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.
Preparation for WordPress 6.3 final release is underway. This post shares the release process, including the timeline and how you can help. The post will be kept up to date as the release process evolves.
The Dry Run is a key event as a final walk-through for the final release. As noted above, the current plan is to start it on 2023-08-07 16:00. You are invited to observe and/or participate. It’ll happen in the #core Slack channel.
What happens during the dry run?
Review 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. reports to determine if any are critical to warrant another RCrelease 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). (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).).
Checks and any necessary updates are made in the src/wp-admin/includes/update-core.php file.
Pre-release scripts are run to ensure test suites, coding standards, and other automated checks pass.
If the results are acceptable, the release goes into a 24-hour code freeze period.
24-Hour Code Freeze ✅
After the dry run and before the release party starts, a mandatory 24-hour code freeze goes into effect.
What does this mean? No source code for 6.3.0 (i.e., in the 6.3 branchbranchA directory in Subversion. WordPress uses branches to store the latest development code for each major release (3.9, 4.0, etc.). Branches are then updated with code for any minor releases of that branch. Sometimes, a major version of WordPress and its minor versions are collectively referred to as a "branch", such as "the 4.0 branch".) can be changed during these 24 hours.
What happens if a critical bug is reported during this period? The release squad will meet with committers and maintainers to determine if the issue is a blockerblockerA bug which is so severe that it blocks a release..
If yes, another RC release happens, and the release process restarts (meaning the dry run is repeated, and then the 24-hour code freeze clock restarts).
The release party on August 8th will start no sooner than 24h after the code freeze starts, with the exact time to be determined accordingly. You are invited to observe and/or participate. It’ll happen in the #core Slack channel.
The release party walks through the steps in the Major Version Release process for anyone who wants to follow along.
Please note releasing a major version requires more time than releasing a 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. or release candidate. There are more steps in the process. If any last-minute issues need addressing, more time will be needed.
How You Can Help
A key part of the release process is checking that the ZIP packages work on all the available server configurations. If you have some of the less commonly used servers available for testing (IIS, in particular), that would be super helpful. Servers running older versions of PHPPHPThe web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher and MySQLMySQLMySQL is a relational database management system. A database is a structured collection of data where content, configuration and other options are stored. https://www.mysql.com/. will also need testing.
You can start this early by running the WordPress 6.3 RC3 packages, which are built using the same method as the final packages.
During the release party, options will be provided on how to help test the release package.
Tips on What to Test
In particular, testing the following types of installs and updates would be much appreciated:
Does a new WordPress install work correctly? This includes running through the manual install process, as well as WP-CLIWP-CLIWP-CLI is the Command Line Interface for WordPress, used to do administrative and development tasks in a programmatic way. The project page is http://wp-cli.org/https://make.wordpress.org/cli/ or one-click installers.
Test upgrading from 4.0.38, 4.9.22, 5.8.6, 5.9.5, 6.0.3, 6.1.3, 6.2.2, and 6.3 RC3, as well as any other versions possible.
Remove the wp-config.php file and test a fresh install.
Test single site and 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/networknetwork(versus site, blog) (both subdirectory and subdomain) installations.
Testing the following user flows on both desktop and mobile would be great to validate each function as expected:
Publish a post, including a variety of different blocks.
Comment on the post.
Install a new 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, or upgrade an existing one.
Change the site language.
If you’re a plugin developer, or if there are complex plugins you depend upon, test that they’re working correctly.
Welcome back to a new issue of Week in CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. Let’s take a look at what changed on TracTracAn open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. between July 24 and July 31, 2023.
21 commits
40 contributors
64 tickets created
12 tickets reopened
39 tickets closed
TicketticketCreated for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. numbers are based on the Trac timeline for the period above. The following is a summary of commits, organized by component and/or focus.
Twenty Twenty-One: Enable Dark Mode in 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 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. – #58835
Editor
Fix abbreviations of “Example” in block-template-utils.php – #58879
Fix conditionals in Template Editing Mode – #58889
second update of npm packages for 6.3 RC3 – #58926
update npm packages with 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. fixes for 6.3 RC2 – #58804
Help/About
Add illustrations to the Get Involved tab – #23348
Escape “Contribute” links, for better consistency – #23348
Fix the Get Involved tab on Networknetwork(versus site, blog)Adminadmin(and super admin) – #23348
Welcome back to a new issue of Week in CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. Let’s take a look at what changed on TracTracAn open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. between July 17 and July 24, 2023.
