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Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening! ..
Welcome to ‘Plugin Pulse: WP Plugins A to Z Unplugged!’ I’m your host, John Overall, bringing you the latest beat on all things WordPress. Where we dive in to spill the beans on the latest in the WordPress world, all unplugged and unfiltered, showcasing the freshest WordPress news, digging into a killer plugin demo, or exploring tips to level up your site. Today, I’ve got the mic to myself, and we’re pulsing through what’s hot, what’s new, and what you need to know. So, grab your coffee, fire up your dashboard, and let’s get into it!”
Today
Doing a weekly podcast can sometimes be a challenge to come up with content week after week, but lets get it started.
This week I am babbling about:
I am talking about unpopular ideas in WordPress today and I have a New Plugin review, discussion about Supply chain hacks, tips, plugin extras and more all coming up on Plugin Pulse: WP Plugins A to Z Unplugged.
Going to be doing something new and make this more interactive you can join the Google Meet limit 2 ppl this will continue for the next while and see how it goes.
The Weeks Discussions:
Plugin Reviews
Plugin 1
Dashboard Navigator
The Lowdown:
In modern operating systems you can press a Start or Spotlight key, type a few letters of the operation you need, and choose it. There’s no need to waste time clicking around in the menus looking for your command. This plugin gives you the same capability for WordPress’s dashboard and its features.
The plugin places a search box at the top of the menu at the top left of WordPress’s dashboard. (That menu is at the top right if you use a right-to-left language such as Rohingya or Arabic.) Click in that menu and type a few letters. You’ll see a drop-down list of matching commands. Use arrow keys to select the command you want, and press Enter or Tab.
You can press Shift twice rapidly instead of clicking in the search box. So, for example, to go to your orders in your WooCommerce store, type this.
Rating 5 Dragons
WordPress Best Practices:
Smart Move Real-time collaboration will not ship in WordPress 7.0
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!
Sign up for newsletter https://wppluginsatoz.com/news
Security Stuff:
More on the WorPress security
Coding Tips:
Simplest way to have the Elementor accordion closed by default
script>
window.addEventListener('load', function () {
setTimeout(function () {
jQuery('.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title').removeClass('elementor-active');
jQuery('.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-content').hide();
jQuery('.elementor-accordion .elementor-tab-title').attr('aria-expanded', 'false');
}, 500);
});
</script
This Shows Featured Promotion
Every show I will be promoting a premium plugin I think might be useful for everyone. There is no affiliate links to them unless mentioned. This is just to bring more attention to underknown premium plugins that can be of benefit.
This week the plugin is:
WellPlayedWP
The Lowdown:
A membership to 22 useful plugins
WellPlayedWP is built by Marcus Burnette, a longtime WordPress designer, developer, and product creator.
Level Up with the Plugins You Need
Get instant access to all 22 WellPlayed plugins for one simple membership. Built for WordPress builders who want practical tools under a single license.
WordPress Items:
Alternate plugin distribution time to talk about the alternative plugin repos again. This is not going away
some background on this:
The 2024 Matt Mullenweg vs. WP Engine drama sparked a wave of efforts to create alternative WordPress plugin/theme repositories and distribution tools. Many in the community saw risks in relying on a single point of control (wordpress.org, which Matt owns personally) for updates, plugins, and themes.
Quick Background on “Matt’s Thing”
In late 2024, Matt Mullenweg (WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO) publicly criticized WP Engine (a major host) for insufficient contributions to the open-source project. This escalated into:
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Blocking WP Engine-affiliated accounts and users from wordpress.org resources (affecting plugin/theme updates).
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Forking popular WP Engine-owned plugins like Advanced Custom Fields (into “Secure Custom Fields”).
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Bans and account deactivations for critics.
The conflict highlighted governance issues in the BDFL (Benevolent Dictator for Life) model and fears of centralized control. It led to lawsuits, community backlash, some exodus of contributors, and pushes for decentralization.
This prompted developers, hosts, and companies to build or promote alternatives for plugin/theme discovery, hosting, and updates — reducing dependence on wordpress.org.
Key Alternative Repositories and Tools (Popping Up Post-2024)
Here are the main ones that gained traction:
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FAIR (Federated and Independent Repositories): The biggest and most organized effort. Launched around mid-2025 with Linux Foundation backing at an independent event (AltCtrlOrg) near WordCamp Europe. It’s a decentralized package manager for WordPress plugins/themes. Key features:
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Federated system (multiple independent repos that can sync/trust each other).
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Plugin (FAIR Connect) to handle updates, version checks, etc., bypassing or supplementing wordpress.org.
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Aims for better security, transparency, and no single point of failure.
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ShiftWP tracks many of these shifts. It lists projects moving away from Matt’s direct influence.
Other notable alternatives include:
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AspirePress — Alternate plugin repo.
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Morpheus — Server/plugin for WordPress update mirrors (by WPRemote).
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Juniper (Author/Server) — Distributed repository system.
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The Repo — Alternative plugin directory pulling from GitHub.
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Git Updater (and related tools like Plugin Update Checker, UnrePress) — Popular for GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket-based updates. Many plugins now support direct Git updates to avoid .org dependency.
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WP Engine’s own Secure Updater plugin — Allows their customers (and others) to get updates for WP Engine-owned/free plugins directly from WP Engine servers.
There are also plugin browsers like Hub2WP or RepoMan (search/install from GitHub) and self-hosted update servers.
Impact and Current State (as of 2025-2026)
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Many premium/commercial plugin companies (e.g., some like Paid Memberships Pro) started hosting updates independently or left .org emphasis.
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GitHub-based distribution and Composer tools (like WordPress Packagist) became more popular for developers.
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FAIR represents the most ambitious community-driven push for a true federated ecosystem.
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Not everything “popped” overnight — some tools (like Git Updater) existed before but saw huge adoption surges. The drama accelerated forks, mirrors, and independent hosting.
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WordPress core itself isn’t forking widely (it’s messy due to trademarks and ecosystem lock-in), but the distribution layer (plugins/themes/updates) is decentralizing.
Overall: The ecosystem is more resilient now with these options, but fragmented. Many sites still use the official repo for convenience, while agencies/devs mix in alternatives for critical plugins. If you’re running WP sites, tools like Git Updater + FAIR Connect are practical ways to hedge. The drama exposed real risks but also spurred innovation in open-source distribution.
Let me know if you want details on setting up any of these!
Some SEO Stuff:
Your Complete Core Web Vitals Guide for WordPress
Educational:
What is Race Condition for WP and why it slowed down WP7 release
Upcoming Interviews and Available times:
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 interview dates: June 1, 15 & 29th, July 13 & 27th 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
The WP Week newsletter
