October 30, 2023
Video: How to Register a Domain Name (Step by Step)
WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials originally appeared at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSiMqzL1d14
October 26, 2023
Video: How to Customize WooCommerce Product Pages (Without Coding!)
WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials originally appeared at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiifuY8jSX4
October 24, 2023
WordPress 6.4 Release Candidate 2
The second release candidate (RC2) for WordPress 6.4 is now available!
This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC2 on a test server and site.
WordPress 6.4 is slated for release on November 7, 2023—two weeks from today. If you haven’t tried it, now is the time.
You can test WordPress 6.4 RC2 in three ways:
- Plugin: Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).
- Direct download: Download the RC2 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress site.
- Command line: Use the following WP-CLI command:
wp core update --version=6.4-RC2
Read the RC1 announcement for featured highlights, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.4-related posts. If you are looking for detailed technical notes on new features and improvements, the WordPress 6.4 Field Guide is for you.
The WordPress 6.4 release is brought to you by an underrepresented gender release squad to welcome the participation and partnership of those who identify as gender-underrepresented in the WordPress open source project.
What’s in WordPress 6.4 RC2?
Thanks to everyone who has tested the beta and RC releases. Since RC1 was released on October 17, there have been more than 25 issues resolved. You can browse the technical details for all recent updates using these links:
Contributing to 6.4
WordPress is open source software made possible by a community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help, regardless of your technical expertise.
Get involved in testing
Your feedback and help in testing are vital to developing the WordPress software and ensuring its quality. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. Check out this guide for instructions on testing WordPress 6.4 features.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.
Search for vulnerabilities
During the release candidate phase of WordPress 6.4, the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.
Update your theme or plugin
Do you build themes and plugins? Your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for users worldwide.
Hopefully, you have already tested your themes and plugins with WordPress 6.4 betas. With RC2, you will want to continue your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.4.
Please post detailed information to the support forums if you find compatibility issues.
Help translate WordPress
Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Português? Русский? 日本? Help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages.
A RC2 haiku
You have been waiting
Download and give it a test
RC2 is here
Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: @meher, @rmartinezduque, @michelleames, @cbringmann
WordPress 6.4 Release Candidate 2 was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/wordpress-6-4-release-candidate-2/
October 23, 2023
Video: The Best FREE Business Tools you Should be Using
WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials originally appeared at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZvLatksU9A
October 19, 2023
Video: How to Allow Subscribers On Your WordPress Site
WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials originally appeared at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_bdATdGP10
October 17, 2023
WordPress 6.4 Release Candidate 1
The first release candidate (RC1) for WordPress 6.4 is now available!
This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC1 on a test server and site.
Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains vital to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.4 is the best it can be.
You can test WordPress 6.4 RC1 in three ways:
- Plugin: Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).
- Direct download: Download the RC1 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress site.
- Command line: Use the following WP-CLI command:
wp core update --version=6.4-RC1
The current target for the WordPress 6.4 release is November 7, 2023. Get an overview of the 6.4 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.4-related posts.
The WordPress 6.4 release is brought to you by an underrepresented gender release squad to welcome the participation and partnership of those who identify as gender-underrepresented in the WordPress open source project.
What’s in WordPress 6.4 RC1
This release contains 420 enhancements and 445 bug fixes for the editor, including more than 260 tickets for WordPress 6.4 core. Browse the technical details for all issues recently addressed using these links:
Highlights
WordPress 6.4 is the third and last major release of 2023. It introduces a multi-purpose default theme, new features, and a keen focus on details to enhance every aspect of your creation journey—from site editing and design to writing flows.
- A new flexible default theme brings together the latest and greatest of WordPress. Discover its vast collection of templates and patterns to tweak and match your brand. Built for versatility, Twenty Twenty-Four is an ideal fit for nearly any type of website.
- Enable lightbox functionality in images for immersive viewing experiences.
- Organize your patterns with your own custom categories. Find them all more intuitively with advanced filtering in the Patterns section of the inserter.
