Clearing the Mud from WordPress Plugins

John's Intro:

It's Episode 606 and we have plugins for  YARPPing Posts, Updating the Dates… 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 606 – Clearing the Mud from 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!

We have a bit of an announcement today – we aren't going to be here for the next two weeks. We will be back on July 31st with some amazing in depth plugin reviews and a large chunk of news for you though. Don't forget us while we are gone!

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: 

Angel Lemus —  http://www.koadigital.com

The episode title is ‘Clearing the Mud' – but really I think this is more like ‘Wearing the Mud!' Pretty awesome picture!

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 – June 28, 2023 (https://ithemes.com/blog/wordpress-vulnerability-report-june-28-2023/) – The list of patched plugins is pretty long this week, and the list of the plugins to pay close attention to is also long.

The plugins I most easily recognize are: Form Builder, Enable SVG Uploads, Image Protector, Gallery Megabox, and User Email Verification for WooCommerce.

There was one WordPress Theme Vulnerability, though it has already been patched, which is good news.

WordPress 6.3 Beta 3 released, introduces UI changes to Pattern Management (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-3-beta-3-released-introduces-ui-changes-to-pattern-management) – A live product demo for the RC 1 is expected to be released on July 18 and is anticipated to be broadcast on Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 16:00 UTC. Beta 3 includes about 34 updates to the Site Editor since the previous beta release, and more than 40 updates coming from Trac.

WordPress 6.3 to drop support for PHP 5 (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-3-to-drop-support-for-php-5) – WordPress is officially dropping support for PHP 5 in the upcoming 6.3 release, which is expected to land August 8, 2023. The previous minimum support for PHP has sat at PHP 5.6.20 since 2019, though is going to be updated to 7.0.0. The recommended PHP version will stay the same at 7.4 If any of our listeners are running PHP less then 7.0.0, I'm sorry but you are likely about to have a bit of a mess on your hands.

WordPress unveils plans for real-time collaboration with major improvements to revisions and the Media Library (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-unveils-plans-for-real-time-collaboration-with-major-improvements-to-revisions-and-the-media-library) – In a series of 4 posts, Gutenberg lead architect Matias Ventura has outlined the project's phase 3 plans for Real-Time Collaboration, Workflows, Revisions, and the Media Library. 6.3 is set to be the final major release of Phase 1, which has focused on Customization. Phase 3 will be focusing on other parts of the admin in an effort to bring seamless collaboration to WordPress. Hopefully this means that things will start moving a bit more smoothly. If you are interested be sure to check out the links in our show notes so that you can get more details on the matter!

Europe's first ‘lightning hunter' releases striking footage of severe storms (https://thenextweb.com/news/europe-lightning-hunter-first-images-of-severe-storms) – I thought this was just super cool! I love lightning, and the idea that there are now ‘lightning hunters' like there are Tornado hunters, I think it's just awesome! Watching the video, I was a little sad that there weren't any pictures from on the ground, but really the lightning from space looks super cool! Almosts makes me think of fireflies in some areas.

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

WordPress to host 6.3 live product demo on Thursday, July 20, 2023 (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-to-host-6-3-live-product-demo-on-thursday-july-20)

Hey: An elegantly simple WordPress Block Theme for blogging (https://wptavern.com/hey-an-elegantly-simple-wordpress-block-theme-for-blogging)

The Smart Home Jury is still out on Matter, AI could help (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/the-smart-home-jury-is-still-out-on-matter-ai-could-help-178442.html)

If only documentation looked as clean as the code (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/if-only-documentation-looked-as-clean-as-the-code-178455.html)

Gen AI fueling surge of sophisticated email attacks (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/gen-ai-fueling-surge-of-sophisticated-email-attacks-178405.html)

Release AI from the shadows, argues Wharton Prof (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/release-ai-from-the-shadows-argues-wharton-prof-178417.html)

Poor password practices persist among online users: Study (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/poor-password-practices-persist-among-online-users-study-178422.html)

HP Addresses rising security threats before an AI-driven wave of pain (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/hp-addresses-rising-security-threats-before-an-ai-driven-wave-of-pain-178429.html)

---

Dragon Rating Time!

