Feature Projects Overview

Feature Projects are intended to concentrate a group of people together, to explore potential ideas for WordPress CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. They are similar to the previously used “feature plugins” in many ways (including in name) but may take any necessary form other than a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party specifically.

Many start simply as ideas that need more exploration, to become fully-formed before implementation can begin. Other Feature Projects may become discrete patches on tickets, or may turn into multiple plugins – breaking finished parts into patches for core (while iterating on the unfinished parts separately.)

Feature Project contributors may gather in a dedicated channel, form in a dedicated GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ Project, or be worked on directly inside of an existing Project. For example, the GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ Project often uses experimental flags in the code to allow Features to be optionally toggled on or off. Depending on the desired outcome, either an entire feature, or just some parts of it, may be merged into WordPress Core. This is done either through WordPress Core patches or via Gutenberg package releases.

Active Projects

Features that are current areas of focus. You are encouraged to participate in them.

active	Site Editor/Templates Experience
The Site Editor/Template experience allows you to edit all parts of your site with blocks by offering access to various templates, a Styles system, navigation features, and more. The largest amount of remaining work is around clarifying the user experience of editing global concepts (styles, templates, navigation) from specific site content. The overall project issue can be found here.
active	BlockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. Themes
This work encompasses making it easier to get started with using block themes, embracing the block theme paradigm for the default theme efforts, and continuing to push forward what block themes are capable of. This includes improving theme switching, expanding template options, better export functionality for visual theme building, and more. The latest tracking issue can be found here.
active	Navigation Block/Menu Management
The Navigation block seeks to replicate and expand what’s possible for visually building your navigation for your site. Included in this effort is a way to preserve navigation while switching themes, exploring a dedicated navigation structure, and more. The latest tracking issue can be found here with an overall project issue here.
active	Query LoopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop. Block
The Query Loop block is an advanced block that allows you to display posts based on specified parameters; like a PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher loop without the code. Since it needs to balance both usability and functionality, work remains to refine and expand the current experience.  The latest tracking issue can be found here.
active	Styles Engine
The goal of this project is to have a consistent APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. for rendering styling for blocks, across both client-side and server-side applications. Rather than a monolithic refactor, the aim should be to build the smallest implementation possible and land it in the plugin, and iteratively enhance it with small PRs as we go. The latest tracking issue can be found here.
active	Gradual Adoption
As folks step into the full site editing feature, various pathways need to be built to make it easier. The work involved here is vast including offering more curation options (ex: Locking API), exposing specific parts of the broader interface in stages, and more.
active	Webfonts API
This API’s job is to provide the backend capabilities to support the “font library” to include font management and dynamic building of the @font-face styles.The “font library” feature will continue to be built, refined, stabilized, and tuned over multiple WordPress releases. The ongoing roadmap for this work can be found here.
active	Patterns
Patterns are a collection of predefined blocks that you can insert into posts and pages and then customize with your own content. Similar to blocks, they touch on many different parts of the current editor experience. As a result, this work includes exploring patterns as sectioning elements, integrating patterns directly into the content creation experience, the pattern directory, scaling the experience of managing many patterns, and more. The latest tracking issue can be found here.
active	Design tools
Design tools encompass all tools related to the appearance of blocks and ranges from colors, typography, alignments, and positioning, to filters like duotone, cropping, and background media. This work involves both the creation of shared tools and the consistent application across blocks, as makes sense. The overview issue can be found here.
active	Performance
The Performance Lab plugin from the WordPress Performance Group is a collection of modules focused on enhancing performance of your site, most of which will hopefully be merged into WordPress core. The plugin allows one to individually enable and test the modules to get their benefits before they become available in WordPress core, and to provide feedback to further improve the solutions. Currently focused on JavaScript, Images, Infrastructure, Object Caching, Measurement, and Site Health. Leads: @flixos90, @spacedmonkey, @tillkruess, @tweetythierry, @adamsilverstein. GitHub Project. Make posts.
active	WordPress Components V2
Operating with the codename “G2 Components”, this project seeks to be the next iteration of WordPress components. It’s being designed to accommodate the ever-growing and ever-expressive needs of the Editor and the platform. The ultimate goal is to provide a first class workflow to empower developers and designers (both core and 3rd party) to create cohesive, robust, and delightful user interfaces. GitHub Project.
active	Preferred Languages
The initial project will cover an extensibleExtensible This is the ability to add additional functionality to the code. Plugins extend the WordPress core software. backend implementation as well as a single frontend use case. Lead: @swissspidy. Make posts.
active	WP Notify
The WP Notify project is working towards creating a new (better) way to manage and deliver notifications to the relevant audience. Traditionally, WordPress core and theme/plugin developers have been using the admin_notices hook for this purpose, but this solution is lackluster at best and comes with a lot of disadvantages. WP Notify strives to solve those problems. Lead: @psykro. Make Posts, #feature-notifications Slack channel
active	2FA
Two-Factor Authentication is an exploration of how we can build a stable, extensible functionality for enhancing WordPress login pages via various providers. Lead: @georgestephanis. GitHub repo, Make posts, #core-passwords Slack channel.
active	Rollback Update Failure
When a core auto-update fails, core has long had the ability to automatically attempt a “rollback” to the latest stable release (in the branchbranch A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses branches to store the latest development code for each major release (3.9, 4.0, etc.). Branches are then updated with code for any minor releases of that branch. Sometimes, a major version of WordPress and its minor versions are collectively referred to as a "branch", such as "the 4.0 branch". that the site is running). Note: for core auto-updates, “rollback” is not attempted for certain failures (e.g. “disk full”). This project aims to extend this capability to be available for plugin and theme updates. Join the Call for Testing and check out ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. #51857.
active	Plugin Dependencies
Some plugins require other plugins. When the required plugin isn’t available/installed, site owners are often presented with notices or other indications. The implementation of these notices changes depending on the plugin author. This project aims to provide a unified approach to indicate plugin dependencies and any installed and active dependent plugins. Follow the development in ticket #22316.

