The WordPress coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. development team builds WordPress! Follow this site for general updates, status reports, and the occasional code debate. There’s lots of ways to contribute:
Found a bugbugA 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.?Create a ticket in the bug tracker.
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 blockBlockBlock 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. APIAPIAn 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 HooksHooksIn 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. AccessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (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 PHPPHPThe 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 enhancementenhancementEnhancements 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).
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 coreCoreCore 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 LoopLoopThe 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 filterFilterFilters 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 GutenbergGutenbergThe 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.)
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 UXUXUser 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 iframeiframeiFrame 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)
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 invalidinvalidA 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)
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.
HTMLHTMLHyperText 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.
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 metaMetaMeta 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 capabilitiescapabilityA 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).
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 WCAGWCAGWCAG 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 CSSCSSCascading 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
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.
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 releaseA 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
⚠️ BetaBetaA 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.
@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 GutenbergGutenbergThe 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 trunktrunkA 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 coreCoreCore 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 blockerblockerA bug which is so severe that it blocks a release., but manual intervention is required to dedupe packages.
CSSCSSCascading 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 ticketticketCreated 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 APIThe 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.
@joemcgill pointed out that someone else might need to carry this forward if @oandregal is no longer available to do so
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.
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 releaseA 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
A bugbugA 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 tracTracAn 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 GitHubGitHubGitHub 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 GutenbergGutenbergThe 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.
There are two issues in the milestone related to PHPPHPThe 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 trunktrunkA 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
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 candidateOne 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/coreCoreCore 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 bugbugA 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 tracTracAn open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress.ticketticketCreated 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 GitHubGitHubGitHub 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 capabilitiescapabilityA 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 ReleaseA 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.
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 releaseA 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
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 ticketticketCreated 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.
Next GutenbergGutenbergThe 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.
@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 trunktrunkA 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:
#21022: Use bcrypt for password hashing; updating old hashes
#30465: Dashboard alert if a pluginPluginA 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.
#49442: Request: filterFilterFilters 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 coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. development workflow
It’s time to get WordPress 6.8 ready for release, and help is needed to ensure it’s smooth and bugbugA 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.-free. Whether you’re an experienced contributor or joining in for the first time, everyone is welcome! 🎉
Schedule Overview
Regular bug scrubs are being held every week leading up to the WordPress 6.8 release, with some cases including two sessions a day to cover a broader time frame. As the release date approaches and activity ramps up, the number of scrubs may be increased if necessary. These efforts will help ensure everything is on track for a smooth launch. Participation is welcome at any of these sessions, so feel free to join. Bring questions, ideas, and let’s scrub some bugs together!
Summary of the WordPress Developer Blogblog(versus network, site) meeting, which took place in the #core-dev-blog channel on the Make WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. Start of the meeting in Slack.
We started implementing a suggestion we received over the last few months for two more content post types: Snippets and Videos. You can see a list of available snippets here. They are shorter posts and solve one particular task/problem. There is also a separate async meeting format for Snippet approval between the monthly meeting
Video CPT only has one post for now: the recording of Developer Hours: Improve your workflows with WordPress development tools. There is the hope that over the following months, we can start a design process to integrate those two additional custom post types more prominently on the developer blog.
The project board for Developer Blog content is on GitHubGitHubGitHub 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/.
How to build a theme demo with WP Playground blueprints (blocked by a bugbugA 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.)
@bph “After two years of leading the WordPress Developer Blog, it’s time for me to step back and let others take the reins! I’ve enjoyed creating and managing processes, running meetings, and working with all of you. However, due to other commitments, I need to pass the torch.
This is a fantastic opportunity for someone (or a few someones!) to take on a leadership role within the WordPress open-source project. Here are some of the responsibilities involved:
Facilitate monthly meetings (tentatively shifting to 15:00 UTC).
Manage the editorial calendar and content pipeline.
Onboard and support new contributors.
Guide reviewers and writers through the review process.
Oversee content publishing, ensuring quality and adherence to standards.
By taking on this role, you’ll gain valuable leadership experience, contribute to a vital resource for WordPress developers, and expand your networknetwork(versus site, blog) within the community.
I am happy to announce that @marybaum has agreed to take on the project WordPress Developer blog. She is a long-time WordPress contributor on the coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. team and a brilliant editor. I am very grateful to see the project in such good hands. Please support her as enthusiastically as you supported me in the project.
But, ideally, we’d have a few people sharing the responsibilities. If you’re interested, please contact me on WPSlack by January 23rd or leave a comment on the summary post of this meeting with a brief explanation of your relevant experience and why you’d be a good fit. (edited)
“In other news, I’d love to have someone (or multiple someones) to volunteer for the What’s new for developers? monthly roundup.