- Enjoy more writing improvements, including new keyboard shortcuts, smoother list merging, and enhanced control over your link settings. A revamped toolbar experience for Navigation, List, and Quote blocks ensures cohesive and organized access to the tooling options you work with.
- A redesigned Command Palette with new commands helps you find what you need, perform tasks efficiently, and speed up your workflow.
- Rename Group blocks to organize and distinguish areas of your content easily.
- See and locate your content’s media assets at a glance with new gallery and image previews in List View.
- Build beautiful yet functional layouts with an expanded set of design tools. Play with background images in Group blocks for unique creative designs, keep image dimensions consistent with placeholder aspect ratios, and effortlessly add buttons to your Navigation block without custom CSS—among other new capabilities.
- Block Hooks enable developers to automatically insert blocks at their chosen content locations, enriching the extensibility of block themes through plugins. While developer-centric, this new feature improves your building experience with blocks and gives you complete control to customize Block Hooks to your needs.
- Over 60 accessibility updates, including significant List View enhancements, aria-label support for the Navigation block, and upgrades to the admin user interface.
- More than 100 performance updates, focusing on template loading performance for classic and block themes, usage of the script loading strategies “defer” and “async,” and optimization of autoloaded options.
Are you looking for a deeper dive into details and technical notes? These recent posts cover a few of the latest updates:
- Changes to attachment pages for improved SEO
- Miscellaneous Editor changes in WordPress 6.4
- Introducing Block Hooks for dynamic blocks
- Script loading changes in WordPress 6.4
- Improvements to template loading in WordPress 6.4
- Introducing admin notice functions in WordPress 6.4
- Updates to user-interface components in WordPress 6.4
- New `registerInserterMediaCategory` API
Ways to contribute
WordPress is open source software made possible by a community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help, regardless of your technical expertise.
Get involved in testing
Testing for issues is critical to developing the software and ensuring its quality. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute—whether you have experience or not. Check out this guide for detailed instructions on testing key features in WordPress 6.4.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.
Search for vulnerabilities
During the release candidate phase of WordPress 6.4, the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.
Update your theme or plugin
Do you build themes and plugins? Your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for users worldwide.
You most likely have already been testing your latest themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.4 betas. With RC1, you will want to complete your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.4.
Please post detailed information to the support forums if you find compatibility issues.
Help translate WordPress
Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Português? Русский? 日本? Help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages. This release also marks the hard string freeze point of the 6.4 release cycle.
A haiku for RC1
RC1 in hand
WordPress evolves and takes shape
Testing, a sneak peek, in place
Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: @meher, @rmartinezduque, @webcommsat, @annezazu, @cbringmann, @priethor.
WordPress 6.4 Release Candidate 1 was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/wordpress-6-4-release-candidate-1/
October 16, 2023
Video: How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2023
WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials originally appeared at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wf54jaP-pE
October 12, 2023
WordPress 6.3.2 – Maintenance and Security release
This security and maintenance release features 19 bug fixes on Core, 22 bug fixes for the Block Editor, and 8 security fixes.
WordPress 6.3.2 is a short-cycle release. You can review a summary of the maintenance updates in this release by reading the Release Candidate announcement.
Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. Backports are also available for other major WordPress releases, 4.1 and later.
The next major release will be version 6.4 planned for 7 November 2023.
If you have sites that support automatic background updates, the update process will begin automatically.
You can download WordPress 6.3.2 from WordPress.org, or visit your WordPress Dashboard, click “Updates”, and then click “Update Now”.
For more information on this release, please visit the HelpHub site.
Security updates included in this release
The security team would like to thank the following people for responsibly reporting vulnerabilities, and allowing them to be fixed in this release:
- Marc Montpas of Automattic for finding a potential disclosure of user email addresses.
- Marc Montpas of Automattic for finding an RCE POP Chains vulnerability.
- Rafie Muhammad and Edouard L of Patchstack along with a WordPress commissioned third-party audit for each independently identifying a XSS issue in the post link navigation block.
- Jb Audras of the WordPress Security Team and Rafie Muhammad of Patchstack for each independently discovering an issue where comments on private posts could be leaked to other users.
