Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe to WPPlugins A to Z on Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | Email | RSS
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, some recent news in both the WordPress World and the Tech World in general, and some awesome WordPress Tips!
Hope everyone out there is staying cool in this lovely heat and going swimming tons! I myself and absolutely spending a good amount of time in the nice chill lake we have nearby!
A few reminders before we start the show today….
Reminders:
- Join us here in person every Monday at 12:00pm 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….
FireFly!
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-june-4-2025/) – In this report there are 97 vulnerabilities. 81 are plugins this week, with 16 Themes.
Plugins: 52 Patched, 29 left to go!
Themes: 7 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.
WordPress turns 22: celebrations, reflections, and the road ahead
(https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-turns-22-celebrations-reflections-and-the-road-ahead) – HAPPY BIRTHDAY WORDPRESS!
After many posts showing the variety of celebrations out there (totally awesome you should absolutely check these out!), there is a bit of an article at the bottom. I absolutely recommend looking through this as there are some amazing links in there leading you to Matt Mullenweg’s ‘five layers of sharing thoughts and ideas, the excitement over the WordPress AI team, the slow downs in major releases – loads of good stuff there!
New FAIR project aims to decentralize WordPress.org services, backed by Linux Foundation and hundreds of contributors
(https://www.therepository.email/fair-to-decentralize-wordpress-backed-by-linux-foundation-and-contributors) – This is huge. A coalition of WordPress contributors, open source organizations and business have launched a project they hope will reshape how WordPress sites connect to the wider ecosystem – and remove dependency on WordPress.org while securing the project’s future.
FAIR stands for Federated and Independent Repositories, and will essentially be a plugin that can be installed on any WordPress site allowing users and hosting companies to connect to decentralized repositories for core, theme, and plugin updates with translations, news feeds, and other hard-coded services that typically rely on WordPress.org – a site owned and controlled by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg.
Definitely worth reading through this article!
WordCamp Europe 2025 Midway Recap: Big Conversations, Quiet Undercurrents
(https://www.therepository.email/wordcamp-europe-2025-midway-recap-big-conversations-quiet-undercurrents) – This is an exciting one this year so the halfway point update is something worth reading! At the top you will find a bit about the WordCamp, some fantastic images, and then at the bottom you will find the real information, including an update on how Alt Ctrl Org tackled free speech and open governance.
Although this was not an official thing and only a side event, it is featuring key speakers from the Free Software Foundation, TYPO3, Open Source Pldege, The WP Community Collective, and AspirePress.
A panel discussion on the Future of WordPress featuring Joost de Valk (Emilia Capital), Sé Reed (The WPCC), and Sarah Savage (AspirePress), moderated by Francesca Marano (Patchstack) — will round out the sold-out, 200-person gathering.
More to come with the next report!
Second Plaintiff joins Class Action alleging Automattic, Mullenweg disrupted WP Engine access
(https://www.therepository.email/second-plaintiff-joins-class-action-alleging-automattic-mullenweg-disrupted-wp-engine-access) – Filed on May 23 in US District Court, the amended complaint adds New York Business owner Sharon Schanzer, who runs RLDGROUP, to the case alongside Ohio-based Ryan Keller, who first sued in February. Both run small agencies that rely on WP Engine to host and manage client sites. They claim Automattic deliberately disrupted those services in a retaliatory move that left them – and potentially hundreds of thousands of other WP Engine customers – scrambling.
The complaint accuses Automattic and Mullenweg of launching a campaign of ‘nuclear war’ against WP Engine beginning in September 2024. It describes the move as ‘unprecedented and malicious conduct utterly unrelated to the trademark dispute’.
WordPress has a new AI team. Here’s what they’re planning to do
(https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-has-a-new-ai-team) – There is a lot of great information in this article! Under the last section ‘A plugin-first strategy’ is the information I found most interesting though – the AI team is planning on starting with canonical plugins and shared developer tools, rather than pushing AI features directly into the WordPress Core. The AI team wants to create an infrastructure that makes it easier for others to build with AI in WordPress without having to solve the same problems repeatedly. This seems very promising and I am looking forward to seeing where this goes!
SponsorMeWP launches to help WordPress contributors get funded
(https://www.therepository.email/sponsormewp-launches-to-help-wordpress-contributors-get-funded) – This is something really cool, a place where contributors can list their skills, interests, and availability for sponsorship! Companies can browse the directory, find people to support, and connect directly. The platform doesn’t handle payments or take commissions, it’s simply a matchmaking tool built to serve the broader WordPress ecosystem. For those out there who could use a place to list your skills and availability, this might just be the perfect place for you to check out!
