' – More on what you will find inside the update (https://wordpress.org/download/releases/6-3/#utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=social)

Google launches project IDX, a new AI-enabled browser-based development environment (https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/08/google-launches-project-idx-a-new-ai-enabled-browser-based-development-environment/)

WordPress publishes 6.3 release video and landing page demo (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-publishes-6-3-release-video-and-landing-page-demo)

WordPress.com makes a bid for Google Domains Customers, offering 1 million free transfers (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-com-makes-a-bid-for-google-domains-customers-offering-1-million-free-transfers)

Kadence Blocks 3.1.11 patches critical vulnerability (https://wptavern.com/kadence-blocks-3-1-11-patches-critical-vulnerability)

ConverKit updates WordPress plugin, adds members only content, newsletter feed, and product embeds (https://wptavern.com/covertkit-updates-wordpress-plugin-adds-members-only-content-newsletter-feed-and-product-embeds)

WordPress Remembers: A memorial to those we have lost (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-remembers-a-memorial-to-those-we-have-lost)

BuddyPress 12.0 to introduce community visibility feature that restricts access to members only (https://wptavern.com/buddypress-12-0-to-introduce-community-visibility-feature-that-restricts-access-to-members-only)

Jetpack launches Newsletter Product (https://wptavern.com/jetpack-launches-newsletter-product)

Start testing WordPress' new interactivity API (https://wptavern.com/start-testing-wordpress-new-interactivity-api)

WordPress performance analysis finds translations may significantly slow down sites (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-performance-analysis-finds-translations-may-significantly-slow-down-sites)

Ninja Forms version 3.6.26 patches multiple high severity security vulnerabilities (https://wptavern.com/ninja-forms-version-3-6-26-patches-multiple-high-severity-security-vulnerabilities)

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Dragon Rating Time!

John's Plugin

Redirection

https://wordpress.org/plugins/redirection/

The Lowdown:

When you make changes, this is a plugin for you.

Redirection can easily manage 301 redirections, keep track of 404 errors, and generally tidy up any loose ends your site may have. This can help reduce errors and improve your site ranking.

Redirection is designed to be used on sites with a few redirects to sites with thousands of redirects.

It has been a WordPress plugin for over 10 years and has been recommended countless times. And it’s free!

Rating 5 Dragons

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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

Making Sites

Sometimes you will have to remake a site you made at the start of your career.

First thing to keep in mind: don't despair.

This site was absolutely amazing when you first made it, but now looking at it you can't help but see all the different things you could have done so much better – don't get hung up on the small details, and don't allow yourself to go too far into ‘remaking' the site to make it more up to your own standards. One of the things you need to remember is that when you made this, and your client saw it, they loved it. So if they are wanting you to remake it to bring it more up to date, try to just make it more modern and not change the actual site too much – as much as you probably really want to.

Another thing to remember when bringing an old site up to date, is that there will be a few things you won't be able to reproduce absolutely perfectly – again, don't get too hung up on this. Reproduce it as best you can, and accept that you may not be able to do exact all over again.

These may seem like non-helpful tips – until you find yourself telling yourself these things while you are working. The goal is to not beat yourself up, and not drive yourself mental to the point of needing a straight jacket by getting so caught up in the small details that you forget about the rest of the site.

Beginners Tips

When you are doing research, don't just look for the bit of information in the ‘how to's ‘ you come across that you feel is most important – slow yourself down and read the whole thing. Why? Because later on, you will find that you need to go back to that article again to read all the stuff you skipped last time in your rush to just get the info you needed at the time – so really you are wasting your time because if you had just slowed down enough to read the whole thing in the first place, you wouldn't have to go back and read it all over again.

Slow down, take the time to read it all the first time, and you will find it not only saves you time down the road but also helps you to have a better and more comprehensive understanding of what you are doing and how what you are working on/with truly works. You may also find that there are tips in that ‘how-to' that you wouldn't have seen to learn if you didn't slow down and read it all.

When working with a new to you program, this is another area where you may need to slow yourself down. Learn every tool you can on this new program as soon as you start using it. Again, this will save you time in the future and give you a better understanding of how this program actually works. A good example is Screaming Frog. There are just so many tools there I am still learning what they all do – but by slowing myself down and learning the main tool set (I swear the main tool set in this program is about 45 tools), I was able to save myself time down the road, and I was able to figure out ways to use the program I would not have been able to do right away if I had just searched for the information I needed at the time and skipped the rest of the information.

