Category Archives: Summaries

Justin Tadlock 5:02 pm on March 13, 2024
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Developer Blog editorial meeting summary, March 7, 2024

Summary of the WordPress Developer Blogblog (versus network, site) meeting, which took place in the  #core-dev-blog channel on the Make WordPress 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/.. Start of the meeting in Slack.

Attendees: @greenshady, @magdalenapaciorek, @meszarosrob, @ndiego, and @devmuhib

Last meeting notes: Developer Blog editorial meeting summary, February 1, 2024.

Newly published post since the last meeting:

Project Status

Six posts in progress

10 posts on the to-do list

Three posts in need of a writer

If you are interested in taking on a topic from this list or know someone who would be a good person to write about them, comment on the issue. Alternatively, pingPing The 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.” @bph or @greenshady in Slack either in the #core-dev-blog channel or in a DM.

Posts in need of review

New topics approved

Open floor

There were a few items brought up in the open floor session of the meeting.

@meszarosrob asked if there should be some type of boilerplate for authors who are writing advanced-level tutorials. Specifically, a list of prerequisites to link to for readers that can be reused. There was no overall consensus, particularly given that topics can be wide-ranging that no single list can cover. But it may be worth exploring.

@ndiego proposed adding a description to the Roundup tag (used for What’s new for developers? posts). This was added after the meeting since it was low-hanging fruit.

@greenshady brought up a topic to discuss async since it was the end of the meeting: Should we approve topics without a specific writer already onboard? We’ve had approved topics linger for months when this has happened in the past (and still have a few with no writers).

Props to @bph for reviewing this recap.

#meeting, #summary

Joe McGill 10:14 am on March 7, 2024
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Summary, Dev Chat, March 6, 2024

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 @mikachan.

Announcements

WordPress 6.5 RC 1 was released on March 5, 2024. Thanks to everyone involved and those who helped test.

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.: 6.5

There are several important changes to our normal development process during the 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). stage. For more, see this post: WordPress 6.5 Release Candidate Phase.

Please continue to test the 6.5 release. See this list of key features to test, which was published alongside WP 6.5 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. 3.

During the meeting, @marybaum confirmed the release team for RC2, scheduled for next Tuesday, March 12, 2024. @akshayar will host, @davidbaumwald will run Mission Control (MC), and @audrasjb will be the committercommitter A developer with commit access. WordPress has five lead developers and four permanent core developers with commit access. Additionally, the project usually has a few guest or component committers - a developer receiving commit access, generally for a single release cycle (sometimes renewed) and/or for a specific component. (with @hellofromtonya as a backup).

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: 17.9

Gutenberg 17.9 is scheduled for release on March 13 and will include these issues.

Discussion

The discussion topic for today centered on: how can we make it easier to follow the decision process of major decisions across the project? This was originally raised by @marybaum and there is some background discussion here.

The discussion starts here in Slack. There were no clear next steps identified, but a summary of topics raised include:

  • We could consider having a way to share more regular status updates for primary features in a release in order to surface key decisions, request feedback, get more visibility of concerns raised, etc.
  • When key decisions need to be made, how can we ensure the context is easily accessible?
  • We should be careful about not adding more noise to the CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Team blogblog (versus network, site) during an already busy release period.
  • When key decisions are made, they should be documented in an appropriate place that is easy to reference (e.g., 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 be the repository owner. https://github.com/, TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress., Core Team blog, etc.)

Highlighted posts

The full list of posts from the last week in Core can be read on the agenda at this link.

Open floor

Due to time, we did not have time for open floor this week.

Props to @mikachan for reviewing.

#6-5, #dev-chat, #summary

Joe McGill 9:52 am on February 29, 2024
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Summary, Dev Chat, February 28, 2024

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/..

Announcements

WordPress 6.5 Beta 3 was released on February 27, 2024. Thanks to everyone involved and who came to help test.

Forthcoming Releases

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.: 6.5

WordPress 6.5 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). 1 is scheduled for next week (see release schedule). A call for testing for 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. 3 was posted earlier today. See: Help test WordPress 6.5 Beta 3.

During open floor, @marybaum asked for confirmation on roles for the release party for next week:

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/: 17.8.0

Gutenberg 17.8.0 released earlier today. The What’s new in Gutenberg 17.8? (28 February) post was published following the meeting.

Discussions

With this being the last Dev Chat before WP 6.5 RC1, the discussion focused on issues related to the release. Specifically, the Font Library, and organizing release squads for 6.6 (and 6.5 minors).

Font Library

This discussion begins here.

