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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 . . .
Welcome to Episode 658 – Rev Up Your Website: WP Plugins A to Z’s Hottest Plugin Finds!
We’ve got a couple of great in-depth plugins to cover for you with a helpful review on a plugin that does free optimization AND webP conversion, and also a plugin that helps you to create and play Charades, ’cause Charades is awesome!
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!
Don’t forget that although it is getting cooler around here, it is still pretty warm! Do not be fooled, and keep drinking that water!
A few reminders before we start the show today….
Reminders:
- Join us here in person every Monday at 12:15 pm Pacific Time to enjoy our show!
- 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!
- 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…. Grok! He appears to be coming back to himself after the most recent lobotomy!
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-september-24-2025) – In this report there are 354 vulnerabilities. 339 are plugins this week, with 13 Themes and 2 WordPress Core..
WordPress Core: 2 left to go!
Plugins: 85 patched, 254 left to go!
Themes: 4 patched, 9 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.
New FAIR 1.0 release brings decentralized package management to WordPress
(https://www.therepository.email/new-fair-1-0-release-brings-decentralized-package-management-to-wordpress) – This release is being called a milestohne as it makes it possible for site owners to install both WordPress.org and independent sources, with cryptographic verification and a trust model inspired by Bluesky. They are doing this by bringin together all the moving parts of its decentralized package, giving site owners more control over where their software comes from. It’s also allowing plugin authors to publish without relying on centralized platforms.
GoDaddy’s AI-powered Airo site designer creates WordPress sites in minutes
(https://www.therepository.email/godaddys-ai-powered-airo-site-designer-creates-wordpress-sites-in-minutes) – This is something to pay attention to. GoDaddy’s site build is indeed completed within minutes, and it will for sure get your initial site up and going – although it may not work perfect. A lot of places are bringing in the AI and letting the AI do the work of people, and although it looks great at first, they are finding later on that they need a person to come in and ‘un-bugger’ the wires so to speak – it’s a bit of a mess!
For people who make their living doing site design and creation work, this is going to be noticeable for you because AI is cheaper – though keep connection with the people who choose AI over you because you will likely be called in to fix things for them!
Nick Hamze’s ‘Cool Kids’ post kicks off fresh debate on WordPress’s image problem
(https://www.therepository.email/nick-hamzes-cool-kids-post-kicks-off-fresh-debate-on-wordpresss-image-problem) – This is an interesting one – a post talking about how WordPress lost the cool kids and how he thinks they can be ‘won back’ caused quite the conversational stirrings! The conversations revolved around WordPress’s image problem, how the issue is more perception and less tech, and these are good points! While WordPress is rather secure there are a lot of plugin vulnerabilities that give WordPress a bad image, and the drama that has been surrounding WordPress for the past year has not helped either.
Great read to see what people are thinking and to see the various ways people have suggested fixing the issue.
Hacking as a Lifestyle: Beyond Computers
(https://www.sknexus.org/p/hacking-as-a-lifestyle) – I brought this along today because I think it is a fantastic article talking about what a hacker really is. Mostly when we think of hackers, we think of those super smart guys who are socially awkward behind a computer finding their way into companies back doors or into programs etc.
Well, what about those who figured out how to hack a telephone with special tones to make free long distance calls?
Hacker is a term meaning curiosity and creativity. It’s a term used for those who explore options, figure out ‘outside of the box’ solutions to problems, and it does not necessarily mean that you are good on computers. A hacker can be the person who figured out a mechanical breakthrough!
Something to consider over your next coffee break perhaps!
(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!
