This is the home of the Make Community team for the WordPress open sourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. project!
Here is where we have policy debates, project announcements, and assist community members in organizing events.
Everyone is welcome to comment on posts and participate in the discussions regardless of skill level or experience.
Get Involved
If you love WordPress and want to help us do these things, join in!
As you know, there’s a new version of WordPress coming soon. This update brings some exciting features your way. As we get closer to the major releaseMajor ReleaseA set of releases or versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as “X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases often are the introduction of new major features and functionality. of WordPress 5.9, we’d love the support of community members and meetupMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. organizers like you to spread the word!
As with all releases, WordPress 5.9 can benefit from your help in the following ways:
Plan release-focused meetupsMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. to share the latest features in 5.9 with your community.
Email your local meetup groups to inform members about the upcoming release.
Individually test 5.9 release features, share your feedback, blog about release features, and amplify them on social media.
Your testing and feedback of WordPress 5.9 Beta 2 (and the Release CandidateRelease CandidateA beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. when we get there) is important and appreciated. Or you can use the Beta Testing Plugin and be the first to see all new features in action.
1. Experience the Power of Full Site Editing
WordPress 5.9 marks the first version of Full Site Editing in WordPress coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. This version includes holistic support for block themes. You can find available blockBlockBlock 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 under the “full site editing” tag in the Theme repository.
Additionally, 5.9 comes with more than 30 theme blocks, such as the navigation editor, site logo, and site title, that allow you to build and customize all parts of your website.
The introduction of block themes is only the beginning. We plan to add more exciting features in future releases to build on this solid foundation.
What’s Exciting about Block Themes?
You can now personalize your entire website using blocks. Block themes are endlessly customizable—your imagination is your only limit. Once you’ve installed a block theme, you can modify it through the site editor and the styles interface. The components of block themes include its block templates, block template parts, and the custom styling offered through theme.jsonJSONJSON, 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.. Learn more about block themes in our documentation.
Say Hello to Twenty Twenty-Two, the New Default Block Theme.
To usher in the next generation of themes, we’ve released the new default theme of WordPress 5.9–Twenty Twenty-Two. The inspiration behind its subtle design is the playful yet resilient nature of birds.
This default theme is among the first to be built with Full Site Editing at its heart, and it requires minimal CSSCSSCSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site.. By using the incredible power of patterns, you can customize this theme in countless ways without needing numerous skills.
2. Change the Look of Your Site With the New Styles Interface and theme.json Enhancements
If you liked theme.json, you would be happy to know that the new styles graphic interface provides greater global design control.
You can now completely customize the styles on your site, changing the look of different elements and blocks. Edit everything, from the typography and the colors of the button blocks, such as block-specific styles, to the layout on your site—all from the same interface without switching themes.
Moreover, 5.9 sees various improvements to theme.json, such as support for child themes, increased duotone support, and new settings and styles, to name a few.
3. Make Your Site Stand Out with a Multitude of Design Tools
With more design-focused tools, WordPress 5.9 provides you with the power to tailor your content precisely the way you want it; Size your featured imageFeatured imageA featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts. a certain way, evenly space a menu, or modify your paragraph to a different size. Moreover, you can customize these design tools site-wide rather than each block individually with the styles interface.
From layout control, block gap, typography options, border support, and dimension controls to enhanced cropping tools and duotone filters—all these features are here to help you get your site just right.
4. Customize Your Site’s Navigation Using the New Navigation Block
Accessibility is at the center of the new Navigation block, with full keyboard navigation support and a responsive option with the ease of an on/off toggle.
The Navigation block enables you to control your menu’s design, location, and function from a single interface.
5. Leverage Patterns to Build Your Site Efficiently
Patterns will continue to be a gamechanger in helping you create your site. With patterns, you don’t have to build each site page from scratch—save your basic block groups and personalize the individual blocks to suit your needs!