John's Plugin

YARPP – Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

https://wordpress.org/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/

The lowdown:

Help add to your internal linking and help your visitors find more content on your site.

The setup for this is pretty easy and allows you to limit or include specific content from your site into the recommended links. You can limit it even further by setting a date/time limit on it from the most recent 12 months to older posts.

You can determine what to consider for matching the content to be shown; title, body content, categories, tags and more.  Plus, determine what to show this on either pages or posts.

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) is a professionally maintained, highly customizable, performant and feature rich plugin that displays pages, posts, and custom post types related to the current entry. YARPP introduces your visitors to other relevant content on your site — boosting visitor engagement, time on site and SEO. Related Posts can increase your pageviews up to 10%. Simply install, activate and watch your sessions and pageviews increase.

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

Making Sites

Sometimes when you're ‘in the zone', you will create this absolutely magnificent site, and it works beautifully, you managed to do things that were never thought possible!

But then, you go back, and find that you can't update it because of particular things you have done, or that you can't figure out how to solve an issue that has cropped up because you can't remember how you did that amazing thing.

One of the best things to do I have learned, is to look long term when you are building a site. If you are doing amazing things, make note on how this will work down the road – if you are already having troubles getting particular things like the theme to work with a secondary theme to make something, how much harder will it be down the road as the two different themes continue developing on their own and continue seperating from one another?

These are the kind of things that you want to overcome before you have completed your site because otherwise you will find yourself looking down the barrel at crunch time when something like a PHP update has come along, and having to figure out what to do when everything has tangled itself up so much that you are just not sure what to do.

This is a hard one to remember. I'm sure many a developer has done this exact thing before, and have forgotten that down the road things are only going to get worse. Simple is hard, but simple is the best way to go because it makes the road a head much clearer.

Beginners Tips

Don't be afraid to ask questions on forums. You may think that you are asking a dumb question, but really that question is already out there and being pondered by many other people. Generally you will be able to find the answer to any question you have simply by typing it into the search bar, but if you can't, just ask! Someone out there has likely already dealt with it and is likely to give you the answer.

Use different search bars – Google is a great one for anything techy. Bing is a good runner up, unfortunately I have found DuckDuckGo to be faltering in that department. Would love to hear back on some search bars that people out there have used and gotten good results in!

…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

Date Updater

https://wordpress.org/plugins/date-updater/

The Lowdown:

This is a pretty nifty fresh outta the box plugin! Totally free, helps you to keep the date current!

Works well, using only shortcodes. Seems to play well with others and works whether you are adding these shortcodes into your posts, pages, or widgets.

Once you have inserted the shortcodes provided, the date will automatically change to the current date of that day based on the date and time set in your site. Once the shortcode has been put in, you won't have to bother going back and changing the date anymore, it will just keep reflecting whichever date you have set it for, changing as the days/months/years progress.

There are a lot of options for you to choose from making it possible to curate it to your needs; a few examples are todays date, the day before, the day after today, last month, next month – the list goes on from days to years, and includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

I can see a few places this could be useful. I appreciate this lightweight plugin that doesn't try and do more than it needs to and works well.

Rating: 5 Dragons

---

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 will be on July 6th – this meetup aims to happen every month, so be sure to check out the link here in our show notes to see which one you might be interested in joining! https://www.meetup.com/yyjwordpress/

There are now 2 WordCamps happening in July: Philippines and India! To find out more 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:

YARPP – Yet Another Related Posts Plugin By YARPP

• Advanced and cersatil algorithm
• caching
• custom templates and styles

Rating: 5 Dragons

Amber's Plugin: 

Date Updater By Harpreet Kumar

• Works seamlessly with pages, posts, or widgets
• keeps your dates in perfect order with shortcodes
• many options to choose from to fit your needs

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!

• Regarding Themes – what kind of bonuses can a theme offer you these days?

• Is there a specific instance you can think of where you would recommend a theme over a page builder?

Questions asked after closing credits:

• Are there any kind of security issues you can think of that could be caused by using a theme vs a page builder?

• Learning to use either a theme or a page builder is a rather large learning curve. Which would you recommend to a person who wants to experience the smallest possible learning curve?