Roadmap to 6.8

WordPress 6.8 is set to be released on April 15th, 2025. This release continues refining foundational features introduced in previous versions, focusing on improving data views, query loops, and 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. interactions. It introduces a more streamlined design experience with a “Zoom Out” editing approach, expanded style controls, and enhanced typography options. Additionally, new “Write” and “Design” modes provide users with greater flexibility when editing content. APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. developments, including the Block HooksHooks In WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same. and Block Bindings APIs, aim to enhance extensibility, while speculative loading integration and performance optimizations seek to improve site speed. 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) improvements and ongoing support for PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher 8.x ensure WordPress remains user-friendly and forward-compatible.

As always, what’s shared here is being actively pursued, but doesn’t necessarily mean each will make it into the final release of WordPress 6.8.

For a more detailed look at the work related to the block editor in WordPress 6.8, please refer to the 6.8 release cycle page and review the currently open Iteration issues. These Iteration issues reflect actively scoped work targeted for this release. Additionally, to gain insight into ongoing developments and future enhancements, you can explore the discussions and updates shared in the latest Gutenberg pull requests and tracking issues.

Design Improvements

The design focus will be on polish and fix, clearing ‘needs design feedback‘ issues.

The Style Book provides a comprehensive overview of your site’s colors, typography, and block styles in an organized layout. Each block example and style group is labeled, making it easy to preview and understand your theme’s current design settings. For classic themes that support the Style Book, site patterns have been relocated to Appearance > Design > Patterns, consolidating all design-related functionality from the Site Editor into one place. Previously, patterns were listed under Appearance > Patterns.

In zoom-out mode, users can now apply different section styles and designs directly from the toolbar, cycling through them and inspecting them in the context of the rest of the page. This enhancementenhancement Enhancements are simple improvements to WordPress, such as the addition of a hook, a new feature, or an improvement to an existing feature. streamlines the decision-making and production process (#67140).

Another user experience improvement can be found in the list of fonts: Each font family is now previewed in the font picker dropdown and gives users a better indication as to what the font will look like (#67118).

The outcome of the Image manipulation methods are now better communicated in the block editor. The success notices are now displayed at the bottom of the editor. The notices also come with a handy Undo link to revert to the original if necessary (#67314, #67312).

Design tools

  • Post Comments Link: Add Border Support. (#68450)
  • Post Template: Add Border and Spacing Support. (#64425)
  • Query Total: Add Border Support. (#68323)
  • Background supports: Add default controls supports. (#68085)
  • Block supports: Show selected item in font family select control. (#68254)
  • Fix: Ensure consistency in editor tools for navigation buttons and delete options. (#67253)
  • Global Styles: Fix handling of booleans when stabilizing block supports. (#67552)

Support for Speculative Loading

Building upon the success of the Speculative Loading plugin, which has over 40,000 active installations, WordPress 6.8 plans to integrate speculative loading into coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. This feature utilizes the Speculation Rules API to prefetch URLs dynamically based on user interaction, aiming to improve performance metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). The current proposal has default configuration employing conservative prefetching to ensure safety and compatibility, but feedback is requested on this. Developers will have access to filters for customization, allowing adjustments to the speculative loading behavior as needed (#62503).

Polishing the 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

By polishing the query loop we are focusing on enhancements like filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. by year, pagination, fetching results by adding offset, block spacing improvements, Sticky post not working when query type is default in editor, query loop depth set etc.

(This data comes from WordPress 6.8 Editorial Tasks and 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/ releases from 19.4 to 20.2.)

Refining Data Views

Working on enhancements like Reduce the size of action buttons in Grid layout, Table layout improvements, Density option in table layout , Use badge component in dataview grids, Remove popover max height.

Working on fixing and enhancing List layouts, grid layouts, text truncation, padding and spacing in grid and list.