44 commits
83 contributors
83 tickets created
13 tickets reopened
56 tickets closed
TicketticketCreated for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. numbers are based on the Trac timeline for the period above. The following is a summary of commits, organized by component and/or focus.
Code changes
Administration
Add a missing closing spantagtagA 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.) for column sorting indicators – #32170, #57839
Remove outmoded jsvalidate task from Gruntfile – #58645, #26615
Bundled Themes
Twenty Twenty-One: Enable Dark Mode in 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 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. – #58835
Twenty Twenty-Three: Remove the perPage attribute where the query inherits from the global query. The global attribute should be used instead – #58581
Add test for context setting in Comment Template block – #58839
Fix a PHPPHPThe web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher notice appearing when adding a new template part – #57851
Fix abbreviations of “Example” in block-template-utils.php – #58879
Fix 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. where it was not possible to style custom block elements in theme.json – #57868
update npm packages with bug fixes for 6.3 RC2 – #58804
External Libraries
Update deprecated jQuery code in Farbtastic lib – #57946
General
Commit changes after running precommit:css – #57856, #58869
Rename wp_in_development_mode() to wp_is_development_mode() – #57487
HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers.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.
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.
Add missing translator comment in WP_Upgrader::generic_strings() – #58831
Media
Adjust PDF upload handling to remove non-opaque alpha channels from previews – #39216
Fix Image rotation button overflow in translations – #58877
Stop using and deprecate set_imagick_time_limit(). Seems it causes more problems than it solves – #58202
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/.
Update Global styles revisionsRevisionsThe WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. private methods to protected – #58846
Script Loader
Improve test coverage for wp_print_scripts() – #58648
Upgrade/Install
Add correct parameters to add_option in upgrade_630 – #58821
Props
Thanks to the 83 (!) people who contributed to WordPress Core on Trac last week:
The panelists answered a number of questions for attendees.
Q1: It felt like Phase 2 went on longer than expected, producing ongoing quality-of-life improvements to the Site Editor. It’s been, in a word, wonderful. While I’m excited for Phase 3 and what lies ahead, is it possible Phase 2 aspects will continue to be revisited and refined concurrently with Phase 3, or is this expect to be a more thorough wind-down — meaning the Site Editor in 6.3 is roughly where it is expected to be going forward?
A1: There’s more to come, and the work isn’t over. Check out this overview GitHub issue here for what’s already planned for iteration.
Q2: Can you assign Patterns to Categories?
A2: Not yet. More info here for anyone interested in the details within this GitHub issue.
Q3: But there are no revisionsRevisionsThe WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. at the style book, or did I miss this?
A3: The revisions show changes for all of styles, including changes made when viewing the style book.
Q4: Is this doc you created accessible? The one with the different uses for the Reusable Blocks, Patterns, etc?
A4: For more information, read the overview on comparing patterns template parts, and reusable blocks (now synced patterns.)
Q5: For classic themes, will it be possible to access the pattern editor? Either directly or indirectly?
A5: Classic themes can create patterns, and the reusable 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. management screen is reused to store them. More info on the Patterns section, specifically in the Site Editor being exposed for Classic Themes here in this GitHub issue. Great spot to share feedback!
Q6: There are no revisions in the style book, or did I miss this?
A6: The revisions show changes for all of styles, including changes made when viewing the style book.
Q7: Are footnotes finalized, and will they be released in WP 6.3?
A7: Yes, they will.
Q8: Do we have any rough ideas of previewing a theme, working on it, saving that, but NOT activating or scheduling when it goes live
Q9: From my testing, I found that you don’t need to highlight anything to add a footnote number, just place the cursor behind the word where the footnote numbrt should go… Is that a hidden feature or 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.?
A9: It’s a feature! Though I find selecting more intuitive.
Q10: Is there any option to apply global styles (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. variations) to different templates separately? btw new aspect ratio input is cool!
A10: Not yet, but on the radar. I’d love to be able to apply variations to templates, even patterns. Calling them Theme.json Partials (partially applied theme.json).
Q11: With 6.3, CSSCSSCascading Style Sheets. Grids come to query builder. But what is the plan for CSS grids in the group block (Row, Stack, and Grid)? And will it be a full implementation or a limited one (as the current limited Flexbox implementation in Row features)?
