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 650 – Your Ultimate Guide Through the WordPress Plugin Galaxy from WP Plugins A to Z

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!

Hoping everyone is doing well and keeping healthy despite the tiny little deathstars floating around – cotton wood is the WORST for me this time of year! Although I am sure that if I bothered going around and collecting it all I could have a really neat floofy pile to make a pillow or something – but I don’t think I will.

A few reminders before we start the show today….

Reminders:

• Every Monday at 12:30pm Pacific Time brings you a show from both John and I, or just John as he does interviews and solo shows in alteration with this one!
  Join in a little earlier to catch the pre-stream on both shows!
• 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!

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 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-may-21-2025/) – In this report there are 359 vulnerabilities. 341 are plugins this week, with 18 Themes.
Plugins: 191 Patched / 150 Unpatched
Themes: 3 Patched / 15 Unpatched

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.org plugin submissions surge 87% amid rise in AI tools
(https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-plugin-submissions-surge-87-amid-rise-in-ai-tools) – This is both an interesting and an important bit of news here. We know that AI’s have made it easier to create plugins, although we have also come to find out that the fully AI plugins have a lot wrong with them.
I may just be being pessimistic here, but I am thinking that a good portion of these new plugins have not been fully tested and are now out there, and are gonna cause some issues, if not with your site then with your security.
Be aware of this influx of new plugins, be sure to check the plugin out in a sandbox FIRST so that you don’t wind up killing a site.
AI is useful but does not replace humans… not yet anyways.

WordPress sites cost up to 44% less then proprietary CMS platforms, WP Engine report finds
(https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-sites-cost-up-to-44-less-than-proprietary-cms-platforms-wp-engine-report) – This is another good bit of news to have under your belt! Anyone who works with WordPress knows that while the platform itself is free, the running of it is not. We have the plugins, the themes, all the little bits and pieces that eventually add up!
However, as this article goes into depth explaining, there are regional differences and some real tensions behind the apparently good looking numbers. After all, how is this platform going to be doing in 3 years from now? Will this still be the most efficient and cost effective platform? There is a lot that is talked about in this article, definitely worth a read.

Harvard CS50 – free computer science university course
(https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-cs50/) – This was sent into me by a friend, and I think this is a fantastic thing that FreeCodeCamp.org is doing – they took an entire 25 hour course and have released it on their YouTube Channel. This is for beginners, although I find things for beginners always seems to teach me something new! Absolutely worth having a look-see!

The Camel Principle
(https://thepalindrome.org/p/the-camel-principle?ref=dailydev) – I thought this was awesome! Admittedly I went to check this out because I am a Terry Pratchett fan, and I am strongly reminded of ‘the best mathematician in the world’ the camel named ‘You Bastard’.
The creator of this article kind of reminds me of the camel in the book ‘Small Gods’ too… if you got the right brainwave it will help a ton!

(Go visit WP Shout Comics  or Word Chronicles for a fantastic brain break – my favourite today is this one!)

Some Extras – check out our Facebook or Twitter!

WordCamp US 2025 moves ahead with new leads after Automattic layoffs disrupt planning
(https://www.therepository.email/wordcamp-us-2025-moves-ahead-with-new-leads-after-automattic-layoffs-disrupt-planning)

From Grassroots to Global: How WordPress Campus Connect is nurturing the next generation of users and contributors
(https://www.therepository.email/from-grassroots-to-global-how-wordpress-campus-connect-is-nurturing-the-next-generation-of-users-and-contributors)

Inside WordCamp Europe 2025: Lead organizers on making Basel affordable, inclusive, and community-first
(https://www.therepository.email/inside-wordcamp-europe-2025-lead-organizers-on-making-basel-affordable-inclusive-and-community-first)

Matt Mullenweg settles caregiver lawsuits days before trial
(https://www.therepository.email/matt-mullenweg-settles-caregiver-lawsuits-days-before-trial)

Second Plaintiff to join Class Action against Automattic, Mullenweg over WP Engine dispute
(https://www.therepository.email/second-plaintiff-to-join-class-action-against-automattic-mullenweg-over-wp-engine-dispute)

