WordPress 6.3, WordCamp, + More

The last month of summer was productive for each the WordPress community and Hostinger. 

We saw some exciting updates – a brand new WordPress version, an extra feature in Hostinger AI Assistant, and a sneak peek into an upcoming default theme. 

As well as, some crucial security vulnerabilities were fixed, meaning you may must update a few of your plugins.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the WordPress August roundup.

Hostinger AI Assistant Updates

We’ve updated the Hostinger AI Assistant plugin – now, it’s even easier to generate content with it. You’ll notice a brand new What do you ought to make today section within the most important interface with three drop-down menus. 

These enable you to pick the next parameters:

• Content type. Whether for a post or a page, you possibly can select any content type you would like, including posts for WooCommerce products.
• Tone of voice. Pick from casual, neutral, or formal tone options to align together with your brand.
• Content length. Adjust your post’s length based in your requirements – be it a brief product description or an in-depth article.

As well as, we’ve refined the user interface. You will discover the Add Latest with AI button on the post editor and posts sidebar menu for quick access to the AI Assistant.

WordPress Updates

WordPress released its new edition and gave us a teaser of the long run default theme.

WordPress 6.3 and 6.3.1

The anticipated WordPress 6.3 finally arrived on August 8, aiming to finalize block editor customization improvements. Listed below are its highlights:

• Patterns. The introduction of synced patterns replaces reusable blocks. You possibly can now create each synced and regular patterns within the block editor without an additional plugin.
• Command palette. Navigate through the Site Editor effortlessly with the brand new command palette feature. Simply type the duty or panel you wish and choose it.
• Style revision. The brand new style revisions feature saves your past edits complete with their time stamps, making it easy so that you can revert back the edits.

A couple of weeks later, WordPress 6.3.1 was released to handle critical bugs, including issues with the brand new footnote block.

Make sure to update your WordPress version – doing so is the most effective technique to avoid any security vulnerabilities and luxuriate in the most recent features.

Latest WordPress Twenty Twenty-4 Default Theme

Alongside 6.3, the event of the brand new default theme, Twenty Twenty-4, is underway. The plan is to ship this latest theme with the subsequent major release – WordPress 6.4, coming in November.

Unlike its predecessors, Twenty Twenty-4 is developed to suit three use cases – business, portfolio, and blog. Which means that the theme will include more patterns for the house template for all use cases, including project overviews, RSVPs, and landing page-specific patterns.

For a sneak peek of this upcoming theme, visit the WordPress Core blog post.

WordPress Community Summit and WordPress US 2023

Two major WordPress events unfolded in August. The Community Summit took place on August 22-23, and WordCamp US followed soon after, from August 24-26.

In the course of the Community Summit, contributors from all over the world gathered to debate various topics and issues concerning the WordPress project and community. The summit’s most important goal is to strengthen the general WordPress open-source project and improve the contributors’ workflow and cross-team collaboration.

In total, they discussed 26 topics, starting from contributor leadership roles within the WordPress project to diversity and inclusion inside the teams. Try the Summit blog for summaries and key points of the event.

WordCamp US took place after the Community Summit, by which we proudly participated as a brilliant admin sponsor.

Personally, I find the next three keynote sessions very insightful:

• Making Large Language Models (LLMs) Work for You. Simon Willison explains how LLMs work and their use cases. He also provides tips about tips on how to use AI without falling into any pitfalls.
• Way forward for WordPress. Josepha Haden Chomposy talks about what’s currently happening in WordPress and the way the community can drive the long run of WordPress.
• What’s Next in Gutenberg. Matt Mullenweg discusses what has been achieved with Gutenberg and the plan for the project. He also addresses a Q&A session with the audience.

Besides these, the entire WordCamp is full of useful sessions and workshops. All of which you’ll watch on the WordCamp YouTube channel. 

WordPress Vulnerability

Let’s wrap up last month’s roundup with WordPress vulnerability news. We’ll highlight a number of the high-severity vulnerabilities from the Patchstack database. 

Nonetheless, as hundreds of plugins can be found, we recommend all the time keeping them updated. In the event you’re using Hostinger, you should definitely check the WordPress vulnerability scanner on hPanel.

Forminator

A preferred form builder plugin with over 400,000 lively installations, Forminator was susceptible to arbitrary file upload that allow attackers upload a malicious file to the web site as a backdoor.

The vulnerability affected version 1.24.6 and lower. In the event you use this plugin, update it to no less than version 1.25.0.

Gutenberg Blocks by Kadence Blocks Plugin

Gutenberg Blocks by Kadence was vulnerable to arbitrary file upload, just like Forminator. 

Nonetheless, the vulnerability within the Gutenberg Blocks plugin was rated 10 in CVSS 3.1 and is understood to be exploited. In consequence, its 300,000+ users should update to version 3.1.11 immediately.

What’s Coming In September

Although WordPress 6.3 was just released, we’ll see the beta version of WordPress 6.4 coming in late September. We will expect to see the brand new default theme on that version and a number of the early features for the Gutenberg phase three – online collaboration.

Stay tuned for September’s roundup!