@swissspidy noted that some concerns were raised about the upload location, capabilities, and use (or not use) of attachments for storing metadata.

Background conversation starting in Slack, and following on these 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 be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issues (props @jorbin):

@youknowriad identified this as the next step:

I’d love if we can get an agreement on this https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/59417 at this point it doesn’t seem like a consensus is possible, so I’m unsure how a decision like that is made.

The next step identified in the meeting is for the release tech leads (@davidbaumwald, @swissspidy, @get_dave, and @youknowriad) to make a decision about the next steps for this feature’s inclusion in this release based on the input that has already been given on the relevant tickets.

Organizing release squads for upcoming releases

As we’re nearing the end of the 6.5 release cycle, it’s a good time to start getting squads in place for the 6.6 and 6.5.x releases.

A previous Call for Volunteers was made, which included all three major release for the year. @marybaum volunteered to follow up an help wrangle a followup effort for the 6.6 release cycle.

@jorbin agreed to help identify folks who could help with release responsibilities for 6.5 minor releases, since he’s helped lead the minor releases during the 6.4 cycle.

Highlighted posts

The full list of posts from the last week in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. can be read on the agenda at this link.

Open floor

See the previous note in Future Releases section about coordinating roles for the RC1 release, that was raised during open floor.

@poena pointed out that we did not discuss one topic on the agenda: “Should we reduce the number of leads?”. @joemcgill agreed to include this discussion in a future meeting agenda.

Following the meeting, @costdev asked for feedback on #60504. Mainly: Whether this is a blockerblocker A bug which is so severe that it blocks a release. and if so, how can we unblock it for the long term?

Props to @mikachan for reviewing.

#6-5, #dev-chat, #summary

annezazu 7:24 pm on February 27, 2024
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Summary of Hallway Hangout on overlapping problems in the Site Editor

This is a summary of a Hallway Hangout that was first announced on Make Core. The aim was to have a shared space where we could talk synchronously about overlapping problems facing the site editing experience.

Video Recording:

Notes:

Notes are somewhat provided by some AI tooling but, unfortunately, wasn’t quite on point enough for me to use entirely. If anything is off or missing, please let me know.

The hallway hangout focused on discussing issues and problems users experience with the Site Editor, including changing something across an entire site or just for one 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., pervasive inconsistencies in user interfaces, understanding inherited values and options, and determining what can and cannot be edited. This came out of a public blog post on the topic.

We discussed the need to improve documentation and educate users to help address these overlapping problems. We chatted about the what’s underneath the desire to not ship any new features and that some of these areas of problems require new features to be fixed. We discussed how some GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ features are released in stages across various releases ultimately paving the way for greater work to be done, like 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. released in 6.4 and expanded upon for 6.5. Another example that was mentioned was content-only locking, which was added into a release without a UIUI User interface as it was a foundational part of a larger roadmap (overriding content in patterns needed this work for example). Part of what needs to be done here to is to better communicating how new features connect to and build upon each other. In many cases, polishing these experiences and reducing confusion has been a major focus of many of the last releases.

We discussed how it feels like we’re caught in between right now and there are different UI experiences floating around between the customizerCustomizer Tool 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., site editor, and then page builders building on top. In a perfect world, the page builders use what’s being built in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and the experience of using blocks feels more natural, whether just in the block editor or in the site editor (instead of those feeling like different experiences). It’s also tricky to come up with solutions that don’t just surface the complexity without providing clarity too. It’s both the most rewarding and most difficult to cover the wide range of use cases WordPress seeks to cover.

We chatted about using the experimental flag in Gutenberg 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 to allow incremental exploration before features are merged to core for some features. Tensions exist between accumulating features quickly in Gutenberg vs bottleneck of merging to core releases. Folks want to see more efforts made to document feature decisions and UI changes at the same level as core tickets, with complete descriptions. Getting feedback into UI decisions as much as possible will help with this too as we should make changes based on feedback and design direction combined. It would be great if more hosts ran the Gutenberg plugin directly and gave feedback to help with this. At this point, the #outreach channel was plugged as was the new outreach group in 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 be the repository owner. https://github.com/ to pingPing The 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.” folks who have opted in to provide feedback.

We discussed differentiating user capabilities for blocks and experiences based on user roles and the context of what they are trying to do on a site. More work needs to be done to explore and improve user capabilities. It was suggested that having more Core team members build real sites could help surface important issues and help prioritize work. Right now, we do see this happening with the Create Block Theme allowing folks to build block themes directly with the Site Editor and surface gaps. The same is true of each time a default theme is made and the gaps that are surfaced and fixed as a result. As much as possible, building real sites or working with folks who do has always been and remains critical.

