WordPress 5.0 Beta 4 is now available!
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version.
There are two ways to test the WordPress 5.0 Beta: try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”), or you can download the beta here (zip).
The WordPress 5.0 release date has changed, it is now scheduled for release on November 27, and we need your help to get there. Here are some of the big issues that we’ve fixed since Beta 3:
Block Editor
The block editor has been updated to match the Gutenberg 4.3 release, the major changes include:
- An Annotations API, allowing plugins to add contextual data as you write.
- More consistent keyboard navigation between blocks, as well as back-and-forth between different areas of the interface.
- Improved accessibility, with additional labelling and speech announcements.
Additionally, there have been some bugs fixed that popped up in beta 3:
- Better support for plugins that have more advanced meta box usage.
- Script concatenation is now supported.
- Ajax calls could occasionally cause PHP errors.
Internationalisation
We’ve added an API for translating your plugin and theme strings in JavaScript files! The block editor is now using this, and you can start using it, too. Check out the developer note to get started.
Twenty Nineteen
Twenty Nineteen is being polished over on its GitHub repository. This update includes a host of tweaks and bug fixes, including:
- Menus now properly support keyboard and touch interactions.
- A footer menu has been added for secondary page links.
- Improved backwards compatibility with older versions of WordPress.
Default Themes
All of the older default themes—from Twenty Ten through to Twenty Seventeen—have polished styling in the block editor.
How to Help
Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
International-
isation is a word with
many syllables.
Meta boxes are
the original style block.
Old is new again.
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WordPress 5.0 Beta 3 is now available!
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version.
There are two ways to test the WordPress 5.0 Beta: try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”), or you can download the beta here (zip).
WordPress 5.0 is slated for release on November 19, and we need your help to get there. Here are some of the big issues that we’ve fixed since Beta 2:
Block Editor
The block editor has been updated to include all of the features and bug fixes from the upcoming Gutenberg 4.2 release. Additionally, there are some newer bug fixes and features, such as:
- Adding support for the “Custom Fields” meta box.
- Improving the reliability of REST API requests.
- A myriad of minor tweaks and improvements.
Twenty Nineteen
Twenty Nineteen has been updated from its GitHub repository, this version is full of new goodies to check out:
- Adds support for Selective Refresh Widgets in the Customiser.
- Adds support for Responsive Embeds.
- Tweaks to improve readability and functionality on mobile devices.
- Fixes nested blocks appearing wider than they should be.
- Fixes some errors in older PHP versions, and in IE11.
How to Help
Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!
If you’re able to contribute with coding or testing changes, we have a multitude of bug scrubs scheduled this week, we’d love to have as many people as we can ensuring all bugs reported get the attention they deserve.
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
WordPress Five Point Oh
is just two short weeks away.
Thank you for helping! 💖
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To keep everyone aware of big projects and efforts across WordPress contributor teams, I’ve reached out to each team’s listed representatives. I asked each of them to share their Top Priority (and when they hope for it to be completed), as well as their biggest Wins and Worries. Have questions? I’ve included a link to each team’s site in the headings.
- Contacted: @joedolson, @audrasjb, @arush
- Priority: Work on authoring a manual for assistive technology users on Gutenberg, led by Claire Brotherton (@abrightclearweb). Continue to work on improving the overall user experience in Gutenberg. Update and organize the WP A11y handbook.
- Struggle: Lack of developers and accessibility experts to help test and code the milestone issues. Still over 100 outstanding issues, and developing the Gutenberg AT manual helps expose additional issues. The announcement of an accessibility focus on 4.9.9 derailed our planning for Gutenberg in September with minimal productivity, as that goal was quickly withdrawn from the schedule.
- Big Win: Getting focus constraint implemented in popovers and similar components in Gutenberg.
- Contacted: @danielbachhuber, @schlessera
- Priority: Current priority is v2.1.0 of WP-CLI, to polish the major refactoring v2.0.0 introduced. You can join in or follow progress on their site.