In WordPress 5.9, you can create simple blocks containing images, lists, and paragraphs, or complex full-page layouts with overlapping content.
Browse from a library of existing reusable patterns or build your own. You can also share your creations by submitting your very own patterns to the pattern directory with open submissions.
The possibilities are limitless. Build a new mailing list call to action (CTA) with a few clicks or change entire site sections without switching themes. These enhancements simplify site creation, editing, and management, saving you plenty of time and effort.
6. Enjoy User Interface and Performance Improvements
Version 5.9 includes important enhancements to the user interface and platform performance.
With new updates such as rich URLURLA specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org previews, refined settings modal, intuitive icons and animations, and the lazy rendering of search results and patterns, you can enjoy better responsiveness and user experience.
Try the improved publishing flow, List View (including a drag and drop capability with collapsible sections), and a new language switcher, among other updates. The List View has undergone improvements in performance and accessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) as well.
Share Your Feedback about WordPress 5.9
Now that you know about the features in the pipeline, we hope you’re as excited as we are.
What do you like about this release? What have you planned for sharing WordPress 5.9 with your local meetup group? Are you organizing an outreach meetup, or would you be interested in scheduling a testing sprint? Let us know in the comments.
WordPress 5.8 is shipping soon! Beta 1 and Beta 2 are available for testing. 5.8 is a major releaseMajor ReleaseA set of releases or versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as “X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases often are the introduction of new major features and functionality. with some exciting new features coming with it! As we approach the release, we ask that all our community members and meetupMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. organizers contribute:
Meetup Organizers can plan release-focused meetupsMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. to share the latest features in 5.8 with their community.
Meetups can organize 5.8 testing sprints to test the release features.
Organizers can email their local groups to inform members about the upcoming release.
Contributors can individually test 5.8 release features, share their feedback, blog about release features, and amplify them on social media.
This post highlights some of the most exciting features of WordPress 5.8 that local meetup organizers might want to highlight to their local communities.
Updates for Publishers and Users
New Theme Blocks and The Query BlockBlockBlock 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.
With WordPress 5.8, you’ll now have the ability to edit even more aspects of your site with the following new blocks: Site Logo/tagline/title, Query LoopLoopThe 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., Next/Previous post, Post title, content, author, date, excerptExcerptAn excerpt is the description of the blog post or page that will by default show on the blog archive page, in search results (SERPs), and on social media. With an SEO plugin, the excerpt may also be in that plugin’s metabox., featured imageFeatured imageA featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts., categories, and tags – along with login/out blocks and the page list block. When combined with creating custom templates, these blocks will unlock several possibilities for content creation that was not possible before! You can read more about theme blocks here.
The most powerful amongst this set of new blocks is the Query Loop block. It unlocks the ability to easily display posts from a specific categoryCategoryThe 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging., allowing you to quickly create a portfolio or a favorite recipe page. Think of it as a more complex and powerful Latest Posts Block! You can read more about the Query block in GitHub.
Block Pattern Directory
Block Patterns are a streamlined way of setting up layouts of blocks through themes and plugins. With WordPress 5.8, everyone will now access a Block Pattern Directory, similar to the PluginPluginA 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 and Theme directories. This will let anyone create and share a Block Pattern with any WordPress user and for any WordPress user to use these patterns to make beautiful content. You can find new patterns in the Block Inserter or by browsing the patterns here: https://wordpress.org/patterns/. For now, patterns previously bundled with CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. are the only patterns available in the Inserter; in the future, all patterns in the directory will be searchable from the Inserter too!
Dropping Support for IE 11
With WordPress 5.8, Internet Explorer 11 will no longer be supported. For anyone currently using IE11, it is strongly recommended that you switch to a modern browser, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge. IE11 users have been shown a warning that IE11 is considered outdated in the WordPress dashboard for the last 17+ months.
Template Editing Mode
Template Editing Mode is a feature of Full Site Editing that unlocks the ability to switch between editing the content of a post/page and the template elements that the post/page uses. Essentially, this allows you to switch between the Post Editor and the Template Editor.