Feedback from folks in the agency space centered around how agencies can’t ensure brand standards due to inability to lock down with GitGit Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. Most modern plugin and theme development is being done with this version control system. https://git-scm.com/. when content can change in the editor. It’s important to find ways to reassure clients that brand standards can still be ensured with new workflows. The same problem exists on the broader 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/ site so there are big opportunities for learnings and feedback. In some cases, folks tried the Site Editor last year and need to be invited back in with the latest & greatest to try once more with additional plugins to fill the gaps for now. In other cases, folks are successfully using it. Opened this developer blog idea after the fact to have agencies start sharing how they’ve successfully used the Site Editor process wise.

A new “overlapping problem” that @annezazu will add to the post is around the swirling experience of gradual adoption, extension, and curating of the editing experience. How do we make it as seamless as possible and have it make sense to folks? Expect the post to be updated with more thoughts there.

Towards the end, we also discussed issues everyday users face with site editing, the need for better onboarding, and a call to join more WordPress meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. events. The “usual suspects” came up particularly around editing the homepage, the pain of the template hierarchy being exposed, missing settings in the Site Editor, etc. We also discussed an unfortunate experience someone had in giving feedback but feeling very dismissed. This is not something any of us want anyone to feel and it’s important we engage constructively. We also discussed how the majority still use classic themes and the importance of respecting both in discussions.

To close, we talked about how these are the toughest problems to solve! They are not easy by design and there’s a lot of appreciation for everyone who is willing to engage in these topics. We’re very much listening and I wouldn’t have been able to write the post to begin with if we weren’t. The biggest next step is to hold an additional hallway hangout in the future around one of these areas with a large design presence to help present solutions, discuss potential drawbacks, and see how we can move forward.

#gutenberg, #hallway-hangout, #outreach, #site-editor

Joe McGill 12:25 am on February 22, 2024
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Summary, Dev Chat, February 21, 2024

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/..

Curated agenda and facilitation: props to @joemcgill

Announcements

WordPress 6.5 Beta 2 was released on February 20, 2024. Thanks to everyone involved and who came to help test.

Gutenberg 17.8 release is planned for Feb 28, 2024. Please help test.

Forthcoming Releases

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.: 6.5

@marybaum shared that there is a Hallway Hangout planned for the same day as the 6.5 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. 3 release, next week. To help with a smooth release process in order to avoid a scheduling conflictconflict A conflict occurs when a patch changes code that was modified after the patch was created. These patches are considered stale, and will require a refresh of the changes before it can be applied, or the conflicts will need to be resolved., she asked for volunteers for committing and Mission Control (MC). @audrasjb, @swissspidy, @davidbaumwald all agreed to be available with @hellofromtonya saying that she’ll be available to help during RCs

@joemcgill reminded everyone that we are 2 weeks away from 6.5 RC1, and dev-notes should be published as soon as possible to be included in the Field GuideField guide The field guide is a type of blogpost published on Make/Core during the release candidate phase of the WordPress release cycle. The field guide generally lists all the dev notes published during the beta cycle. This guide is linked in the about page of the corresponding version of WordPress, in the release post and in the HelpHub version page..

  • The documentation team has this this project board that is being used to track dev-notes.
  • This report on Trac shows that there are additional tickets marked with needs-dev-note.
  • @swissspidy expressed concern that the process for dev notesdev note Each important change in WordPress Core is documented in a developers note, (usually called dev note). Good dev notes generally include a description of the change, the decision that led to this change, and a description of how developers are supposed to work with that change. Dev notes are published on Make/Core blog during the beta phase of WordPress release cycle. Publishing dev notes is particularly important when plugin/theme authors and WordPress developers need to be aware of those changes.In general, all dev notes are compiled into a Field Guide at the beginning of the release candidate phase. is not clear this release, which led to some further discussion. @joemcgill pointed out that we should be following the process included in the handbook, or making sure that it is updated to be accurate.

Discussions

Check in on the recent experimental format for Dev Chats, specifically to not share highlighted posts during the meeting and instead focus on discussion of an open proposal. (Slack link)

To summarize the main topics that were raised during that discussion:

  1. Overall, response to the new format is positive.
  2. @jorbin suggested “for Alpha time, it was fantastic. I wonder if it would make sense to move more towards a focus of “How can we help the next release” during beta/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). and then come back to the proposals”.
    • @joemcgill agreed to prioritize release discussion over proposals during the rest of this release cycle.
  3. @joemcgill asked for feedback on how to ensure we’re choosing the most useful topics for discussion
    • @jeffpaul: Seems there’s a backlog of things we could continue to pull from the Community Summit posts?
    • Action: propose a way for us to collect and nominate priorities for future discussions.