Zoom out to compose with patterns

With patterns getting more feature-rich and pervasive. This effort aims to provide a new, high-level approach to building and interacting with your site, with several key features in development:

  • Improvements to UXUX User experience for dragging patterns (e.g. Hide Zoom Out Inserters when dragging into canvas).
  • UX improvement on Zoom Out (e.g. Rely on Zoom level instead of Zoom Out, Zoom Out shortcut on Windows, Add Keyboard shortcut in editor, Move default background to the iframeiframe iFrame is an acronym for an inline frame. An iFrame is used inside a webpage to load another HTML document and render it. This HTML document may also contain JavaScript and/or CSS which is loaded at the time when iframe tag is parsed by the user’s browser. component, Zoom animation scrollbar fix)
  • Zoom out: fix for inserter

Follow this iteration issue for more information.

API launches and iterations

Interactivity API (Not on track for WordPress 6.8)

In WordPress 6.7, work focused on important improvements to enhance the stability and simplicity of the Interactivity API internals, the introduction of new APIs like getServerState/getServerContext and wp_interactivity_get_element, improvements to the types, and progress on the Gallery block lightbox and Query block’s Instant Search.

In WordPress 6.8, the primary focus will be on:

  • Enhancing client-side navigation, advancing full page client-side navigation while addressing and improving the limitations of region-based client-side navigation.
  • Finishing the lightbox of the Gallery Block and the Instant Search functionality for the Query and Search Blocks.

Work is also continuing to improve the documentation. Follow this tracking issue for more information.

  • Support length property on strings and arrays on the server
  • Interactivity API directives support invalidinvalid A resolution on the bug tracker (and generally common in software development, sometimes also notabug) that indicates the ticket is not a bug, is a support request, or is generally invalid. data attribute characters on the server
  • Support for marking store actions that require synchronous event access (#68097)

Follow this iteration issue and this Trac view for more information.

Block Hooks API

The Block Hooks API is an extensibility mechanism that allows you to dynamically insert blocks into block themes. In WordPress 6.8, work will continue on improvements of Block Hooks.

HTMLHTML HyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers. API

HTML API enhancements will be focused on HTML process speed improvements and new features like introducing safe composable HTML templating, Inner and outer HTML support.

Follow this iteration issue for more information.

Security enhancements

Various security-related enhancements are planned for WordPress 6.8, the most significant of which is the switch to using bcrypt for password hashing. This includes improvements to the algorithm that’s used for storing application passwords and security keys. A dedicated post will be published soon on make/core covering these changes in detail.

Additional performance improvements

A variety of initiatives are also focused on improved loading times like Lazy load post metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress., Lazy load user capabilitiescapability capability is permission to perform one or more types of task. Checking if a user has a capability is performed by the current_user_can function. Each user of a WordPress site might have some permissions but not others, depending on their role. For example, users who have the Author role usually have permission to edit their own posts (the “edit_posts” capability), but not permission to edit other users’ posts (the “edit_others_posts” capability). in wp_user object, ORDER by RAND() speed improvements, cache the result of get_uploaded_header_images(), Improve cache generation in WP_Query class, and Cache duplicate calls to WP_Theme_JSON::sanitize.  In preparation for the WordPress 6.8 release, several key performance improvements have been implemented in the block editor and collectively contribute to a more responsive and efficient editing experience.

  • Navigation Block Optimization: Addressed performance issues in the site editor when handling navigation blocks with multiple submenu items, enhancing responsiveness during template editing (#68875).
  • Selector Efficiency Enhancements: Improved the isBlockVisibleInTheInserter selector to prevent unnecessary computations, resulting in a more efficient block editor experience (#68898).
  • StyleBook Resizing Improvement: Resolved issues causing unsmooth resizing in the StyleBook for classic themes, leading to a more fluid user experience (#68978).
  • Event Handling Optimization: Introduced the withSyncEvent action wrapper utility to streamline event handling, reducing potential performance bottlenecks (#68097).
  • Inserter Selector Optimization: Implemented changes to avoid unbounded requests in inserter selectors, enhancing the efficiency of block retrieval processes (#66817).

Follow this Trac view or this performance project board label for more information.

