Editor chat summary: 6 October, 2021

This post summarizes the weekly editor chat meeting (agenda here) held on  Wednesday, October 6 2021, 04:00 PM GMT+1. in Slack. Moderated by @paaljoachim.

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/ 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 releases

Gutenberg 11.7 RC Thanks to @zieladam for tackling the release.
What’s new in Gutenberg 11.6 release notes. Thanks to @ntsekouras for writing the notes and handling the release.

WordPress 5.9

October 14th is the date when the decision for “Go, no go” for Full Site Editing to be included in WordPress 5.9 will be decided.

Preliminary Road to 5.9. A quick overview of the main areas and features currently underway for 5.9 in Gutenberg.

What’s next in Gutenberg

What’s next in Gutenberg: Mid-September 2021.

Key project updates

Based on the scope for Site Editing projects.

Template Editor

• No update currently mentioned. Check out the Full Site Editing label of current issues in the Gutenberg repo on GithubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/.

Global Styling

• Here is an example of a PR just merged: Refactor how the Global Styles access and sets data. Check out the Global Styles label of current issues in the Gutenberg repo on Github.

Patterns

• PR which will land soon: Featured patterns from pattern directory

Navigation 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. & Navigation Editor

Update – 2021-10-06

• Discussion is still continuing on the best way to ensure interoperability and compatibility between Nav block and Nav Editor.
• Looks like there will be a Hallway Hangout on Wednesday 13th October (TBC). Agenda will be posted to Make Blogblog (versus network, site).
• @talldan posted a nice summary of current state of things in Slack. There’s a lot of great energy in the team right now and we are looking to coalesce around a shared set of objectives.

Components squad

Shipping:

• The recently introduced Navigator components are now used in the preferences modal as well, validating the approach used in the new Global Styles sidebar. Navigator has also seen further refinements this week, with a move to TypeScriptand some accessibility improvements.

In Progress:

• We’re experimenting with a few approaches to refining the animation of Navigatorscreens.
• We’re beginning to use the new ToolsPanel, introduced for dimensions controls, with typography tools. The planned typography tools work will require a number of changes to existing components, including a greatly expanded FontSizePickercomponent.

Mobile team

 Shipped:

• Top 5 embeds blocks directly available in the block picker, Retry feature, specific embed’s icon and label in placeholder and bottom sheets.
• Added a way to contact support from inside editor.
• Added automated tests for editor onboarding.

Fixes:

• Fixed an image block regressionregression A software bug that breaks or degrades something that previously worked. Regressions are often treated as critical bugs or blockers. Recent regressions may be given higher priorities. A "3.6 regression" would be a bug in 3.6 that worked as intended in 3.5. causing the images to render with a fixed height and 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. preventing the columns block from rendering in the editor in some occasions.

In Progress:

• Embed block improvements.
• GSS Font size, line height, colors.

Task Coordination

@annezazu

• Shipped block themes switching summary: https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/10/05/fse-program-block-theme-switching-summary/
• Shared patterns party call for testing: https://make.wordpress.org/test/2021/09/29/fse-program-testing-call-10-pattern-party/
• Shared coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. editor improvement post on accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (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): https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/10/06/core-editor-improvement-continued-progress-on-accessibility/

@ntsekouras

• Landed: show “none” as an alignment option and use contextual text to clarify settings
• A fix in PostCommentContent block that was broken
• I’ve started working on Typography tools issue – here is a rough draft PR for FontSize control.

@amustaque97

Worked on Update Callers to handle when getBlockType return undefined (PR has been merged.)

@mamaduka

• Helping with PR reviews and testing.
• Merged the last PR for optimizing useSelect calls.
• Started working on remaining items in the individual block locking feature.

Open Floor

@welcher

• There is a concerted effort to update https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg-examples happening now.

@mkaz

• Any issues with switching Gutenberg examples repo (https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg-examples) default branch to trunk? It’ll be nice to have it consistent.

@bph

• This week’s Live Q & A is tomorrow at 16:00 UTC Going from classic to block-based theme building
• Next week, Helen, Mark and Riad discuss how to make it easier to build custom blocks
• On 10/28 LQA is with members of the BuddyPress Team discussion how to convert widgets to blocks.

Times and links are all available on Gutenbergtimes.com

@paaljoachim

• Can someone create a WP 5.9 Github project board to where we can focus on Full Site Editing and general 5.9 issues/PR’s? As it has earlier been very useful to have the project board to check for issues related to a release.
  
  @priethor
  I can kick it off, sure. I was looking forward to the go/no-go demo next week so that we can have a more clear scope of the must-haves before creating it.

@talldanwp

• The following PR needs some discussion: Use theme mods for templates and template parts
  “I was referred to this PR, and it seems like it had a lot of traction in 5.8 but didn’t make it in time. It’s still there needing reviews and possibly a decision for 5.9 and it seems like something that shouldn’t be left too late, otherwise the same will happen again.
  (I would review it myself, but I don’t really have the full knowledge required).”
  
  @get_dave
  It would be great if there was a recap summary which captures the current state of discussion. It seems pretty important for the utility of Template Parts. (Dave added a comment.)

@Gemini Labs

• In Gutenberg 11.6 the ServerSideRender component was updated to display the existing content while the new response is fetched. There is bug with this change which I outlined here: https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/28297#issuecomment-932723947. I thought it might be useful to bring it up again here in light of the recent Gutenberg 11.7 RCrelease 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). release (thanks @zieladam!).
  Bug issue opened here: Bug in ServerSideRender where the block disappears during render.
• I would like to ask if anyone here had any concerns about adding a hook (or some other solution) to ServerSideRender which allows a plugin author to trigger something after a block has rendered.
  I opened a Feature Requestfeature request A feature request should generally begin the process in the ideas forum, on a mailing list, as a plugin, or brought to the attention of the core team, such as through scope meetings held for each major release. Unsolicited tickets of this variety are typically, therefore, discouraged. for this on Github here with a further explanation: https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/35294

@get_dave

• I found this forum post asking if there is a separate Read More block for use in a Query LoopLoop The 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.? Currently it seems the Read more is locked inside the ExcerptExcerpt An 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.. There is also a Gutenberg issue for it here: Could we have Read more link as a stand alone block?

@amustaque97

• ToggleGroupControl: Missing border when initial value is undefined is going to be addressed as part of PR Storybook: Add story for TypographyPanel or we can create a separate PR for that?
• In labels I don’t see hacktoberfest. Is there any decision I’m not aware of? It may help someone.
  
  @ntsekouras
  It doesn’t have to be a part of this PR. It’s closely related with this one: ToggleGroupControl: Visual state of an undefined value is inconsistent I’ve started looking a bit at these as I had ported the ToggleGroupControl. Do you want to collaborate on this? Some of the things there involve the internal usage of RadioGroup from Reakit and might not be exactly first good issue material..

@zebulan

• Just noting that the PR to simplify and re-enable the Table of Contents block is still waiting for feedback/reviews and has been for 3 months now. ToC block: re-enable + use static markup and only support core Heading and Page Break blocks.

#core-editor, #core-editor-summary, #gutenberg, #meeting-notes, #summary