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WordPress Plugin Whisperer

John's Intro:

It's Episode 621 and we have plugins for Listing Taxonomies To the Top.. 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 621 – WordPress Plugin Whisperer – 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!

Feels odd to say this, but it feels like way too early for Spring. I mean, I very much prefer Spring and Summer but this early? I wonder if we are gonna wind up with an actual early Spring, or if we are gonna have such a mild rest of the Winter that the Summer never truly gets hot? I've experienced those before, they suck!

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/

This gets me thinking about the Philadelphia Experiment – if you don't know what that is, go and look it up. It's pretty cool.

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 – January 31, 2024
(https://solidwp.com/blog/wordpress-vulnerability-report-january-31-2024/) – There are quite a few plugins to be aware of this week, though most have, at this point, been patched. Be sure to check this list out for yourself, I easily recognize ones I have used and come across, though I may not recognize ones you use regularly!

The ones I easily recognize are: (Simply) Guest Author Name, Splashscreen, Better Search Replace, WP Go Maps (formerly WP Google Maps), Exclusive Addons for Elementor, WP Dashboard Notes, Sticky Buttons – floating buttons builder, and WP Forms Pro.

There is one WordPress Theme that has since been patched – that is ColorMag.

Be aware and update anything that's needed!

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 2 days ago that I can see immediately, and it is a plugin.

WordPress Website Builder vulnerability affects nearly 1 million websites
(https://www.searchenginejournal.com/website-builder-by-seedprod-vulnerability/506969/) – SeedProd WordPress plugin high severity vulnerability was discovered. This vulnerability can lead to unauthorized modification of data and is present in versions up to 6.15.21 – be sure to update your version if you have not already. If you are wanting to know more about this, you can follow the link here in our show notes.

WordPress 6.4.3 – Maintenance and Security release (https://wordpress.org/news/2024/01/wordpress-6-4-3-maintenance-and-security-release/) – As of January 30, there were 5 bug fixes on Core, 16 bug fixes for the Block Editor, and 2 security fixes. If you are interested in finding out exactly what was fixed in this most recent short-cycle release, you can follow the link here in our show notes and go see what's what.

Bringing you a faster, more secure web: HTTP/3 is now enabled for all automattic services
(https://wordpress.com/blog/2024/01/31/http3/) – As of January 31, HTTP/3 is now enabled! HTTP/3 is the third major version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol used on the web – if you aren't sure what I am talking about I recommend you do some research before going any further into this industry.

Now the positives of this happening is apparently improved performance in reduced latency;

The multiplexing feature has been improved upon apparently, fixing a problem called “head of line blocking”;

Reliability through better performance via better design in varying network environments – I recommend you read more about that one in the article you can get to through the link here in our show notes;
Improved security by using the latest cryptography protocols – again, definitely come check out the link here in our show notes to find out more! There is so much more detail you will probably find very interesting if not helpful!

Browser-based phishing attacks jump 198% in second half of 2023 (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/browser-based-phishing-attacks-jump-198-in-second-half-of-2023-178980.html) – Whether or not you find this useful and/or interesting, it is still a good thing to know and to pass onto the less informed you are probably in regular contact with. For some reason during the last 6 months or so phishing just soared through the roof – and it doesn't do that unless things are working for the scammers – so you know that there had to be a lot of people who wound up falling for these scams and getting screwed over…. I did notice that some of the texts and emails I have been getting of late actually have close to proper grammar these days, so that might have something to do with people falling for it….

Taylor Swift deepfake porn deluge a ‘wake-up call' for lawmakers (https://thenextweb.com/news/taylor-swift-deepfake-porn) – Now I don't generally bring things like this to the show – but I wanted to point out that this is a huge step that lawmakers will be taking regarding AI. In the UK it is already illegal to distribute deepfake porn – but here we are not just talking about the illegal distribution of porn but rather the illicit use of deepfakes. This does not only revolve around porn – though that is where it will start. I think that this is going to work out great or it's going to go really badly regarding where we go after this precedent is set – as it stands right now, how are we going to stop people from doing this? We have not been able to as of yet, though if they start using AI in investigations and to help track these things down and to tell if things are a deepfake or not – then we will be using fire to fight fire. And again, this could be a really great or a really terrible thing, we just don't know yet.
I believe we are standing on a precipice right now – we are seeing the creation of a brand new road, a shiny new highway that no one has ever walked upon before to our knowledge, and I am both excited and a little worried to see which direction this new road is going to head into, and how people are going to choose to walk it.