PHP, the dark horse no one saw coming in AI Agents development
(https://inspector.dev/php-the-dark-horse-no-one-saw-coming-in-ai-agents-development/?ref=dailydev) – This is a really cool article I cam across talking about how during this amazing race to the AI implementation, nobody considered PHP’s renaissance.
Written by Balerio Barbera, he brings up some really good points like how the tech world’s catastrophic underestimation of PHP’s evolution over the past five years might go down as one of the industry’s most shortsighted misjudgements.
This is well worth a read!
(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!
Cheat Sheets for Developers
(medium.com/@vrkunduri/cheatsheets-for-developers-1bf378aafcb0)
BlackRock Cuts Automattic Valuation by 17%
(https://www.therepository.email/blackrock-cuts-automattic-valuation-by-17)
Community split as Mary Hubbard’s move to rebuild trust faces scrutiny
(https://www.therepository.email/community-divided-as-mary-hubbards-move-to-rebuild-trust-faces-scrutiny)
They say my job won’t survive…
(https://dev.to/alvaromontoro/they-say-my-job-wont-survive-12lc?ref=dailydev)
Mullenweg’s ‘The Five Layers of Sharing Thoughts and Ideas’
(https://ma.tt/2025/05/sharing-levels/)
Do the Woo rebrands as OpenChannels.fm, marking a new chapter for the community-driven podcast network
(https://www.therepository.email/do-the-woo-rebrands-as-openchannels-fm-marking-a-new-chapter-for-the-community-driven-podcast-network)
Automattic resumes WordPress contributions in surprise move after five-month pause
(https://www.therepository.email/automattic-resumes-wordpress-contributions-in-surprise-move-after-five-month-pause)
WordPress Leadership reinstates 32 banned WordPress.org accounts, launches formal review
(https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-leadership-reinstates-32-banned-wordpress-org-accounts-launches-formal-review)
WordPress slows to one major release per year – and not everyone agrees with how it happened
(https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-slows-to-one-major-release-per-year-and-not-everyone-agrees-with-how-it-happened)
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)
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:
WordPress is now 22 https://wedevs.com/blog/367784/happy-birthday-wordpress-history-rewards/
New federated plugin/theme repo
https://www.fastcompany.com/91347003/wordpress-veterans-launch-fair-project-to-tackle-security-and-control-concerns
https://marucchi.com/introducing-the-fair-package-manager-for-wordpress/
https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/06/linux_foundation_wordpress_peacemaker/
https://marucchi.com/introducing-the-fair-package-manager-for-wordpress/
https://joost.blog/path-forward-for-wordpress/
https://thewpminute.com/mary-hubbard-matt-mullenweg-wordcamp-eu-2025-fireside-chat/
Matts responses to this FAIR
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jesserfriedman_we-have-all-said-to-beginners-make-sure-activity-7337646477999046656-NJnT/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/wordpress-co-founder-mullenwegs-reaction-to-fair-project/548616/
WordPress looses a great developer and a loud voice
https://robertdevore.com/goodbye-wordpress-a-eulogy/
Privacy Trends in 2025 for WordPress
https://wpmayor.com/privacy-trends/
WordPress returns to the fold
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/wordpress-unpauses-development-but-has-it-run-out-of-time/548199/
Malware Warning
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2025/06/malware-masquerades-as-legitimate-hidden-wordpress-plugin-with-remote-code-execution-capabilities/
A new player in the shopping cart area
https://fluentcart.com/
Is plugin innovation stagnating?
https://joost.blog/innovation-in-wordpress/
AI Stuff:
https://theconversation.com/godfather-of-ai-now-fears-its-unsafe-he-has-a-plan-to-rein-it-in-258288
Question for all the listeners:
How many of you out there have that Phantom plugin needing an update?
Tip of the day
Check out The Repo at https://therepo.org/ an alternative to the regular plugin repo.
Educational
Stop Project Creep https://deliciousbrains.com/how-to-tame-scope-creep-in-wordpress-development/
Dragon Rating Time with John!
John’s Plugin
Registration, User Profile, Membership, Content Restriction, User Directory, and Frontend Post Submission – WP User Frontend
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-user-frontend/
The Lowdown:
WP User Frontend makes the frontend better for you! It includes frontend dashboard, frontend editor, publishing, and uploader for WordPress user profile, post submissions, and memberships.
#1 Frontend Post Submission, Membership, Profile Builder, & WordPress Editor Plugin
FREE FEATURES
Unlimited post-type form creation
The forms let users create new posts and edit their profile from the site frontend, with no need to access admin panel or backend.