Continued Accessibility improvements

In WordPress 6.8, we are continuing our work on Accessibility enhancements including Audit of storybook components and Improvements on Grid layout semantics/navigation.

  • Review usage of target=”_blank” in the adminadmin (and super admin)
  • Title attributes galore. They serve no useful purpose.
  • Submit buttons on form fields in the Add Media panel
  • Semantic elements for non-link links
  • Enhancement: Add a wrong password message on password protected posts
  • Code Editor: Linter (HTMLHint) should show error if checkbox doesn’t have associated <label>
  • Media uploader does not restrict file upload `accepts` parameters based on current context
  • Twenty Twenty: with horizontal menu, submenu should be dismissible
  • Add prefixes to all admin notices (Warning, Error, Success, Info)
  • Improve the admin notices accessibility
  • Fix and improve arranging metaboxes
  • Add a mechanism for accessible tooltips in core
  • Twenty Twenty: Menu + Search can cause a scroll jump on close
  • Excess text read with errors in Media Library
  • The WordPress core password reset needs to pre-populate the username to meet WCAGWCAG WCAG is an acronym for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are helping make sure the internet is accessible to all people no matter how they would need to access the internet (screen-reader, keyboard only, etc) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/. 2.2
  • Validation of custom links in admin menu not accessible
  • Simplify add_new_item labels for core post types
  • Update the screen-reader-text CSSCSS Cascading Style Sheets. class and its local implementations
  • Missing “submit” button – bad accessibility
  • Bring in lighter background for admin
  • Add padding and color changes to buttons and inputs
  • Change font weight of settings and other similar labels
  • Adjust background alternate row on post and page tables
  • core/site-title block adds aria-current to the blogblog (versus network, site) page when it is not the front page
  • get_custom_logo does not apply the aria-current attribute in all cases
  • Improve HTML semantics in Site Health Info tables
  • Consider removing title attributes from Classic Editor scripts

Follow this tracking issue and this Trac view for more information.

Find something missing? Want to help?

If you have something you’re working on that you don’t see reflected in this post, please share a comment below so we can all be aware! If you’re reading this and want to help, a great place to start is by looking through each issue associated with each area or by diving into the Polish board where a curated set of issues are in place that anyone can jump in on.

Props @annezazu, @jeffpaul, @joemcgill, @flixos90, @fabiankaegy, @mamaduka, @johnbillion, @joedolson, @karmatosed for prepublish review.

#6-8, #release-roadmap

WordPress 6.7.2 RC1 is now available

WordPress 6.7.2 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is available for testing! Some ways you can help test this minor release:

  • Use the WordPress Beta Tester 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.
    • As this is a minor 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, select the Point Release channel and the Nightlies stream. This is the latest build including the RC and potentially any subsequent commits in trunk.
  • Use WP-CLIWP-CLI WP-CLI is the Command Line Interface for WordPress, used to do administrative and development tasks in a programmatic way. The project page is http://wp-cli.org/ https://make.wordpress.org/cli/ to test: wp core update https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.7.2-RC1.zip
  • Directly download the Beta/RC version.

What’s in this release candidate?

6.7.2 RC1 is a maintenance release with a focus on bugs introduced in WordPress 6.7. In total, this RC features fixes for 32 bugs throughout Core and the Block Editor. This also includes one fix for Twenty Twenty-Five which means a new version of that default theme will be released.

The following coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. tickets and PRs are included:

What’s next?

Reminder: the dev-reviewed workflow (double committer sign-off) is required when making changes to the 6.7 branchbranch A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses branches to store the latest development code for each major release (3.9, 4.0, etc.). Branches are then updated with code for any minor releases of that branch. Sometimes, a major version of WordPress and its minor versions are collectively referred to as a "branch", such as "the 4.0 branch"..

The final release is expected on Tuesday, February 11th, 2025. This date is subject to change if any issues with RC1 are discovered. Coordination will happen in the WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ 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/ #6-7-release-leads channel, and releases are always packaged and tested in #core.

