Treasure Hunting for WordPress Plugins

John's Intro:

It's Episode 595 and we have plugins for Easy Updating, Customizing WP… 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 594 – Treasure Hunting for WordPress Plugins – It's starting to warm up outside, hoping everyone is getting a chance to get out into that sunshine!!

We have a whole new show – new layout, new ideas, lots'a new stuff! Hope you like it, would love to hear from our producers out there on what you think about the changes!!

First new aspect of the show's layout is that we will be putting reminders right here in the beginning of the show so that nobody misses them!

Reminders

• Although the format has changed, the time and day will not. We will be keeping the show to Monday's at noon-thirty PDT with our usual pre-stream at 12:15 pm PDT. Come and join us in the pre stream while we twiddle the dials and pegs and get ready for the show!
• 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 2, and let people know that you help to produce the longest running WordPress Plugins podcast!

That's it for reminders, and don't forget to stick around until the end of the show for some life-changing advice.

…When you see this in the notes, this means we didn't read this on the show, and that 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

We are still lacking in new art, however because of this we get to bring forth some amazing art that has not been seen for a while!

Feeling Inspired? Hit up our site at https://wppluginsatoz.com/artwork/ and submit some artwork of your own!

…We can NEVER have too much art!

Or check out allll the artwork at: https://wppluginsatoz.com/artwork/

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 – April 5, 2023 (https://ithemes.com/blog/wordpress-vulnerability-report-april-5-2023/) – Be sure to check out the plugins with the recent patches. You may see plugins from your own list here that could use an update, or that you can now call back into service!

WordPress plugins with issues: There are only a couple of plugins I even vaguely recognize in the list today, most are plugins I have never heard of before. There is Swatchly – WooCommerce variation swatches for products, social proof (testimonial) slider, and WooCommerce custom checkout fields editor with drag and drop.

WordPress Theme vulnerabilities: There are two themes to be aware of right now – Viral Mag, and Outdoor.

WordPress 6.2 released on March 29, 2023 (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-2-dolphy-introduces-a-revamped-site-editor-distraction-free-writing-mode-and-updated-block-inserter) – Although 6.2 was delayed (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-2-delayed-to-march-29-due-to-bug-with-date-formats) due to a bug with date formats, it was officially released on March 29. There are a few things to be aware of like the navigational panel being dropped from site editor.

As always, be sure to give them a few weeks to finish working out the bugs and kinks before trying to update your own site – try the update in a test site first, see what kind of issues pop up first. And don't forget to make the back ups!

Backup, backup, backup!

WordPress 6.2 RC 2 drops navigation panel from site editor (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-2-rc-2-drops-navigation-panel-from-site-editor) – This article talks about what this drop is, and what it means for you in depth. The navigation panel will still be there for Gutenberg.

Twitter suspends WordPress.com's access to Twitter API, breaking jetpack social sharing (https://wptavern.com/twitter-suspends-wordpress-coms-access-to-twitter-api-breaking-jetpack-social-sharing) – This is something we thought may be coming when we heard about Twitter's new rules regarding accounts and sharing. Jetpack seems to be in negotiations with Twitter at the moment, and are assuring their customers that they are working to solve the issue. No response yet as to whether or not customers will be receiving any refunds for the service not working for those who are curious.

iThemes rebrands to SolidWP (https://wptavern.com/ithemes-rebrands-to-solidwp) – Over the last 15 years, iThemes has become more centered on WordPress, so they have decided to be known openly as a WordPress company. The rebranding should not effect anything on your end, just be aware that you will no longer see ‘iThemes' in your plugin list, but will instead see ‘SolidWP'.

WooCommerce payments plugin patched a critical vulnerability that would allow site takeover on March 23 (https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-payments-plugin-patches-critical-vulnerability-that-would-allow-site-takeover) – WooCommerce worked with WordPress to push out an update that would patch this critical vulnerability. If you have WooCommerce and do not allow auto updates, you will want to update this immediately as the vulnerability found will allow total site takeover if used. Be sure to backup before you update!

Real-time collaboration is coming to WordPress (https://wptavern.com/real-time-collaboration-is-coming-to-wordpress) – This is mainly focusing on Gutenberg aspect where people will be able to work together in real time across all block editors, allowing for the creation of content seamlessly without being blocked out.

