Dragons and WordPress Plugins
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Dragons and WordPress Plugin
John's Intro:
It's Episode 619 and we have plugins for Rotating Images, Classical Editing… 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 619 – Dragons and 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!
Happy New Years! Well, I don't know about all of you out there, but here abouts it started snowing today. My youngest is all for the snow, meanwhile my oldest and I are both grumbling about the snow. Hopefully everyone out there is staying warm and dry through the colder parts of the winter season!
A few reminders before we start the show today….
Reminders:
- Reminder that our show is now every other week, and that it 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:
Sir Rogue of the Tavern – Barron of the Cowichan Valley
https://theroguesoasis.com/
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!!
…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 – December 13, 2023
(https://solidwp.com/blog/wordpress-vulnerability-report-december-13-2023/) – The most recent update from the now SolidWP's Vulnerability Report is December 13 – likely due to holidays and the timing of when they do their reports. I feel fairly optimistic that they will release another report before our next show! So the only issues for this report are Plugins, no WordPress Core or Theme Vulnerabilities to report. Good thing too!
Ones I most easily recognize are: ‘Custom Login', ‘Event Manager, event calendar, event tickets for WooCommerce – eventin', ‘CSV Importer', and ‘Guest Author'. A lot of these have been fixed, but I point out the ones I most easily recognize to show that bigger names does not mean that they are flawless. They get issues too, and though they tend to be quick to fix the issues, they still happen. Be aware and don't let your guard down.
WordPress Vulnerability Report from PatchStack
(https://patchstack.com/database/) – This is a great link we are keeping here, it gives the most recent issues that have cropped up and the severity of them. Most recent at the time of writing this was 3 days ago that I can see offhand, and it is a plugin.
…Also, just a quick mention – love their new ‘prove you are human' thing. Reminds me of old video games!
WordPress Google Fonts Plugin Vulnerability affects up to +300,000 sites
(https://www.searchenginejournal.com/wordpress-google-fonts-plugin-vulnerability-affects-up-to-300000-users/504869/) – This is not all that great… We know that vulnerabilities come around and even hit the large names. Unfortunately once in a while a huge issue crops up causing problems in a lot of sites across the board. This Plugins vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to delete directoris and stage Cross Site Scripting attacks. It was patched as quickly as possible, although damage was done. If you have not already, be sure to update this in your own site. This was written on January 2nd, so you might want to get on that if you have not already.
Quishing Alert: Experts advise caution before scanning QR codes
(https://www.technewsworld.com/story/quishing-alert-experts-advise-caution-before-scanning-qr-codes-178824.html) – Yes, be careful before scanning QR Codes! If you are not certain what those codes are for and to, don't do it! QR Code fishing scams aren't new. They started years and years ago, but they are getting better now that QR code readers come pre-installed on phones and are used everywhere from restaurants to websites.
“‘Quishing' is an extension of phishing attacks. Instead of a hyperlink to a fraudulent or malicious website, the attacker uses a QR code to deliver the URL. Since most email security systems are not reading the contents of the QR codes, it is difficult to prevent the ingress of these messages…” states Steve Jeffery, Lead solutions engineer at Fortra, a global cybersecurity and automation company.
Tech Forecast 2024: Better Cyber Coexistence, Productivity, Privacy
(https://www.technewsworld.com/story/tech-forecast-2024-better-cyber-coexistence-productivity-privacy-178913.html) – This may not really seem like a proper WordPress Information item, though really, isn't anything to do with the cyber existence kind of about WordPress too? In this article the writer talks about cyberattacks force privacy laws (and their lack of teeth…), differences we can have expect with AI working security, some decent tech based trends to keep an eye open for, the leaps Quantum Computing has been taking, Expanding adoption of rejuvenated Gen AI (meaning how we are currently witnessing the renaissance of AI, recent advancements promising to redefine the boundaries of machine-led creation and other information along those lings), and whether or not we should think about pushing the pause button on AI expectations.
Amazon's competitor to Musk's Starlink takes critical step toward deployment
(https://www.technewsworld.com/story/amazons-competitor-to-musks-starlink-takes-critical-step-toward-deployment-178873.html) – Now, this is very interesting. I have been wanting to get Starlink for about a year now, haven't actually heard much about Amazon's ‘Project Kuiper' really at all. And now they are suddenly taking critical steps by adding in the last link so that all the low orbit satellite's can talk to one another??
Keeping in contact with one another at all times in order to keep connection… seems a little far fetched doesn't it? I mean maybe I'm not fully understanding what they are trying to explain… what I am understanding is that these satellites have to create a grid, and within this grid each satellite has to stay in contact with one another through a laser, keeping in contact with up to 4 other satellites with a laser, and if that contact is lost, the connection is lost for the whole thing kinda like the old Christmas lights. If that's a misunderstanding on my part, awesome.
I think that Musk's point to point is more logical and is less likely to fail long term, though I would love to hear more on people's opinions on this.
The Extras – check out our Facebook, or Twitter page for even more!
WordPress 6.4: How to stay productive and organized?