Mary Hubbard moves to rebuild trust after WordPress.org bans
(https://www.therepository.email/mary-hubbard-moves-to-rebuild-trust-after-wordpress-org-bans)

Beyond Traffic: 10 overlooked ways to boost website conversions
(https://presswizards.com/beyond-traffic-10-overlooked-ways-to-boost-website-conversions/)

The Media Corps is dead. What now for WordPress marketing?
(https://www.therepository.email/the-media-corps-is-dead-what-now-for-wordpress-marketing)

Patchstack becomes top CVE Coordinator, surpassing Microsoft in Reported Vulnerabilities
(https://www.therepository.email/patchstack-becomes-top-cve-coordinator-surpassing-microsoft-in-reported-vulnerabilities)

Don’t do this (unless you want sh*t frontend code)
(https://www.frontendjoy.com/p/don-t-do-this-unless-you-want-sh-t-frontend-code?ref=dailydev)

Every developer needs to self-host
(https://dev.to/code42cate/every-developer-needs-to-self-host-43mm?ref=dailydev)

Rogue’s Corner News and Extras

Be sure to go and check out the new and unique plugins now available from WPProAtoz.com!

Coding Tips

There seems to be an issue with WP 6.8 not letting through updates for non-wp.org plugins
https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1ktpzv3/wordpress_68_seems_to_be_breaking_update/

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.

Educational

If you are looking to learn WP and how plugins and themes work I would recommend you look into:- How WP Core files are loaded. There are tons of really nice flow charts out there explaining how WP handles loading of the front-end, admin area, cron, ajax etc. https://www.wptherightway.org/core       – Learn how WP Actions and Filters work (Common API) https://developer.wordpress.org/apis/       – Learn the concept of the main loop and how it works. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop       – How Themes work https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/       – How Plugins work https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/

Dragon Rating Time with John!

John’s Plugin

Glow Site management system

https://getglow.io/

The Lowdown:

Transforming how agencies manage multiple WordPress sites.
Glow combines support, maintenance and reporting into one intuitive, powerful dashboard. Manage your clients’ WordPress sites with Glow, everything is in one place. Your team is aligned, it’s super easy to carry out support and maintenance tasks and at the same time, consistently prove the value of your service to your clients.

Main features

• Manage Multiple Websites
• Team members
• Support Tickets
• Security & maintenance
• Reports
• Branded dashboard
• Reseller program
• Support from Glow

Rating 5 Dragons

Get an incredible deal on it from Influencewp https://influencewp.com/deal/maintenance-support/glow/

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…

Have fun with your work!

I know we all have to be professional most of the time – but then again we all have those clients where we can just talk and be friendly, show our human site!

And we absolutely all have co-workers we can be ridiculous with, even if we only chat with them about 1x/month!

When you are doing code, find something fun to do with it like add in notations that while helpful are also entertaining for the next poor schlock that has to go through it with a fine toothed comb!

Or when making a site, don’t just stick to the norm, bring a little flair into it – if your client allows for that anyways. Bring some of the past back and make it a little more modern – if you’re not sure about whether your client will like the look and feel make a temp page to show it off and ask them if they would like that throughout the site.

When working on anything, find a way to throw some fun into it. FUN = LAUGHTER = no loss of limbs for those around you.

Also makes the hours and hours you spend in that one seat every day more enjoyable, and feel like the time does not quite take so long for the day to pass.

It seems a lot of people are worried about being professional at all times… but really if you are professional all the time and never throw in random fun moments throughout every day, it doesn’t really turn out well.

All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy…
All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy…
All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy…

Dragon Rating Time with John!

Amber’s Plugin

All in One Accessibility

https://www.skynettechnologies.com/all-in-one-accessibility

The Lowdown:

This was sent in by Kirit Bhatt with Skynet Technologies.
Every time I read their company name, I can’t help but think about The Terminator and it is awesome! Sorry guys, I am an eternal 12 year old for some things!