Update Profile from the Frontend
This WordPress Profile Plugin allows registered users to edit their profile using default fields from frontend. (Unlimited fields can be added using PRO)
Flexibility for Admins
Admins can manage users both from frontend and backend to control who can access the dashboard.
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…
I have talked quite a bit over the last year about making sure to detach from the computer and spend time outside, with family and friends – although on the flip side of that, don’t be afraid to jump into the tech world head first and block out the rest of the world either!
Sometimes diving in headfirst, throwing on those headphones and turning on the tunes is exactly what you need.
There is a balance to maintain for sure, though don’t start thinking that being on the computer and in the world of the internets is entirely evil either, especially if that is where you work.
The internets can be the perfect escape from the stresses of life, just like family and friends are the perfect escape from the stresses of work.
It’s perfectly okay to use work to chillax, as much as you use family and friends to chillax! That probably sounds a little odd, but if you think about it, you have probably done exactly that before, jumped into work head first to get away from the stresses of life and jumped head first into family and day to day life to get away from the stresses of work.
Both places have merit, and both places can be good for your in every way – just don’t allow yourself to get lost in either world – not in work because you will lose contact with the real world, and not in the real world because you will straight up lose your job.
That’s about all, I will try and think up more for next time.
Dragon Rating Time with Amber!
Amber’s Plugin
Highlight – Simple Frontend Text Highlighter
https://wordpress.org/plugins/highlite/
The Lowdown:
This is a fresh out of the box plugin that I saw and thought that perhaps this could be super useful! Especially for the sites that are dedicated to research material, educational posts, how-to’s for the techies – all the important things!
When you install and activate this, you will find the dashboard for the plugin under ‘Settings’ > ‘Highlite’.
On this dashboard you have simple yet effective options – enable this for:
Posts
Pages
Media
My Templates
Products
Simple check box is all you need, hit ‘Save Changes’, and off you go!
The way you use this on the front end is by highlighting some text.
Once highlighted, there will be an option bubble that pops up over the highlighted words offering ‘Search’, ‘Copy’, ‘Snapshot’, and a couple of internet options of ‘Explore more’ or ‘Translate’.
So I tried the ‘Explore more’ with the word ‘Doohickey’, and got quite the awesome explanation on what this is!
Explanation:
-
- A general term for a small object whose name is unknown or forgotten.
- Often used in a casual or informal context.
- Synonyms include “thingamajig,” “whatsit,” or “widget.”
Context:
“Doohickey” is a versatile word used to refer to any small, unnamed object. It’s a placeholder term, useful when you can’t recall the specific name of something or when the exact name isn’t important to the conversation. It’s a common word in informal speech.
Example Sentence:
“Could you hand me that doohickey on the table, the one with the red button?”
Really quite awesome!
Now if you click on the word ‘Highlight’, it will highlight it yellow for you so that you can more easily find it when completing your lesson notes.
To get rid of the highlight, click on the highlighted word, and you will see a little red button with the image of a garbage can – click on the garbage can and your page will be highlighter free!
This is a really simple and fantastically well made useful tool! If you have any kind of educational information on your site, this could be quite the boon to your readers!
Now this is a Freemium plugin – the Pro version is a decent cost though, and it offers a lot of benefits like the ability to add text notes, choose a colour, Docx and Print support, and so much more!
If after trying out this lightweight free version you find that it has been an absolute benefit, I would recommend having a look at the Pro version. If you would like to see how the Pro version works you can check it out here: https://sacredwp.gumroad.com/l/zukgxh
Rating: 4 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:
Registration, User Profile, Membership, Content Restriction, User Directory, and Frontend Post Submission – WP User Frontend by Tareq Hasan
- unlimited post-type form creation
- update profile from the frontend
- drag-and-drop form builder
Rating: 5 Dragons
Amber’s Plugin:
Highlight – Simple Frontend Text Highlighter
https://wordpress.org/plugins/highlite/
- easy to use
- great connectivity to the nets for explanations on words
- plays well with all the other plugins
Rating: 4 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 atAmber@WPPro.ca – we may never stump my dad, but we can get some good conversation out of him at least!
- Do you know anything about the Free AI image things out there? They will resize your image, smaller and/or larger for free – absolutely free actually, they don’t even require you to sign up.
- What do you think they are getting out of this that they offer the service for free?
- What are your thoughts on the WordPress AI Team?
- Do you think that they are going to keep the AI additions in plugin format or do you think they will eventually shove the AI into the core?
Questions asked after closing credits:
- WP Shout has free courses for WordPress Development – do you think taking these courses will help anyone, or do you think they will just confuse those who have learned through experience of breaking and repairing things?
- Do you think SEO is something that everyone should learn the basics of these days, or do you think a person with no interest in bothering will do just fine in their own site?