- John Blackbourn (WordPress Security Team), James Golovich, J.D Grimes, Numan Turle, WhiteCyberSec for each independently identifying a way for logged in user to execute any shortcode.
- mascara7784 and a third-party security audit for identifying a XSS vulnerability in the application password screen.
- Jorge Costa of the WordPress Core Team for identifying XSS vulnerability in the footnotes block.
- s5s and raouf_maklouf for independently identifying a cache poisoning DoS vulnerability.
Thank you to these WordPress contributors
This release was led by Joe McGill, Aaron Jorbin and Jb Audras, with the help of David Baumwald on mission control.
WordPress 6.3.2 would not have been possible without the contributions of the following people. Their asynchronous coordination to deliver maintenance and security fixes into a stable release is a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress community.
Aaron Jorbin, Aki Hamano, Akihiro Harai, Alex Concha, Andrew Ozz, Andy Fragen, Anthony Burchell, Aurooba Ahmed, Ben Dwyer, Carolina Nymark, Colin Stewart, Corey Worrell, Damon Cook, David Biňovec, David E. Smith, Dean Sas, Dennis Snell, Dhruvi Shah, Dion Hulse, Ehtisham S., Felix Arntz, George Mamadashvili, Greg Ziółkowski, Huzaifa Al Mesbah, Isabel Brison, Jb Audras, Joe Hoyle, Joe McGill, John Blackbourn, John James Jacoby, Jonathan Desrosiers, Jonny Harris, Jorge Costa, Justin Tadlock, K. Adam White, Kim Coleman, LarryWEB, Liam Gladdy, Mehedi Hassan, Miguel Fonseca, Mukesh Panchal, Nicole Furlan, Paul Biron, Paul Kevan, Peter Wilson, Pooja N Muchandikar, Rajin Sharwar, Ryan McCue, Sal Ferrarello, Sergey Biryukov, Shail Mehta, Stephen Bernhardt, Teddy Patriarca, Timothy Jacobs, Weston Ruter, Zunaid Amin, ahardyjpl, beryldlg, floydwilde, jastos, martin.krcho, masteradhoc, petitphp, ramonopoly, vortfu, zieladam
How to contribute
To get involved in WordPress core development, head over to Trac, pick a ticket, and join the conversation in the #core and #6-4-release-leads channels. Need help? Check out the Core Contributor Handbook.
Already testing WordPress 6.4? The fourth beta is now available (zip) and it contains these security fixes. For more on 6.4, see the beta 3 announcement post.
Thanks to @jeffpaul, @chanthaboune, @peterwilsoncc and @rawrly for proofreading.
WordPress 6.3.2 – Maintenance and Security release was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/wordpress-6-3-2-maintenance-and-security-release/
Video: The 4 Best (and Easiest) Ways to Track Your Site's Search Rankings
WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials originally appeared at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKb8Mbv-5DE
October 10, 2023
WordPress 6.4 Beta 3
WordPress 6.4 Beta 3 is now available for testing!
This beta version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it is recommended that you evaluate Beta 3 on a test server and site.
You can test WordPress 6.4 Beta 3 in three ways:
- Plugin: Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).
- Direct download: Download the Beta 3 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.
- Command line: Use the following WP-CLI command:
wp core update --version=6.4-beta3
The current target for the final release of WordPress 6.4 is November 7, 2023. Get an overview of the 6.4 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.4-related posts in the coming weeks for more information.
The WordPress 6.4 release is brought to you by an underrepresented gender release squad to welcome the participation and partnership of those who identify as gender-underrepresented in the WordPress open source project.
Want to know what’s new in WordPress 6.4? Read the Beta 1 announcement for details.
Get involved in testing
Your help testing WordPress 6.4 Beta 3 is key to ensuring its quality. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.4.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Learn more about Gutenberg updates debuting in WordPress 6.4 by reviewing prior editions of What’s New in Gutenberg posts for 16.2, 16.3, 16.4, 16.5, 16.6, and 16.7.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.
