Gutenberg 15.8 was released with some exciting features that were included in the tentative WordPress 6.3 roadmap. Users are getting closer to a more unified content editing experience with the addition of the Pages menu to the Site Editor. Clicking on Pages will load the ten most recently updated pages with a link to “Manage…
Shufflehound made a big splash in March when it released Lemmony, a free WordPress block theme with more than 30 patterns. This was the company’s first block theme on WordPress.org and it is already active on more than 1,000 websites. Building on the success of this theme, Shufflehound has created a child theme for agencies.…
WordPress 6.2.2 was released early this morning as a rapid follow-up to 6.2.1, which introduced a bug that broke shortcode support in block templates. Version 6.2.1 was also an important security release, but due to the catastrophic breakage for those using shortcodes in block templates, some users were implementing insecure workarounds or simply downgrading to…
The WordPress 6.3 development cycle has begun and work is already underway on an ambitious list of features that will debut in the upcoming major release. It will cap off Phase 2 of the Gutenberg project, with an emphasis on polishing customization features and making them easier to use. WordPress 6.3 Editor Triage co-lead Anne…
WordCamp Europe 2023 is just under three weeks away from happening in Athens on June 8-10. More than 2,700 tickets have been purchased and 527 remain, along with 49 micro-sponsor tickets. Speaker announcements have concluded and the official schedule was published today. WCEU will be running three tracks of presentations and two tracks for workshops.…
WordPress may soon be getting a Command Center, which would function as a quick search component for navigating to other areas of the admin, and would also be capable of running commands. The feature was introduced in Gutenberg 15.6 under the Experimental flag and currently has limited use in the Site Editor context while navigating…
WordPress 6.2.1 was released yesterday and rolled out to sites with automatic background updates enabled. The update included five important security fixes. Ordinarily, a maintenance and security release can be trusted not to break a website, but many users are struggling after 6.2.1 removed shortcode support from block templates. A support forum thread tracking the…
WordPress 6.2.1 was released today. Those with automatic background updates enabled should see a notice in their email, as updates rolled out earlier today. This is a maintenance and security release that includes important fixes for five security vulnerabilities outlined by core contributor and release co-lead Jb Audras: The patches were backported to WordPress 4.1.…
WordPress is approaching its 20th anniversary, and for the majority of those years, contributors have cranked out a new default theme. Even though the structure and supported features of default themes have drastically changed over the years, contributors are still actively maintaining all 13 of the “Twenty” themes. A new proposal on WordPress.org recommends winding…
On May 5, Patchstack published a security advisory about a high severity reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in ACF (Advanced Custom Fields), potentially affecting more than 4.5 million users. WP Engine patched the vulnerability on May 4, but the Akamai Security Intelligence Group (SIG) is reporting that attackers began attempting to exploit it within 24…
Themeum, a WordPress theme and plugin company founded in 2013, has acquired the Kirki Customizer Framework plugin from its former developer, David Vongries. In April 2023, Vongries announced he was sunsetting the product and discontinuing development. He put the plugin up for sale for $30K and sold it for just under the asking price. “I met the…
WP Engine has launched an annual survey for Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), one of the plugins it acquired from Delicious Brains in 2022. ACF reports more than 4.5 million active users, including PRO site installs, and WP Engine Product Manager Iain Poulson reports that the plugin is “growing in every way since the acquisition.” ACF…
Essential Addons for Elementor, a plugin with more than a million active installs, has patched an unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerability in version 5.7.2. The vulnerability was discovered on May 8, 2023, and reported by Patchstack researcher Rafie Muhammad. It was given a 9.8 (Critical severity) CVSS 3.1 score and is not yet known to have been…
WordCamp US 2023, which is being held August 23-25 in National Harbor, has opened its call for speaker applications. If financial considerations are preventing anyone from applying, there are scholarships and grants available to help cover travel expenses. WCUS is now accepting applications for the Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship for travel. This particular scholarship applies…
The WordPress Themes Directory is now hosting more than 300 block themes, a milestone for the dedicated theme developers who have persevered through the growing pains and evolution of block theming. WP Engine is one of the newest theme authors who helped put the directory over the 300 mark with its submission of Frost. With…