- Struggle: Getting enough contributors to make peer-review possible/manageable.
- Big Win: The major refactoring of v2 was mostly without any negative impacts on existing installs. It provided substantial improvements to maintainability including: faster and more reliable testing, more straight-forward changes to individual packages, and simpler contributor on-boarding.
- Contacted: @jeffpaul
- Priority: Continued preparation for the 5.0 release cycle and Gutenberg.
- Struggle: Identifying tasks for first time contributors, as well as for new-to-JS contributors.
- Contacted: @melchoyce, @karmatosed, @boemedia, @joshuawold, @mizejewski
- Priority: Preparing for WordPress 5.0 and continuing to work on better onboarding practices.
- Struggle: Identifying tasks for contributor days, especially for small- to medium-sized tasks that can be fit into a single day.
- Big Win: Regular contributions are starting to build up.
- Contacted: @kenshino
- Priority: Getting HelpHub out before WordPress 5.0’s launch to make sure Gutenberg User Docs have a permanent position to reside
- Struggle: Getting the documentation from HelpHub into WordPress.org/support is more manual than initially anticipated.
- Big Win: Had a good discussion with the Gutenberg team about their docs and how WordPress.org expects documentation to be distributed (via DevHub, Make and HelpHub). Getting past the code blocks to release HelpHub (soon)
- Contacted: @mikeschroder, @jadonn
- Priority: Helping Gutenberg land well at hosts for users in 5.0.
- Struggle: Short time frame with few resources to accomplish priority items.
- Big Win: Preparing Try Gutenberg support guide for hosts during the rollout and good reception from users following it.
- Contacted: @bridgetwillard
- Priority: Continuing to write and publish case studies from the community.
- Big Win: Onboarding guide is going well and is currently being translated.
Meta (WordPress.org Site)
- Contacted: @tellyworth, @coffee2code
- Priority: Support for other teams in the lead up to, and the follow-up of, the release of WP 5.0. ETA is the WP 5.0 release date (Nov 19) and thereafter, unless it gets bumped to next quarter.
- Struggle: Maintaining momentum on tickets (still).
- Big Win: Launch of front-end demo of Gutenberg on https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/
- Contacted: @elibud
- Priority: Have an alpha version of Gutenberg in the WordPress apps, ETA end of year 2018.
- Struggle: Unfamiliar tech stack and the goal of reusing as much of Gutenberg-web’s code as possible.
- Big Win: Running mobile tests on web’s PRs.
- Contacted: @ipstenu
- Priority: Cleaning up ‘inactive’ users, which was supposed to be complete but some work preparing for 5.0 was necessary.
- Struggles: Devnotes are lacking for the upcoming release which slows progress.
- Big Win: No backlog even though a lot were out!
- Contacted: @clorith
- Priority: Preparing for the upcoming 5.0 release
- Struggle: Finding a good balance between how much we want to help people and how much we are able to help people. Also, contributor recruitment (always a crowd favorite!)
- Big Win: How well the team, on a global level, has managed to maintain a good flow of user engagement through support.
- Contacted: @acosmin, @rabmalin, @thinkupthemes, @williampatton
- Priority: Implementing the Theme Sniffer plugin on WordPress.org which is one step forward towards automation. ETA early 2019
- Struggle: Not having so many contributors/reviewers.
- Big Win: Implementing multiple requirements into our review flow, like screenshots and readme.txt requirements.
- Contacted: @bethsoderberg, @juliek
- Priority: Getting the learn.wordpress.org site designed, developed, and being able to publish lesson plans to it.
- Struggle: Getting contributors onboard and continually contributing. Part of that is related to the learn.wordpress.org site. People like to see their contributions.
- Big Win: We have our new workflow and tools in place. We are also streamlining that process to help things go from idea to publication more quickly.