Vulnerability bounty doubles during Beta 3
Between Beta 1 and the final release candidate (RC) for each new WordPress version, the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.
Update on the Font Library
The Font Library feature, initially planned for WordPress 6.4, is now set to release in 6.5. WordPress is committed to delivering the best possible experience. This decision allows time to address enhancement opportunities, test, and get enough feedback to meet WordPress’s quality standards. Thanks for your support as contributors work towards an exceptional Font Library experience.
Beta 3 highlights
WordPress 6.4 Beta 3 contains more than 60 updates since the Beta 2 release, including 29 tickets for WordPress core.
Each beta cycle focuses on bug fixes; more are on the way with your help through testing. You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 2 using these links:
A Beta 3 haiku
Beta 3 arrives
Testing where progress derives
Iterate, it thrives
Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: @meher, @rmartinezduque, @cbringmann, @sereedmedia and @michelleames
WordPress 6.4 Beta 3 was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/wordpress-6-4-beta-3/
October 9, 2023
Video: 5 Best Google Optimize Alternatives You Need to Try NOW!
WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials originally appeared at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QhuuuDu3K0
October 5, 2023
Video: How to Change Background Color in WordPress (A Beginner’s Guide)
WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials originally appeared at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_nYsk0cHXg
October 3, 2023
WordPress 6.4 Beta 2
WordPress 6.4 Beta 2 is now available for testing!
This beta version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it is recommended you evaluate Beta 2 on a test server and site.
You can test WordPress 6.4 Beta 2 in three ways:
- Plugin: Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).
- Direct download: Download the Beta 2 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.
- Command line: Use the following WP-CLI command
wp core update --version=6.4-beta2
- Local environment: Use
wp-now
to set up a Node.js-based WordPress 6.4 Beta 2 install locally by running the commandwp-now start --wp=6.4-beta2
The current target for the final release of WordPress 6.4 is November 7, 2023. Get an overview of the 6.4 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.4-related posts in the coming weeks for more information.
The WordPress 6.4 release is brought to you by an underrepresented gender release squad to increase participation and partnership with those who identify as gender-underrepresented in the WordPress open source project.
Want to know what’s new in WordPress 6.4? Read the Beta 1 announcement and tune into Episode 63 of the WP Briefing podcast for details.
How to get involved with testing
Your help testing the WordPress 6.4 Beta 2 version is key to ensuring everything in the release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.4.
The Font Library feature, currently available in Gutenberg 16.7, requires more testing and feedback to ensure it is ready for inclusion in the upcoming 6.4 release. Check out this guide for further instructions on how to test it.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Learn more about Gutenberg updates debuting in WordPress 6.4 by reviewing prior editions of What’s New in Gutenberg posts for 16.2, 16.3, 16.4, 16.5, 16.6, and 16.7.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.
Vulnerability bounty doubles during Beta 2
Between Beta 1 and the final release candidate (RC) for each new WordPress version, the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.
Beta 2 highlights
WordPress 6.4 Beta 2 contains more than 50 updates since the Beta 1 release, including 18 tickets for WordPress core.
Each beta cycle focuses on bug fixes; more are on the way with your help through testing. You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 1 using these links:
Note on Twenty Twenty-Four
Please note that some images in Twenty Twenty-Four may not load correctly. A fix is in the works! Learn more on this Trac ticket.
Note on pattern management improvements in non-block themes
While WordPress 6.4 will bring several exciting pattern advancements, improvements to pattern management in non-block themes will eventually be addressed in WordPress 6.5. The Beta 1 announcement has been updated to reflect this change accordingly.
A Beta 2 haiku
Not the first, nor last
A second space to reflect
Both new and not new
Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: @meher, @sereedmedia, @rmartinezduque, @cbringmann, @priethor, @annezazu.
WordPress 6.4 Beta 2 was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/wordpress-6-4-beta-2/
October 2, 2023
Video: How to Password Protect Your WordPress Forms
WPBeginner - WordPress Tutorials originally appeared at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXy6fZsKJzE