A special thanks to everyone who reported issues, helped test, and helped create patches. The success of 6.7.2 depends on proper testing, so please lend a helping hand.

Thanks to @audrasjb and @desrosj for pre-publication review.

#6-7, #6-7-2, #6-7-x, #minor-releases, #releases

Agenda, Dev Chat, Feb 5, 2025

The next WordPress Developers Chat will take place on Wednesday at 15:00 UTC in the core channel on Make WordPress Slack.

The live meeting will focus on the discussion for upcoming releases, and have an open floor section.

Additional items will be referred to in the various curated agenda sections below. If you have ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. requests for help, please continue to post details in the comments section at the end of this agenda.

Announcements

The Nominations for 2025’s Core Team Reps are now closed. An announcement about next steps will be made soon.

Forthcoming releases

Next 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.: 6.8

We are currently in the WordPress 6.8 release cycle. Read more about the release squad, timeline and focus for this release.

Next maintenance release: 6.7.2

WordPress 6.7.2 is scheduled for February 11, with a 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). planned on February 4.

Review the next minor release milestone.

Next 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/ release: 20.2

The next Gutenberg release will be 20.2, tentatively scheduled for February 5. It will include the following issues.

Discussions

The discussion section of the agenda is to provide a place to discuss important topics affecting the upcoming release or larger initiatives that impact the CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Team. To nominate a topic for discussion, please leave a comment on this agenda with a summary of the topic, any relevant links that will help people get context for the discussion, and what kind of feedback you are looking for from others participating in the discussion.

Topics this week

Editor Updates

You can keep up to date with the major Editor features that are currently in progress by viewing these Iteration issues.

Needs decision:

Aiming to include in 6.8

Needs design:

Needs design feedback:

Some in progress bugs/enhancements:

Props to @krupaly2k for pulling together these updates.

Open floor

Any topic can be raised for discussion in the comments, as well as requests for assistance on tickets. Tickets in the milestone for the next major or maintenance release will be prioritized.

Please include details of tickets / PRs and the links in the comments, and if you intend to be available during the meeting for discussion or if you will be async.

Props to @mamaduka for reviewing the agenda.

#6-8, #agenda, #dev-chat

Summary, Dev Chat, Jan 29, 2025

Start of the meeting in 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/, facilitated by @joemcgill. 🔗 Agenda post.

Announcements

The Nominations for 2025’s Core Team Reps are closing soon! Please nominate people in the comments of that post. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline is January 31, 2025.

Forthcoming releases

Next 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.: 6.8

We are currently in the WordPress 6.8 release cycle. Read more about the release squad, timeline, and focus for this release.

  • ⚠️ 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. 1 is only five weeks away!
  • @krupaly2k is working on a Roadmap post with support from @jeffpaul and @michelleames, with hopes of publishing in the next week.

Next maintenance release: 6.7.2

WordPress 6.7.2 is scheduled for February 11, with an 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). planned for February 4. Review the next minor release milestone.

@jorbin shared that scrubs have been going on, and we have one more tomorrow at 18:00 UTC before RC next week.  As of now, there are no concerns to share.

Next 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/ release: 20.2

The next Gutenberg release will be 20.2, tentatively scheduled for February 5. It will include the following issues.

If you want to help with early testing of things that will likely land in 6.8, testing the Gutenberg releases is an excellent way of doing so. At this point, we’re expecting GB 20.4 to be the final release that will be included in WordPress 6.8, so there’s about four more weeks available before we get to 20.4 RC1

Discussion

Syncing GB packages to trunktrunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision.

  • The latest packages have now been published. @mamaduka is planning to create a draft PR for the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. sync tomorrow.
  • While some open PRs for code needs to be synced, there are no known blockers
  • #62839 still needs to be addressed. It is not believed to be a blockerblocker A bug which is so severe that it blocks a release., but manual intervention is required to dedupe packages.

CSSCSS Cascading Style Sheets. variables for colors: @karmatosed is looking for feedback on what approach should be taken for variables for colors in CSS. Related tickets: #49930, #62872.

