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Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you happen to be hiding out there on the globe today! Coming to you LIVE from…
We’ve got a couple of great in-depth plugins to cover for you: Filr – Secure Doment Library which helps you with safely uploading, organizing and sharing documents on your site, Repeaters & Relationships Connector with ACF for Elementor which allows you to use ACF Repeater and ACF Relationship fields as data sources for Elementor’s Loop Grid Widget, and WP Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme which brings the darkness to your front end as well as your Admin Panel!
And of course we’ve also got some recent news in both the WordPress World and the Tech World in general with additional WordPress Tips!
Beware the birds everyone – they are gearing up for mating season and getting a little aggressive over their territory! Also they steal fries apparently – from right beside you too! Had a couple birds come right up and steal my fries while sitting on my tailgate and eating!
A few reminders before we start the show today….
Reminders:
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Join us here in person every Monday at 12:00 pm Pacific Time to enjoy our show!
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Show notes are added to wppluginsatoz.com within 24 hours of the show airing; you can find them either on the home page, or in the Podcast Vaults!
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This is a value for value show dear listeners, help us get some loven’ by hitting some like buttons, sharing an episode or two, or just turn our show on really loudly. We will catch somebodies attention!
If you stick around until the end, you will have a chance to hear some good questions – sometimes meant for the greenies, sometimes meant for the very experienced – and sometimes the questions are just completely random. Stick around and have a listen, might help! Or at least entertain!
(Don’t feel shy about sending in a message just to say hi! Send along suggestions, questions, recommendations, news, art – we always love to hear from our listeners!)
Let’s start the show with this weeks Featured Artist:
Artist:
Who is our artist today?!?
Today is…. Dal-e! Not one I personally use much although the art does seem pretty neat!
We would love some new art from our Producers out there! If you are so inclined, you can send it into us at amber@wppro.ca or john@wppro.ca. 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 menu.
We can NEVER have too much art!
Breaking News in the WordPress World at large!!
If you have anything you think should be added please send it into me at amber@wppro.ca!
News this week:
WordPress Vulnerability Report
(https://solidwp.com/blog/wordpress-vulnerability-report-april-8-2026/) – In this report there are 68 vulnerabilities. 67 are plugins this week, with 1 Theme. Best numbers in a while!
Plugins: 63 patched, 4 left to go!
Themes: 1 patched, 0 left to go!
WordPress Vulnerability Report from PatchStack
(https://patchstack.com/database/) – These guys always have the latest information on what is going on regarding the latest in vulnerabilities.
WordPress 7.0 pre-releases paused through April 17, new schedule due by April 22
(https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-7-0-pre-releases-paused-through-april-17-new-schedule-due-by-april-22) – Johnathan Desrosiers has published an update on the WordPress 7.0 delay informing and confirming that the pre-releases have been paused until April 17, and he has stated that a revised release schedule will be published by April 22. He outlines how the delay will be managed, and lets us know that this delay will allow for more time to address testing feedback about the implementation of real-time collaboration. It appears there are a few issues still, and if I understand correctly they are ‘returning to beta’. I am going to say another 8 weeks until release – initial thought was 3 months but I think that is too long a guess what does everyone out there think?
Decision to build EmDash came from Cloudflare CEO, Engineer reveals
(https://www.therepository.email/decision-to-build-emdash-came-from-cloudflare-ceo-engineer-reveals) – In this article you mostly see some background information, and a bunch of quotes from interviews – but the idea of the Cloudflare EmDash I think may be a solid one! As it stands right now there is nothing really to worry about – although in the future we may see more of the next generation leaning into something like this as the coding languages and the building practices change. Unless of course WordPress can keep up and create a similar experience option – either way I think this kind of competition could be great for firing up the imagination and creativity of the WordPress Community!
