The WordPress Developers Chat meeting took place on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 20:00 UTC in core on Make WordPress Slack (or #core in Matrix).
Key info
Announcements
🎉 WordPress 6.4.1 is out!: Thank you to every single person who has been involved and continues to contribute to 6.4! (Also see the original release post.)
Additional background information on the release:
Highlighted Posts
@webcommsat emphasized that developers with 6.4 knowledge can really help with reviews and contributions toward End User docs. The sooner the documentation is published, the sooner it can benefit the community.
And some items from last week’s cancelled chat to touch on:
@jeffpaul called on potential 6.5/6.6/6.7 leads to share their thoughts on this post.
- Accessibility improvements in the 6.4 release: Check out this rundown of a11y 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) items addressed in 6.4.
- Proposal to discontinue the weekly #core-editor meetings: Add your thoughts about this change, and opportunities to incorporate editor discussions in Dev Chat.
- Shareable performance testing utils: Join the discussion to explore ways that projects can incorporate performance testing as part of their development workflow.
And finally, some reminders ⏲️:
- Call for 6.4.x Release Managers: Work on improving 6.4 continues after the main release, so please consider joining the minor 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. squad to help keep 6.4 healthy.
- Call for volunteers to help with 6.4 end-user documentation: The Docs team is looking for volunteers to revise end-user docs (HelpHub) for 6.4. Check out the post and learn how to pitch in! Wait…did I mention this already? Yep — but it’s so important for our user community ❤️.
Release Updates
Next minor release: 6.4.2
@jeffpaul noted that if minor release squad volunteers can be found soon, that there’s a possibility of shipping a 6.4.2 minor release before year’s end. He requested feedback on whether there are any urgent/important items that need to be addressed soon.
@jorbin has been watching the (6.4) minor release issues report, and noted that #59847 seems the most urgent. He also pointed out nice-to-have editor package backports in #59828. If volunteers can be found to support the release, then he suggested a target of the week of November 27, 2023.
@joemcgill noted that #59847 is nearly ready, and requested feedback on the related PR.
👉🏻 Volunteers who can help with the 6.4.2 minor release (and determine timing) should drop a note in #6-4-release-leads.
Next major 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.: 6.5
- The development cycle page has been created. It will be populated after discussing release timings and the finalization of the squad.
- Are you able to help with future bug 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? Check out the 6.5 scrub schedule.
- And keep tabs on the #6-5-release-leads channel for additional updates.
@jorbin asked that 6.5 ticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. scrub participants keep an eye out for regressions that should be moved to the 6.4.2 milestone, to get fixes delivered to users more quickly.
@webcommsat shared a link to the November 14 scrub for anyone looking at tickets async, and called on contributors to help with patches and writing of tests. 🙏🏻
Open Floor
Proposal to Cancel #core-editor Meetings
(This discussion started during highlights with regards to this proposal, and is shared here for readability.)
@jeffpaul expressed worry about losing touch with Gutenberg 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/ development without regular meetings and sought alternative ways to stay updated. @jorbin suggested incorporating editor updates into existing meetings, particularly emphasizing involvement from major release editor leads.
@webcommsat highlighted the usefulness of core-editor summaries and proposed integrating regular updates into the dev chat agenda. @ironprogrammer raised the question of where the editor summary would originate if the meetings themselves were cancelled. @jeffpaul suggested obtaining editor updates during dev chat to ensure communication of updates and blockers across the project.
The idea of carving out an official “editor updates” section in dev chat was considered, and @jorbin suggested seeking volunteers from the #core-editor channel to participate in the chat. @annezazu volunteered to take on the responsibility and discussed potential ways to share editor updates, including during the meeting or through agenda posts. The need for asynchronous options, given different time zones, was acknowledged.
@webcommsat suggested having a dedicated section for editor updates on the dev chat agenda post, and plan for asynchronous sharing. @annezazu volunteered to make the meetings and incorporate asynchronous sharing, considering her near term availability across time zones. The importance of avoiding disruptions during meetings was discussed, as was the possibility of maintaining #core-editor office hours for specific questions related to the editor.
2024 Core Team Reps Nominations
@webcommsat gave a reminder for #core contributors to have a look at the draft post: Nominations for Core Team Reps: 2024 Edition. The dates/timing may need revising, and team reps are looking into the possibility of having the voting poll embedded into the post to make it easier to vote. Please share your feedback in #core and CC @webcommsat and @hellofromtonya.
WordPress 6.4 Retrospective
@cbringmann shared WordPress 6.4 Retrospective, and asked that anyone who has contributed to the release to reflect and share their thoughts on the release process (instructions in the post). A follow-up post will be published in December.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on 22 November 2023 at 20:00 UTC .
Are you interested in helping draft Dev Chat summaries? Volunteer at the next meeting!
Props @webcommsat for collaboration on this post and meeting preparation.
#6-4, #6-5, #dev-chat, #meeting, #summary