Slowing down when you are first learning can be hard sometimes because we just want to know what we need immediately, but it does cause a loss of time later when we have to keep going back and back and back to learn more. It seems like it's really slow going, but slowing down and learning more at the first will help. Eventually you won't have to spend so long learning, you will be helping others to learn instead.

…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/

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Amber's Plugin

Hide WP Admin Notifications

https://wordpress.org/plugins/hide-wp-admin-notifications/

The Lowdown:

This is a fresh outta the box plugin that is completely free to use! Very simple, which is just fantastic when working with sites. All it is meant for is to hide those notifications.

This plugin does not just hide the notifications though, it also gives you the option to show these notifications in the settings.

You will find the settings for this in the left hand menu under ‘Settings'>'Hide Wp Admin Notifications'. Here you will land on a simple dashboard with a single check box. You mark the checkbox, click ‘save changes', and your notices will temporarily show so that you can go through them and see what's been building up.

Don't worry, after a while the notices will all vanish again.

This is a great kind of straight forward tool for developers working on clients sites – with this you can hide the notifications so that the client does not worry, but you will be able to check the notices whenever you are in their site. This way you can work through things as you have the time and need to rather than having those notices making your client worry whenever they log in and see them.

I really love how very simple, and straightforward this plugin is – a lot of simple plugins seem to try and make things ‘pretty' or somewhat ‘fancy' looking in an attempt to make it a bit more interesting – really though, simple and straightforward is all we ever need.

Very useful, great plugin, seems to play well with others and is well kept up to date.

Rating 5 Dragons

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Onto Our Producer Know How and Donations Segment!

Earn yourself a Producership Credit!

We have 3 levels of Producers that help to keep the show's larders stocked to bursting – Free-Lance Producers, Back-Room Producers, and War-Room Producers. There are special perks for Back-Room and War-Room Producers that you can learn about on our site wppluginsatoz.com. Click on Time, Treasure, or Talent Donations in our main menu to learn all the nitty gritty details on how you can add your 2 cents!

Free-Lance Producers:

… Free-Lance Producers always show up when least expected, and often times when most needed! No donation required to become a Free-Lance Producer – you just are one if you're here!

… If you have listened to even 10 minutes of this show, or shown up a single time to one of our live shows on YouTube, you are one of our many Free-Lance Producers! Although you guys are always popping in and out at unexpected times, we appreciate your support and periodic help with one thing or another – thank you!

Back Room Producers:

… Back Room Producers always seem to be about the place helping with our contests, artwork, site organization, notes, questions, suggestions, and even more! While they tend to hang out a lot in the back lounge and consume massive amounts of coffee and doughnuts, it's well earned through both hard work and their donations – never above $50 dollars and absolutely equal to their Time and Talent donations!

… Back Room Producers, if you ever notice something that needs some work feel free to reach out to us and let us know – you can offer to take it up yourself, or just let us know and we will add it to our list. We always appreciate your help in organizing and changing of the coffee – thank you!

War Room Producers:

… War Room Producers receive a few extra perks with their donations of $50 or more – an official A to Z Handle of their choice, a spotlight in that weeks show for a short speech, and an official Executive Producership Credit! These credits are real and can be used in the real world to your advantage! Only draw back is that they sometimes gotta make fresh coffee when the Back Room Producers emptied the pot…

**If you prefer to stay anonymous, please let us know at the beginning of your note to us regarding your donation! We are more than happy to keep you anonymous from the world – nobody is ever forced out of the tender embrace of the shadows on this show!**

… Official A to Z Handle means you will receive a specialized login to our site. We are working to update our site where we will have a Members Only section, and you will have access to a variety of things through your personalized handle for our site! To receive your Official A to Z Handle, think up an original name, and send it in to us along with the show number and the show name.

… Your spotlight can be an elevator pitch for your business, a note, or you can just skip it – just be sure to let us know your choice and we will adhere appropriately.

… The Producership Credit we offer is REAL! When you send your donation in to us of $50 or more, please be sure to note down the number and title of the show your donation appeared on, and we will back up your right to claim Producership!

… You don't ACTUALLY have to make the Back Room Producers coffee, but you might want to make yourself a fresh one. 😉 Especially if you are planning on pointing out things going wrong on the site… we got a long list and will likely try and convince you to help us out a little!