The next steps from the conversations summarized by @karmatosed were:

  • I will close the Sass ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker.
  • I will update the CSS variables ticket with this context (so we have one place to decide)
  • I will create that post and lean on awesome people

REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/ – Support for sorting by hierarchy: @mamaduka identified this PR that could use more eyes.

Speculative Loading: @flixos90 is looking for additional feedback on #62503 before merging for 6.8

  • @flixos90 mentioned that the PR has been tested and has good PHPUnit coverage, so it’s ready for a thorough review. Since it’s a new tentative feature for 6.8, I’d like to get at least 1-2 more reviewers.
  • @joemcgill asked specifically for reviews from committers who were not closely involved in the Performance Team to get less biased feedback.
  • 🔗 Link: The PR for review
  • 🔗 Link: The original post proposing the feature

Core Performance Team Reps: The Core Performance team is looking for new Team Reps

Open Floor

Props to @francina for contributing to this summary.

#6-8, #core, #dev-chat, #summary

Performance Chat Summary: 28 January 2025

The full chat log is available beginning here on Slack.

Announcements

  • All meetings will be held fortnightly, following a set agenda laid out in this document
  • With the start of 2025, we are looking for new Team Reps to represent the CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Performance Team within the overall WordPress project. If you have someone to nominate or you would like to volunteer yourself, please leave a comment!
    https://make.wordpress.org/performance/2025/01/13/core-performance-team-rep-nominations-for-2025/
    • Being a Team RepTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. is a great way to contribute, for both new and seasoned contributors. So if you’re new and unsure about it, please don’t hesitate. We are around for onboarding and guidance as needed

Discussion

  • @spacedmonkey working on #57496, #58001 and #59592 all of which could use more eyes on them
  • @mukesh27 The initial context related issue for blocks has been fixed for 6.8 and committed! https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/59662
  • @flixos90 looking for reviews for https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/7860, which is for #62503. Since this is a new performance feature, it would be great to get eyes soon – we probably would want to merge this sooner than later to have ample time for testing
  • @joemcgill left an update on #62126 – TL;DR, this one I was reviewing that needs to be picked up and the original reporter hasn’t responded so it’s likely a puntpunt Contributors sometimes use the verb "punt" when talking about a ticket. This means it is being pushed out to a future release. This typically occurs for lower priority tickets near the end of the release cycle that don't "make the cut." In this is colloquial usage of the word, it means to delay or equivocate. (It also describes a play in American football where a team essentially passes up on an opportunity, hoping to put themselves in a better position later to try again.) unless someone else wants to give it a look.
  • @mukesh27 For accurate sizes, opened two PRs, #1795 and #1818, and currently discussing with @joemcgill the best path forward to address the issue for nested blocks. Received some valuable feedback from Joe, which is being implemented

Our next chat will be held on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 16:00 UTC in the #core-performance channel in Slack

#core-performance, #hosting, #performance, #performance-chat, #summary

Agenda, Dev Chat, Jan 29, 2025

Beginning this week, Dev Chat times for the 6.8 cycle are changing. The next WordPress Developers Chat will take place on Wednesday at 15:00 UTC in the core channel on Make WordPress Slack.

The live meeting will focus on the discussion for upcoming releases, and have an open floor section.

Additional items will be referred to in the various curated agenda sections below. If you have ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. requests for help, please continue to post details in the comments section at the end of this agenda.

Announcements

The Nominations for 2025’s Core Team Reps are closing this week. Please nominate people in the comments of that post. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline is January 31, 2025.

Forthcoming releases

Next 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.: 6.8

We are currently in the WordPress 6.8 release cycle. Read more about the release squad, timeline and focus for this release.

Next maintenance release: 6.7.2

WordPress 6.7.2 is scheduled for February 11, with a 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). planned on February 4.

Review the next minor release milestone.

Next 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/ release: 20.2

The next Gutenberg release will be 20.2, tentatively scheduled for February 5. It will include the following issues.

