What happened last week - issue #113
This week: Astro, WordPress, security and more
What happened last week
I spent the last week in Vilnius at the CyberWiseCon. I was there to:
Speak about how WordPress handles the security of the ecosystem
Be a panelist - we had a great discussion about AI and security
Host a track about DevOps (because why not)
I can totally recommend this event, as it was amazing and I learned a lot from different talks.
Also, I spent the most amazing time with my friend Darius, who is an amazing city guide, and he showed me a lot of amazing places. Including a great coffee place called Taste Map.
As I write this, I’m on my way to Prague for the WebExpo. I’m really excited about this event. I will also speak there about WordPress security. If you’re going there too, ping me and we’ll grab a coffee.
Also, since last week, I’m no longer the Community Security Manager - my new role is mVDP Growth Manager (in the links below you’ll find the answer what is mVDP).
I’m also very happy to see the progress we’re making with WordCamp Gdynia - the first ever bilingual WordCamp in Poland:
Almost 50 tickets sold already
It seems that sponsors will be OK too, but if you would like to become one, check the sponsorship offer
The Call For Papers is up - if you would like to be a speaker, just fill out this form
Interesting links
What the hell is an mVDP? — Maciek Palmowski
Lately, I've been asked a lot of times what that mVDP is in my new role name. I decided it’s time to describe what it is, how it works, and why, if you’re a plugin developer, you should participate in one.
WordPress Hosting Performance Promises and Security Realities — Wes Tatters
We sat down with Wes and talked about many different hosting promises regarding speed an security and how Rapyd Cloud manages to make those promises reality.
If you find this newsletter or my blog valuable enough that I deserve a coffee, you can buy me one - I created an account on BuyMeCoffee, and you can keep me caffeinated ☕ Thank you for all the coffee 😻
WordPress Plugin Security Is a Joke, and You’re the Punchline — Robert DeVore
It’s hard not to agree with Robert here - most plugins in the official WordPress repository never went through a code audit, and in general, the quality of code in many plugins is quite poor. There is a reason why at Patchstack we managed to close 1000 plugins during one month.
On the other hand, I’m a bit sad that Robert didn’t list a few positive examples. For example Elementor. They are doing a great job in terms of security.
Contentless marketing — Jono Anderson
Jono wrote a great article in which he explains why it’s time to change your content strategy. Not much to add, just read and learn.
Email Accessibility Report 2025
I was able to imagine that email accessibility would be poor, but reading that 99.89% of HTML emails tested contain accessibility issues categorized as “Serious” or “Critical” was mindblowing.
I understand why it’s happening - creating email-friendly HTML code is a nightmare, so we’re using all those WYSIWYG tool sto help us. Sadly, they suck at accessibility.
Why LinkedIn Is Just a Cringe Fest for Wannabe Thought Leaders — Muhammad Usman
Just a fun article that describes LinkedIn well :)
The Height Enigma — Josh W Comeau
Another amazing article by Josh. This time, he unravels all the percentage-based height secrets.
The Media Corps Is Dead. What Now for WordPress Marketing? — Rae Morey
WordPress Media Corps is no more. Which is, in my opinion, a very sad day. One of the things that other CMSs are doing much better than WordPress is marketing in general. Still most of WP marketing happens thanks to the community or companies.
A great video summing up the OpenSourceDay - it was magical.
No Server, No Database: Smarter Related Posts in Astro with `transformers.js` — Alexander Opalic
A truly magnificent article by Alex showing how to create smart related posts in Astro using a sprinkle of AI and JS.
How to Integrate multiple external data sources in Laravel with DTOs — Lokman Musliu
Cool article by Lokman, explaining the practical use of DTOs when you need to integrate data from multiple sources.
And how was your week? Did you learn something interesting? Don’t hesitate to press the reply button or share your thoughts in the comment section.
Cheers,
Maciek