Issue #124 Loop WP

Hi, friend. 👋

Welcome to Issue #124 of Loop WP!

Last week, we started a mini-series on WordPress Privacy, and yes, this matters even if you are outside the EU or don’t serve EU customers. Privacy matters to everyone. 😉

This week, we are continuing our mini-series on WordPress Privacy, which will examine how to use and extend WordPress’s built-in Privacy Settings.

Let’s go! 👇

WordPress Privacy

WordPress 4.9.6 included a Privacy Settings tool. The privacy features in WordPress 4.9.6 primarily resulted from a new team of volunteers formed in early 2018.

But did you know this setting existed, and do you use it, friend?

Where Are the Privacy Settings?

The short answer is:

• Select Settings -> Privacy from Administration Screens.

🔐 You also need to have Administrator access (or you can use a plugin like “Manage Privacy Options Page“ if you need to grant an Editor access.)

There is no mention of the Privacy Settings on a fresh WordPress installation in the dashboard welcome message.

An FSE theme can arguably make it even harder to find the Privacy Settings (go on the 👉 WordPress Playground 👈, and you will see what I mean if you click that link).

💡 WordPress does have some excellent documentation on this feature, but for some strange reason, it’s not included anywhere in the Privacy Settings.

This Bit’s Important

You really should read that documentation link friend, but if you don’t have time now, here’s a summary:

WordPress includes several simple tools for site administrators to help with Privacy and Data Management.

✅ These tools make it easier for you to inform your users through a transparent privacy notice about data that is collected on your site.

It usually includes at least:

• What data you collect about them,

• Why and how you collect data,

• And what you do with that data (including with whom who you might share that data).

🛠️ These new tools also make it easier for users to request a copy of their data or its removal, especially if you use WooCommerce, which hooks into this and adds some additional settings.

Using the new data privacy tools (whether required by law or not) will make it easier for you to protect your users’ privacy.

🚨 You won’t find the Data Export and Data Erasure Tools in the Privacy settings (or even link to them, which makes no sense). These are found in the Tools section of the WordPress Admin.

Consent Management

While WordPress might make it easier to create a Privacy Policy and provide users with their data, it does not provide some additional important tools:

• Offer a built-in Cookie Solution (more on that next week)

• Nor does it offer a built-in consent solution (this goes beyond cookies)

🧠 However, some very smart people have developed the WP Consent API plugin that aims to help standardise how plugins can work with Cookie Banners.

🚨 Consent Management and Cookie Banners are complex topics (as is Privacy), and we will talk more about those next week, as it’s too much to cover in one newsletter.

Useful Links

⚡️ There is a lot to read in this, too much for one newsletter, so check out these resources below:

• Settings Privacy Screen - This is great as plugins can hook into this and allow for your Privacy Policy to be updated (but not all plugins do this).

• WordPress Privacy - Detailed instructions on how to implement this feature, use the Privacy Tools and more.

• How to Write and Add a Privacy Policy to Your WordPress Site - more on this next week. 😉

Before You Go, friend

🚨 Last week, I mentioned my good friend Paul Charlton has launched the WP Tuts Academy, and as a beta tester, I’ve been impressed.

The community has grown rapidly in the last couple of weeks, and Paul has now added a Premium tier.

• Check out the WP Tuts Academy (free)

• Get Premium Access (not an affiliate link)

Premium membership to the WPTuts Academy opens up some exclusive options, including the following:

• 🎉 Access to all premium courses (current value over $300)

• Access to a dedicated space for all your course-related questions

• 👀 Exclusive premium live events and streams (coming soon)

• The first premium Bricks Masterclass (as soon as it is available).

You can pay annually or spread the cost over three monthly payments.

💵 You can access all the benefits of being a Premium member at an exclusive early adopter price.

That’s it for this week 👋

⏭️ Next week, we will continue our mini-series on Privacy and WordPress as we look at some specific plugins and services you can use to help you achieve compliance.

Weekly WordPress News & Tips

WordPress News & Tips are back, offering excellent and insightful content this week!

• FastPixel - a new launch from the ShortPixel team. The All-In-One cloud-based Website Accelerator Plugin. (ShortPixel)

• WooCommerce POS - It’s finally happening! What are some must-have features that you'd expect to see in an official POS (point of sale) solution for WooCommerce? (James Kemp)

• Ideas & Feedback - WordPress Training Team Seeks Ideas to Attract New Learners. (WP Tavern)

• Easy Product Tables - WooCommerce Product Table 4.0 introduces a user-friendly builder that replaces shortcodes. New features include a total price display and a 'Select all products' option. (Barn2 Plugins)

• What is a CDN? - How a CDN can boost your WordPress site’s performance. (Kinsta)

• Food for Thought - Can Marketing Save WordPress? (The WP Minute)

• Weekend Experiment - How easy is adding an Open AI integration to a Gutenberg block? (Brian Coords)

• Perfmatters - v2.9.3 is out now. On a large WooCommerce site, we saw a 32% decrease in overall CSS size. (Brian Jackson)

• Controversial? - If You Care About WordPress, You’ll Watch This WordCamp Presentation. (WP Mainline)

• Accessibility - Registrations Open for WordPress Accessibility Day 2024 (WP Tavern)

If you have a question about this email or WordPress, reply, and I will answer you as soon as possible.

👋 Until next time,

Simon