For block themes, users will be able to create a new block-based template and edit existing ones.
For classic themes, users will be able to only create new block-based templates.
Any custom block template created is theme-dependent and won’t transfer across themes.
Block Widgets Editor & Widgets in CustomizerCustomizerTool 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.
WordPress 5.8 brings blocks to both the Block Widgets Editor and the Customizer. Users will now be able to directly edit widgets just like how they would edit blocks in a post/page. Widgets in the customizer have additional features such as live preview, schedule, and sharing – all using blocks and widgets. This feature opens up several possibilities, from no-code mini layouts to tapping into the vast block library to create content. Developers are encouraged to phase out their widgets in favor of blocks, which are more intuitive and can be used in more places. Developers can allow users to easily migrate a Legacy Widget block containing a specific widget to a block or multiple blocks.
WidgetWidgetA 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. customizerWidgets screen in WP-Admin
Other features and UIUIUI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. enhancements
Blocks now look the same in the edit screen and on the front-end.
Updates for Site Builders and Developers
Dev Notes in the Make/Core blog are a great place to start learning more about the technical details related to WordPress 5.8. Here’s a summary of the advanced features shipping with the release:
Theme.jsonJSONJSON, 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.
WordPress 5.8 introduces theme.json, a configuration file used to enable or disable features and set default styles for both websites and blocks. It can be used to control the editor settings, available customization tools, and style blocks. The release comes with Global Styles and Global Settings APIs, which facilitate these changes. Theme.json provides a consolidated and canonical way to manage default styles as opposed to theme support flags. Theme.json support will be more robust in the future. WordPress 5.8 includes the following options:
Set Color and Typography block presets.
Add custom colors to the color palette, gradient options, and Duotone presets.
Register font families and font sizes for blocks.
Add or remove support for specific block settings that were previously set via the add_theme_support function via PHPPHPPHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://php.net/manual/en/intro-whatis.php..
Set specific block properties supported by that block, including typography, color, width, borders, etc.
Developers can enable theme.json by including it in the active theme’s root directory. You can learn more about theme.json from the developer handbook.
Next Iteration of Block Supports
The block support mechanism allows block authors to make their blocks customizable via adding support for style properties: font size, color, etc. Under the hood, this mechanism bounds UI controls to the block sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. & toolbar, creates an implicit attribute for the block, and casts the implicit attribute to some DOM characteristic of the root element of the block (a style attribute or a new class). Developers working on WordPress 5.8 are encouraged to use block.json file metadata as the canonical way to register block types and define block supports.
This next iteration allows block authors to have a finer-grained control of how block supports work. As part of this, block authors don’t need to fiddle with controls and attribute flow.
Block Design Tools
WordPress 5.8 introduces new block design tools that can be enabled through the block.json metadata file and are supported in the new theme.json configuration file:
color.link. Adds block controls that allow the user to set link color in a block.
typography.fontSize. Signals that a block supports font-size CSSCSSCSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site. style property. When it does, the block editor will show a UI control for the user to set its value.
typography.lineHeight. Signals that a block supports the line-height CSS style property. When it does, the block editor will show a UI control for the user to set its value.
spacing.margin, and spacing.padding. Shows that a block supports some spacing CSS properties. When it does, the editor will show UI controls for the user to set values.
layout. Simplifies the way themes define and style alignments. Theme devs can add layout config in theme.json and specify which containers inherit the config.
Duotone effect for images in blocks
WordPress 5.8 allows you to colorize your image and cover blocks with duotone filters! Duotone can add a pop of color to your designs and style your pictures (or videos in the cover block) to integrate well with your themes. The duotone effect is similar to a black and white filterFilterFilters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output., but instead of the shadows being black and the highlights being white, you get to pick your own colors for the shadows and highlights. This feature is accomplished with the help of a new customized color filter using an SVG filter. This is available as a “block supports” feature by default in the core Image and Cover blocks for both images and videos. You’ll be able to find it in the block toolbar settings. This can be supported in blocks from third parties and the color presets can be customized by themes within theme.json! More details in the WordPress blog.