WordPress AI Connectors lack plugin-level controls – and the AI Team is already working on it
(https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-ai-connectors-lack-plugin-level-controls-and-the-ai-team-is-already-working-on-it) – WP World’s Marcus Burnette raised valid concerns regarding the gap in the AI Connectors screen shipping with WordPress 7.0; once a site owner connects an AI provider, any plugin on the site can use it and there’s no way to control which ones can. I do believe this is one of the things that is being addressed in this delay in the release of the 7.0 – though is a good thing to keep in mind as using the AI tends to take tokens, and this will raise the cost exponentially.
Elementor launches Angie, a free AI plugin for building custom WordPress functionality
(https://www.therepository.email/elementor-launches-angie-a-free-ai-plugin-for-building-custom-wordpress-functionality) – The AI in Elementor has come leaps and bounds! I remember playing around with it when they first brought it in for trying out – my experience has told me that the Elementor AI is pretty awesome in helping you figure out bugs in your code, but you have to keep a close on it just like with all the other AI’s because it gets confused easily. I like to think of these guys as Golden Retrievers – you can only give them one command at a time otherwise they just get confused. A good example is telling a Golden Retriever to sit & stay – they get confused and grab the nearest stick hoping that is right – only with the AI it’s grabbing the nearest code ideas floating by in cyberspace and chucking it at you and hoping it’s right.
SWORD wins CloudFest Hackathon 2026
(https://www.therepository.email/sword-wins-cloudfest-hackathon-2026) – A little bit of feel good news here – SWORD is a self-hosted WordPress control panel build on Docker and has taken the top prize at CloudFest Hackathon 2026! Universal Access Browser Extension placed second and Frugal AI placed third. This year had 101 attendees from 20 countries hack 10 projects – I love these things they are just so neat!
Skywatching in April 2026
(https://www.timeanddate.com/news/astronomy/night-sky-april-2026) – We have missed the first couple of cool things happening in this month, but we still have the Moon-Venus Conjunction on April 18 & 19, the Moon-Jupiter Conjunction on April 22, and the Lyrid meteor shower on April 22-23! The meteor shower technically starts on April 14 and goes until April 30, but it peeks on April 22 and 23. I am super excited to see the meteor shower! I always enjoy watching those.
(Go visit WP Shout Comics OR Word Chronicles OR MonkeyUser.com for a fantastic brain break – my favourite today is this one!)
Some Extras – check out our Facebook or Twitter!
From LLMs to hallucinations, here’s a simple guide to common AI terms
The FAIR package manager just launched as WordPress Repository Alternative – but what exactly is it?
Can we trust AI? No – but eventually we must
The Admin Bar’s 2026 Agency Survey shows growth slowing and passive marketing at its limit
Cloudflare launches EmDash, WordPress Community rejects “Spiritual Successor” claim
WordPress 7.0 release team pauses schedule to finalize real-time collaboration database table design
Matt Mullenweg calls for WordPress 7.0 delay to introduce database table for real time collaboration
WordCamp Asia 2026 set for Mumbai next week without live WordPress 7.0 release
WordPress Security Team’s 6.9.2 retrospective details checklist gap behind 6.9.4 and backporting tensions
Apple reportedly testing four designs for upcoming smart glasses
(https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/12/apple-reportedly-testing-four-designs-for-upcoming-smart-glasses/)
How to easily check and update the PHP version of your WordPress site
Rogue’s Corner News and Extras
Be sure to go and check out the new and unique plugins now available from WPProAtoz.com!
Rogues Corner & Tip of the day
This Shows Featured Promotion
I will be promoting a premium plugin I’d like to help get others to buy it.
This week it is
Checkout Summit 2026
The Lowdown:
Hang with the Top 1% of WooCommerce Professionals
Ever built a WooCommerce plugin, optimized a tricky checkout flow, or launched a client site on WooCommerce—and wished you could swap stories with people who actually get it?
Checkout Summit is a two-day international conference for the people who build with WooCommerce every day: developers, service providers, agencies, and founders.
No marketing fluff. No generic talks. Just real conversations, real challenges, and real solutions.