Interested in updates from the last quarter? You can find those here: https://wordpress.org/news/2018/07/quarterly-updates-q2-2018/
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Teams across the WordPress project are working hard to make sure everything is ready for the upcoming release of WordPress 5.0. Find out what’s going on and how you can get involved.
The Plan for WordPress 5.0
Early this month, the planned release schedule was announced for WordPress 5.0, which was updated a few weeks later. WordPress 5.0 is a highly anticipated release, as it’s the official launch of Gutenberg — the new block editor for WordPress Core. For more detail, check out this granular timeline.
Along with the planned release schedule, @matt, who is heading up this release, announced leads for critical focuses on the project, including @matveb, @karmatosed, @laurelfulford, @allancole, @lonelyvegan, @omarreiss, @antpb, @pento, @chanthaboune, @danielbachhuber, and @mcsf.
WordPress 5.0 is currently in its second beta phase and will soon move to the release candidate status. Help test this release right now by installing the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on your site.
Want to get involved in building WordPress Core? Follow the Core team blog and join the #core channel in the Making WordPress Slack group. You can also help out by testing or translating the release into a local language.
New Editor for WordPress Core
Active development continues on Gutenberg, the new editing experience for WordPress Core. The latest release is feature complete, meaning that all further development on it will be to improve existing features and fix outstanding bugs.
Some have raised concerns about Gutenberg’s accessibility, prompting the development team to detail some areas in which the new editor is accessible. To help improve things further, the team has made a public call for accessibility testers to assist.
Want to get involved in building Gutenberg? Follow the Gutenberg tag on the Core team blog and join the #core-editor channel in the Making WordPress Slack group. Read this guide to find areas where you can have the most impact.
Migrating HelpHub to WordPress.org
HelpHub is an ongoing project to move all of WordPress’ user documentation from the Codex to the WordPress Support portal.
HelpHub has been developed on a separate staging server and it’s now time to migrate the new documentation to its home on WordPress.org. The plan is to have everything moved over before WordPress 5.0 is released, so that all the new documentation will be available on the new platform from the start.
The HelpHub team has published a call for volunteers to help with the migration. If you would like to get involved, join the #docs channel in the Making WordPress Slack group, and contact @atachibana to get started.
A New Default Theme for WordPress
A brand new default theme — Twenty Nineteen — has been announced with development being led by @allancole. The theme is packaged with WordPress 5.0, so it will be following the same release schedule as Core.
The new theme is designed to integrate seamlessly with Gutenberg and showcase how you can build a theme alongside the new block editor and take advantage of the creative freedom that it offers.
Want to help build Twenty Nineteen? Join in on the theme’s GitHub repo and join the #core-themes channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.
Further Reading:
- The Support team are putting together more formal Support Guidelines for the WordPress Support Forums.
- The group focused on privacy tools in Core has released some details on the work they have been doing recently, with a roadmap for their plans over the next few months.
- The Core team released an update about how WordPress will be compatible with PHP 7.3.
- The Theme Review Team have published some new requirements regarding child themes, readme files and trusted authors in the Theme Directory.
- The WordCamp Europe team are working on a PWA service for all WordCamp websites.
If you have a story we should consider including in the next “Month in WordPress” post, please submit it here.
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WordPress 5.0 Beta 2 is now available!
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version.
There are two ways to test the WordPress 5.0 Beta: try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”), or you can download the beta here (zip).
WordPress 5.0 is slated for release on November 19, and we need your help to get there. Here are some of the big issues that we fixed since Beta 1:
Block Editor
We’ve updated to the latest version of the block editor from the Gutenberg plugin, which includes the new Format API, embedding improvements, and a variety of bug fixes.
Meta boxes had a few bugs, and they weren’t showing at all in the block editor, so we’ve fixed and polished there.
Internationalisation
We’ve added support for registering and loading JavaScript translation files.