Discussions

The discussion section of the agenda is to provide a place to discuss important topics affecting the upcoming release or larger initiatives that impact the CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Team. To nominate a topic for discussion, please leave a comment on this agenda with a summary of the topic, any relevant links that will help people get context for the discussion, and what kind of feedback you are looking for from others participating in the discussion.

Topics this week

  • Syncing GB packages to trunktrunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision.: Let’s discuss next steps and potential blockers @mamaduka and @desrosj
  • CSSCSS Cascading Style Sheets. variables for colors: @karmatosed is looking for feedback on what approach should be taken for variables for colors in CSS. Related tickets: #49930, #62872
  • REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/: Support for sorting by hierarchy: @mamaduka identified this PR that could use more eyes.
  • Speculative Loading: @flixos90 is looking for additional feedback on #62503 before merging for 6.8
  • Core Performance Team Reps: The Core Performance team is looking for new Team Reps

Editor Updates

You can keep up to date with the major Editor features that are currently in progress by viewing these Iteration issues.

  • Document outline does not detect headings in the content when template-lock is used – Document outline 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.. Need to hear more options on this
  • Accessibility: Menu: reconsider the modal behavior – Need to discuss in next 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) meeting
  • Non Administrator roles are no longer able to switch post templates (and therefore also cannot preview them) – This is a 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. issue
  • Font size picker: Fix i10n and a11y for HeaderLabel – Accessibility, UIUI User interface components. This PR refactors the font-size-picker component to improve the translationtranslation The process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization. in the HeaderLabel. It ensures that text concatenation issues are resolved for gendered languages (e.g., Italian).
  • Block Editor: Fix ‘isBlockVisibleInTheInserter’ selector helper performance – Fixes recent performance regression in 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 package. – Block Editor, Performance
  • Add format attribute to the palette’s color property – Enhances the 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. schema for WordPress theme.json to enable color swatches and the color picker functionality for hex values within JSON in VS Code.
  • Update paragraph block placeholder text format for consistency – Paragraph enhancementenhancement Enhancements are simple improvements to WordPress, such as the addition of a hook, a new feature, or an improvement to an existing feature. – Updates placeholder text in paragraph blocks to use ‘ / ‘ for the forward slash key.

Thanks to @krupaly2k for pulling together these updates.

Open floor

Any topic can be raised for discussion in the comments, as well as requests for assistance on tickets. Tickets in the milestone for the next major or maintenance release will be prioritized.

Please include details of tickets / PRs and the links in the comments, and if you intend to be available during the meeting for discussion or if you will be async.

#6-8, #agenda, #dev-chat

Summary, Dev Chat, Jan 22, 2025

Start of the meeting in 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/, facilitated by @joemcgill. 🔗 Agenda post.

Announcements

The Nominations for 2025’s Core Team Reps are now open! Please nominate people in the comments of that post. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline is January 31, 2025.

Forthcoming releases

Next 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.: 6.8

We are currently in the WordPress 6.8 release cycle. Read more about the release squad, timeline and focus for this release.

Next maintenance release: 6.7.2

A release schedule for 6.7.2 was announced earlier today. Currently the release date is February 11. Review the next minor release milestone.

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. scrub was held just a few hours ago and all tickets on tracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. for the 6.7.2 release were reviewed. One area that I could use some help with is reviewing all the tickets 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 by the repository owner. https://github.com/https://github.com/orgs/WordPress/projects/232.

Next 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/ release: 20.1

Gutenberg 20.1 was packaged earlier today, including the following issues. The team is currently addressing an issue that blocked the release from being published and the release will be delayed until tomorrow.

Discussion

Proposal: Moving Dev Chat starting next week, January 29, 2025 to 15:00 UTC – Based on conversation last week, and feedback from the release squad availability, it is proposed that we change the time of Dev Chat meetings for the 6.8 cycle to 15:00 UTC. Unless there are any new objections, this updated time will be reflected in the next Dev Chat agenda.

