WP Builds Newsletter #29 – New vunerabilites, Drupal Elementor and significant Chrome updates

This weeks WordPress news – Covering The Week Commencing 3rd September 2018:

The creator of ClassicPress tells us why he forked WordPress
"There’s been a lot of discussion around WordPress 5.0 recently including some folks who want to fork the WordPress project at 4.9. In last week’s video we talked with Morten Rand-Hendrickson about why he thinks a split would be a bad idea. This week we talked with Scott Bowler, the founder of “ClassicPress”, about why he decided to fork WordPress…"

Dark Mode is Possibly Coming to a WordPress Dashboard Near You
"For the past year, Daniel James has been developing the Dark Mode plugin for WordPress. The plugin is actively installed on more than 1K sites. Dark Mode replaces the white and grey colors in the backend with darker colors that are easier on the eyes…"

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Duplicator Update Patches Remote Code Execution Flaw
"A critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability has been patched in the latest release of Duplicator, a WordPress backup and migration plugin with millions of downloads. In their public disclosure of this flaw, Synacktiv detailed its scope and severity, and provided a viable proof of concept exploit for the security community. In this post we’ll take a look at the basics of the vulnerability, what was patched, and what you can do if you think your site’s at risk…"

Project Huddle: Let your clients and colleagues seamlessly upload images and files to conversations.
"Let your clients and colleagues share images, zip files, pdf documents and more right in conversations! This makes swapping out images and sharing content docs or source files a breeze. You can even download the file right from the conversation, which makes it easy to access without searching through a file browser."
Get Project Huddle here…

Biratnagar, Nepal to Host Its First WordCamp – December 22, 2018
"Biratnagar, one of the oldest cities in Nepal, is gearing up to host its first WordCamp on December 22, 2018. The local community organized its first meetup in 2011 with 40 participants. Since that time the community has grown and recently hosted 250 members for a two-day meetup in January 2018…"

Envato Elements: A Promising New Plugin for Elementor Templates
"Envato Elements is a new free plugin that offers a long list of templates for many website niches, made by Envato, the company behind the ThemeForest marketplace. Envato Elements offers over 350 unique Elementor templates for multiple website niches. The long list of templates can be used to create stunning pages right from your WordPress dashboard…"

Elementor for Drupal
Drupal developers port the free version of Elementor over to Drupal!

Stripe Recurring Functionality for WPForms is Finally Here!
"Today, we are extremely excited to announce that you can now accept recurring Stripe payments on any of your WordPress forms. The Stripe Addon for WPForms is one of our most popular addons. And for good reason. As the best online payment solution in the market, Stripe makes it easy to accept credit card payments online. Pair that with the fact that WPForms is the easiest and most beginner friendly WordPress form plugin, and you’re just asking for success…"

Introducing the New EDD Bookings – More Bookings, Less Work
"EDD Bookings is the appointment bookings extension for Easy Digital Downloads. For a while, it was unavailable for purchase as we re-built it from head to toe. Now it’s back, and it includes an early-bird offer of a 60% lifetime discount!…"

WordPress Database Upgrade Phishing Campaign
"We have recently been notified of phishing emails that target WordPress users. The content informs site owners that their database requires an update. The email’s appearance resembles that of a legitimate WordPress update message, however the content includes typos and uses an older messaging style. Another suspicious item in the content is the deadline. WordPress wouldn’t define deadlines without a valid explanation, and hosting providers wouldn’t either (if you believed the email was from them)…"

WP Engine launches the world's first global edge security for WordPress with Cloudflare
"Created by the leading brands in WordPress digital experiences and cloud security, WP Engine’s Global Edge Security is a cloud-first, high performance, advanced security solution built on Cloudflare’s intelligent network, providing the best security protection against top Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) security vulnerabilities, nefarious acts and DDoS attacks threatening to black out digital businesses…"

Non WordPress, but useful anyway…

Google: Sites Using A Lot of JavaScript May Not Be Moved to Mobile-First Indexing
"Google’s John Mueller cautions site owners that using a lot of JavaScript may prevent a site from being moved to mobile-first indexing. Google will not completely know if it should switch the site over to mobile-first indexing, and will probably choose not to in order to stay on the safe side…"

Chrome Update: Changes for SEO and Developers
"Chrome 69 introduces performance enhancements as well as changes that will affect how users search. Chrome also introduces opportunities for developers to create interesting user experiences on mobile devices…"