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#WCEU Online, Google and GitHub Free Services, Zoom Data Breach 🗞️ May 2020 WordPress News w/ CodeinWP

📆  This is the May 2020 edition of “This Month in WordPress with CodeinWP.” 

Hi everyone, how is everything now after one more month at home? We hope you’re hanging in there. We know the daily routine at this time can get a bit tedious and feels like Groundhog Day all over again but it’s far from being the worst thing it can happen to you. You can always find nice in-house activities that keep you on track and sane.

Along these lines, just as we do every month, we collected the most interesting stories from our community, which we’re going to present to you in this post of May 2020 WordPress news.

So stay with us for a few minutes and you’ll learn about WordCamp Europe moving online, Google and GitHub offering help to businesses that need a re-boost, Zoom facing pretty serious security issues, and much more.

Stay safe until next month, when we will meet again!

May 2020 WordPress News with CodeinWP

WordCamp Europe 2020 is moving online!

Right after announcing that WCEU won’t take place this year, the organizers said that they were considering a shift to online for this summer. Now it’s official; you can follow WordCamp Europe 2020 from behind your screen so you can get into the conference atmosphere a little in the absence of the in-person gathering.

Anyone can attend the event for free, you just need to register beforehand. Grab your free ticket here and save the date: June 4-6, 2020.

The online meeting will use the original WCEU format, starting with the Contributor Day and continuing with two days of conference which will include talks, workshops, networking sessions, etc. If you only want to watch the talks, you don’t need a ticket.

WCEU 2020 Moves Online in May 2020 WordPress news
Free Product Submissions on Google Shopping - May 2020 WordPress news

It’s now free to sell on Google

Google comes to the rescue of those businesses that need to revive their revenue and use new techniques to adapt to the whole crisis situation.

If you need a little boost in your sales, Google lets you submit your products on their shopping platform for free, so you can extend your selling opportunities without paying fees.

If you need some help connecting your WooCommerce store to Google Shopping, we have a tutorial for you.

In the same attempt to help businesses, Google also launched a tool that you can use to create free promotional videos for YouTube and made their video conferencing service free for everyone.

You may also be interested in:

WordCamp US 2020 will be virtually awesome

On the heels of WordCamp Europe’s announcement, the WordCamp US team also announced that WordCamp US 2020 will be online only. The dates will be the same (October 27-29) and anyone can attend for free.

More information will be forthcoming, and you still have a chance to apply to be a speaker, as we’ll feature later on.

WordCamp US 2020 will be virtually awesome
GitHub offers free plans for unlimited members - May 2020 WordPress news with CodeinWP

GitHub is now free for all teams

Everything is free or discounted in May 2020 WordPress news. Joining the effort of helping people regain their financial stability during the pandemic, GitHub opens a free plan that gives access to unlimited members on the private repositories.

The free plan for teams and developers provides all the core GitHub features such as 2000 Actions minutes/month, 500MB of GitHub Packages storage and, of course, unlimited collaborators and private/public repositories.

Zoom found leaking personal user data, could also facilitate stealing your Windows sign-in credentials

All eyes on the video conferencing tools since a substantial part of the Earth’s population is currently working remotely. Internet pirates didn’t think twice seeing this huge opportunity rising and entered Zoom’s core code, one of the most popular platforms for online meetings.

During this attack, people’s privacy was compromised and their accounts ended up in various strangers’ contact lists. Users reported that they found hundreds of unknown names added as their contacts, together with their personal information.

Not long ago, Zoom also experienced similar problems with its iOS app that was sharing personal user data with Facebook, an issue that was solved right after the creators of Zoom became aware of it.

Personal user data leaking on Zoom
BuddyPress 6.0.0 - May 2020 WordPress news with CodeinWP

BuddyPress 6.0.0 Release Candidate

The original WordPress extension for social networks and communities is getting ready to launch a new version. BuddyPress 6.0 is coming. You can help the developers by reporting all the issues you find.

Just like almost all the plugins out there, BuddyPress introduced the new member and group blocks and elevated the minimum PHP version to 5.6.

If you’re not using at least WordPress 4.8, you won’t be able to use the plugin anymore. It goes without saying that the blocks will only work with WordPress 5.0 and later releases.

Great Articles From Around The Web

Call for Speakers Is Extended to May 31

If you were on the fence about speaking at WCUS this year given the coronavirus outbreak, you can still change your mind because the organizers extended the deadline from April 17th to May 31st.

WordPress Dashicons Project to Discontinue Development in Favor of New Icon Component

Dashicons, the WordPress admin icon font, is not pursuing any further development due to a later challenge of working on the new Icon component. The team wrapped up the open tickets regarding new icons and pushed out a final release that enhances the collection to a total of 340 icons.

Frontity Raises €1M with Automattic and K Fund

Another company that gets sponsored at a fundraising event. Frontify, a free theme framework for WordPress received €1M, with Automattic covering 22% of the amount. The open-source company got the support in an event led by K Fund.

Feature Plugin Proposal: WP Consent API

A new feature that might be included in the WordPress core is an automated method to ask for privacy-related consent from the visitors of WordPress sites. The plugin is already available in the repository and might soon become a default for WordPress users.

Create Custom Patterns with the Block Pattern Builder Plugin

Feeling like experiencing more with Gutenberg? You can try to create custom block patterns by arranging the blocks to your liking, then save and use them again when needed. You can give it a test by installing Block Pattern Builder.

Introducing Elementor Experts: The New Discovery Network For Web Creators

If you can’t find a suitable job to work from home, maybe the Elementor Experts program will offer you some opportunities. It’s a platform where you can showcase your skills, portfolio, and knowledge that will help you connect with professional WordPress agencies or clients in your field.

WordPress 5.5: Call for Tickets

If you have something on your wish list that you think should be tackled, fixed, or added in WordPress 5.5, you can speak your mind now by commentating on the post above. The core team needs your input.

Introducing Gutenberg Template Builder

After providing a large template library, Gutenberg Hub is giving you the flexibility of creating your own templates from blocks. Try the builder here, it’s all free.

Complete Guide: How to Set Up and Run a Virtual Restaurant

If your restaurant was only getting revenue from the customers that were coming to dine at your location, you can switch to home delivery by building a great online presence and take care of all the work from behind a screen.

High Severity Vulnerability Leads to Closure of Plugin with Over 100,000 Installations

Back to security issues, Contact Form 7 Datepicker (a plugin installed on more than 100k websites) is dealing with a severe vulnerability that led to its removal from the official repository. If you use the plugin, you should remove it from your site too.

How is Coronavirus Affecting WordPress Plugin and Theme Shops?

Curious how the themes and plugins are doing lately when everybody’s stuck at home? According to Freemius, it’s been a slight increase in downloads for free products compared to last year. The premium ones don’t have the same demand.

Group Chat: The Best Way to Totally Stress Out Your Team

A fun topic but an annoying practice, for sure. At least for work purposes, the group chat is the enemy of productivity. Stop paying attention for ten minutes and you’ve lost any trace of what the discussion is about. This article will walk you through all the stressful aspects of being part of a multiple-member chat.

That’s a wrap for May 2020 WordPress news. Anything we missed?

Don’t forget to join our crash course on speeding up your WordPress site. Learn more below:

 

Layout and presentation by Karol K.

Adelina Tuca

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