Twenty Nineteen
The Twenty Nineteen repository is a hive of activity, there have been a stack of minor bugs clean up, and some notable additions:
- There’s now a widget area in the page footer.
- Navigation submenus have been implemented for mobile devices.
- Customiser options have been added for changing the theme colours and feature image filters.
Everything Else
The REST API has a couple of bug fixes and performance improvements. PHP 7.3 compatibility has been improved.
We’re fixing the bugs:
All the ones you’ve reported.
Some that we’ve found, too.
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WordPress 5.0 Beta 1 is now available!
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version, and if you are using an existing test site be sure to update the Gutenberg plugin to v4.1.
There are two ways to test the WordPress 5.0 beta: try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”), or you can download the beta here (zip).
WordPress 5.0 is slated for release on November 19, and we need your help to get there. Here are some of the big items to test so we can find as many bugs as possible in the coming weeks.
The Block Editor
The new Gutenberg block editor is now the default post editor!
The block editor provides a modern, media-rich editing experience. You can create flexible, beautiful content without writing a single line of code, or you can dive into the modern programming APIs that the block editor provides.
Even before you install WordPress 5.0, you can try the block editor here.
Of course, we recognise you might not be ready for this change quite yet. If that’s the case, you can install the Classic Editor plugin now, which will keep the editor you’re familiar with as the default, even after you upgrade to WordPress 5.0.
Twenty Nineteen
Along with the new block editor, we have a new default theme, called Twenty Nineteen, which takes advantage of the new features the block editor provides.
You can read more about Twenty Nineteen in its introduction post, and follow along with development over on the GitHub repository.
Default Themes
Of course, we couldn’t release a beautiful new default theme, and leave all of our old ones behind. All the way back to Twenty Ten, we’ve updated every default them to look good in the new block editor.
How to Help
Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages! A known issue: the block autocompleter fails for blocks whose names contain characters in non-Latin scripts. Adding blocks via the plus sign works, and this bug is fixed in the Gutenberg 4.1 plugin. 🙂
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
Minor bug fixes
Add up one by one by one
Then you change the world
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The new WordPress editor continues to be a major focus for all WordPress contribution teams. Read on to find out some more about their work, as well as everything else that has been happening around the community this past month.
Further Enhancements to the New WordPress Editor
Active development continues on Gutenberg, the new editing experience for WordPress Core. The latest update for the editor includes great new features, such as reusable content blocks, a dark editor style, export and import of templates, and much more. In addition, the Gutenberg team has published a comprehensive guide to the features currently included in the editor.
Users can test Gutenberg right now by installing the plugin, which currently has over 450,000 active installs according to the new Gutenberg in Numbers site. Along with that, the Gutenberg Handbook has some very useful information about how to use and develop for the new editor.
Want to get involved in building Gutenberg? Follow the #gutenberg tag on the Core team blog and join the #core-editor channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.
Work Begins on WordPress 5.0
After initially announcing a minor v4.9.9 release, the Core team has shifted their focus to the next major release — v5.0. One of the primary factors for this change is that Gutenberg is nearly ready to be considered for merging into Core, with the goal to complete the merge in v5.0.
To maintain flexibility in the development process the final timelines are not yet determined, allowing work already done for v4.9.9 to be moved to v5.0 if needed. Ensuring that WordPress is compatible with the upcoming PHP 7.3 release is a high priority for the Core team. Once a final decision is made, the details will be announced on the Core team blog.
Want to get involved in building WordPress Core? Follow the Core team blog and join the #core channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.
Further Reading:
If you have a story we should consider including in the next “Month in WordPress” post, please submit it here.
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Many of the WordPress contribution teams have been working hard on the new WordPress editor, and the tools, services, and documentation surrounding it. Read on to find out more about this ongoing project, as well as everything else that has been happening around the WordPress community in August.
