DevChat meeting summary – June 16, 2021

Thanks to @peterwilsoncc and @jeffpaul for leading the 05:00 and 20:00 UTC dev chats respectively.
Agenda followed for both the meetings.

Link to 05:00 UTC devchat meeting archive in Slack // Link to 20:00 UTC devchat meeting archive in Slack

Thanks to @nalininonstopnewsuk and @webcommsat for the dev chat notes. 

Blogblog (versus network, site) post highlights

Thanks to all everyone who published items and helping document and share knowledge across the project.

Blog posts that need attention

  • 5.8 Beta 2 Post – Testing required for 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. to help ensure as smooth a release as possible. Thanks to all those involved in testing, contributing to Beta 2 and the post.

Beta and 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. scrubs

We are now in the Beta period where focus shifts to tasks and regressions found in Beta releases.

Bug scrub schedule for 5.8

Next milestone: Beta 3 on Tuesday 22 June 2021.

Final Beta release before Release Candidaterelease candidate One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see alpha (beta). 1 on Tuesday 29 June 2021.

Contributors needed/ attention:

  • Theme contributors to test the new blocks in the default themes. Contact @jeffpaul or @desrosj

More information from the Slack discussion 

  • Open Trac Tickets that need various forms of assistance (patches, testing, etc). Josepha called especially all sponsored contributors to help get over the finish line.
  • Contributors skilled on WP-CLI needed for Meta Ticket 5737 – block.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. strings not being extracted  
  • Feedback on:
    • Core Trac Ticket #53428 part of the work to style new coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. blocks for the default themes, and related 
    • Core Trac Ticket #53389  Bundled Themes: Add styling for blocks added in 5.8, and 
    • Core Trac Ticket #53398 Twenty Twenty-One: Polish new blocks added in 5.8
  • About Page and MarComms
    • A timeline for the About Page has been set so that the copy can be ready for Beta 3. Two days set aside for fact-checking. Deadline for final copy and design is RC1. Marketing post on plans for discussion on the text.
    • Design to date on the About Page ticket
    • Josepha: From that content we will also build some of the other marketing pieces including the release post. If you want to give it an early, pre-editing read there are links in #marketing. This will be more than content on the About Page. 
    • Thank you to everyone who contributed to the marketing collaborations and to @chantabourne, @marybaum and @webcommsat for organizing, supporting contributors, and giving time. You can still add to the text discussions on content for multi-purpose use – details in the #Marketing channel on 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/.. Josepha has extended the collaboration for 15-16 hours to give extra time.
    • Josepha shared there would be additional broader marketing aspects when new role (advertised in February) joins
    • @mkaz: WordPress News has been publishing articles and podcasts highlighting many of the upcoming changes too.
    • @clorith: highlighted @desrosj has started identifying things and making individual items for them, which he suggested would be the right way forward. Highlighted the need more clarity on what is an isn’t included in 5.8, and some sanity checks on some of the defaults going in
    • @oglekler: Core Trac Ticket #52762: Suggestion for an About Page 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. to dashboard  
  • @youknowriad: follow-ups highlighted
    • Make sure default themes are adapted properly for the default template
    • Request for help from themers (test and adapt the theme styles as needed) 
    • TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. a bug related to media uploads
    • Provide a way to define a different default template per theme

Component maintainers updates

  • @sergey: build / test tools, date/ time, general, Ii8N, Permalinks: no major news this week
  • @audrasjb: no major news from upgrade/ install, menus, widgets
  • @clorith and @afragen: Site Health’s got nothing big this week

Open floor

@mkaz: we’ve started publishing dev notesdev note Each important change in WordPress Core is documented in a developers note, (usually called dev note). Good dev notes generally include a description of the change, the decision that led to this change, and a description of how developers are supposed to work with that change. Dev notes are published on Make/Core blog during the beta phase of WordPress release cycle. Publishing dev notes is particularly important when plugin/theme authors and WordPress developers need to be aware of those changes.In general, all dev notes are compiled into a Field Guide at the beginning of the release candidate phase. around the 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. Editor. More to come during the next few weeks.

@chanthaboune: request for “some general signal boosting on what FSE in and isn’t in WordPress 5.8. There’s a lot of confusion, but also a lot of documentation (both existing and to come) so we can use some help spreading that around.”

@chanthaboune: “I wanted to underline how much I appreciate the thoughtfulness and care that has gone into this release. I know you have plenty of options about where you can spend your time, and this release is going to be a great building block for full site editing. Big thank you to everyone working on this as we head into our final weeks of this marathon!”

#5-8, #dev-chat