Notice: VIP Go Search Add-On Update

This notice relates to the following platforms: VIP Go

As outlined in our previous Elasticsearch Upgrade Notice, we are actively working to update our Elasticsearch clusters. As an initial step we will be updating the VIP Go Search Add-On plugin on August 30th. This plugin is part of our platform-wide MU plugins, and the changes will be handled by the WordPress.com VIP team without any action needed by you or your team.

The changes to the plugin make it compatible with the breaking changes introduced in Elasticsearch 2.x, including the use of aggregations instead of facets. Our team has done full testing of the changes against multiple client sites and will also be doing additional testing after the release to ensure there is no impact to sites using the plugin.

Although this update makes sites using the plugin compatible with Elasticsearch 2.x, they will not be using the new Elasticsearch 2.x indices until new indices are built. We will be communicating with clients directly when timelines are finalized for activating the new indices.

References

Further Questions

While the majority of the work on this upgrade is going to be handled by VIP, we’ll reach out to you if your sites need additional testing prior to activating the new indices. In the meantime, feel free to open a support ticket if you have any questions on the update or testing that has been performed.

Required Plugin Upgrade Released: Elasticsearch Wrapper for WP_Query

This notice relates to the following platforms: WordPress.com

A new version of the Elasticsearch Wrapper for WP_Query (ES-WP-Query) WordPress Plugin has been committed to the shared plugins repository. This update includes multiple enhancements and bug fixes:

  • Enhancement: Disable Advanced Post Cache when using wp-com adapter to resolve corruption of found_posts attribute
  • Enhancement: es_tax_query_term_{$clause['field']} term filter for normalization of term field mappings
  • Enhancement: Early return if no index exists for the site
  • Fix: Adhere to posts_per_page value of query
  • Fix: Ensure conditionals are properly set when using shoehorn (is_search, etc)

Upgrading to version 0.2.0 is required to ensure that sites are fully compatible, with the VIP-managed Elasticsearch upgrade that is taking place platform-wide.

We will retire all previous versions of ES-WP-Query on September 30. This includes versions 0.1.1, 0.1.2, 0.1.3, 0.1.4-beta and release-candidates.

You can update the current 0.2.0 version of the plugin by specifying the version parameter of wpcom_vip_load_plugin():

wpcom_vip_load_plugin( 'es-wp-query', 'plugins', '0.2.0' );

If you have any questions, please open a ticket, where we’ll be happy to assist you into transitioning to the newest version.

Apester 2.1.1 now available

This notice relates to the following platforms: WordPress.com VIP, VIP Go

The 2.1.1 version of the Apester WordPress Plugin has been committed to the shared plugins repository. This update includes functional and performance enhancements in how sites interact with Apester’s Servers.

We encourage all VIPs using the Apester WordPress Plugin to upgrade to this version. On WordPress.com VIP platform, it can be done by specifying the version parameter of wpcom_vip_load_plugin():

wpcom_vip_load_plugin( 'apester-interactive-content', 'plugins', '2.1' );

For VIP Go, you can take advantage of the new version by adding the latest reviewed version (v.2.1.1) to your plugins folder. The plugin can be downloaded from the WordPress.org Plugins repository.

If you have any questions please open a ticket where we’ll be happy to assist you transition to the newest version.

Skyword 2.4.5 now available

This notice relates to the following platforms: WordPress.com VIP, VIP Go

The 2.4.5 version of the Skyword WordPress Plugin has been committed to the shared plugins repository. This update includes multiple enhancements and bug fixes:

  • `skyword_post_publish` action to allow custom post-processing
  • Integration with the Co-Author Plus plugin to transfer Skyword profile pictures for new guest authors
  • Added support for Skyword iFrame max-height and max-width attributes
  • Add custom short codes for handling iframes with social media content from Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. published from the Skyword application

We encourage all VIPs using Skyword WordPress Plugin to upgrade to this version. On WordPress.com VIP platform, it can be done by specifying the version parameter of wpcom_vip_load_plugin():

wpcom_vip_load_plugin( 'skyword', 'plugins', '2.4' );

For VIP Go, you can take advantage of the new version by adding the latest reviewed version (v.2.4.5) to your plugins folder. The plugin can be downloaded from the WordPress.org Plugins repository.

If you have any questions please open a ticket where we’ll be happy to assist you transition to the newest version.

AMP 0.6.2 now live on WordPress.com

This notice relates to the following platforms: WordPress.com VIP

Today we rolled out the latest version of the AMP plugin (v0.6.2) across the WordPress.com platform, including VIP sites.

It’s been over two years since the AMP project was first announced and publishers on the VIP platform continue to lead in innovative content publishing using the format.

Version 0.6.2 of the plugin is fully compatible with the previous release (0.5.1) and should not have any impact on custom markup. Among the highlights of the update are:

  • Added support for the “page” post type.
  • Added ability to enable/disable AMP for specific posts in Publish Metabox
  • Reduced Plugin Complexity with new autoloader
  • Fixes to Polldaddy and SoundCloud embeds
  • and other bug fixes and enhancements

Special thanks to the many community contributions we received for this update, including from Featured Partners like XWP and our friends at Google.

As always, if you encounter any issues or need any help, please get in touch.

Sailthru v3.1 now available

This notice relates to the following platforms: WordPress.com VIP, VIP Go

A new version of the Sailthru WordPress Plugin has been committed to the shared plugins repository. This update includes multiple enhancements and bug fixes:

  • Ability to select JS versions used
  • Subscribe widget enhancements to support Event API calls and instance source vars
  • Disabling Concierge and Scout when Sailthru Script Tag is enabled
  • Added Support for latest SPM and Sailthru Script Tag

We encourage all VIPs using Sailthru WordPress Plugin to upgrade to this version by specifying the version parameter of wpcom_vip_load_plugin() like so:

wpcom_vip_load_plugin( 'sailthru', 'plugins', '3.1' );

For VIP Go, you can take advantage of the new version by adding the latest reviewed version (v.3.1) to your plugins folder. The plugin can be downloaded from Github.

If you have any questions please open a ticket where we’ll be happy to assist you transition to the newest version.

AMP 0.5.1 now live on WordPress.com

This notice relates to the following platforms: WordPress.com VIP

Today we rolled out the latest version of the AMP plugin (v0.5.1) across the WordPress.com platform, including VIP sites.

It’s just almost two years since the AMP project was first announced and publishers on the VIP platform continue to lead in innovative content publishing using the format (we’ll have more on this soon on VIP News).

Version 0.5.1 of the plugin is fully compatible with the previous release (0.4.2) and should not have any impact on custom markup. Among the highlights of the update are:

  • More spec-compliant markup using a whitelist sanitizer.
  • Faster rendering for posts with lots of images.
  • New embed handlers for Vimeo, SoundCloud and Pinterest
  • and a number of bug fixes.

Special thanks to the many community contributions we received for this update, including from Featured Partners like Alley Interactive and our friends at Google.

As always, if you encounter any issues or need any help, please get in touch.