Inactive Projects

Features that have been merged into WordPress Core, are no longer relevant, dormant, or abandoned.

Expand inactive projects

merged	WP Auto-updates
This work expanded automatic updates to major core versions, plugins, and themes.
merged	Block-based Widget Editor
This work added block functionality to the Widgets editor, to make it easier to build the site you want using the power and flexibility  of blocks. Leads: @noisysocks, @andraganescu. Overview, GitHub project, #feature-widgets-block-editor SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel.
merged	Servehappy
The servehappy project is an initiative that seeks to educate WordPress site owners about the value of having the latest version of PHP powering their WordPress site. This supports the overall goal of increasing the percentage of WordPress installs running modern PHP versions. Leads: @flixos90, @schlessera. GitHub repo.
merged	Lazy Loading
Enabling lazy-loading for images in WordPress content was first proposed nearly two years ago, however the JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/. implementation at the time would potentially have introduced many edge cases and failures. Using the new loading attribute removes these concerns. Leads: @azaozz, @flixos90. GitHub repo, WordPress.org plugin.
merged	XML Sitemaps
Generating and exposing XML sitemaps for search engines as part of WordPress core. Leads: @tweetythierry, @swissspidy. GitHub repo, WordPress.org plugin.
merged	WP REST API
WordPress is moving towards becoming a fully-fledged application framework, and we need new APIs. This project was born to create an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand and well-tested framework for creating these APIs, plus creating APIs for core. This plugin provides an easy to use REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/., available via HTTPHTTP HTTP is an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. HTTP is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web and this protocol defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands.. Grab your site’s data in simple JSONJSON JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML. format, including users, posts, taxonomies and more. Retrieving or updating data is as simple as sending a HTTP request. Leads: @rmccue, @rachelbaker. GitHub repo, WordPress.org plugin.
merged	Shiny Updates
Shiny Updates strives for a simplified and more streamlined experience by maintaining the context of the workflow when installing, updating, and deleting plugins and themes.
merged	Font Natively
Switch to system fonts for faster loading and a more native-feeling experience.
merged	Customize Preview Responsiveness
Add a user-friendly way to preview site responsiveness in the CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings.. Lead: @celloexpressions. Flow posts. See also #31195. Merged in 4.5 release.
merged	Customize Partial Refresh
Customizer: Add framework for selective refresh (partial preview refreshes). Lead: @westonruter. Make posts. See also #27355. Merged in 4.5 release.
merged	oEmbed
This plugin allows anyone to embed posts from your site by just pasting its URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org. Lead: @swissspidy. Final Proposal, Make posts, GitHub repo. See also #32522. Merged in 4.4 release.
merged	RICG Responsive Images
Bringing automatic default responsive images to WordPress. Lead: @mike. Final Proposal, Make posts. Merged in 4.4 release.
merged	Menu Customizer
The purpose of the Menu Customizer project is to move navigation menuNavigation Menu A theme feature introduced with Version 3.0. WordPress includes an easy to use mechanism for giving various control options to get users to click from one place to another on a site. management from the WordPress adminadmin (and super admin) to the Customizer. Lead: @celloexpressions. Final Proposal, Make posts. Merged in 4.3 release.
merged	Customizer Theme Switcher
The goal is to bring theme-browsing and theme-switching into the Customizer to streamline the themes experience. Lead: @celloexpressions. Final Proposal. Merged in 4.2 release.
merged	Press This
Press This is a little tool that lets you grab bits of the web and create new posts with ease. Lead: @michael-arestad. Final Proposal, Make posts, GitHub repo. Merged in 4.2 release.
merged	x1f4a9