WP Founders Newsletter (https://wpfounders.com/newsletter/17-09-2025)
Enterprise WordPress Survey closing soon as Scale Consortium calls for final responses
(https://www.therepository.email/enterprise-wordpress-survey-closing-soon-as-scale-consortium-calls-for-final-responses)
WordPress project launches new experimental core program team
(https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-project-launches-new-experimental-core-program-team)
Fueled layoffs spark tension after former employee pre-empts announcement
(https://www.therepository.email/fueled-layoffs-spark-tension-after-former-employee-pre-empts-announcement)
Built to fail: the hidden history of planned obsolescence
(https://www.sknexus.org/p/history-of-planned-obsolescence)
Is your backlink profile important and what to do about it
(https://theadminbar.com/seo-weekly/is-your-backlink-profile-important-and-what-to-do-about-it)
Cloudways brings back Prepathon next week with focus on Gen Z and Gen Alpha
(https://www.therepository.email/cloudways-brings-back-prepathon-next-week-with-focus-on-gen-z-and-gen-alpha)
From RV life to CEO: John Penland’s unlikely road to leading Kinsta
(https://www.therepository.email/from-rv-life-to-ceo-jon-penlands-unlikely-road-to-leading-kinsta)
Woo & Klaviyo report reveals shift toward intentional shopping, shares tips for merchants
(https://www.therepository.email/woo-klaviyo-report-reveals-shift-toward-intentional-shopping-shares-tips-for-merchants)
Enqueue reveals speaker line-up with focus on AI, performance and the future of WordPress
(https://www.therepository.email/enqueue-reveals-speaker-line-up-with-focus-on-ai-performance-and-the-future-of-wordpress)
GoDaddy launches Airo site designer, promising WordPress sites in minutes with AI (https://www.therepository.email/godaddy-launches-airo-site-designer-promising-wordpress-sites-in-minutes-with-ai)
Rogue’s Corner News and Extras
Be sure to go and check out the new and unique plugins now available from WPProAtoz.com!
WordPress Items:
https://friendlywebguy.co.uk/why-did-i-create-clicktock/
check out https://aspirepress.org/
https://theadminbar.com/
https://theadminbar.com/events/
WordPress Best Practices
Release of FAIR 1.0 https://www.therepository.email/new-fair-1-0-release-brings-decentralized-package-management-to-wordpress
https://fair.pm/blog/2025/09/24/discover-trust-install-fair-1-0-is-here/
get plugin here https://github.com/fairpm/fair-plugin/releases
new Directory to find federated packages https://fair.pm/packages/
see this video on a first look at the fair project https://x.com/Ahkonsu/status/1971227399628128266
WordPress has lost the cool kids https://iconick.io/cool-kids/
Tip of the day
Talk about https://influencewp.com/ and the benefits of it for WP devs
Check out The Repo at https://therepo.org/ an alternative to the regular plugin repo
Talk about us WPProAtoZ.com as an agency and what we do
A new podcast https://podcastindex.org/podcast/7474494 UnCached WP Raw
Writing a WordPress plugin easy format your readme.txt file https://iconick.io/readme/
Some talk about WP Podcast space it seems Matt Medeiros from WP minute got spiked by Ryan from InflunceWP it is interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoHkdz3ZxDI
The Weeks WordPress Problem and solution Some talk about WP Podcast space it seems Matt Medeiros from WP minute got spiked by Ryan from InflunceWP it is interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoHkdz3ZxDI
It seems that Darrel Wilson spiked some talk about AI replacing plugins his video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgaNOfYL9rg This is the X feed and the discussion https://x.com/WPProductTalk/status/1970471125114409120 While he has some points such as pricing, his suggestion of using Lovable is wrong as it embeds what you create as an app though an iframe.
Upcoming Interviews
Reminder that we have more interviews coming up in the coming weeks with more developers and community members.
Dragon Rating Time with John!
John’s Plugin
Cimo – Free Instant Image Optimizer & WebP Converter
https://wordpress.org/plugins/cimo-image-optimizer/
The Lowdown:
Cimo is a game-changer for image optimization. It optimizes and converts your images instantly as you upload — even before the files are added to your Media Library.
Cimo works like magic, drag your large image file, and an optimized image will automatically appear in your Media Library. This ensures your website load speed is perfectly optimized by keeping image sizes minimal, without compromising quality.
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…
As important as it is to make sure that you get that rest, sometimes it is equally important to skip the rest and just get poop done.