So to get onto actual important info – Once you have downloaded and activated this lovely plugin that will absolutely not take over your entire site and develop a terminator (it really doesn’t!), you will see ‘All in One Accessibility’ in your right hand menu.

Click on this and you will be brought to the ‘All in One Accessibility Settings’ page! Here you will see a place to add your license key, though you don’t need one for the free version so don’t worry about that until you are ready to upgrade.

Next you will see the option for choosing a colour for the widget you will be using. They used the good colour picking option where you can just add your preferred colour – I of course chose #FF10F0 because I love neon pink.

Then you choose where this is going to sit – in the ‘fixed position’, or in your own ‘custom position’! You get a choice between ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ of ‘Bottom’, ‘Top’, and ‘Middle’, and then you can choose ‘Center’ in the ‘Top’ and ‘Bottom’ too.

You can also choose whether your widget will be ‘Regular Size’, or ‘Oversized’! Although that option only works on desktop view so you are aware.

And finally, we come to the widget choices!! You can choose which Icon you will be using to let people know that you are making your site handi-capable! There is even an option where it writes out the word ‘Accessibility’. Now there ARE a couple of options that I don’t think are very useful for those like myself who do indeed look for something to help with words – there is a gear icon, what looks almost like a ‘TOXIC’ icon that makes me think of the Ninja Turtles and the goo they came from.. although most of these icons do make sense with the images.

AND FINALLY, you are able to choose the size of the entire icon on your page, whether the icon will be tiny and inside of a box, or huge and the box is really just a liner, although that is just for the Fixed Icon Size, for the custom option you will need to put in size in PX. Recommended values are 20-150px.

Now after all of this, you click ‘Save Changes’, and that’s all you need to do!

Go to your front page, click on your icon you have so lovingly created, and you will see that now there are 14 options for people to use on your site. There is even a built in ‘Accessibility Statement’ written for your visitors by these guys and it is REALLY well written!

Here you will see the following options once you click on your newly made icon:
Reading Mask
High Contrast
Font Size (100% is default, goes down to 10%)
Line Height (100% – 10%)
Letter Spacing (100% – 10%)
Content Scaling (100% – 10%)
Readable Font
Align Right
Align Center
Align Left
Hide Images
Highlight Links
Text Magnifier (This one works by hovering and having a bubble pop up with a larger version of the word for you)
Highlight Titles

And I LOVE that they use the Neon Pink everywhere they can! It’s great!

Now testing out all the options, they are amazing and work really well. My personal favourite is the ‘Readable Font’ – it uses that amazing dyslexic font that I use everywhere I can!

All in all, this is an absolutely fantastic and rather fun to set up plugin! I am probably going to add this to my preferred plugin list now and recommend to clients.

I would LOVE to see something like this for the backend for the ‘Readable Font’!

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 – May 22-25

WordCamp Europe – June 5-7

WordCamp Pokhara 2025 – June 13-14

WordCamp Brisbane, Australia – June 14-15

Uganda Website Projects Competition 2025 – June 20

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:

Glow Site Management System by GLOW

• Combines support, maintenance, & reporting
• Can manage multiple sites
• Branded Dashboard

Rating: 5 Dragons

Amber’s Plugin:

All in One Accessibility by Skynet Technologies

• Customizable icon and colours
• Everything is provided for you
• Lightweight plugin that plays well with others

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!

WP Plugins A to Z
C/O John Overall 
20-754 E Fairview Rd. 
Victoria, BC  V9A 5T9  
Canada

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 at Amber@WPPro.ca – we may never stump my dad, but we can get some good conversation out of him at least!

• What exactly DOES a cacheing plugin do? Are you creating caches, or deleting them?

• How does deleting cache’s on your site help someones personal browser navigate faster on your site?

Questions asked after closing credits:

• What is this WebP image that is now accepted everywhere, and why is it better then a .PNG?

• With the newer everything going on all the time, do you think older styled images are going to depreciate and just stop showing up? Is that a thing? How long does it take?