WordPress mobile apps get a new support forum (https://wptavern.com/wordpress-mobile-apps-get-a-new-support-forum) – Support for WordPress mobile apps now has their own forum at https://make.wordpress.org/mobile/2023/03/28/new-mobile-support-forum/! Very exciting for those who have been looking for more support directly related to mobile apps.

Navigating the new era of AI-assisted code generation in WordPress (https://wptavern.com/navigating-the-new-era-of-ai-assisted-code-generation-in-wordpress) – I found this article very interesting, and very useful. I myself have been starting to use the chat GPT to help me with figuring out code bugs and to source out things I am looking for. This article talks about the pros and cons, a bit of background, and is really quite interesting!

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

How generative Ai will transform cybersecurity (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/how-generative-ai-will-transform-cybersecurity-178118.html)

Why Nvidia is winning the race to dominate the Metaverse (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/why-nvidia-is-winning-the-race-to-dominate-the-metaverse-178079.html)

Is chat GPT smart enough to practice mental health therapy? (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/is-chatgpt-smart-enough-to-practice-mental-health-therapy-178064.html)

Google invites public to test drive its new AI Chatbot Bard (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/google-invites-public-to-test-drive-its-ai-chatbot-bard-178066.html)

Hackers are cashing in with hijacked IP addresses (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/hackers-are-cashing-in-with-hijacked-ip-addresses-178125.html)

Microsoft makes office smart (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/microsoft-makes-office-smart-178048.html)

OpenAI pulls wraps from GPT-4, sans text-to-video (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/openai-pulls-wraps-from-gpt-4-sans-text-to-video-178041.html)

Lenovo builds a workstation James Bond would love (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/lenovo-builds-a-workstation-james-bond-would-love-178003.html)

Forrester urges all business to prepare for Nation-State cyberattacks (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/forrester-urges-all-businesses-to-prepare-for-nation-state-cyberattacks-177971.html)

Time to dive in to the meat and potatoes of plugin depravity!

Off we go….

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John's Plugin

Easy Updates Manager

https://wordpress.org/plugins/stops-core-theme-and-plugin-updates/

The Lowdown:

Let's get back to basics on a WordPress website. While we talk about plugins we will talk about how WordPress works and why you should do some of the the things we are talking about going forward.

One big problem WordPress has had since it started, is it doing the auto updates. Back in the the day, there were no auto updates; this was good since almost all sites were handled by developers but when regular folks started using it they would not do their updates, and they still don't. So, WordPress came out with auto updates and they were embraced by the developer community, until about a year later there was a catastrophic failure on an auto update that broke sites all over the place. And this was not the only or last time it was to happen. It happened just before the Christmas season a couple years back, wow was that fun.

Why use this plugin on every website you create or work on? It is pretty simple, auto updates while in theory are a great idea and I embraced that idea when it first came out like most developers and coders did. The problem occurs when they screw up and update and it has happened a lot more in the past 5 years than it ever did before.

With this plugin you gain some control back over your website. As it seems most people are not aware that auto updating is on by default and while this could be a good thing, there are those times when it is not so much fun. Especially when something breaks right when you need your site the most.

With this plugin you have the ability to turn off updates for not only the WordPress core files but also for each plugin you have installed on the site. Along with the themes.

Another great thing it has is a log of all the updates done and who did them. This log can help you identify any issues that may have occured.

If you go to the premium version of the plugin, you can gain access to various useful features such as an auto backup, delaying auto updates, anonymous updates (this limits what is sent back to the WordPress API), webhooks, version control protections (prevent updates to themes and plugins under version control), unmaintained plugin check, plugin safe mode, export/import settings, dead plugin check (runs a check and alerts you about plugins that have been removed from the WordPress directory), white label the plugin.

This is a great plugin to have on your site to help eliminate any issues you may have with updates.

Rating 4 Dragons

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NEW SEGMENT! WordPress Tips

This is a new segment we are wanting to bring forward, and we are looking for some feedback from our listeners. What would be most helpful and useful for you here?

We have some ideas of our own that haven't caught the garage on fire, let us know what you think!

Ideas:
Provide tips on how to improve website security, or how to optimize website speed.

Best practices for various aspects of WordPress development, such as site security, plugin development, site speed optimization, etc.

Interviews with WordPress site owners and developers about specific projects they've worked on, challenges they faced, and solutions they found.