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

Pigeon suspected of being Chinese Spy released after 8 months in captivity (https://gizmodo.com/pigeon-china-spy-india-microchip-espionage-1851222339)

Cancel your Amazon Prime Account, coward (https://gizmodo.com/amazon-prime-price-hike-cancel-original-movies-shows-1851209890)

Cyberattack hits office of Georgia DA prosecuting Trump case (https://gizmodo.com/cyberattack-hits-office-of-georgia-da-prosecuting-trump-1851209232)

Massive study discounts adverse effects of internet on mental health (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/massive-study-discounts-adverse-effects-of-internet-on-mental-health-178810.html)

Gen Z, Millennials turning to TikTok for career advice (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/gen-z-millennials-turning-to-tiktok-for-career-advice-178731.html)

Synaptics pivots to develop its own IoT compute solutions (https://www.technewsworld.com/story/synaptics-pivots-to-develop-its-own-iot-compute-solutions-178808.html)

Elon Musk says neuralink has implanted its chip in a human for the first time (https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-chip-first-human-x-twitter-1851207445)

Cyberflashing and epilepsy-trolling offenders to face prison in UK (https://thenextweb.com/news/cyberflashing-epilepsy-trolling-offenders-face-prison-uk)

New quantum algorithm could simulate industry-changing materials (https://thenextweb.com/news/new-quantum-algorithm-could-simulate-industry-changing-materials)

Meta warns investors that Mark Zuckerberg is so good at fighting he might die (https://gizmodo.com/meta-warns-mark-zuckerberg-good-fighting-he-might-die-1851221827)

States could already produce AI malware that evades cybersecurity defences, experts warn (https://thenextweb.com/news/states-actors-ai-malware-evade-detection-ncsc)

My love letter to Rails (and Ruby) (https://thenextweb.com/news/love-letter-rails-and-ruby)

Dragon Rating Time!

John's Plugin

List Custom Taxonomy Widget

https://wordpress.org/plugins/list-custom-taxonomy-widget/

Version:4.2

Requires:3.3 or higher

Compatible up to:6.6.2

Released:17 August 2012

Downloads:112104

Last Updated:13 July 2024

Ratings:

4.7

(4.7 star out of 5)

Download Link:Click here

The Lowdown:

The List Custom Taxonomy Widget is a quick and easy way to display custom taxonomies. Simply choose the taxonomy name you want to display from an auto-populated list. You can also set a title to display for the widget. Multiple list custom taxonomy widgets can be added to the same and other sidebars as well. There are several display options (including as a dropdown), and it generally behaves similarly to the built-in categories widget but with the addition of custom taxonomies.

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

Always have another pair of eyes go over your work. I mentioned something along these lines last show – but last show I mentioned how useful it is to have those who know nothing about development go through your work when you think you are done.

This week, I am telling you to also make sure someone who knows a lot goes through, the trickier sites especially. We had a site that we thought was done – until a second set of eyes went through, and noticed something that perhaps even the clients themselves would not have noticed until much later, so much later that it would have been pointless for them to even say anything…. but they would have eventually noticed and been grumpy about it and would not have hired us for the next rebuild or remodeling.

Having an ‘in the know' set of eyes go through for you means that things like that will be picked up on – and you will save yourself the future loss of income and future loss of a good client by catching something so early.

And if you are a one man show – help, take a good long break, go swimming or running or for a long drive far away from your computer; cleanse your eyes and your mind of the entire project – and then come back to it.

Also, trust me – don't get drunk until after the project is done – you might get a ‘great idea'… don't do it. Just wait to crack that beer. 😉

Beginners Tips

Now I know that I have harped on making sure that you take a break often enough here in the tips area, but I want to bring it about again in a slightly different form – don't stop yourself from taking weekends. Even when there are a lot of projects going on, don't stop yourself from enjoying all of Saturday doing nothing more then watching a movie like the 10th kingdom with your partner, and bugging the heck out of your teenagers and eating cake while drinking tea. All good things, all things that are needed. If you use a lap top, close it. If you use a desktop, turn off the screens. If your clients truly need you, you will get a call. If you are a web host and need to be notified about anything, set it so that only actual emergency items come through on your phone.