If only there was a consistent emoji experience for WordPress. That would be 😎👍. This was an experimental plugin to develop Emoji support in WordPress. Lead: @pento. Make posts, GitHub repo. Merged in 4.2 release.
merged	User Session Manager
Session management for WordPress. Lead: @johnbillion. GitHub repo. Merged in 4.1 release.
merged	Focus v2
A re-think of Distraction Free Writing. Lead: @iseulde. Final Proposal, Make posts. Merged in 4.1 release.
merged	Media Grid
When browsing your media, why limit yourself to a list with tiny thumbnails? The Media Grid plugin gives you a nice grid view of your media items. Lead: @ericlewis. O2 posts, Make posts. Merged in 4.0 release.
merged	Focus
Focus on editing, while editing. Lead: @iseulde. Final Proposal. Merged in 4.0 release.
merged	Widgets Customizer
Changes made when using the Customizer are not visible to site visitors until you hit Save & Publish. So what if widgets could be edited in the Customizer? That’s what the WidgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. Customizer plugin makes possible. No longer do you have to edit your widgets blind! Lead: @westonruter. Final Proposal, Make posts. Merged in 3.9 release.
merged	DASH
While functional, WordPress’ dashboard page hasn’t kept up with the rest of WordPress. We mean to improve the experience of the first page of WordPress. Streamline it, clean it up looking at all the widgets, and make it responsive. Leads: @lessbloat, @joen. Final Proposal, Make posts. Merged in 3.8 release.
merged	MP6
Simplify and modernize the design of the admin, with a focus on the rapidly growing user base using HiDPI, touch, and small-screened devices. Lead: @iammattthomas. Final Proposal, Make posts. Merged in 3.8 release.
merged	THX38
Re-imagine a theme experience that is beautiful, visually focused (able to display more/bigger screenshots), fast, and mobile-ready. Lead: @matveb. Final Proposal, overview, Make posts. Merged in 3.8 release.
merged	Widgets Area Chooser
Re-imagine a theme experience that is beautiful, visually focused (able to display more/bigger screenshots), fast, and mobile-ready. Lead: @shaunandrews. Final Proposal, make/ui posts, make core posts. Merged in 3.8 release.
merged	Widgets
Improve the WYSIWYGWhat You See Is What You Get What You See Is What You Get. Most commonly used in relation to editors, where changes made in edit mode reflect exactly as they will translate to the published page. experience of widgets through non-destructive live previews. The current approach of making some changes immediately live but not others breaks users’ expectations and trust.
closed	Customize Posts
This is a feature pluginFeature Plugin A plugin that was created with the intention of eventually being proposed for inclusion in WordPress Core. See Features as Plugins. intended to implement #34923: Introduce basic content authorship in the Customizer. Lead: @westonruter. GitHub repo.
closed	Consent API
A standard way for WordPress core, plugins, and themes to obtain consent from users should be established to provide a consistent and stable experience for administrators, developers, and users of all kinds. Leads: @rogierlankhorst, @garrett-eclipse, @xkon. GitHub repo, WordPress.org plugin.
closed	Toolbar Experiments
The toolbar is not a consistent experience in a number of ways, including behavior on touch vs. pointer and its content as you flip between the front end and admin contexts. It should be a consistent experience with the best possible behavior on various devices so that users can use it to its best effect without being disrupted by inconsistencies. Lead: @helen. GitHub repo. See also #32678.
closed	Fields API
The WordPress Fields API can be used by developers to build forms with a common structure. It makes it possible to efficiently build settings pages, metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. boxes, profile fields, and other elements in WordPress. Lead: @sc0ttkclark. GitHub repo, Make Posts.
closed	Background Image Cropper
This plugin is a WordPress core feature-plugin that adds cropping to background images for parity with headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. images. Lead: @celloexpressions.
inactive	Block-based Navigation Editor
Similar to the Widget editor work, this project hopes to expand what’s possible with navigation by bringing the familiar block editing experience to this screen. Leads: @andraganescu, @noisysocks. GitHub project.