You may wonder: is it worth the time and money? Well, if you spend two days here, you’ll walk away with connections, tactics, and ideas that save you hours, prevent costly mistakes, and actually move your WooCommerce projects forward—more than you’d get from weeks of async chats and random webinars.
Whether you’re building custom solutions, maintaining plugins, or obsessed with conversion rates, Checkout Summit is where WooCommerce makers meet, learn, and grow together—face to face.
Check the interview with Rudolfo here https://wppluginsatoz.com/interview-78-woocommerce-wizardry-rodolfo-melogli-on-mini-plugins-summits-and-community-secrets/
V for V for the show
If you get any value out of this show then donate that value back to the show. You can do so through time, talent, or treasure – or all 3!! – through our website wppluginsatoz.com.
Click on the ‘Treasure Donations’ link on the left-hand menu, or on the ‘Time, or Talent‘ pages to find out more!
Note to our listeners out there using Overcast you are the winners for the most downloads.
Security Stuff:
Once again bad actors buy a plugin and inset malware into it https://x.com/Ahkonsu/status/2042216060309639551
Tip of The Day:
Check out summit is coming end of April 23-24 https://checkoutsummit.com/when-and-where-is-checkout-summit-2026/ in Palmero Italy. If your going to the Checkout summit you need to try these restaurants https://checkoutsummit.com/must-try-restaurants-in-palermo-city-center/
Talk about us WPProAtoZ.com as an agency and what we do
Follow WP Plugins A-Z on X @wppluginsatoz and Facebook WordPressPluginsA2Z
Upcoming Interviews:
Reminder that we have more interviews coming up in the coming weeks with more developers and community members https://wppluginsatoz.com/book-an-interview-on-wp-plugins-a-to-z-podcast/
Available dates: May 4 & 18, June 1, 15 & 29, 2026.
Other Shows and places to get WP Info & Training
The WP Builds Podcast
WP Roads
WP-Tonic
Worlds Worst Web Developer
WP Mayor
wp Minute
Dragon Rating Time with John!
John’s Plugin
Filr – Secure document library
https://wordpress.org/plugins/filr-protection/ secure document downloads
The Lowdown:
Filr helps you safely upload, organize, and share documents on your site. Use direct links or show all files in a library for easy access.
Rating 4 Dragons
Secondary Plugin:
Repeaters & Relationships Connector with ACF for Elementor
The Lowdown:
This plugin allows you to use ACF Repeater and ACF Relationship fields as data sources for Elementor’s Loop Grid widget.
Key Features:
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New Data Sources: Adds “ACF Repeater” and “ACF Relationship” to the Source dropdown in the Loop Grid’s Query tab.
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Use Repeater Data: Select any ACF Repeater field from the current post/page to power your Loop Grid.
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Use Relationship Data: Select any ACF Relationship field to create a grid of related posts in your Loop Grid.
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Repeater Sub-Field Tag: A dedicated dynamic tag to easily pull and display data (text, images, etc.) from any sub-field within your repeater.
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Relationship Sub-Field Tag: A dynamic tag to display data from the related posts, such as the post title, content, featured image, and permalink.
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Taxonomy Archive Support: Use ACF Repeater and Relationship fields on category, tag, and custom taxonomy archive templates.
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Author Archive Support: Use ACF Repeater and Relationship fields on author archive templates.
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
My tip to you today…
My tip to you today is if you have not already, learn to type so well that you can type with a minimum 85-90% accuracy with your eyes closed.
This will help IMMENSELY with everything you do – including talking with AI.
This includes learning the numbers too – which I admittedly am still learning, though my ability to type with a 95% accuracy rate without looking at the keyboard makes it a lot easier for me to do things than if I had to watch either the screen I am typing on or my fingers. Also, when you are able to type with that kind of accuracy, you will find that you generally type fairly quickly because you are no longer thinking about which key you are hitting, but instead are thinking about how to spell the word, or you are thinking about the word you are reading, or hearing – it’s amazing what the mind can do!