We have all been there, where you are trying really hard to get just one thing done, and you find yourself being interrupted by EVERYthing – kids, cats, weather, even your tummy decides that it is hungry just as soon as you finally sit down to focus!
Sometimes, you gotta bite the bullet and just skip the sleep, skip the rest, and get poop done. It sucks, but it is part of adulting and we all gotta do it once in a while – and then pretend the next day that we are not looking like trash panda’s with the circles under our eyes and that we got enough sleep….
WHENEVER you find yourself having to do this, it is VERY important that you make sure you give yourself an amazing treat after – for me it’s super chocolatey hot chocolate with whiskey. Really good, highly recommend it!
Dragon Rating Time with Amber!
Amber’s Plugin
Charades Game
https://wordpress.org/plugins/charades-game
The Lowdown:
I had to check this out because – well, Charades!
Once you install and activate it, you will see ‘Charades’ with a smiley face in your left hand menu! Clicking on this will bring you to the ‘Settings’ page, where you can create up to 9 Categories.
I am going to just read out the creators words here because they did a fantastic job explaining how this works:
- The admin creates categories (e.g., “Books”, “Movies”, “Animals”) and uploads a 64x64px icon.
- Each category contains words/phrases and optionally a short comment (e.g., “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” – Author: Larsson Stieg).
- Players split into two teams and choose team names.
- A random word or phrase is shown to one team while the others guess.
- Each team has a set time (default: 90 seconds) to act out and guess the word.
- Teams alternate turns; correct guesses earn points.
- The team with the most points (or the fastest response time in a tie) wins!
The way you make this happen on your site is by adding the short code [charades_game] to any post or page.
Once you have all set up, you can log into your site on your mobile and play Charades at any time!
I had a lot of fun coming up with super odd categories and uploading funny images! And if you so desire, you can change absolutely every single auto message that comes along, like the Congratulations, Tie message, start round button – all of it! Turn it into Klingon and you will have loads of fun!
This works well and plays well with others, I had no issues on my horribly abused and neglected site.
Just a fun, random game that is totally worth throwing onto a site meant for fun! I am super happy to see games coming back!
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 Ajmer – August 23 – October 11
WordPress Campus Connect Jaipur 2025 – August 23 – October 5
WordPress Campus Connect Kolhapur, India – September 13 – October 11
WordPress Campus Connect Udupi 2025 – September 20 – November 22
WordPress Campus Connect Jinja, Eastern Region, Uganda – October 1 – November 30
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!
Donations from across the galaxy!
Producership Credits are a thing that do actually exist – we offer them up to those who donate through Time, Talent or Treasure. You can use these credits to boost up your resume, add to your LinkedIn file, so on and so forth!
Even if you are not interested in receiving a Producership Credit, check out how you can use us as your own stepping ladder in the world of the internets – get yourself an interview, get us to make your announcement for you, let the world know you have something to say or a company worth checking out!
Have a look through our site wppluginsatoz.com. Check out the Time, Talent and Treasure pages.
Today’s Plugins we covered were:
John’s Plugin:
Cimo – Free Instant Image Optimizer & WebP Converter By Benjamin Intal
- Unlimited usage – upload as many images as you want
- Instant optimization – virtually no waiting time
- No extra server load
Rating: 5 Dragons
Amber’s Plugin:
Charades Game By mixaliskappas
- Fun to play
- Easy to set up
- Totally free
Rating: 5 Dragon
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:
- My website:http://www.johnoverall.com/
- WordPress Emergency Support:http://wppro.ca/wpemergency
- email:john@wppro.ca
Amber:
- 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 atAmber@WPPro.ca – we may never stump my dad, but we can get some good conversation out of him at least!
- What drew you into WordPress initially?
- What caused you to settle down with WordPress?
Questions asked after closing credits:
- Does WordPress still have the same kind of draw for you over other platforms – like if you were new to the scene today do you think you would still choose WordPress?
- If you were new to the scene today, what other platforms would you be seriously considering do you think?