WordPress 4.9.8 is Released
WordPress 4.9.8 was released at the beginning of the month. While this was a maintenance release fixing 46 bugs, it was significant for Core development because it made a point of highlighting Gutenberg — the new WordPress editor that is currently in development (more on that below).
This release also included some important updates to the privacy tools that were added to Core earlier this year.
Want to get involved in building WordPress Core? Follow the Core team blog and join the #core channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.
New WordPress Editor Development Continues
Active development continues on Gutenberg, the new editing experience for WordPress Core. The latest version features a number of important user experience improvements, including a new unified toolbar and support for a more focussed writing mode.
Users can test Gutenberg right now by installing the plugin, which currently has nearly 300,000 active installs. Along with that, the Gutenberg Handbook has some very useful information about how to use and develop for the new editor.
Want to get involved in building Gutenberg? Follow the #gutenberg tag on the Core team blog and join the #core-editor channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.
Planning Begins for the Next Global WordPress Translation Day
The Global WordPress Translation Day is a 24-hour event held online and all across the world. It is designed to bring communities together to translate WordPress into their local languages, and to help them connect with other communities doing the same thing.
There have been three Translation Days since April 2016, and the fourth edition is in the planning stages now. The Polyglots team, who organizes these events, is currently looking for input on the date, format, and content for the event and would love some feedback from the community.
Want to get involved in translating WordPress into your own language? Follow the Polyglots team blog and join the #polyglots channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.
Further Reading:
- The Update PHP page on WordPress.org has been revised and improved to make the reasons for upgrading more clear.
- The Mobile team is looking for people to help test the latest versions of the Android and iOS apps for WordPress.
- WordBits is a innovative new platform for publishing WordPress-based code snippets with the ability to download each snippet as a working plugin.
- The Community Team has some updates about how things are going with this year’s WordCamp Incubator program.
- The WordPress Support Forums now include a feature allowing forum volunteers to easily report a post to the moderators for a follow-up.
- WordCamp Kochi, India has unfortunately had to postpone their event due to floods in the region.
- WP Glossary is a new site that offers helpful definitions of words that you could encounter when using WordPress.
- A few WordPress community members have started a working group to tackle the idea of building diverse WordPress communities all across the world.
- A new Gutenberg Block Library is available, listing the details of the many blocks available for the new editor.
If you have a story we should consider including in the next “Month in WordPress” post, please submit it here.
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We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of WordPress 4.9.8. This maintenance release fixes 46 bugs, enhancements and blessed tasks, including updating the Twenty Seventeen bundled theme.
Following are the highlights of what is now available.
“Try Gutenberg” callout
Most users will now be presented with a notice in their WordPress dashboard. This “Try Gutenberg” is an opportunity for users to use the Gutenberg block editor before it is released in WordPress 5.0.
In WordPress 4.9.8, the callout will be shown to the following users:
- If Gutenberg is not installed or activated, the callout will be shown to Admin users on single sites, and Super Admin users on multisites.
- If Gutenberg is installed and activated, the callout will be shown to Contributor users and above.
- If the Classic Editor plugin is installed and activated, the callout will be hidden for all users.
You can learn more by reading “Try Gutenberg” Callout in WordPress 4.9.8.
Privacy fixes/enhancements
This release includes 18 Privacy fixes focused on ensuring consistency and flexibility in the new personal data tools that were added in 4.9.6, including:
- The type of request being confirmed is now included in the subject line for all privacy confirmation emails.
- Improved consistency with site name being used for privacy emails in multisite.
- Pagination for Privacy request admin screens can now be adjusted.
- Increased the test coverage for several core privacy functions.
This post has more information about all of the issues fixed in 4.9.8 if you’d like to learn more.