…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

MyWP Custom Login

https://wordpress.org/plugins/mywp-custom-login/

The Lowdown:

This plugin is for customizing your WordPress Login.

With this plugin you will be able to add in your own logo and have control over the width and height, customize your title tag for text and size, change around your background color or just set an image for your background!

Best of all you can completely personalize your sign in form, and remove the WordPress links and words.

Now if you are a user of Erident, you can also bring in a login page template you have already built in Erident, and simply place it into your site! If it's not quite right, you will be able to tweak it until it looks right.

Once you download and activate ‘MyWP Custom Login' plugin, you will find the settings in your left hand menu under ‘Settings' -> ‘MyWP Custom Login'.

When I went into this to create a custom login page, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it is to use – at first it looks a little underwhelming as there is no live preview. However, once you start playing around with things and start to get a feeling for the settings here, it really starts flowing rather naturally.

I like the amount of personalization this offers, and the fact that it is changing up the WordPress login rather than creating a whole new page to add into your site.

I do think having a live preview would make it a little easier, though as it stands this is a fantastic free plugin that offers some great options for customization.

Rating: 4 Dragons

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It's that time again – time to check out the Contest!

We want to give a big thank you to Simple Giveaways for providing us with the Premium version of their plugin for our contests, to our producers Steve Goodtime and Brant Matthews and Charlie for providing us with their Time Donation to make our contests awesome!

While we are giving the show a makeover the contests are going to be sitting on a back burner. We will be getting them back soon enough though!

In the meantime, if any developers our there are interested in donating a license to the contest here on the show, you can do so by going to WPPluginsAtoZ.com/PluginContest!

Onto our Producer Information and Donations Segment!

To all our Producers out there, we look forward to you helping us in keeping the shows larders stocked with Time, Treasure, or Talent Donations! You can head on over to wppluginsatoz.com and click on the ‘Donations' tab where you'll find all the juicy details on how to fill the shows larders to bursting.

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

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!

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!
…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!

Earn yourself a Producership Credit!

We have 3 levels of Producers that help to keep the show alive – Free-Lance Producers, Back Room Producers, and our War Room Producers. Find out how to become one of AtoZ Plugins Producers by going to our show notes and checking out the notes – the information is all written out, ready and waiting for you!

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 AtoZ 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 AtoZ 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 AtoZ 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!

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

…Send us your thoughts and opinions, but most of all send us your questions! 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!

Welcome back Amber and John! Missed you the last few weeks, so happy you are back on the air!
-Sharon

You can reach out to us with your thoughts and suggestions by shooting us an email at amber@wppro.ca, or going to wppluginsatoz.com/contact/!

Miscellaneous Announcements from our Producers and ourselves:

Have an announcement like a meetup, or want to announce you will be on stage at a WordCamp? Pass the info to us and we will add it in here to help get your words out to the world!

We don't have any Meetup's set at the moment, though be sure to keep an eye out as the weather keeps getting better!

Remember you can check out our Show Notes on our site wppluginsatoz.com! There is extra information to grab up there that we don't even speak out loud on the show!

How to reach us:

You can send in art, notes, or donations to our brick and mortar address:

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

Or you can reach out to us through the virtual world 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:

Easy Updates manager by easy updates manager team

• stops your WordPress core from auto updates
• can choose various plugins to allow or stop from being updated automatically
• Easy to turn off and on

Rated: 4 Dragons

Amber's Plugin: 

MyWP Custom Login by whodunit agency

• Remove links from the WordPress Login Page
• Add your Logo and Customize your Title tag
• Change Logo Width and Height

Rated: 4 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!

• With the new release of WordPress, I have found a few of my plugins are not compatible. Do you think its worth contacting the developer to see when they will be making their plugin compatible? Don't want to lose the plugin…

-Sharon

• Is there anywhere else to find plugins for WordPress/Gutenberg, other than the WordPress site? I don't want to go searching individual developers but am interested in finding another central resource site.

-Anonymous

I have a couple more questions for my dad just after the closing credits, for those listening elsewhere, you will have to make your way over to the YouTube's!

Questions asked after closing credits:

• When choosing a plugin, how do you decide which features are the biggest priority of the 3 you're wanting? Example: you find 3 plugins, plugin A has features you want #1 and 2, plugin B has features #2 and 3 you want. What do you look at to help make the decision between the 2 plugins?