WP Builds Newsletter #23 – Try Gutenberg, The Fields API needs help, and water on Mars

This weeks WordPress news – Covering The Week Commencing 23rd July 2018:

WordPress 4.9.8 Release Candidate 1
Not a lot to say really apart from the fact that the “Try Gutenberg Editor” callout is now in core!

WordPress Core Fields API Project is Seeking New Leadership
“In 2014, Pods lead developer, Scott Kingsley Clark, took over the primary lead role for the Metadata UI project. In 2015, the Metadata UI project was reborn as the Fields API. The Fields API was developed to allow registering fields to different screens in the admin area through a single API. New meta boxes and fields within them could be added to posts while new sections and fields could be added to the profile screen…”

Frontenberg Lets Users Test Gutenberg on the Frontend
“WordPress 5.0 will bring the world a brand new editor that is currently code-named Gutenberg. If you have been hearing the buzz around Gutenberg but have yet to try it, Frontenberg (testgutenberg.com) is the easiest way to check it out. Frontenberg allows visitors to try Gutenberg without having to set up a separate test site of their own. It loads an instance of WordPress plus the Gutenberg plugin on the frontend so visitors don’t have to log in to play around with the new editor…”

Switching To Windows For Local WordPress Development
Should you switch from macOS to Window? What are the benefits? What are the downsides. Matt Shaw explores.

Wordfence for Business
“Wordfence for Business is designed for large scale business sites that cannot afford to cut corners on security. Team up with the preeminent experts in the field of WordPress security to secure your WordPress site, data and systems…”

Non WordPress, but useful anyway…

Why your website is officially ‘not secure’ from today
“In 2017, Google’s Chrome browser started marking transactional sites that weren’t using HTTPS as “not secure”. Starting 24 July – think of it as the Google Chrompocalypse – that “transactional” vs. “everything else” difference comes to a decisive end. As of Tuesday, all HTTP pages will be slapped with the “not secure” label, regardless of whether they’re transactional or not…”

Google Redefines What is Considered Low Quality Content
“Google updated its Quality Rater Guidelines this week, which includes new information regarding the assessment of “low quality” and “lowest quality” pages. Of all the changes made to the guidelines, the sections on page quality received the most significant updates…”

Liquid water ‘lake’ revealed on Mars
“Researchers have found evidence of an existing body of liquid water on Mars. What they believe to be a lake sits under the planet’s south polar ice cap, and is about 20km (12 miles) across…”