WordPress 6.8 Bug Scrubs – We have two bug scrubs each week scheduled in #core (on Mondays and Thursdays), and other ones in various channels like #accessibility#core-editor, etc. The next one will be held in #core tomorrow at 20:00 UTC. See the 6.8 bug scrub schedule blogpost for more info.

Anyone is welcome to run a scrub, just let @audrasjb know if you’re interested in running one (or more) and he’ll add it to the schedule.

WordPress 6.8 Release Roadmap update@krupaly2k is working on putting this together and had some follow-up questions.

  • There are some open iteration issues, are we planning to work on those for WordPress 6.8? @joemcgill asked @mamaduka to review and follow up.
  • There are two issues in the milestone related to PHPPHP The web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 or higher compatibility
    • #59231 – Prepare for PHP 8.3: @joemcgill and @desrosj will review and see if there are any follow-up tasks planned for this release.
    • #62061 – Prepare for PHP 8.4: @johnbillion is planning to split out remaining tasks and close this issue. No major work is planned.

Syncing Gutenberg updates to trunktrunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision. – We’ve been discussing trying to do this sync earlier this cycle once GB 20.1 is released.

  • There are a number of PRs listed in this GB issue that need to be reviewed in order to help facilitate that process.
  • There’s a bug with the sync command, that needs to be addressed: #62839

#6-8, #core, #dev-chat, #summary

WordPress 6.7.2 Release Planning

WordPress 6.7.2 is scheduled to be the next maintenance release for the 6.7 version. Its release will follow the following preliminary schedule:

  • February 4, 2025 – 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). made available and announced here on the make/coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. site.
  • February 11, 2025 – Final release made available.

Specific times will be decided in advance and adjustments to the schedule may be made. All adjustments will be noted in this post.

Minor or Maintenance releases of WordPress are intended as 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.-fix releases. If you have a 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. that you think should be considered, please put it in the 6.7.2 milestone. If you have a 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 by the repository owner. https://github.com/ issue, please add it to the 6.7.x Editor Tasks board. If you lack bug gardening capabilitiescapability capability is permission to perform one or more types of task. Checking if a user has a capability is performed by the current_user_can function. Each user of a WordPress site might have some permissions but not others, depending on their role. For example, users who have the Author role usually have permission to edit their own posts (the “edit_posts” capability), but not permission to edit other users’ posts (the “edit_others_posts” capability). and have a ticket or issue you wish to highlight for 6.7.2, please add a comment here.

Note: except in extreme situations, only bug fixes will be considered and generally only bugs that have been introduced during the 6.7 cycle.

Get involved with 6.7.2

Bug Scrubs will happen in the #core room during the following times:

Each of the open tickets is going to require development work along with testing and review. You can also run your own scrubs to help ensure that all of the correct tickets are fixed in this release. Additionally, while the intent is for no new translated strings in this release, some locales have strings in 6.7 in need of translation.

General coordination for the release will happen in the #6-7-release-leads channel and decisions around code for the release will be made in the #core room.

This 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. will be led by myself (@jorbin), building off work started by @cbravobernal and @desrosj.

Thank you to @desrosj, @jeffpaul, and @joemcgill for pre-publication review.

#6-7, #6-7-2, #6-7-x

Agenda, Dev Chat, Jan 22, 2025

The next WordPress Developers Chat will take place on Wednesday at 20:00 UTC in the core channel on Make WordPress Slack.

The live meeting will focus on the discussion for upcoming releases, and have an open floor section.

Additional items will be referred to in the various curated agenda sections below. If you have ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. requests for help, please continue to post details in the comments section at the end of this agenda.

Announcements

The Nominations for 2025’s Core Team Reps are remain open. Please nominate people in the comments of that post. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline is January 31, 2025.

Forthcoming releases

Next 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.: 6.8

We are currently in the WordPress 6.8 release cycle. Read more about the release squad, timeline and focus for this release.

Next maintenance release: 6.7.2

UPDATE: A release schedule for 6.7.2 has just been announced. Current release date is February 11.

