The WordPress Plugin Matrix

John's Intro:

It's Episode 611 and we have plugins for  Dynamic Playground Toys for Content and Stuff… 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 611 – The WordPress Plugin Matrix – 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!

Well, summer is officially starting to phase out. It dropped down to about 2C the other night – it was COLD! Least it felt cold compared to the 17 and 12C we have had for a couple of months now… Be sure to put away all those summery things like the cushions on the chairs and the awnings that won't hold up to snow! It's the best time to get to those things – before the rains but while it's still a decent temperature out there.

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

Definitely a Matrix image. I can only wonder what the plugin's themselves would look like – maybe little octapai waving their arms about?

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 from PatchStack
(https://patchstack.com/database/) – This link does not change week by week, it's always just this same link so you can copy and paste this and stick it somewhere handy on your computer for yourself to go and check it out when you need to. There are some vulnerabilities that have cropped up over the past week listed out, be sure to check this list out!

10up merges with Fueled, backed by Insignia Capital
(https://wptavern.com/10up-merges-with-fueled-backed-by-insignia-capital) – 10up is a leading development agency and contributor to the WordPress Project, Fueled is a tech consultancy specializing in mobile and web applications – together, they are not only a match made in heaven but a serious powerhouse. Both Fueled and 10up have some pretty amazing mobile apps going, and together they are planning on expanding on everything by merging their technology together. For those who are familiar with either, get ready for some changes down the road since they will be adapting to one anothers styles to properly merge things together.

Developers raise concerns about WordPress.com plugin listings outranking WordPress.org on Google Search (Part 1)
(https://wptavern.com/developers-raise-concerns-about-wordpress-com-plugin-listings-outranking-wordpress-org-on-google) – It all started when WordPress core developer John Blackbourn made a frustrated 2am comment  with an image on Twitter about his WordPress User Switching plugin ranking higher for the WordPress.com listing than the page on WordPress.org. And from there, it just became a truly heated discussion on the now X platform. Many people got involved on both sides, Mullenweg got involved as well… the discussion went on for about 24 hours, and devolved into viscious personal attacks…

Developers claim damaged trust following public confrontations with WordPress Leadership (Part 2) (https://wptavern.com/developers-claim-damaged-trust-following-public-confrontations-with-wordpress-leadership) – As community members argued with each other and Mullenweg about the SEO affect dot org has on dot com, and whether or not being able to scrape the plugins and post them everywhere were more and more heatingly debated, Mullenweg came out and started to lash out making personal attacks on people. Some have compared it to being a child of an abusive parent as he ripped developers down to nothing, even going so far as to block WordPress Marketing Team co-rep Sé Reed who was making comments that were tangential to the original issue (the impact of the WordPress.com plugin listings). The overall effect of this heated 24 hour discussion was a major loss in confidence and trust across the community not just for Mullenweg, but also for one another.

WordPress Plugin Developers renew demands for better Plugin Metrics (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-org-plugin-developers-renew-demands-for-better-plugin-metrics) – It's been about a year since WordPress turned off the active install growth data for plugins, and there has been no word on the matter from those who made the call in private discussion. This removal has impacted businesses who need this information to make critical decisions, and those who are hobby plugin developers who simply enjoy seeing the plugin downloaded and used. There does not appear to be any effort being put forth to update or replace the install count numbers or old ‘growth’ chart. This is something that is becoming an issue for developers and businesses alike. The most recent suggestion is that the information should at least be available to Developers, if not to everyone.

Coding Saves Lives, and Fred Hutch Cancer Center wants the next generation to take note (https://www.geekwire.com/2023/coding-saves-lives-and-fred-hutch-cancer-center-wants-the-next-generation-to-take-note/) – I found this an interesting article to read as I was recently speaking with one of my younger siblings on this very topic. The idea of what a coder is to the younger generation, seems to be mainly movie style hackers – those people you see on tv who do a whole bunch of keyboard smacking and move their heads a lot before getting super excited screaming ‘I'm IN!'.

That's not actually what coding is… at least that's not something I have ever seen. It's also not stcrictly about security or breaking and entering either.

Coding has so many different paths you can take with it – you can go down the path of being a video game creator, or the path of medicine, or the path of websites – there are sooo many options!

This article is specifically talking about coding regarding cancer, how you can enter into the medical world as a cancer researcher or a cancer programmer in a way through coding. It's very interesting learning all the things you can do with coding in relation to cancer, but really what this article brought to my mind was the fact that a lot of the younger generation really has no clue about the options laying in front of them if they choose to go with coding. Perhaps less movies and more questions would do them good – or just start leaving bits of information laying around the house… open articles… little scribbles and notations on different coding things….

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

ActivityPub 1.0.0 released, introducing blog-wide accounts and new blocks (https://wptavern.com/activitypub-1-0-0-released-introducing-blog-wide-accounts-and-new-blocks)

WordPress Training Team seeks community feedback on learning pathways (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-training-team-seeks-community-feedback-on-learning-pathways)
WooSesh 2023 publishes speaker lineup, launches seshies awards (https://wptavern.com/woosesh-2023-publishes-speaker-lineup-launches-seshies-awards)

These 9 stadiums are already using facial recognition at games (https://gizmodo.com/9-stadiums-using-facial-recognition-games-rose-bowl-met-1850798207)

California's massive right-to-repair law leaves carveout for video game consoles (https://gizmodo.com/california-right-to-repair-law-leaves-out-game-consoles-1850840167)

Web3 adoption could come via the enterprise, but the real boom will be through startups (https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/15/web3-adoption-startups-enterprise/)

As Databricks stacks more capital, a competitive AI market heats up (https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/14/as-databricks-stacks-more-capital-a-competitive-ai-market-heats-up/)

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Dragon Rating Time!