… War Room Producers, same as for the Back Room Producers, reach out to us if you notice something that needs work! Whether you are wanting to take up the job yourself or just inform us and leave it, we will add it to our ever-growing list!

Join in and be part of your own production and support the show at the same time!

There are loads of ways to use us as your tool to get on out there like getting an interview, leaving a review for a plugin or donating your own plugin review, or your own plugin license! I recommend you give it a go and see how it helps – you can check out our show notes in this section to see all the ways to be part of your own production!

…Reach out to John and get yourself Interviewed – use us as your tool to get out there!

… Looking for a way to get your name and work out there? Use us as a stepping stone! Hit us up at https://wppluginsatoz.com/interview

…Send in your Plugin Reviews, or suggestions for a Plugin reviews!

… Have a plugin you love? Or one you really think people should avoid? Reach out to us and get your words and opinion out into the world by hitting us up at https://wppluginsatoz.com/submit-plugin-review/

…Send in your own Plugin License and add it to the contest – this is a great way to get your name and your work out there!

… Is your plugin worth its salt in Dragons? If so, send it on into us and add it to the contests! You can do this by hitting us up at https://wppluginsatoz.com/plugincontest/

…Send in questions and/or comments – we always love hearing from our Producers!

… Have a thought to share? Send it in! You can stay anonymous or belt your name out in all caps! Stitcher Radio, Google Play, or the iTunes Store. Doing this will also help you in producing the show for your own benefit too!

…You can support the show by Subscribing to our Newsletter, Donating, or reviewing us on Stitcher Radio, Google Play, or the iTunes Store. Doing this will also help you in producing the show for your own benefit too!

…You can check us out on Facebook, or our YouTube Channel! Be sure to hit the ‘like' button and share share share!

… YouTube Channel and joining us live every Monday at 12:15 PM PDT is a FANTASTIC show of support – and since you're already on the net's, might as well check out the Facebook page and hit that ‘like' button and share it out!

… Just showing up to our YouTube Channel and joining us live every Monday at 12:15 PM PDT is a FANTASTIC show of support – and since you're already on the net's, might as well check out the Facebook page and hit that ‘like' button and share it out!

… Don't forget – if you leave a review of us on any platform, that will help the show get noticed too; and if you happen to add your name to the show via questions or that awesome spotlight offered with a War Room Producership, that will get YOUR name out there too!

Questions, Notes, and Feedback from our Producers out there:

… No such thing as a stupid question people! I was new not too long ago, and I know how overwhelming it can be stepping into this world at this stage – I know for a fact that questions you have are the same questions others out there have!

Reach out through email to amber@wppro.ca, or through the site at wppluginsatoz.com/contact/!

Miscellaneous Announcements from us and Producers:

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!

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/
Next WordPress Victoria Meetup don't appear to have anything scheduled at this time, though be sure to keep checking back if you are interested as they do try and have a meetup regularly! https://www.meetup.com/yyjwordpress/

There are 5 WordCamps planned for August around the world:

WordCamp Nairobi, Kenya
Community Summit 2023
WordCamp US
WordCamp Denmark
WordCamp Jinja 2023
To find out more about these WordCamps around the world, you can check out the link here in our show notes https://central.wordcamp.org/

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

And remember, the show notes found at wppluginsatoz.com has 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:

We have a real brick and mortar address where you can send in art and/or notes – you can find the address in our show notes!

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

We also have virtual addresses too!

John:

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

Amber:

• email: amber@wppro.ca

Today's Plugins we covered were:

John’s Plugin:

Redirection – By John Godley

• Redirection can easily manage 301 redirections
• keep track of 404 errors
• generally tidy up any loose ends your site may have

Rating: 5 Dragons

Amber's Plugin: 

Hide WP Admin Notifications – By Yoda Of WP

• Hide your dashboard notices
• Keep your dashboard clean and organized for you and/or client
• ability to show notices whenever you need/want to

Rating: 5 Dragons

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 – let's see if we can stump my dad!

• PHP 8 – do you think this may be why there are so many WordPress Themes with vulnerabilities popping up right now?

• If your WordPress Theme has a vulnerability going on right now, what is the best course of action do you think?

Questions asked after closing credits:

• What are your thoughts on having the look and feel of the WordPress Dashboard changed up, and what kind of issues do you think this may cause for developers and general users alike?

• This question is to be answered as though you are speaking to someone greener than grass: How do you take a site and move it from a theme to a page builder – what does it take, what tends to break and why, and how do you overcome the differences between the two?