Review the next minor release milestone.

Next 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/ release: 20.1

The next Gutenberg release will be 20.1, scheduled for January 22. It will include the following issues.

Discussions

The discussion section of the agenda is to provide a place to discuss important topics affecting the upcoming release or larger initiatives that impact the CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Team. To nominate a topic for discussion, please leave a comment on this agenda with a summary of the topic, any relevant links that will help people get context for the discussion, and what kind of feedback you are looking for from others participating in the discussion.

Topics this week

  • Proposal: Moving Dev Chat starting next week, January 29, 2025 to 15:00 UTC. Based on conversation last week, and feedback from the release squad availability, I’m proposing that we change the time of Dev Chat meetings for the 6.8 cycle to 15:00 UTC.
  • [suggestions welcome]

Editor Updates

You can keep up to date with the major Editor features that are currently in progress by viewing these Iteration issues.

  • Show the starter content pattern category on page creation. This touches on the larger new feature slated for 6.8 to use zoom out to power new pages.
  • Try using popover API for image lightbox — Improves 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) of the image lightbox feature.
  • New Block: Implement progress bar block — Kicks off a new possible Core 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.!

Thanks to @annezazu and @krupaly2k for pulling together these updates.

Open floor

Any topic can be raised for discussion in the comments, as well as requests for assistance on tickets. Tickets in the milestone for the next major or maintenance release will be prioritized.

Please include details of tickets / PRs and the links in the comments, and if you intend to be available during the meeting for discussion or if you will be async.

#6-8, #agenda, #dev-chat

Summary, Dev Chat, Jan 15, 2025

Start of the meeting in 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/, facilitated by @joemcgill. 🔗 Agenda post.

Announcements

The Nominations for 2025’s Core Team Reps are now open! Please nominate people in the comments of that post. Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline is January 31, 2025.

Forthcoming releases

Next 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.: 6.8

We are currently in the WordPress 6.8 release cycle. Read more about the release squad, timeline and focus for this release.

Next maintenance release: 6.7.2

There is currently no release date planned for WordPress 6.7.2 @jorbin is going to schedule a scrub for next week and is currently thinking of tentatively planning a release date in Feb. If you see a ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. that you think should be considered, please drop it in the #6-7-release-leads channel.

You can review the next minor release milestone.

Next 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/ release: 20.1

The next Gutenberg release will be 20.1, scheduled for January 22. It will include the following issues.

Discussion

With the release squad having just been announced, we spent some time checking in on getting processes up and running for the release.

A few housekeeping items to share:

For tickets in the milestone marked early (🔗 Trac report):

  • While the handbook includes a definition for early, there is no standard deadline by when these tickets MUST be committed
  • @jorbin and @francina volunteered to update the description
  • @audrasjb and @joemcgill will review these tickets in a few weeks and determine whether the remaining ones need to be punted, or if they can have the keyword removed

We will attempt to do the first sync of Gutenberg releases to trunktrunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision. earlier in this release. @mamaduka is planning to work on this.

While this release is focused mainly on “polish”, we will still include any new enhancements that are ready in time. A few that were mentioned in the meeting included:

  • #62503: Add speculative loading support
  • #21022: Use bcrypt for password hashing; updating old hashes
  • #30465: Dashboard alert if a 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./theme was removed from WordPress repo (may be stalled)

@karmatosed asked that folks please label and raise issues that need help from the design team.

We are looking at moving Dev Chat times during this release to an earlier time. Currently thinking that these will be some time between 15–18:00 UTC. Once confirmed, and update will be posted to the team blog.

Open Floor

  • @nikunj8866 asked about ticket #40477. It looks like it was previously tested but needs to be reviewed for code quality/approach.
  • @mamaduka is looking for feedback on this GB issue proposing a change to the post editor.
  • @justlevine asked for feedback on the following:
    • #49442: Request: filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. for parse_blocks() result
    • #61175: Integrate PHPStan into the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. development workflow

#6-8, #core, #dev-chat, #summary