The goal was to always rotate this through various writers so that it would be written from different viewpoints. I’m writing the January 2025 edition, and I’m happy to onboard anyone for February 2025 and set up the doc (we have a reasonably standard formula for it at this point). I won’t be able to write this for February for sure and possibly afterward for a couple of months at least. Feel free to DM me, pingPingThe act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” me here, or reply to the meeting summary post when it’s published if you’re interested in pitching in here
Upcoming meetings
Next Editorial Group meeting February 6th, 2025, at 15:00 UTC (!)📣
Next Async Snippet Approval meeting on January 22/23, 2025
This is GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ 20.0, which means it’s the 200th release of the Gutenberg pluginPluginA 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..
It’s been almost exactly eight years since the initial commit to the Gutenberg repository and about four years since we celebrated the 100th release.
There is a lot happening in the WordPress world these days. But I want to use this moment to take a step back and just say thank you! Thank you to all the individual contributors that have spent countless hours over the past eight years steadily moving this project along. Whether you are still an active contributor, or you have long moved on to work on something else, thank you for all your work. ❤️
Even though this is the 200th release of the Gutenberg plugin, the actual release itself is the same as any other release in the past eight years. It includes new features, enhancements, and bugfixes. The remainder of this “What’s new in Gutenberg” post will follow the regular format.
The “What’s new in Gutenberg” posts (#gutenberg-new) appear on a biweekly basis after every Gutenberg release, and showcase the latest features and improvements.
Interested in learning more? Here’s an overview of how you can keep up with news and events related to Gutenberg and the BlockBlockBlock 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.
The last first of 2025 introduces improvements to the Style Book, a new starter pattern ui, a swathe of component library enhancements, and code quality improvements.
The Style Book got a few improvements in this release. It now features different sections for typography, colors, and individual blocks that all activate when the user navigates to those menu items. Additionally, the Style Book now its own URLURLA specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org (#67811), so you can access it directly.
Starter Patterns get a new UIUIUser interface
We’ve received a lot of feedback that the old Modal based approach for starter patterns caused more annoyance than it helped. So, in an effort to improve the experience, the modal has been removed, and instead, if starter patterns exist, the page will load in the zoomed-out mode with the pattern inserter already opened.
Easily set a Page to become the Posts Page
Similar to the “Set Homepage” action that was added in a recent release, it is now possible to easily set a page to become the posts page using a post action in the dataviews for pages.
Display Block Type Badge for renamed blocks
To clarify what block you are currently editing, the block type is displayed as a badge next to the custom name when a block is renamed.
More Highlights
wp-env now supports multisitemultisiteUsed to describe a WordPress installation with a network of multiple blogs, grouped by sites. This installation type has shared users tables, and creates separate database tables for each blog (wp_posts becomes wp_0_posts). See also network, blog, site installations allowing developers to easily bootstrap multisite environments, especially for ease of feature testing and quality control. (67845)
Block HooksHooksIn 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. get a major boost by now allowing developers to apply hooks to post content and synced patterns. This has been a highly requested feature of block hooks since day one. (67272 & 68058)
Changelog
Enhancements
Interactivity APIAPIAn 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.
iAPI Router: Handle styles assets on region-based navigation. (67826)
Prevent each directive errors and allow any iterable. (67798)
Introduce new filterFilterFilters 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. “render_block_core_navigation_link_allowed_post_status”. (63181)
Query Pagination: Update ‘showLabel’ help text. (68105)
Query Total block: Reduce concatenation in the output text. (68150)
Post Featured ImageFeatured imageA featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts.: Use the ‘ResolutionTool’ component. (68294)
Add Tools Panel dropdown menu props to More block. (68039)
Archive: Add dropdown menu props to ToolsPanel component. (68010)
Date Block: Add dropdown menu props to ToolsPanel component. (68018)
ExcerptExcerptAn 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. Block: Refactor settings panel to use ToolsPanel. (67908)
Featured Image Block: Refactor setting panel. (67456)
Login/Logout: Add dropdown menu props to ToolsPanel component. (68009)
Login/Logout: Refactor settings panel to use ToolsPanel. (67909)
More Block: Refactor settings panel to use ToolsPanel. (67905)
Navigation Submenu Block: Refactor settings panel to use ToolsPanel. (67969)
Page List Block: Add dropdown menu props to ToolsPanel component. (68012)
Page List Block: Refactor settings panel to use ToolsPanel. (67903)
Query Page Numbers Block: Refactor settings panel to use ToolsPanel. (67958)
Query Page Numbers: Add dropdown menu props to ToolsPanel component. (68013)
