Issue 139

Welcome

Welcome to the 139th edition of the WP Builds News

We're now going to call it 'This Week in WordPress', and I think it sums things up nicely.

Don't forget that we do a LIVE version of this news each week at 2pm UK time over at the WP Builds LIVE page.

A suprisingly large amount happened this week, so let's get stuck in...

WordPress Core

WordPress 5.6 Release Candidate

"The final release of 2020 continues the annual tradition of a new default theme that is custom built to showcase the new features and functionality of the software. Continued progress on the block editor is especially clear in this release, which brings more blocks to more places, and fewer clicks to implement your layouts."

Gutenberg 9.4 Introduces Button Width Selector and Typography Controls for List Block

"Gutenberg 9.4.0 was released this week with many small improvements to existing features, while work on full site editing continues. This release will not be included in the upcoming WordPress 5.6 release but those who are using the Gutenberg plugin will have access to the improvements right away."

WordPress To Combine Its Long-Neglected Theme Previewer With Starter Content

"Six weeks ago, WordPress 5.6 release lead Helen Hou-Sandí breathed new life into two almost-forgotten features around the WordPress website and platform. The idea was to take the starter content feature, which themes can optionally add for new installs, and apply it to the WordPress.org theme preview system. It was not a new idea."

'This Week in WordPress' Sponsor

Black Friday Deals Page

All the WordPress Black Friday Deals in one place. Search and filter them easily. Don't go hunting this Black Friday, let us do the heavy lifting for you!

Community

WordPress.com Gives Conservative Treehouse the Boot, Citing TOS Violations

"The Conservative Treehouse, a political publication hosted on WordPress.com for the past 10 years, is moving to a new host after receiving a notice from Automattic regarding violations of its Terms of Service. The site’s owner, previously identified as Florida resident Mark Bradman, claims to have a 500,000 – 1,000,000 unique readers per day. He has been ordered to find a new hosting provider and migrate the site away from WordPress.com by December 2, 2020..."

Local 5.9.2 Adds Image Optimization via New Free Add-On

"Local 5.9.2 was released this month with a new image optimization feature.[...] While image optimization falls into that category, the company decided to make this new feature available to both free and pro tiers via an optional add-on."

Plugins / Themes / Blocks

Should WordPress Notify Users of Plugin Ownership Changes?

"WordPress should have some mechanism for notifying users of changes of ownership. The more transparency that exists in the ecosystem, the healthier it is for all..."

Proposal to Create an Expanded View or Overlay for the Block Patterns Inserter

“Viewing a lot of patterns in the small inserter panel does not work too well,” he [Paal Joachim Romdahl] wrote in the GitHub ticket. “It gets tiring needing to scroll one pattern at a time. Having a larger view will help the user to compare multiple patterns at once.”

AB Split Tests 1.0.8 Release Notes - Admin Bar Helper

"A handy tool to quickly view, analyze and troubleshoot your AB Split Tests."

Better User Interface and User Experience

"In this update, we’re bringing block editing to all new heights by drastically improving our user interface and user experience (UI/UX)."

Introducing the Simplest Header Footer Builder with Astra!

"The drag and drop Header and Footer Builder is coming soon to Astra! We are thrilled to introduce the most awaited drag and drop Header and Footer Builder. It opens all-new design possibilities and gives you the freedom to customize navigation of your website with a theme."

Product Release: New Elementor Integrations for Seriously Simple Podcasting

"Today, we’re excited to announce a brand new Elementor integration for our WordPress plugin, Seriously Simple Podcasting."

SEOPress Insights: Rankings and backlinks tracker

"Add SEOPress Insights to SEOPress free or PRO to get the first full-featured SEO tool integrated in WordPress."

WPGraphQL 1.0 Released, Now Available in WordPress.org Plugins Directory – WordPress Tavern

"Version 1.0 of the WPGraphQL plugin is now available in the official plugins directory on WordPress.org. This is the first stable version recommended for use in production, landing nearly four years from when the project started in November 2016."

Brizy WooCommerce Builder

"We are introducing the Brizy WooCommerce Builder. This will let you design your product and archive products page using the Brizy builder without touching a line of code or any options, themes, or plugins."

Lottie Animations for Beaver Builder Free Plugin Download

"This free plugin will get you up and running with Lottie in 2 minutes!"

Deals

WordPress Deals for Black Friday 2020 - Plugins, Themes, Blocks and more

All the best WordPress deals on one page!

The Founder Offer is back for a VERY limited time only!

Get 10 of the 20 available 'Funnel Pack' which are on offer for a limited time.

Security

Large-Scale Attacks Target Epsilon Framework Themes

"On November 17, 2020, our Threat Intelligence team noticed a large-scale wave of attacks against recently reported Function Injection vulnerabilities in themes using the Epsilon Framework, which we estimate are installed on over 150,000 sites. So far today, we have seen a surge of more than 7.5 million attacks against more than 1.5 million sites targeting these vulnerabilities, coming from over 18,000 IP addresses."

7G Firewall

"The 7G Firewall is here! 7G is now out of beta and ready for production sites. So you can benefit from the powerful protection of the latest nG Firewall (aka nG Blacklist)."

WordPress Vulnerability News, November 2020

"WordPress vulnerability news is a monthly digest of highlighted vulnerable plugins for WordPress or WordPress security issues that have been published."

WP Builds

FOMO V No FOMO

It’s the penultimate debate. Yes, the painfully drawn out episode before the edge of your seat, nail biting end of season finale. Mmm…

Jobs

Explore Elementor Careers - Changing The World is Fun, Join Us!

So many jobs at Elementor!

Not WordPress, but useful anyway…

AI Generated Paintings

AI created artwork. The world is surely about to come to an end!

PSA: macOS is a little broken this morning, with many non-Apple apps hanging at launch

"If you’re on a Mac running a relatively new version of macOS (Catalina or Big Sur, seemingly) and it’s having all sorts of weird issues right now: you’re not alone."

Check your Pulse #55 - Check your Pulse

"We are living through the emergence of a new business category that doesn’t even have a name yet, but which I believe will become an important part of our digital lives: online communities at the intersection of content curation and knowledge management."

Google’s latest Chrome update delivers ‘largest performance gain in years’

"Google is wrapping up 2020 with what it claims are major performance enhancements to the company’s Google Chrome browser. “This month’s update represents the largest gain in Chrome performance in years,” Matt Waddell, Chrome’s director of product, wrote in a blog post. Sounds pretty exciting on the surface, no? Waddell says a slew of under-the-hood changes and optimizations have led to boosts to Chrome on several fronts."

Dad Photoshops His Baby Into Dangerous Situations To Freak Out Relatives

"Dublin-based designer and dad Stephen Crowley decided to use his Photoshop skills to have some fun with his family and relatives. He photoshopped his 18-month-old daughter Hannah into situations that would give anyone a heart attack – like driving a car, holding a kitchen knife, climbing a ladder alone, etc."

New device beams sound directly to your head without using headphones

"Imagine a world where you move around in your own personal sound bubble. You listen to your favorite tunes, play loud computer games, watch a movie or get navigation directions in your car — all without disturbing those around you."