If you have additional ideas for topics that should be discussed in future meetings, or ideas for how to better organize/prioritize topics for discussion, please share in the comments.

Highlighted posts

The full list of posts from the last week in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. can be read on the agenda at this link.

Also, from last week’s agenda, this section provides updates on the core-editor and the Developer blog, including the latest topics that need writers.

Open floor

@costdev provided an update on the PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party Dependencies feature for 6.5.

Key updates:

  1. Auto-deactivation of plugins with unmet dependencies, all bootstrapping logic, and the plugin_data option have been removed, and Plugin Dependencies now mostly runs on plugins.php and plugin-install.php.
    • This significantly reduces the footprint of Plugin Dependencies, removes the risk of the database and cache becoming out-of-sync on high traffic sites, and resolves a concern about consent-less deactivation of plugins.
  2. An 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) issue has been fixed.
  3. Plugin updates on plugins.php were failing due to some JSJS JavaScript, a web scripting language typically executed in the browser. Often used for advanced user interfaces and behaviors. that I had not guarded correctly. This has been fixed.
  4. Most of the remaining work is on messaging, and is making steady progress (PRs in re-review stage).

Here’s a summary of where things stand with each ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker., which we’ll also be posting the meeting summary on Make/Core following this evening.

Props to @azaozz for reviewing.

#6-5, #dev-chat, #summary

Joe McGill 3:48 pm on February 15, 2024
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Summary, Dev Chat, February 14, 2024

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/..

Curated agenda: props to @webcommsat

Facilitator dev chat: props to @joemcgill

Forthcoming Releases

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.: 6.5

@marybaum made another request this week for contributors to fulfill roles of Mission Control, Committercommitter A developer with commit access. WordPress has five lead developers and four permanent core developers with commit access. Additionally, the project usually has a few guest or component committers - a developer receiving commit access, generally for a single release cycle (sometimes renewed) and/or for a specific component., Security, and MarComms for the release parties.

@webcommsat asked if there was an update on scheduled 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. scrubs during the 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. period of 6.5. In the meantime, she marked the current schedule post as sticky as requested by @oglekler.

  • Action: The triagetriage The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. leads for 6.5 can update the post with scheduled dates for 6.5

Maintenance releases

There is one ticket in the 6.4.4 milestone that is ready for back-porting. However, @jorbin advised that he does not currently expect another maintenance release before 6.5.

Discussions

Proposal: Implement a PHP autoloader in WordPress Core (Slack link)

To summarize the main topics that were raised during that discussion:

  1. A decision needs to be made about how to handle early loading/overriding of coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. classes. This seems to be the primary concern to address.
  2. There is some concern about the implementation requiring manual updating of the class file, though it’s acknowledged that this change that can be addressed in the future.
  3. A request was made that the previous blocking concerns raised in the original proposal ticket should be summarized and addressed in the new ticket, or the new one closed as duplicate unless there is substantive differences in what is being proposed beyond implementation details.

This will likely need to be included early in a release cycle (WordPress 6.6 at the earliest) and will likely need support of a core committer to help shepherd into the project.

Highlighted posts

The full list of posts from the last week in core can be read on the agenda at this link.

Also, from last week’s agenda, this section provides updates on the core-editor and the Developer blog, including the latest topics that need writers.

Open floor

@costdev provided an update on the PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party Dependencies feature for 6.5.

We’ve been triaging and resolving some issues since commit, many of them minor and we’ve discussed some of the larger issues and are on the path to resolving those.

After the meeting concluded, the team published the following post:
Merge Announcement: Plugin Dependencies

Props to @webcommsat for reviewing.

#6-5, #dev-chat, #summary

Abha Thakor 2:22 am on February 8, 2024
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Summary, Dev Chat, February 7, 2024

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/..

Curated agenda: @webcommsat

Facilitator dev chat: @joemcgill – welcoming one of 2024’s new co-team reps for CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.!

Discussions

Proposal: What’s next for the Outreach program

  • Feedback deadline: February 12, 2024. Add comments to the post.
  • A Hallway Hangout is scheduled on February 20, 2024, at 15:00 UTC to further discuss it and next steps.
  • Actionable proposal. Potential for cross-team involvement in furthering it.

Forthcoming Releases

Maintenance releases

@jorbin reports there are currently no updates on a 6.4 release.