Q12: Is there any information about the possibility of applying multiple block styles to blocks? Also info about block styles to be applied just to block variation, not the coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. block? Struggling with creating styles and variations.
A12: Not multiple block styles, but you can design a block variation within the Style Book.
Q13: Is there any news regarding native multilingual support in Core?
A13: Not quite as multilingual support is slated for Phase 4 on the WordPress roadmap.
Q14: Regarding the rollback of failed manual plugins and theme updates. This will happen even if the updates break and make the website fails with a fatal error like some kind of recovery mode.
A14: For more information on failed manual 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 and theme updates, check out this Core post.
Additional references mentioned during the live product demo
With WordPress 6.3 set to launch on August 8th, 2023, this post seeks to provide an overview of the many 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 fixes coming to the next major WordPress release. As always, there’s more work to be done with accessibility requiring an ongoing effort and commitment.
If you’re interested in helping with this work, please join the #accessibility channel in Make SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. and check out how you can get involved. There are numerous ways to get involved in this important work including testing, giving accessibility feedback, and creating PRs to address feedback.
Site Editor
In order to keep up with the changes brought by the addition of more features in the Site Editor, including being able to add pages and patterns, the following work was completed:
List View remains an important and powerful tool for navigating complex content. To ensure all can benefit, the following accessibility related efforts were completed:
General 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 experience
Work continues to improve the base block experience, especially since improving blocks enhances the experience across all parts of your site. In particular, work to streamline link editing included a specific accessibility focus.
These policies mainly cover how and when CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. committers can commit. For non-committing contributors, this post may help explain why a Core committercommitterA 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. makes a certain decision.
String Freeze
To allow the Polyglots teamPolyglots TeamPolyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/. time to get their local language’s translationtranslationThe process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization. of WordPress ready, no new strings are permitted to be added to the release. Existing strings can be removed and/or duplicated if needed.
Seek guidance from the Polyglots team leadership for any strings reported as buggy. A buggy string is one that can not be translated to all languages in its current form.
Tickets on the WordPress 6.3 milestone
For the remainder of the cycle, only two types of tickets may be placed on/remain on the 6.3 milestone:
Regressions: bugs that have been introduced during the WordPress 6.3 development cycle, either to existing or new features.
Test suite expansion: tests can be committed at any time without regard to code or string freezes. This can cover either new or existing features.
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. is now WordPress 6.4-alpha
Backporting to the 6.3 branchbranchA directory in Subversion. WordPress uses branches to store the latest development code for each major release (3.9, 4.0, etc.). Branches are then updated with code for any minor releases of that branch. Sometimes, a major version of WordPress and its minor versions are collectively referred to as a "branch", such as "the 4.0 branch".
Backporting commits of production code (that is, anything that ends up in the zip file) now requires double sign-off by two core committers. The dev-feedback keyword should be used to request a second committer’s review, dev-reviewed should be added to indicate a second committer has reviewed and approved the commit to the 6.3 branch.
Commits to the test suite do not require double sign-off.
Welcome back to a new issue of Week in CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. Let’s take a look at what changed on TracTracAn open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. between July 10 and July 17, 2023.
78 commits
135 contributors
61 tickets created
12 tickets reopened
70 tickets closed
TicketticketCreated for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. numbers are based on the Trac timeline for the period above. The following is a summary of commits, organized by component and/or focus.
Code changes
Administration
Add a missing closing `span>tagtagA 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.) for column sorting indicators – #32170, #57839
Bootstrap/Load
Require wp-includes/compat.php in src/index.php – #58206
Build/Test Tools
Remove outmoded jsvalidate task from Gruntfil – #58645, #26615
fix height of featured images in Twenty Twenty Three – #58766
Twenty Seventeen: Use wp_register_script() to register HTML5 Shiv script – #56699
Twenty Twenty-Three: Add a border to Quote 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. – #57506
Twenty Twenty-Three: Remove the perPage attribute where the query inherits from the global query. The global attribute should be used instead – #58581
Add test for context setting in Comment Template block – #58839
Fix a PHPPHPThe web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher notice appearing when adding a new template part – #57851
Fix 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. where it was not possible to style custom block elements in theme.json – #57868
update npm packages with bug fixes and blessed tasks – #58745
update npm packages with first round of bug fixes for 6.3 RC1 – #58804
update npm packages with second round of bug fixes for 6.3 RC1 – #58804
update string incorrectly marked for translationtranslationThe process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization. in Chrome – #58716
External Libraries
Update deprecated jQuery code in Farbtastic lib – #57946
Filesystem 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.
