Dev Chat Summary, October 18, 2023

The WordPress Developers Chat meeting took place on October 18, 2023 at 20:00 UTC in the core channel of Make WordPress Slack.

Key Links

Announcements

Highlighted Posts

  • WordPress 6.4 Release Candidate Phase: Learn or refresh your knowledge of what happens during 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).. Questions? Please post them in the comments.
  • 6.4 Dev Notes: It’s been a busy time in the Make/CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. blogblog (versus network, site)! Stay updated on the latest technical updates by checking out posts conveniently tagged with #dev-notes-6-4. Major props to dev notedev 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. authors and wranglers who have worked tirelessly to make this happen! 🎉
  • WordPress core is now using Playwright for all browser-based tests: e2e fans rejoice! This milestone promises improved test stability and better options for authoring tests. If you’ve been holding back while the migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. from Puppeteer to Playwright has been underway, now is a great time to jump back in to improve Core e2e coverage.
  • What’s new in Gutenberg 16.8 (11 October): Check out updates to the Cover 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., Font Library, and more in this roundup of the latest release.

Release Updates

WordPress 6.4

RC 2 is scheduled for next Tuesday, October 24, 2023.

Stay in the 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. with 6.4 by following:

Additional release updates from the floor included:

  • A question was raised in #6-4-release-leads about removing some 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/-only packages from the next npm package update to Core.
  • Some 6.4 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. drafts are still needed for a couple of areas, so a gentle reminder was raised to keep the official 6.4 Documentation Tracker updated with latest progress. Reach out on the Tracker for help or to the Documentation release group in the #6-4-release-leads channel.

WordPress 6.3.2

  • WordPress 6.3.2 – Maintenance and Security release: This follow-up to 6.3.1 introduces several 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. fixes and security updates. Make sure to update!
  • Keep tabs on the #6-3-release-leads channel for future updates.

Open Floor

Automated Welcome/Signposting for #core

@webcommsat asked if Core would consider utilizing an automated messaging/workflow tool similar to that used by Training. When users joined the channel, they would receive a private message from Slackbot that includes channel-specific info and links, such as the Dev Chat schedule, or orientation for new contributors and contributor days. Abha agreed to draft a proposal to seek broader input from Core and new contributors.

Use of noopener noreferrer in New Window/Tab Links

@presskopp had a question regarding use of rel="noopener noreferrer" in links with target="_blank", which were supposed to have been removed. To help resolve instances where this unneeded behavior remains (in Core and Gutenberg), contribute to 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. #53843: Remove adding of rel=”noopener” to links with target=”_blank”.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be on October 25, 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 @webcommsat for peer review of this post.

#6-3, #6-4, #dev-chat, #meeting, #summary