Take that day, take that weekend. Especially when you are busy! Otherwise you will find yourself looking up randomly, and realizing that it has been 2 weeks since you have even showered because you are so focused – don't do that. Take a break! Your work will be better off for it, and your mind will be at ease for it.

…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

To Top

https://wordpress.org/plugins/to-top/

Version:2.5.4

Requires:5.9 or higher

Compatible up to:6.5.5

Released:01 February 2016

Downloads:1135917

Last Updated:09 April 2024

Ratings:

4.9

(4.9 star out of 5)

Download Link:Click here

The Lowdown:

This is a really simple plugin that just makes life that much easier – it's a plugin to give that little floaty button you can click to make the whole page scroll back up really fast rather then scrolling little by little upwards to get to the top of the page again.

Now this may not seem like a very useful plugin to a lot of people – but trust me, when you are reading an article, or you are doing fast research, having to scroll up little by little is very frustrating, and being able to click that little arrow that send you shooting back up to the very top of the page without more effort then just a click – it's fantastic!

And finding one of those little arrow buttons that is a light plugin, and that you can still personalize as well? Well that is near damn impossible I have found. I mean sure there are PLENTY of these little buttons that will give you pre-made buttons, pre-made images, pre-made anything and everything – you MIGHT be able to change the background colour. But being able to change icon look and feel between ‘Dashicons', ‘Genericons', ‘Font Awesome Icon's', or just simply input an image from your library – that's something that I just haven't seen very often.

To start with, once you have downloaded and activated this, you will find the option for the ‘settings' either under the plugin in the plugin dashboard area, or in your left-hand sidebar labeled as ‘To Top Settings'. These two options will take you to two different places as well – the one under the plugin will take you to your proper Customizer; this can be useful, though may be a little scary for those who are not used to working through that area. The one on the sidebar menu will take you to the plugins actual settings dashboard area. For this review I am going to go through the actual plugin dashboard settings area – if anyone out there would like me to go through the proper customizer area with this plugin, let me know and I will gladly do that on the next show.

You will find yourself landing on ‘To Top' dashboard area – and there is an option here at the top citing that if you are wanting a live preview, to go to the proper customizer. You will see below that the basic settings: how many pixels have to be scrolled through before the button shows up, how see through (the opacity) the button is, and the style. The style can be an option of 3 icons from the ‘Genericon', ‘Dashicon', or ‘Font Awesome Icon' library – or you can simply choose an image from your own library and upload that instead. That last one is not seen often in my experience at all.

In ‘Icon Settings' you will get to select which icon you are using if you choose to use an icon, though the setting will be labeled ‘image settings' if you are using an image and here you choose your image from your library and decide on the width in pixels, and are able to put in the Image Alt text.

If it's an icon, you get to choose the icon colour, icon background colour, size of the icon, and the border radius where you can go from square to circle.

Next is ‘Advanced Settings' where you choose the location – right or left – of the button, and the margin in both Y and X in pixels. You can choose to show on WP-ADMIN, or leave it as invisible – and you can choose to auto hide the button after your choice of seconds has passed – or leave it unchecked so it is always showing. You can also choose to hide on small devices, and how small the max width of the device should be before it is hidden – it is auto set to ‘640px'.

The last option here is to ‘reset all settings' – and this cannot be done accidentally as you must first go to the section, check the checkmark box to reset the settings, and hit ‘save'. So the option is there, but it must be deliberately done. Now to keep any and all changes, be sure to hit ‘save changes' on each menu option area!

One more thing I like about this plugin – it does not move like molasses in December for the scrolling upwards. I really don't like those ‘up to top' plugin buttons that take FOREVER to scroll back up to the top… they frustrate me. This one is a decent speed!

Rating: 5 Dragons

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!

WordPress Photo Festival – February 3-10, 2024

WordCamp Pheonix – February 9-10, 2024

WordCamp Pune India – February 17, 2024

WordCamp Kansai 2024 – February 23-24, 2024

WordCasmp Asia 2024 – March 7-9, 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/
For those that live in Victoria, unfortunately the YYJ WordPress Meetup group has been cancelled and no longer exists.

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

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

List Custom Taxonomy Widget By Nick Halsey

Easily display taxonomy's
Multi-list custom taxonomies can be added
Several Display Options

Rating: 5 Dragons

Amber's Plugin:

To Top By Catch Plugins

Supports all themes on WordPress
Lightweight
Personalisable