New 5.0 Target Date

Based on the stability, testing, and reports on the release candidates for WordPress 5.0 so far, we are now targeting Thursday December 6th for public release and announcement. 5.0.1 will open for commits soon, and will be an area people can choose to focus on at the contributor dayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. at WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. US in Nashville this Sunday.

As before, if new information arises that indicates the software is not stable, we will adjust or remove the target date.

What if I don’t want to update on that date, or I’m not ready?

That’s totally okay, there’s nothing that says you must update the moment there’s a new version released. You can push the button whenever you’re ready.

What if I want to upgrade but I’m not ready for 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/?

No problem, install the Classic Editor plugin and 5.0 will be indistinguishable from 4.9.8 for your posting and editing experience, and you’ll still get the other improvements and fixes that have gone into 5.0. Classic Editor is supported until 2022, and now allows you to switch between Classic and Gutenberg on a per-user or per-post level.

Over 1.3 million .org sites have already opted in to either the Gutenberg or Classic Editor 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, which is more than run any single version of WP prior to 4.7! Those sites will notice nothing change besides a version number.