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.: 6.5

@marybaum made a request for contributors to fulfill roles of Mission Control, Committercommitter A developer with commit access. WordPress has five lead developers and four permanent core developers with commit access. Additionally, the project usually has a few guest or component committers - a developer receiving commit access, generally for a single release cycle (sometimes renewed) and/or for a specific component., Security, and MarComms for the release parties, especially 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 on Tuesday. 

List of new updates on 6.5 including ones requiring input together with their deadlines, next 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. scrubs, and more.

PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party dependencies discussion

You can also view discussions taking place in #core-upgrade-install channel on Slack. This has been highlighted as a potentially very valuable feature for 6.5 and was merged into ‘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.’ on Tuesday. Note this is the last dev chat before Beta 1.

The discussion focused on @desrosj‘s first point in the update: “When a plugin’s dependencies are unmet, the plugin is deactivated, and the user is only informed of this if they visit the plugin page, and only if they visit on the same request that the deactivation occurs on. It is my opinion that plugins should not be deactivated if dependencies are suddenly unmet. This could be very unexpected for anyone unfamiliar with the concept of dependencies in the context of software. Instead, the WSOD protection should be allowed to do its job, allowing the site owner to receive an email, and see a path forward to correcting the issue.”

@azaozz asked if it was better for a plugin to throw a fatal error and trigger “fatal errors protection” in WordPress?

@jorbin: highlighted whatever decisions are made they need to be ones that reinforce the trust users have in WordPress and in auto updates.

@desrosj: There are also some scenarios where things may reasonably continue working without the dependency, but that would break or become missing currently. This would especially be true for anything that displays content. The content would just go missing without the site owner knowing.

@azaozz: A plugin that stops working either because it was auto-disabled, or because it is missing a dependency is a bad thing that needs to be fixed.

A discussion on the use of emails to admins followed, Perhaps sending another email to the admins to alert users. View the discussion on Slack.

@jorbin: suggestion to highlight all the ways that a plugin could end up with unmet or mismet dependencies and what the expectation would be in each of them

@christopher allford : For a feature that has sat in discussion for so long I think pushing through with a minimal implementation (sans the consent-less deactivation) is a great first step. That will naturally incite discussions about iteration (such as sending dependency information in update metadata to let WordPress opt-out of updating incompatibilities).

Summary of two main concerns:

  1. How do we ensure we’ve identified and resolved any issues with this feature during beta so we ship something that does not hurt user confidence in upgrades?
  2. How can we better communicate these changes so folks can be prepared?

Wider discussion surrounded:

  • How we determine that a large feature is “ready” to ship?
  • How are can we better communicate when a feature needs further testing after being merged. For example, Is a dev-note enough or should there be some other way to communicate these changes?.

Highlighted posts

The full list of posts from the last week in core can be read on the agenda at this link.

Also, this section provides updates on the core-editor and the Developer blog, including the latest topics that need writers.

Open floor

Anyone can ask for a ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. or PR to be discussed during an open floor. To help us provide good feedback, please include a link to the issue you want to discuss in the dev-chat agenda notes prior to the meeting.

Props to @joemcgill for reviewing.

#6-5, #dev-chat, #summary

Brian Alexander 11:39 pm on January 31, 2024
Tags: , , , , , ,   

Dev Chat Summary, January 31, 2024

Start of meeting on Slack

This Dev Chat continues the experiment to focus chat time on discussions related to open CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. proposals and release issues, rather than repeating links already highlighted in the curated agendas.

Please read the Dev Chat Agenda for a curated list of announcements, discussions, highlighted posts, core-editor updates, major and minor release updates, and more.

Announcements

Following announcement of yesterday’s 6.4.3 release, @jorbin noted that there was one issue of note, but that there were workarounds available at this time. @jorbin further gave props to those who helped facilitate the release.

@hellofromtonya shared that @joemcgill has accepted his nomination to serve as a 2024 Core team rep 🎉. The search continues for a co-rep, where it’s been noted that a contributor from the Core Editor team would be a great compliment, though not required. Nominations remain open until April 1, 00:00 UTC.

