Updating jQuery version shipped with WordPress

This has been a long time coming; the TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. #37110 is already few years old.

Following the recommendations of the jQuery team, the updating has to happen in stages:

  1. Remove jQuery Migrate 1.x. This is planned for WordPress 5.5.
  2. Update to the latest version of jQuery and add the latest jQuery Migrate. This is tentatively planned for WordPress 5.6 depending on test results. Updating to the latest jQuery UIUI User interface, version 1.12.1, is also planned for 5.6.
  3. Remove jQuery Migrate. This is tentatively planned for WordPress 5.7 or later, depending on testing.

As planned, a Test jQuery Updates 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 was released to make it easy to test different versions of jQuery, jQuery Migrate, and jQuery UI. Please install it and thoroughly test if everything works as expected, especially on the front-end, or at the settings pages of other WordPress plugins.

How to help with testing

The plugin has a settings screen found under the Plugins menu in WordPress adminadmin (and super admin). Different versions of the jQuery libraries can be selected there for testing. Please test by:

  1. Disabling jQuery Migrate, and leaving jQuery and jQuery UI at the default versions (for WordPress 5.5).
  2. Selecting jQuery 3.5.1, enabling jQuery Migrate, and selecting jQuery UI 1.12.1 (for WordPress 5.6).
Test jQuery Updates settings screen, under the Plugins menu.

Updating your code

To get ready for this jQuery update, it’s important that you update your code. The migrate plugin will assist you in identifying issues. Additionally, the jQuery Core 3.0 Upgrade Guide and 3.5 Upgrade Guide provide detailed information about what has changed. As the browser supported list is also updated, this is also a great time for you to revisit what versions of browsers are supported by your themes and plugins.

See a bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority.?

If you find a bug in Test jQuery Updates, or if you run into a jQuery related issue, please report it at https://github.com/WordPress/wp-jquery-update-test. If the issue is with a default script in WordPress, please open a new ticket on Trac.

Thanks @andreamiddleton, @annezazu, and @jorbin for helping with this post.

#5-5, #jquery

#dev-notes