Query Pagination: Refactor settings panel to use ToolsPanel. (67914)
Refactor “Settings” panel of Navigation Item block to use ToolsPanel instead of PanelBody. (67973)
Replace PanelBody with ToolsPanel and ToolsPanelItem in column block. (67913)
Replace PanelBody with ToolsPanel and ToolsPanelItem in spacer block. (67981)
Replace PanelBody with ToolsPanel in columns block. (67910)
Site Title Block: Add dropdown menu props to ToolsPanel component. (68017)
Site Title Block: Refactor settings panel to use ToolsPanel. (67898)
Add reset button to ColorGradientSettingsDropdown. (67800)
ChildLayoutControl: Use units defined in theme.jsonJSONJSON, 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.. (67784)
KeyboardShortcuts: Update delete shortcut to use shift + Backspace. (68164)
Use custom name in block sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. if available (retaining block type information). (65641)
Block hooks
Apply to Post Content (on frontend and in editor). (67272)
Allow template part editing in write mode. (67372)
Remove placeholder of default paragraph when it’s the only block and canvas is zoomed out. (68106)
Patterns
Replace Starter Content modal with inserter panel. (66836)
Build Tools
Create Block: Allow external templates to customize more fields. (68193)
Create Block: Optimize the default template for multiple blocks case. (68175)
Scripts: Recommend passing JSJSJavaScript, a web scripting language typically executed in the browser. Often used for advanced user interfaces and behaviors. entry points with paths. (68251)
Add a Playground blueprint json to the /assets/blueprints folder of Plugin Repo. (67742)
Bug Fixes
Add duotone and dimensions to the block level for translationtranslationThe process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization.. (68243)
Add text domain option while scaffolding the block in create-block. (57197)
Added is-focus-mode class on all viewports. (67377)
Editor: Fix initial edits applied again after saving the post. (68273)
Get active element within the iframeiframeiFrame 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. when restoring focus. (68060)
Enhance: Improve pagination logic in coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress./query-pagination-previous block. (68070)
Fix author information leakage by author blocks for Custom Post Types without author support & display notice to user. (67136)
Media & Text: Correctly reset the ‘useFeaturedImage’ attribute. (68247)
Navigation Submenu Block: Add dropdown menu props to ToolsPanel component. (68015)
Page List Block: Fix critical error when converting to link. (68076)
Page List block: Don’t wrap Edit button with ToolsPanelItem component. (68248)
Table Block: Fix margin/padding to include caption in spacing. (68281)
Update SiteTitle block to Fix isLink Toggle Behavior. (68295)
i18ni18nInternationalization, or the act of writing and preparing code to be fully translatable into other languages. Also see localization. Often written with a lowercase i so it is not confused with a lowercase L or the numeral 1. Often an acquired skill.: Make example and variations translatable in post-navigation-link. (68375)
i18n: Make example translatable in query-no-results. (68376)
i18n: Make example translatable in table-of-contents. (68377)
Button Block: Set proper typography for inner elements. (68023)
Components
Block Editor: Fix the ‘Reset all’ bugbugA 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. for the ‘ResolutionTool’ component. (68296)
Image: Avoid link class loss when pasting for raw transformation. (67803)
Make Block Bindings work with editor.BlockEdit hook. (67523)
Post Editor
DataViews: Fix text in action for setting site home page. (67787)
Edit post: Fix metaMetaMeta 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. box pane’s pointer capture. (68252)
Editor: Remove HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers. from the post title in the document bar. (68358)
Block supports: Show selected item in font family select control. (68254)
Fix: Ensure consistency in editor tools for navigation buttons and delete options. (67253)
Template Editor
Fix: Editing “Page” is broken for low capabilitycapabilityA 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). users. (68110)
Plugin: Fix eligibility check for post types’ default rendering mode. (67879)
Widgets Editor
CustomizerCustomizerTool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. Widgets: Fix inserter button size and animation. (67880)
WidgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. Editor: Fix: Close button is not working. (65443)
Various
Show metaboxMetaboxA post metabox is a draggable box shown on the post editing screen. Its purpose is to allow the user to select or enter information in addition to the main post content. This information should be related to the post in some way. when pattern is accessed directly. (68255)
AccessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (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)
Dataviews List layout: Do not use grid role on a ul element. (67849)
Fix: Templates and patterns are nesting two elements with the button role. (67801)
[Dataviews] Fix: Media item focus style is not visible on Grid. (67789)
Block Editor
Fix: Inserter categoryCategoryThe 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. tabs: Avoid unnecessary aria-label. (68160)
Improve accessibility of the Warning component in the block editor. (67433)
Global Styles
Shadows: Always show reset button if hover is not supported. (68122)
Visual Refactor: Add Chevron Icon for Shadows in Global Styles. (67720)
Block Library