Discussion on open proposals in Core

Field GuideField guide The field guide is a type of blogpost published on Make/Core during the release candidate phase of the WordPress release cycle. The field guide generally lists all the dev notes published during the beta cycle. This guide is linked in the about page of the corresponding version of WordPress, in the release post and in the HelpHub version page. Publish Date

Link to post: Proposal: An update to the Field Guide

Conversation start link

Comments:

  • @jorbin was under the impression that neither the dev blogblog (versus network, site) team nor 6.4 release leads were interested in moving forward with the proposal. @webcommsat shared that 6.4 docs release leads didn’t see 6.4 as the deadline, and discussions were continuing. @joemcgill agreed that the proposal wasn’t release specific, but rather an adjustment to timing of when field guide information is released. @hellofromtonya also added that the dev blog team has opened a discussion to track the second part of the proposal.
  • @jeffpaul referred to @chanthaboune‘s comment of where best to separate field guide content based on audiences, suggesting the proposal could be adjusted accordingly. @jeffpaul added that some folks have difficulty processing field guide information to determine what is relevant and actionable, which @hellofromtonya agreed should be explored. @webcommsat agreed with the notion to target field guide content to particular audiences, but also to look at how it relates to other new content produced for the release.
  • @jeffpaul suggested the potential to target content according to the five user groups identified in Care and influence: a theory about the WordPress community.
  • @ironprogrammer asked if the field guide info would be more easily consumable if it was split into a canonical structure, such as wordpress.org/6-5/field-guide/, with subpages that match particular areas or audiences.
  • @webcommsat noted that segmentation between audiences has grown, and suggested it’s a good time to use teams’ audience-specific insights to improve the field guide format. She added that exploring how best to utilize the limited people and time for the Docs team would be an important factor in implementing improvements. @jeffpaul agreed with concerns around challenges in gathering/publishing content, but noted that the issue should be considered as separate from the proposal.
  • @jorbin shared that the original published field guide was the result of an overly long email sent to 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 developers.
  • First-time Docs Co-Lead @estelaris 🎉 asked about adding additional comments to the proposal. @jorbin noted that Make/Core comments close automatically after 180 days (~6 months). @costdev shared that adding the #keep-comments-open tagtag A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses tags to store a single snapshot of a version (3.6, 3.6.1, etc.), the common convention of tags in version control systems. (Not to be confused with post tags.) would reenable them, but recommended removing the tag once an updated timeframe for feedback has been reached. @jorbin updated the Core handbook to reflect this info.
  • @joemcgill pointed out that the team should review all current channels where field guide-related content is published, to check whether only updating the field guide [in one place] would sufficiently improve the broader sharing of release updates to the community. He suggested engaging with the Docs and Marketing teams to move forward, and @estelaris noted she would begin by sharing with Docs. @webcommsat suggested looping in Training as well. @laurlittle noted that the Marketing team could brainstorm on the proposal for future releases, if not 6.5.
  • In response to @joemcgill, @webcommsat noted that there have been past lists of channels and audiences, and suspects more current info should be available. She also suggested it might be helpful to have a single post that links out to the various user groups identified earlier, and to link to that post from the About page.
  • @jorbin referred back to @jeffpaul‘s input and asserted that the dev blog and other team areas might be better places to communicate field guide information, as opposed to Make/Core. @hellofromtonya asked if, considering this perspective, the proposal was actionable by the Core team, or if the proposal should be re-worked as a cross-team collaboration. @jorbin suggested that the teams publishing the field guide info would take on the proposal.
  • @joemcgill noted that it can be difficult to know the status of a proposal, suggesting some way of flagging these posts. @marybaum suggested a visual system to convey “stalled”, “live”, etc, and @joemcgill raised the idea of a 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. pattern. @desrosj shared that in past proposals (example) he has added status info to the top of the post, assuming the status was clear.
  • @hellofromtonya wrapped up the discussion based on the chat, concluding that the proposal be marked closed (“not accepted”), or must be picked up by another team(s).

Actions:

  • Part 1: Move Make/Core field guide publication ahead one week, aligning with last scheduled 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., rather than RC1. Not accepted ❌
  • Part 2: Start publishing a simplified field guide to the WordPress Developer Blog. Not accepted ❌
  • Other teams to explore revising and adopting this proposal:
    • @estelaris to share the proposal with Docs.
    • @laurlittle to raise the proposal to Marketing for possible brainstorm.
    • @webcommsat to 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. in Training to gauge their interest in furthering the proposal.
    • To highlight in dev blog.

Open Floor

Props @hellofromtonya for peer review.

#6-4, #6-5, #core, #core-editor, #dev-chat, #meeting, #summary

Brian Alexander 9:46 pm on January 25, 2024
Tags: , , , , , ,   

Dev Chat Summary, January 24, 2024

Start of meeting on Slack facilitated by @webcommsat

This DevChat starts with an experiment to shift the chat to synchronize discussions on open coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. proposals and release issues rather than reproducing links highlighted in the curated agendas.

Please read the DevChat Agenda for a curated list of discussions, highlighted posts, core-editor updates, major and minor release updates, and more.

Discussion on open proposals in Core

Interactivity 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.

