Brian Alexander 10:10 pm on May 3, 2023
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Dev Chat Summary, May 3, 2023

The WordPress Developers Chat meeting took place on May 3, 2023 at 20:00 UTC in the core channel of Make WordPress Slack.

Key Links

Highlighted Posts

Here is an overview of changes in TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. between April 24 and May 1, 2023:

  • 7 commits
  • 21 contributors
  • 50 tickets created
  • 3 tickets reopened
  • 38 tickets closed

Release Updates

6.3 Major Releasemajor release A release, identified by the first two numbers (3.6), which is the focus of a full release cycle and feature development. WordPress uses decimaling count for major release versions, so 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, and 3.1 are sequential and comparable in scope.

@ironprogrammer noted that the 6.3 squad was being composed over in #6-3-release-leads, with the team and dates to be finalized by the end of the week.

6.2.1 Minor ReleaseMinor Release A set of releases or versions having the same minor version number may be collectively referred to as .x , for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.3, and all other versions in the 5.2 (five dot two) branch of that software. Minor Releases often make improvements to existing features and functionality.

@audrasjb provided a minor release update:

  • On Trac, there are 22 tickets in milestone, 11 are closed as fixed, and 2 others are awaiting backportbackport A port is when code from one branch (or trunk) is merged into another branch or trunk. Some changes in WordPress point releases are the result of backporting code from trunk to the release branch. to 6.2.
  • On 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/, there are 15 issues/PRs in the milestone, with 8 of them fixed and merged to core. @mamaduka is leading the Gutenberg work.

@audrasjb will run a 6.2.1 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. scrub on May 4, 2023 at 15:00 UTC.

@audrasjb also shared a proposed schedule for the minor release, and asked for input:

If no feedback is provided regarding the schedule, @audrasjb will publish the release planning post to Make/Core later today.

Maintainers: Component Help Requests

@afragen requested further feedback on Trac #22316 (PR 3032) and the 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 Dependencies feature pluginFeature Plugin A plugin that was created with the intention of eventually being proposed for inclusion in WordPress Core. See Features as Plugins., noting a desire to see it land in 6.3. @ironprogrammer noted that testing could be performed using the plugin or Core patchpatch A special text file that describes changes to code, by identifying the files and lines which are added, removed, and altered. It may also be referred to as a diff. A patch can be applied to a codebase for testing.. Andy suggested that a simple way to test would be to start with a clean installation, install/activate the Plugin Dependencies feature plugin (if not using the PR), and install and activate The Events Calendar CategoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. Colors plugin, which includes the necessary headers to trigger the dependencies feature. There are additional test plugins within the feature plugin directory.

Open Floor

Comments from the agenda provided the first couple of topics for discussion:

@pskli requested that Trac 57300 be reviewed, which deals with fatals related to parse_tax_query(). Neither @audrasjb nor @oglekler could reproduce the issue, and agreed that clear reproduction steps were required to move it forward. Olga agreed to update the ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. and request this information.

@margolisj requested that the following E2E test package prerelease be prioritized: https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/43998. @ironprogrammer summarized that the PR was stalled due to a lack of input related to versioning the prerelease package @wordpress/e2e-test-utils-playwright. Brian requested comment from editor package maintainers, noting there were numerous requests for the package’s release in the PR.

@oglekler drew attention to two tickets that might remove clutter from WP adminadmin (and super admin), and adopt a more modern look and improved UXUX User experience:

#51006: Add a mechanism for accessible tooltips in core — @joedolson was confident about providing/validating 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) for the ticket, but indicated a desire to collaborate with a JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/. developer to help ensure that scripting best practices were met. @oglekler, @audrasjb, and Joe shared example tooltip patterns/libraries to consider, and agreed that it might be simpler to work from the good parts of prior examples and develop a custom solution well suited for WordPress. Joe agreed to add requirements to the ticket to help move this work forward.

#21583: Improve discoverability and visual design of Screen Options and Help Panels — The clock ran out for Dev Chat, so this ticket was not discussed during the meeting. @oglekler asked that this ticket be raised during the next Dev Chat, and due to its importance, suggested it be scheduled for the 6.4 release.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on May 10, 2023 at 20:00 UTC.

Are you interested in helping draft Dev Chat summaries? Volunteer at the start of the next meeting on the #core Slack channel.

Props @pbiron and @audrasjb for peer review of this summary, and to everyone who participated in the Dev Chat.

#6-3, #6-2, #dev-chat, #meeting, #summary