Ensure wp_tempnam() does not produce file names longer than 255 characters as this is the limit on most filesystems – #35755
General
Escape nonce used for block theme activation – #58712
Add a “Get Involved” tab to the About page – #23348
Adjust horizontal padding on the tabs under 960 pixels width – #23348
Fix closing contextual help when scrolled – #55342
Fix typo in [56171]: support forumSupport ForumWordPress Support Forums is a place to go for help and conversations around using WordPress. Also the place to go to report issues that are caused by errors with the WordPress code and implementations. “topic”, not “ticket”
Update “Get Involved” tab content with the latest edits – #23348
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.
Improve the use of dashicons-external icon for external links – #47303
Move translator comments inside sprintf for tagline field description – #57675
Media
Fix adminadmin(and super admin) image editor layout at intermediary widths – #58692
This guide shares more of the in-depth changes that you will find in 6.3 and is published with 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 to help inform WordPress developers, extenders, and others.
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/ included in this release has 1737 pull requests: 307 enhancements, 481 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. fixes, and 55 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.
Changes in 6.3 are spread across 43 core components. Below is the breakdown of the most important ones.
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
WordPress 6.3 is bringing 10 Gutenberg releases into the core – 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5, 15.6, 15.7, 15.8, 15.9, 16.0, and 16.1. You will find new Block APIs, Block properties, Block editing mode, Block layout support, color classes, Command Palette, Reusable Blocks renamed to Synced Patterns, and many other changes in these 10 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 releases.
Bundled default themes have dropped support for Internet Explorer scripts and styles, which also removed skip-link focus fix script for navigating by keyboard in Internet Explorer and old versions of Chrome.
In addition, special stylesheets and HTML5 Shiv scripts are not enqueued or included in the header.php template for the following themes: Twenty Thirteen (its conditional code is also removed), Twenty Fifteen, and Twenty Seventeen. (#56699)
Theme developers who wish to continue to support IE can add code snippets to their themes that restore the functionalities.
Cache 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.
The Cache API has undergone several improvements: introducing new cache groups specific to queries and offering developers greater control over the handling of objects within these groups.
You can now set the expiration time for a cache group, clear specific cache groups, set last changed value for a cache group, and declare specific cache groups as non-persistent. With these changes, you can implement your own custom cache invalidation strategies, allowing you to invalidate an entire cache group programmatically.
Other improvements include improved validation, ensuring that only an array of unique integers are passed as input.
Hidden (. prefixed) files can now be included in list_files() with a new optional $include_hidden parameter. Defaults to false for backward compatibility. (#53659)
General
A new constant WP_DEVELOPMENT_MODE is introduced to signify context-specific development mode. The constant can have the value “core“, “plugin“, “theme“, “all“, or an empty string. The latter of which means no development mode, which is also the default.
Two new helper functions wp_is_development_mode( $mode ) and wp_get_development_mode() are introduced as the recommended ways to interact with this new configuration value.
The different development modes affect specific caching functionality; for example, caching is only bypassed during theme development, but not during core development. (#57487)
The current value of the WP_DEVELOPMENT_MODE constant is also accessible under Tools > Site Health > Info, in the WordPress Constants section. (#58646)
WP_DEVELOPMENT_MODE serves as an addition to existing debugging constants: WP_DEBUG, SCRIPT_DEBUG, and WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE.
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.
Improvements include the ability to short-circuit load_textdomainfilterFilterFilters 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. and reducing loading time for just-in-time translationtranslationThe process (or result) of changing text, words, and display formatting to support another language. Also see localization, internationalization..
The media component has been updated with several enhancements that improve load time performance for content with images. WordPress now automatically adds the fetchpriority attribute with a value of “high” to the image that it determines most likely to be the “LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) image”. Other enhancements have been implemented to improve the automatic handling of lazy-loading via the loading attribute to more reliably detect when to omit the attribute from some images.