Link to post: Proposal: The Interactivity API – A better developer experience in building interactive blocks

Conversation start link

Comments:

  • The API is well beyond the proposal stage, with nothing actionable in discussion.

Actions:

  • The proposal should be considered “accepted”.

HTMLHTML HyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers. API: Introduce WP_HTML::tag() for safely creating HTML

Link to PR (draft): https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/5884

Conversation start link

Comments:

  • This PR was raised along with the question of how items should be added to the agenda. It was clarified that topics can be added as comments to the previous week’s chat summary, or to the current week’s agenda post (typically published on Tuesdays). And of course, any item can be raised during the open floor section of Dev Chat.
  • @dmsnell indicated that the PR for consideration is a scaled back version of a larger templating system proposal, which will not be ready for 6.5. The PR adds a helper utility, WP_HTML::tag(), to conveniently generate single HTML tags with attributes. The impetus for this feature is to provide Core and extenders a safer way to generate HTML tags, compared with reliance on proper usage of functions such as esc_attr(), which might be overlooked and introduce HTML injection vectors.
  • @jorbin would prefer that any new APIs be used by Core itself, and that there be accessory patches prepared that demonstrate how the function integrates and operates in Core. It was also suggested that a Make/Core proposal would help with gathering broader input.
  • @azaozz pointed out that enhancementenhancement Enhancements are simple improvements to WordPress, such as the addition of a hook, a new feature, or an improvement to an existing feature. tickets in TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. are another form of “proposal”, and can also result in healthy discussion. He suggested starting the discussion in Trac, and then utilizing a Make/Core proposal if the ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. isn’t sufficient to establish consensus.
  • There continued discussion around how Core generates HTML currently, which relies on proper use of esc_*() and echo(), as well as a broader discussion around safely generating HTML. Got feedback? Join the conversation 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/., or leave a comment below.

Actions:

  • @dmsnell to create a Trac ticket and/or Make/Core proposal to discuss introduction of WP_HTML::tag().
  • @dmsnell to consider a future Make/Core proposal for the HTML API templating system, and continued discussion around generating safe HTML.

Forthcoming releases

6.4.3

Conversation start link

  • @jorbin shared the remaining open tickets for this milestone, which are scheduled for review and commit prior to a Thursday (Jan 25) 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).:
    • #60025 – This needs additional review and testing. Any help is appreciated
    • #59866 – @peterwilsoncc and I have been work on the one and I should have an update in the next 12 hours.
  • @joemcgill requested help reviewing the approach proposed in #5926 Cache locate template paths, which would address both #60025 and #60290.

6.5

Conversation start link

See this section in the agenda for updates, helpful links, and information for the 6.5 release.

Comments:

  • @oglekler pointed out that there are several early 6.5 tickets that need attention, asking for review as some might have the potential to be completed in time for 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..
  • @hellofromtonya indicated that the 6.5 cycle is past the “early part of alpha”, suggesting these may need to be punted if they truly require a long runway for soak time and discussion.
  • @azaozz agreed that the early keyword indicates a need for comprehensive testing, and possible reconsideration of the milestone if the testing hasn’t occurred. He also suggested that while not required, it might be preferable to fix old/known bugs during alpha, and allow beta testers to focus on “new” bugs introduced from Beta 1 and onward.
  • @jorbin suggested two interpretations of early; i.e. actually early in the alpha cycle, or just before Beta 1.
  • @hellofromtonya noted that since Beta 1 is the 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.) milestone for enhancements/features, that in her perspective, early should apply to early in the alpha cycle. She cited changes to WP_Query as an example where early would apply.
  • @afragen observed that it doesn’t seem that many early tickets are committed early in the cycle.

Open Floor

Props @hellofromTonya for peer review.

#6-4, #6-5, #core, #core-editor, #dev-chat, #meeting, #summary

Abha Thakor 9:49 pm on January 22, 2024
Tags: , , , , , ,   

Dev Chat summary, January 17, 2024

Start of meeting on Slack

This DevChat starts with an experiment to shift the chat to synchronize discussions and away from dropping of links.

Please read the DevChat Agenda for a curated list of announcements, highlighted posts, Core Editor updates, major and minor release updates, and more.

Discussion on open proposals in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.