John's Plugin

If-So Dynamic Content Personalization

https://wordpress.org/plugins/if-so/

The lowdown:

Personalize any content! Add or replace content according to the visitor’s profile or interaction with the site.
No coding required!

FOUR WAYS TO CREATE DYNAMIC CONTENT

• Conditional triggers – works with every page builder –
• Conditional Gutenberg blocks –
• Conditional Elementor elements –
• Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) shortcodes –

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

Ever feel like you're going to fall asleep as you complete a job that has something absolutely repetitive and tedious? Don't feel bad, we all have a job here or there that winds up being so repetitive and tedious that we feel like we are going to fall asleep – perhaps we have fallen asleep at times and just not realized it as our hands keep going about their business with muscle memory…

Don't feel bad taking a brain break. Eat some sugar, go for a walk, engage in some sorta social interaction. Got teens? Strike up a conversation with them and let them do their crazy teen thing where they take you down random rabbit holes for a bit! Removing your mind from the tedious work is not a bad thing, it will actually help you to stay focused. One of the things I do is I put on an audio book. This way I sort of lose myself in the story while completing said tedious task.

We all get them from time to time, I think the main thing is to not let yourself feel bad for finding the task tedious and rather boring.

Beginners Tips

Don't take your work home with you.

Work from home? Same thing applies. When you work from home, you need to figure out an area to work from – or if you don't have that luxury, get yourself a work lap top or computer that you only do work on. Make it so that you don't use that machinery or anything but work, so that you can separate your work life from home life.

It is entirely possible to leave your work at work and only be at home with kids and partner even when you work from home – and you will need to do this in order to keep from burning out. By having a different (often cheaper) lap top for things like movies and games, you will find that you are not thinking about ‘what emails have I missed?' or ‘I wonder what's wrong with that bit of code…' during your ‘off hours'.

Just because you CAN work at all hours when working from home, doesn't mean you NEED to work at all hours. Keep yourself from burning out and you will find that the work you do get done is a lot more thorough, and a lot better in the long run. You will also feel more involved in your kids/partners/friends lives by separating the two.

…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

Toys for Playground

https://wordpress.org/plugins/toys-for-playground/

The Lowdown:

I saw this when I was scrolling through the ‘new' plugins page, and had to take a look.

This plugin is designed for developers to create a fantastic playground, or set up a training ground for the greeny's, and does not require any playground API knowledge to use.

Here's what you get:

Cloner Clone site, theme, and plugins to Playground.

Generator Create a Playground from scratch, with the theme and plugins you want.

Plugin Explorer Explore any plugin directly from WordPress repository in Playground.

Theme Explorer Explore any theme directly from WordPress repository in Playground.

Sharer Generate Playground link of your current page for debugging or sharing.

Once you have installed and activated this plugin, you will find ‘Playground' in your left hand menu. Clicking on this will bring you to the plugins dashboard, which is where you will see the options for the different ‘toys' available to you.

When I clicked on ‘play with cloner', I was impressed! It brings you to a page where you can uncheck the various plugins you want the clone to have, which theme you want, which WordPress version you want, even the PHP version you want it to have!

And you are also able to choose whether this is a Temporary clone where all changes will be lost on refresh, or a Persistent clone where changes will stay after refresh, but will all be lost upon tab closure.

And when you click ‘create clone', you get the whole new site in a new tab, and you can get to work!

Going through the various options, each one was just as detailed and easy to use.

I really like this plugin, it's a fantastic idea and makes it very easy to try things out without having to worry about destroying the live site, or just to try something out so you can test and play and figure things out – will also make a fantastic testing or training area for when you are teaching.

Completely free at the moment, appears to play well with others and does not slow down your site once activated like other plugins that are similar I have tried.

I definitely recommend you check this out if you think it might be useful for you!

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 notable WordCamps planned for this month around the world:

WordCamp Pontevedra, Pontevedra, Spain – September 16-17
WordCamp Whitley Bay – September 18
WordCamp Vancouver BC, Canada – September 23
WordCamp Roschester, NY, USA – September 30
WordCamp Gydnia, Poland – September 30

If you are interested in finding out more regarding the other WordCamps going on across the world, you can check out the link for the page here in our shownotes, and click on ‘More WordCamps' just at the bottom of the list of 5: 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:

If-So Dynamic Content Personalization By If So Plugin

• Conditional triggers – works with every page builder
• Conditional Gutenberg blocks
• Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) shortcodes

Rating: 5 Dragons

Amber's Plugin: 

Toys for Playground By Marc Armengou

• Easy cloning
• Great for teaching or testing
• Easy to use/understand/execute

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 kind of problems have you noticed cropping up since the switch to PHP 8 has been going on?

• How would you explain what this PHP is to someone who does not know the first thing about it?
  • How would you explain the issues cropping up from the switchover from PHP7.4 to PHP8?

Questions asked after closing credits:

• What other things do you think are being affected by the PHP switchover?

• Why do you think they stopped supporting all of the older versions of PHP this time round?