Metadata API has undergone significant improvement in the area of lazy loading capabilities for term, comment, and site metadata. Lazy loading refers to a technique where data is loaded only when it is actually needed. This reduces unnecessary database queries or cache lookups and improves overall performance.
The function get_pages() has been revised to utilize WP_Query internally. This improvement significantly reduces the complexity of the get_pages() function by offloading the burden of querying databases and handling the cache to WP_Query. (#55806 and #12821)
Support for HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers. 5 “async” and “defer” attributes has been added, which allows developers to register scripts with a loading strategy. The loading strategy can be enabled by overloading the $in_footer parameter as an array that contains the loading strategy to the wp_register_script() and wp_enqueue_script() functions. If present, the loading strategy attribute will be added to the script tagtagA 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.).
The intended loading strategy that you pass via the $args parameter may not be the final (chosen) strategy since the script’s dependency tree (its dependencies and/or dependents) is taken into account, but it will never be detrimental to (or stricter than) the intended strategy.
The rollback feature will automatically restore the previously installed plugin/theme version if the manual update process fails. This enhancementenhancementEnhancements are simple improvements to WordPress, such as the addition of a hook, a new feature, or an improvement to an existing feature. makes the update process more reliable and ensures that if a plugin or theme update fails, the previous version can be safely restored and the website remains available to its users.
When updating a plugin or theme, the old version is moved to a temporary backup directory:
wp-content/upgrade-temp-backup/plugins/[plugin-slug] for plugins
wp-content/upgrade-temp-backup/themes/[theme-slug] for themes.
If the update fails, then the backup kept in the temporary backup directory is restored to its original location.
If the update succeeds, the temporary backup is deleted.
To further help troubleshoot plugin and theme updates, two new checks were added to the Site Health screen:
Check to make sure the upgrade-temp-backup directory is writable.
Check there is enough disk-space available to safely perform updates.
Please take note, the rollback feature cannot be used to “roll back” a plugin/theme to a previous version after a successful update (the feature is only applicable to failed manualupdates).
An enhancement has been made to the caching of database queries in WP_User_Query class, the only remaining query class lacking this caching capability.
All calls to WP_User_Query will be automatically cached by default, unless setting the relevant parameters otherwise. You can also globally disable caching by using a filter.
A new global cache group named ‘user-queries‘ is introduced to store the results of queries. Caching will be disabled for user queries that utilize the field parameter and request more than 3 fields.
Finally, plugins utilizing the users_pre_query hook to modify the returned values will bypass caching and the behaviors will remain the same as before.
The cron memory limit has been increased to WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT (256MB by default) during cron event processing if the default memory limit is lower than this value. Note that this will not affect external means of processing cron events, such as the wp cron command in WP-CLIWP-CLIWP-CLI is the Command Line Interface for WordPress, used to do administrative and development tasks in a programmatic way. The project page is http://wp-cli.org/https://make.wordpress.org/cli/, server-level crontab events, or any other cron event processing mechanism that bypasses wp-cron.php.
A new filter cron_memory_limit has been introduced to adjust this value if necessary. (#56628)
Editor
A new source attribute is added to Block patterns allowing them to be filtered by that source. (#58622)
Embeds
Anghami has been added as a trusted oEmbed provider. (#49850)
Support for TikTok creator profiles has been added. (#55784)
Formatting
Added aria content attributes aria-controls, aria-expanded, and aria-current to allowed attributes in KSES. (#55370)
CSSCSSCascading Style Sheets.repeat() function support has been added for KSES. (#58551)
General
In KSES, the safecss_filter_attr() function has been revised to allow the filter property to accept a URLURLA specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org, as a reference to an SVG filter element. (#57780)
Replacing strpos() and substr() for code modernization (note: for PHP versions lower than v8.0, the three replacement functions have been polyfilled since WP v5.9):
The usage of 0 === strpos() or 0 !== strpos() has been replaced with str_starts_with().
The usage of false === strpos() or false !== strpos() has been replaced with str_contains().
The usage of $needle === substr( $string, 0, $length ) has been replaced with str_starts_with( $haystack, $needle ). The value of $length should be the length of $needle.