Default Theme Task Force for 2024

Link to the post: Proposal: Default Theme Task Force for 2024

Dev Chat slack link

Comments in Dev Chat focused:

  • positive feedback and highlighting that people can self-nominate their ability to help triagetriage The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. those open default theme issues
  • promote the call to encourage people to be active in triaging and resolving those 436 Bundled Theme tickets

Latest position from @desrosj :

  • advised the idea has been accepted: t’s rallying a group of folks to get through and clean out the Bundled Theme component backlog on TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress.
  • three self nominations and more expected to be confirmed by end of the week
  • aim to start before the end of January 2024, currently 437 tickets in the Bundled Theme component
  • Jonathan will be leading the team as a mentor and someone with commit privileges, and other committers are welcome to help as well)
  • the week to week working arrangement will be depends on the team’s availability. Stay tuned! 
  • confirmed the new theme task force group will remain under core team purview. More detail on this in the comments section of the post. More contributors for the Themes team welcome to help out too. “It’s a balance though, My goal here was to allow those contributors to continue exploring what new themes look like while this team handles cleaning up some of our cruft and backlog for pre-existing ones.”
  • expecting ‘as a side effect, cleaning out the backlog also will effectively “retire” these themes in some ways, and going forward, the majority of the tickets will be 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 support related (hopefully).’ 

Actions:

  • more volunteers needed and will increase the speed can go through the outstanding tickets in the component
  • to assist, contact @desrosj on 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/. on in the comments for the post itself

Proposal to improve the editor tech workflow for major releases

Post link: Proposal

Dev Chat Slack link

Context: This proposal was started in 6.4. With 6.5 underway, thinking the learnings from 6.4 could be built upon for how to continue improving the Core merges from 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/ during 6.5. Core Editor and Core chats are now combined into Dev Chat as an experiment.

Discussion:

  • @joemcgill raised the question of the right venue to push this forward. “In my opinion, the current status quo is error prone and unsustainable (as well as taking a lot of manual overhead from contributors).”
  • @jorbin: If we want to try early syncing for 6.4.3, https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/59828 just needs a second committers review and we can get all the updates into the 6.4.x nightly
  • @hellofromtonya: I’m not sure either what the “right venue for pushing this forward” is. Needs a discussion with both Core and Core Editor folks to figure out the needs and how to improve these workflows. Seems earlier the better as 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 fast approaching
  • @jorbin suggested one way to mitigate the issue would be nominating the release team, or at least the editor tech, for the next release before the current release ships. An interim editor tech to help get the ball rolling while an official team has not been announced. @joemcgill agreed having an identified set of release leads for 6.5 to discuss how they want to handle things for this release would help. The Community Summit conversation was very helpful. A working group to continue that conversation and come back with concrete proposals would be helpful, if a release team is not the right venue. A working group had positive feedback in the dev chat discussions as these workflows are continuously improving and span more than one 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.. @jorbin suggested @tellthemachines should be given right of first refusal to continue leading the effort since she kicked off the proposal.
  • Ideas included: a proposal needed to address the identified set of problems, a hallway hangout similar to the ones @annezazu and others have done.

Actions:

Forthcoming releases

6.5

Slack discussion link

See this section in the agenda for updates, helpful links, and information for the 6.5 release.

Blockages/ items need discussion for progress:

  • Font Library:
    • Discussion:
      • As a follow-up from @joemcgill‘s questions last week, @hellofromtonya has added the Core merge criteria/expectations to its Trac ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker.. The critieria is the same as in 6.4, except Tonya is suggesting returning to the expectation the feature is merged before or by Beta 1.
      • Query raised on the criteria aspect of “running on wp.com, and not being reliant on any specific host testing this. @hellofromtonya: The reason for wp.com is: it’s a normal workflow in Gutenberg as it gains a huge amount of sites running it. @jorbin
      • @annezazu suggested some of the contributors who have worked on this feature could comment. Also noted current timeline for the feature https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/59166#comment:21
      • Question: Is this anything beyond what we’d normally expect of a feature pluginFeature Plugin A plugin that was created with the intention of eventually being proposed for inclusion in WordPress Core. See Features as Plugins.? @hellofromtonya: Same expectations except for 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/. part of it , as I’m suggesting a maintainer needs to give a thumbs-up to its design.
      • jorbim: I don’t want to discourage that in any way, I just wonder if we would ever set a requirement like “Is running on Altis with no major issues”
    • Actions:
      • Update the criteria from the discussion. Done ✅
      • Gather expectations from the REST API maintainers and then update the criteria accordingly. Done ✅

How was the first experimental new DevChat?

@jorbin said: “I think one of the most productive meetings in a while”

@afragen shared there was no extra time to raise other tickets for discussion.

What to change?

Next week, reserve 10-15 minutes for open forum / floor discussion.

Props @hellofromTonya for peer review.

#6-4, #6-5, #core, #core-editor, #dev-chat, #meeting, #summary