Button: Replace ButtonGroup usage with ToggleGroupControl. (65346)
Fix Choose menu label when a menu has been deleted. (67009)
Site Editor
Make sure the sidebar navigation item focus style is fully visible. (67817)
Components
CustomSelectControl: Refactor to use Ariakit store state for current value. (67815)
Performance
Block Library
Don’t fetch media details if the block doesn’t use a featured image. (68299)
Media & Text: Optimize block editor store subscriptions. (68290)
Update the copyright licensecopyright licenseCopyright holders may grant a license with various allowances including the ability to modify or distribute the copyrighted material. Also see GPL. to 2025. (68440)
Updated since Doc Order in Inline documentation. (68003)
Create Block: Migrate Inquirer.js dependency to the new API. (67877)
Fix indentation in the upload-media tsconfig. (68083)
Fix indentation in upload-media package.json. (68037)
Fix: InvalidinvalidA 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. JSDoc syntax for optional object. (68061)
Remove some obsolete stylelint at-rule-no-unknown disable rules. (68087)
Components
DatePicker: Prepare day buttons for 40px default size. (68156)
DropZone: Make the drop zone in Storybook the same size as the item. (68231)
Fix Button size violations in misc. unit tests. (68154)
Fix: Add soft deperecation notice for the ButtonGroup component. (65429)
Workflows: Sync assets to plugin repo upon change in trunktrunkA 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.. (68052)
First-time contributors
The following PRs were merged by first-time contributors:
@benazeer-ben: Add command to navigate to site editor. (66722)
@dhruvikpatel18: Fixed typo in README of TextTransformControl. (68443)
@fushar: Stylebook: Add the Appearance -> Design submenu through admin_menu action. (68174)
Thank you to all who volunteered as interested in serving on the WordPress 6.8 release squad! After collecting all of the volunteers, reviewing active initiatives and tickets currently in the milestone, contributor availability in various areas, and planned events or holidays the following squad, timeline, and focus has been assembled.
Release Squad
Release LeadRelease LeadThe community member ultimately responsible for the Release. – Matt Mullenweg
This squad continues the experiment that started in 6.7 of merging the MarComms (Marketing and Communications) Lead with Release Coordination in order to gather more feedback on that experiment. This can change during the process for future releases if needed. The squad is also a bit smaller than usual because of this release being a polish and bugbugA 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 release. Also of note, the CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Tech Lead and Editor Tech Lead roles have been combined into a single “Tech Leads” role as part of the continued initiative to support a more closely coordinated effort across GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ and Core.
Aaron Jorbin has volunteered to continue managing tickets and will organize minor releases as necessary for the remainder of the 6.8 release cycle.
Release Timeline
As a reminder, here are a few of the key milestones for the release:
BetaBetaA 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: March 4, 2025
Release Candidaterelease candidateOne 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). 1: March 25, 2025
After evaluating the current active initiatives, there will likely be fewer features ready to ship when compared to other recent major releases. As a result, 6.8 will focus primarily on being a polish and bug fix release. New features will be considered if deemed reasonably ready.
A WordPress release is put together by the entire community and the release squad only represents a fraction of the contributors to a release. If you are looking to get involved, please join the #core channel in SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ where there are weekly chats on Wednesday at 20:00 UTC and bi-weekly new contributor onboarding meetings on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month at 19:00 UTC.
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 releaseA 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
The WordPress 6.8 call for volunteers closed on Dec 6. There will be more information about the release squad to follow soon based on these volunteers.
Next maintenance release: 6.7.2
There is currently no release date planned for WordPress 6.7.2 but @desrosj is planning to review the state of the release this week. You can review the next minor release milestone.
Next GutenbergGutenbergThe 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 20.0
The agenda post incorrectly identified the next release as 20.1 with a release date of January 15 due to a shift in the schedule for the holidays. Instead, Gutenberg 20.0 was released on January 9 and Gutenberg 20.1 is expected on January 22.
Discussion
Update on the formation of the 6.8 release squad
The call for volunteers date is closed and @priethor had previously been working on providing an announcement. Following the meeting, he shared that he had handed over responsibility to @jeffpaul and @desrosj, who are working to finalize the squad for the 6.8 release.
To prepare for the release, anyone can volunteer to lead a bug scrub of the 6.8 milestone. Looking at tickets marked early would be a good place to start.
@joemcgill highlighted out this initiative to improve CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.’s end-to-end (E2E) tests that is looking for support. @jorbin agreed do an initial review.
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