WebP Support
WebP is a modern image format that provides improved lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. WebP images are usually 30% smaller than JPEG or PNG images and are supported in all modern browsers. From WordPress version 5.8 forward, you can upload and use WebP images in WordPress like you would a JPEG or PNG image today (as long as your hosting service supports WebP). Switching to the WebP format for your images will improve your site’s performance and your site visitor’s experience. Developers or plugins can use the wp_editor_set_quality filter to set the quality setting. You can read more about WebP support in this Make/Core blog post and Trac.
Request for feedback
What have you planned for sharing WordPress 5.8 with your local meetup group? Are you organizing an outreach meetup, or would you be interested in scheduling a testing sprint? What can we do together to help people learn all about the release? Let us know in the comments!
We said hello to the latest major WordPress release – version 5.7 “Esperanza,” on March 9, 2021. MeetupMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. organizers can help promote the latest release by organizing local meetupsMeetupMeetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. focused on the release. This post highlights some features of WordPress 5.7 that local meetup organizers might want to highlight to their local communities, in an online meetup discussion, or via an email message to the group.
Updates for Publishers and Users
WordPress 5.7 came with several updates that will be of interest to publishers and users of WordPress. You can now find a brief overview of notable new features included in version 5.7 on the release post.
Drag and drop blocks directly from the inserter Blocks and blockBlockBlock 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. patterns can now be dragged and dropped directly from the block inserter. To see this in action, click on the Inserter icon (⊕) at the top left of the editor. (Top Toolbar) – it shows up a list of blocks on the left-hand side. You can now choose any block or block pattern from the inserter and drag + drop it directly into the editor.
Reusable blocks The release has several enhancements which make reusable blocks more stable and easier to use. Reusable blocks now save automatically with the post when you click the Update button. Read about WordPress 5.7 reusable blocks in detail on this post in the WordPress blog!
Text labels for the block toolbar If you would prefer to see text labels rather than icons in the block toolbar, now you can turn on the Display button labels setting to see text labels. You can find this new setting in Preferences > Appearance.
After enabling this setting, you will see text for menu options instead of icons while using the block toolbar.
Custom font size options for the list block and the code block You can now change font sizes for the list block and the code block directly from the editor.
Updates for Site Builders and Developers
The WordPress 5.7 Field Guide and other Dev Notes are a great place to start learning more about the technical details related to this release, including APIAPIAn 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.-related enhancements. A summary of these notes include:
This project is the first part of a larger project in cleaning up WordPress admin CSSCSSCSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site.. This new streamlined color palette collapses all the colors that used to be in the WordPress source code down to seven coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. colors and a range of 56 shades that meet the WCAG 2.0 AA recommended contrast ratio against white or black.
A PostCSS tool has been published, which can be used on any CSS file to either replace or create a second CSS file with the 5.7 colors – this is essentially the same process that ran over core, so it should make the exact matches in pluginPluginA 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 CSS.
WordPress 5.7 introduces a new feature that allows website administrators to send a reset password link to existing users manually. This can help when users lose their password and cannot use the lost password link for any reason.
WordPress will be able to detect whether the current environment already supports HTTPSHTTPSHTTPS is an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that you are connected to. The 'S' at the end of HTTPS stands for 'Secure'. It means all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted. This is especially helpful for protecting sensitive data like banking information.. If this is the case, it provides a call-to-action button in the HTTPS status section in Site Health, which switches the site from HTTPHTTPHTTP 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. to HTTPS with a single click.
Request for feedback
Are you organizing a local meetup to promote WordPress 5.7? What are your favorite features of WordPress 5.7? What features have your local community buzzing? Let us know in the comments!