By working on your typing skills first and foremost, you will find that your work gets easier to do.
Something that goes along with this is learning to read without reading ‘out loud in your head’ – stop narrating all the words you read. Most people do this without meaning to, and that is actually what is slowing you down. This is a recent discovery of mine, and I have been practicing not narrating in my head while I read – and my reading has picked up dramatically. Practice just seeing the word, not saying it in your mind. It is SUCH an odd sensation, but that seems to be the way speed readers do it.
That’s sorta two tips for you today, but they go hand in hand.
Dragon Rating Time with Amber!
Amber’s Plugin
WP Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme
The Lowdown:
This is a plugin that I was using a few years back now, but it got a little funny for a bit where the options were being put behind pay walls, and things weren’t quite working right, and it caused images in the front to look all funny – seems like they have resolved ALL the issues now, which is fantastic because I really needed a good Dark Theme plugin for the back-end!
They have some absolutely fantastic options for their free version now, which is just fantastic. Once you have downloaded and activated this, you will find the Settings Dashboard under ‘WP Dark Mode’ > ‘Settings’ in your left-hand menu. Clicking on this will bring you to your Controls area, where you can choose whether to enable on the front end and/or Admin Panel. On the front end they have the option to just go with whatever the users settings are as the default for when they land on your site – I LOVE this option! I remember trying to figure out how to do that before plugins started putting that in as a regular – really quite awesome. You can also choose to make it light or dark as default – and there are two more options under pro – time based dark mode, and sunset mode. That sounds awesome!
For your back end – Admin Panel, we have the option to enable the dark mode on the Admin Dashboard, Block Editor, and Classic Editor. Once you choose any of these options, you will see a toggle pop up at your top admin bar saying ‘light’ and ‘dark’. Pick your poison!
One of the issues I have had with many dark themes over the years, is that once the colours have been changed, your eyes have a bit of a hard time adjusting to it for real work behind the scenes – hard to pick out which plugins are active VS not active for instance. With this dark mode, it is not hard to tell at all because they keep the various shades going rather than making everything one level of dark.
There are also 3 options for preset dark mode in the back end here, the first one has bright high-contrast colours for links, and the white is rather bright – the second one has slightly less bright white for the text and the links are less bright, and the third option has a much gentler white, almost gray but still easily legible, and the link colours like red are a lovely muted low-contrast but easy to notice. That third option is exactly what people like me need, and it is super hard to find dark themes that have this particular mix up of contrast where the links still are noticeable and stand out – but don’t kill the brain-meats and eyeballs. You can only choose between these 3 preset colours in the free version, but you can choose any colour you like and personalize every aspect in the pro version.
Moving on through the settings options – we have customization! Here you can change up the switch settings – a toggle button on front end. Chose where it goes, what size it is, and even if the toggle appears and how it looks. There are 4 options in the free version, and a whole lot more including a witches hat in the pro! Loads of fun!
If you do have any images that start looking funny or you have different images that stand out better in dark mode vs light mode, you can replace them under ‘image settings’. And same thing with ‘video settings’.
A fun thing they have is an animation for when the toggle is hit – I chose ‘roll’ for whenever a person toggles on the front end. Loads of fun!
Under ‘advanced’ we have some tracking which you can track dynamic content and exclude WP Dark Mode from Caching in the free version, the options to exclude or include some elements though only in the pro. You CAN add CSS in the free version, adding through the plugin can be useful, though be sure to keep a copy for yourself in case you forget to grab up the CSS before deleting the plugin!
There is the option in the free version to have a keyboard shortcut, and there is a short code given for your 4 free version toggle options, and there is some analytics to see how popular the dark mode for your site is! There is also a place where you can import and export settings as JSON files – which means that if you have this on more than one site, you can just bring in your carefully setup preferences which is super cool especially for backend dark mode! That would be so cool to be able to set this up on one site for your own account, and just upload your preferences for any site you work on!
