It was a 3.7 agenda in IRC for support this week. Items discussed:
Will automatic updates restore deleted default themes that ship with WordPress?
This was discussed and clarified in the forums by Dion in this topic and was brought up by Mel to me in email.
The answer is if you are on the release version then if you delete a theme that ships with WordPress then the deleted theme will not be restored on an update. If you are on the development version then yes, updates will restore that deleted theme.
From a support point of view this may be interesting. When a user is having problems one of the first things recommended to try is to switch to the default theme for that version of WordPress. Hopefully if the user is savvy enough to delete the default theme (I’ve no idea why that would be done) then they’re also able to restore it if needed.
Using wp-config.php to disable automatic updates in WordPress going forward.
This was another item sent to me in email. It was discussed was that users can add different configuration options in wp-config.php to disable automatic updates. See Dion’s post on that feature in make:core for a list of some of those constants.
Automatic updates is an amazing feature and its use should be encouraged. But with every release there is a percentage of users who want to control the updates and stage those updates. Being able to inform them of those options is a good thing.
TinyMCE 4.0 is coming probably in WordPress 3.8.
In an earlier IRC azaozz let Mika know that TinyMCE 4.0 is in the works for WordPress 3.8. 3.7 will get an updated TinyMCE as well but when 3.8 drops a compatibility 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 (in TinyMCE) will ship and be active by default.
An updated TinyMCE may break some existing plugins (Mika investigating if a search through the plugins can find those) so please be aware of this upcoming change.
You are all testing WordPress 3.7 betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. right?
At some point (soon probably) the OMGWTFBBQ WordPress 3.7 post will be drafted. Any gotchas that can be addressed for themes and plugins that come out in testing would be really helpful.
Please test, test, test, and test again. Did I mention you should test WordPress 3.7 beta 2?
My own installation has never had any problems with any updates since WordPress 1.5.2. I am not an aggressive QA tester myself and have a straight forward installation. But identifying any problem themes, plugins and solutions in advance would be very valuable.