Download WordPress 4.9.8 or venture over to Dashboard → Updates and click “Update Now.” Sites that support automatic background updates are already beginning to update automatically.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to WordPress 4.9.8:
1naveengiri, Aaron D. Campbell, Aaron Jorbin, Abdullah Ramzan, alejandroxlopez, Allen Snook, Andrea Fercia, Andrew Ozz, Andrew Taylor, Arun, Ayesh Karunaratne, Birgir Erlendsson (birgire), Birgit Pauli-Haack, BjornW, Boone Gorges, Brandon Kraft, Burhan Nasir, Chetan Prajapati, Chris Lema, Corey McKrill, Daniel Bachhuber, Daniel James, David Herrera, Dion Hulse, Dominik Schilling (ocean90), dontstealmyfish, dyrer, Felipe Elia, Felix Arntz, Fernando Claussen, Gareth, Garrett Hyder, Gary Pendergast, Gennady Kovshenin, GM_Alex, Heather Burns, Ian Dunn, ibelanger, imath, Jb Audras, Jeremy Pry, JJJ, Joe McGill, Joen Asmussen, John Blackbourn, Jonathan Desrosiers, Jonny Harris, Josepha, JoshuaWold, Joy, jrf, K. Adam White, khaihong, kjellr, Konstantinos Xenos, laurelfulford, lbenicio, Leander Iversen, leemon, macbookandrew, Marius L. J., Matias Ventura, Mel Choyce, mensmaximus, mermel, metalandcoffee, michelleweber, Milan Dinić, Muhammad Kashif, Naoko Takano, Nathan Johnson, Ov3rfly, palmiak, Paul Biron, Prashant Baldha, PressTigers, programmin, Rafsun Chowdhury, redcastor, Robin Cornett, Sergey Biryukov, Simon Prosser, skoldin, spyderbytes, Subrata Sarkar, Sébastien SERRE, Tammie Lister, tharsheblows, Thomas Patrick Levy, timbowesohft, Timothy Jacobs, Tobias Zimpel, Tor-Bjorn Fjellner, Towhidul Islam, Usman Khalid, warmlaundry, William Earnhardt, Yui, and YuriV.
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With WordPress 5.0 coming closer, there’s lots of work going on all across the project. Read on to learn about how we progressed in July.
Release of WordPress 4.9.7
On July 5, WordPress 4.9.7 was released, fixing one security issue and 17 other bugs across the platform.
While this is a minor release, incremental fixes are essential to keep WordPress running smoothly. Everyone is encouraged to update as soon as possible and to make sure that automatic updates are switched on.
Would you like to get involved in building WordPress Core? Follow the Core team blog and join the #core channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.
The New WordPress Editor
In the upcoming minor release of WordPress, 4.9.8, a new section in the dashboard will feature Gutenberg, the upcoming content editor for WordPress.
While the official release of Gutenberg is scheduled for the coming months, you can already install it as a plugin to test it out right now. Additionally, a brand new demo page is now available — play around with the many features the editor has to offer, without installing it on your own site.
Would you like to help build or test Gutenberg? Follow the Core team blog and join the #core-editor channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.
Page Design Updates on WordPress.org
Bit by bit we’re refreshing the design of WordPress.org. The latest pages to get a new treatment have been the Download page and user profiles.
The Meta and Design teams worked hard to make these new designs a reality, with notable contributions from @melchoyce, @obenland, @mapk, and @kjellr. The new designs enhance the overall look of the site and provide more relevant information to those searching.
Would you like to get involved in the design refresh? Follow the Meta and Design team blogs and join the #meta and #design channels in the Making WordPress Slack group.
The First WP-CLI Hack Day
On Friday July 20, the WP-CLI team held their first hack day — a global event encouraging people to contribute to the official command line tool for WordPress.
Run by @schlessera, the event was a great success. Twelve pull requests were merged and another 13 submitted. It also included a video chat to give all contributors a space to meet each other and connect directly.
Would you like to get involved in contributing to WP-CLI? Follow the team blog and join the #cli channel in the Making WordPress Slack group.
Further Reading:
If you have a story we should consider including in the next “Month in WordPress” post, please submit it here.
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