For those that don’t know, each individual account holder will have to enable the dark mode, and it will not automatically be turned on for the backend – but the option is there. and I believe that each individual account can change up the settings for the colour scheme to how they prefer it for their own account as well.
Something I thought was kinda neat, there is a ‘social channels’ option where you can enable the ‘social share inline buttons’.
Another cool thing is a ‘Get Started’ section where they have a tutorial, some documentation to help you out with step-by-step guides, a direct link to their Facebook Community, and a direct link to their Customer Support. I remember their customer support being pretty awesome!
They have documentation specifically for Gutenberg and Elementor too, which is very useful.
Generally if it is a pro plugin, I give the plugin a 4 – but this gets a 5 because thanks to this plugin I was able to work for longer than half an hour at a time with migraine’s flaring recently. These guys have literally given me back the ability to work for longer hours right now, so they get a whole hearted 5.
Rating: 5 Dragon
Miscellaneous Announcements from all:
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 Campus Connect Ribera del Duero – January 30-June 17
WordPress Campus Connect Universitat de Lleida – February 18 – May 1
WordPress Campus Connect Masaka – April 11 – May 31
WordPress Campus Connect University of Pula – April 13
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/
Keep checking back every week to find out what else is going on!
V for V for the show
If this show saves you time, headaches, or helps level up your WordPress game, or if we have showcased a plugin you never knew you needed that wound up saving you hours of time – go out and plug people in!
Consider giving back through our V4V model: Time, Talent, or Treasure (or all three!). Head over to our site wppluginsatoz.com.
Click on the ‘Treasure Donations’ link on the left-hand menu, or on the ‘Time, or Talent‘ pages to find out more!
This show is supported by the V4V plan which means Time, Talent or Treasure.
How to Support the Show
Talent Donation
Submit your art work or the best AI slop you can create submit it here https://wppluginsatoz.com/submit-plugin-review/
Treasure Donation
Donate cash to the show this is our favourite way to get support
Time Donation
Book yourself an interview, https://wppluginsatoz.com/book-an-interview-on-wp-plugins-a-to-z-podcast/
Get us to make your announcement for you, let the world know you have something to say or a company worth checking out!
Today’s Plugins we covered were:
John’s Plugin:
Plugin 1
Filr – Secure document library By WP Chill
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Safely upload and share documents on your site
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get help organizing your documents
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use direct links or show all files in a library for easy access
Rating: 4 Dragons
Plugin 2
Repeaters & Relationships Connector with ACF for Elementor By soliddigital
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Use ACF Repeater and ACF Relationship fields as data sources for Elemtnor’s Loop Grid Widget
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New Data Sources
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Taxonemy and Author Archive Support
Rating: 5 Dragons
Amber’s Plugin:
WP Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme By WPPOOL
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Give visitors the option of dark mode or follow their system presets
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Admin Panel Dark Mode – can enable this without enabling front end
Rating: 5 Dragons
How to reach us:
Feel like sending us something through the snail mail system? You can do that thanks to our brick and mortar address that we provide for you!
You can also reach us the more common way of the internets – have both of our internets available down below for ya!
Brick & Mortar Address
WP Plugins A to Z
C/O John Overall
20-754 E Fairview Rd.
Victoria, BC V9A 5T9
Canada
Internets Addresses
John:
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My website: http://www.johnoverall.com/
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WordPress Emergency Support: http://wppro.ca/wpemergency
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email: john@wppro.ca
Amber:
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email: amber@wppro.ca
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 – !
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What is your take on this EmDash being created by Cloudflare?
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The Cloudflare team claims newer generations prefer AI agents, TypeScript ecosystems, serverless, and AI-friendly component frameworks. Do you think this will replace CMSs like WordPress, or will WordPress adapt and catch up?
Questions asked after closing credits:
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What do you think about AI being positioned as a central tool in modern web development and CMS platforms?
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Do you believe this heavy reliance on AI as a core part of the workflow will ultimately help or hinder future generations of developers?