(https://unlimitedwp.com/wordpress-6-4-how-to-stay-productive-and-organized/)
Leap into 2024 with these site editor tools
(https://wordpress.org/news/2023/12/leap-into-2024-with-these-site-editor-tools/)
Content is King: how startups can unlock growth with SEO
(https://blog.hubspot.com/the-hustle/how-startups-can-unlock-growth-with-seo?hubs_content=blog.hubspot.com%2Fai%2Fgoogle-launches-new-watermarking-tech&hubs_content-cta=null)
Everything big tech killed off in 2023
(https://gizmodo.com/everything-big-tech-killed-off-in-2023-1851127096)
Dumbest Google result of the week: ‘JFK death penalty' brings up some kid's middle school essay (https://gizmodo.com/dumbest-google-result-of-the-week-jfk-death-penalty-1851145077)
How a group of train hacked exposed a right-to-repair nightmare
(https://gizmodo.com/how-a-group-of-train-hackers-exposed-a-right-to-repair-1851128745)
Cult of the Dead Cow wants to save internet privacy with a new encryption protocol (https://gizmodo.com/cult-of-the-dead-cow-launches-veilid-encryption-project-1850699803)
The author of Ready Play One has launched his own torment nexus
(https://gizmodo.com/the-author-of-ready-player-one-has-launched-his-own-tor-1851140457)
Dragon Rating Time!
John's Plugin
Fix Image Rotation
https://wordpress.org/plugins/fix-image-rotation/
The Lowdown:
Fix Image Rotation plugin fixes image orientation based on EXIF data. Fixes the mis-oriented images clicked via mobile phones.
Functionally it filters all uploads and if EXIF->Orientation is set to a number greater than 1, then the image is re-saved with a new orientation before the image is processed by WordPress.
Though this functionality was implemented in WordPress 5.3, it is still broken in WordPress and does not take care of edge cases that this plugin handles
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
When working on a site, you might feel a bit overwhelmed when you first start and just don't know what to do. Treat it like a messy kitchen – choose a corner, start there, and work your way out. Once you have started focusing on a small detail of something, the rest just sort of comes together as you realize the various things you need to do elsewhere in order to complete whichever task you are currently working on.
It's amazing how utter interconnected everything is on a website. You can't create a footer without first getting the font and colours correct, and you can't create a header without first knowing what content you are going to have, etc. Everything in interconnected much like a spider web – I think that's why they call the bots that do the crawling spider bots.
No matter how overwhelming something is, there is always a way through it -remember, the way you eat an elephant is just one bite at a time.
Beginners Tips
Not keeping up with your workload? Be honest with yourself and ask ‘why not?' sometimes it will be because you have been sick, or putting your energies elsewhere, or because you have simply been too laser focused on the Netflix binge.
Whatever the case, be honest not just with yourself, but with your co workers/boss too. Don't try to keep it secret that you are not keeping up with your workload, because they will find out – and if they find out on their own they will probably be a lot more grr arrg about it then if you had just fessed up and talked to them, perhaps asked them for some help. Even if they can't help by taking a bit of the load off your plate, they might be able to help with setting up your schedule or something.
Fess up, it makes life a lot easier, and it makes for happier clients.
…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
Classic Editor
https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/
The Lowdown:
This is a plugin that we always use when we are making a site. Classic Editor by WordPress contributors – completely free, plug and play beauty.
What this plugin does, is it hides all functionality available in the new block editor ‘Gutenberg'.
Once installed, you will not see a dashboard specifically for this – instead, you will find the area's to set things up to your preference in the following spots:
‘Settings' > ‘Writing': Here you will see ‘Default editor for all users', and you can choose ‘Classic editor' or ‘Block editor', and below that ‘Allow users to switch editors' ‘yes' or ‘no'. That's this plugin. Choose your options there, and the next place we will go is to….
‘Users': No this option will only be available if users are allowed to switch editors – you will see ‘Editor', ‘Classic Editor' or ‘Block Editor'. Each user can choose between the two options. Then over to…
‘Posts': There is an action link that will show up when users are allowed to switch editors as well, where they can choose to either open this up in ‘Block editor' or ‘Classic Editor'.
Another neat thing is that while you are in a post, if your post opens up in Classic Editor and you actually want the Block Editor, there is a link you can click on to flip over to the Block Editor – and for the other way around, if it opens in Block Editor and you want Classic Editor, you just need to click on the 3 dots at the top right corner, and look for the link down near the bottom of the list. The transition is rather smooth and pain free as well!
Honestly, I think this plugin is one of the unsung hero's of the current day. I don't like the Gutenberg setup, it does not mesh well with my mind. I can work in it now, but it has been a long and hard struggle for me to really get it – and I am not nearly as good with it as I am with Elementor or Classic Editor. This plugin seriously saves my brain every time it gets used – which is every time I am logged into a site really.
I think these guys should get a little more praise from those of us who use their free to all plugin! Thanks WordPress Contributors for saving brains like mine every day!
Rating: 5 Dragon
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!
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!
… 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
… 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/
… 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/
… 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!
WordCamp Nepal 2024 – January 12-13, 2024
WordCamp Garazoga – January 19-20, 2024
WordPress Web Challenge – January 27, 2024
WordCamp Pheonix – February 9-10, 2024
WordCamp Kansai 2024 – February 23-24, 2024
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/
If you are in Victoria BC, you can keep an eye on the WordPress Meetup's at WordPress Victoria Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/yyjwordpress/
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:
Fix Image Rotation By Gagan Deep Singh
- Fixes image orientation based on EXIF data
- Filters all uploads
- Easy to use
Rating: 5 Dragons
Amber's Plugin:
Classic Editor by WordPress Contributors
- Gives the option to switch to Classic Editor
- Can make it individual preference
- Can flip painlessly between during work
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!
- What are your thoughts on AI being used in the security sector?
- Do you think it's possible we may wind up just locking ourselves out of our sites and everything on the internet by creating all these encryption things and then handing it over to the AI to take care of? Kind of like handing over the keys of your car to someone else you just met isn't it?
Questions asked after closing credits:
- In your opinion, what's easier – rebuild of a site, or creation of a site from scratch?
- Why is that one easier?
- Have you had a time when you went searching for an answer online but was absolutely unable to find the answer you needed?
- What was it, and what did you do?