The usage of $needle === substr( $string, $offset ) where $offset is negative has been replaced with str_ends_with( $haystack, $needle ). The absolute value of $offset should be the length of $needle. (#58012, #58206, #58220)
Performance
In the WP_Comments_List_Table class, when the function get_comments() is called, the parameter update_comment_post_cache is passed with a value of true. This primes all the related posts for the displayed comments and improves performance. (#57802)
The _wp_array_get() function is the most called function on the front end of a site, up to ~23k times on each page-load when using a block theme. A few minor performance optimizations have been introduced, which adds up to a noticeable improvement. (#58376)
Quick/Bulk Edit
A new bulk_edit_posts action hook is introduced, which triggers after processing the post data for bulk edit and before it returns its results. For example, it allows developers to save additional data without having to perform any .ajax() call. (#28112)
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/.
The Themes REST API can now indicate whether a theme supports the Site Editor by adding an is_block_theme property to each theme in the wp/v2/themes API response. (#58123)
A revisionsRevisionsThe WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. endpoint for global styles, /wp/v2/global-styles/revisions, has been added to the REST API. (#58524)
WP_REST_Templates_Controller has a new modified field for template and template part objects that returns post modified datetime for Templates. (#58540)
Revisions
When a post is saved with an unchanged autosave, the existing autosave will be returned, instead of returning an error. (#58739)
Themes
A new public function wp_get_remote_theme_patterns() has been added to query the patterns datum from theme.json and substitutes current usage of private APIs. (#58460)
New Action 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.
rest_allowed_cors_headers (#57752) and rest_exposed_cors_headers (#57752)
edit_custom_thumbnail_sizes has been deprecated and replaced with image_edit_thumbnails_separately (#57685)
Deprecated Files
The wp-admin/media.php file has been deprecated. Users visiting the file will be redirected to the media library wp-admin/upload.php. A user-facing warning will be displayed when the media library is reached via a deprecated link. (#57612)
External Library Updates
The following libraries were updated to the latest versions:
Added the no-store and private directives to the Cache-ControlheaderHeaderThe header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. to prevent caching for logged in users. This prevents sensitive data on logged-in users from being cached and available to others, for example, via the browser history after the user logs out. (#21938)
External Libraries
jQuery has been updated from v3.6.4 to v3.7.0. (#58083)
The latest version of jQuery includes 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. fixes, a new method called .uniqueSort(), Sizzle selector engine, and a performance improvement for some use cases when using manipulation methods like .append().
The .uniqueSort() method is used to sort an array or an array-like object of DOM elements and remove any duplicate nodes.
Sizzle, its selector engine, has been included as inlined code and removed as a project dependency, along with the removal of some workarounds for legacy browsers in the process.
Adding required attributes to username and password input fields
In WordPress 6.3, the WordPress login form includes the required attributes for username and password fields, resolving ticketticketCreated for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker.#32510. This change, while minor, may have some ramifications for 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 developers.
The change adds semantic clarity to explicitly mark these fields as required, reinforcing the implied expectation that has always been in place for login fields.
Impact for Developers
Plugins that bypass login fields or login via alternative methods using the login page may need to adapt by removing the input fields or removing the required attribute.
Props @joedolson for the dev notedev noteEach 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..
Media
The fallback return value in get_the_author() is corrected to return an empty string if called before $authordata is set. This fixes PHPPHPThe web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher 8.1 “null to non-nullable” deprecation notice in ent2ncr() function that is hooked via the_authorfilterFilterFilters 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.. (#58157)
Plugins
A new plugins_list filter hook is introduced, which can be used to filter the list of plugins (including those that are “must-use / mu”) that are displayed on the WP Adminadmin(and super admin) Plugins screen. (#57278)
A new post type label item_trashed is introduced, which allows 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 to announce the correct message when an entity is moved to the TrashTrashTrash in WordPress is like the Recycle Bin on your PC or Trash in your Macintosh computer. Users with the proper permission level (administrators and editors) have the ability to delete a post, page, and/or comments. When you delete the item, it is moved to the trash folder where it will remain for 30 days.. (#51387)
Themes
Non-block themes without theme.json can opt-in to block link color tools and block border tools via add_theme_support(). (#58597 and #58598)
In the callback function that is hooked to the after_setup_theme action in your functions.php of your theme, add the following inside the function:
Due to very low traffic from Internet Explorer users, and because WordPress no longer supports this obsolete browser, default themes have removed some IE-specific scripts and styles to give everyone else a better experience.
Most default themes had a skip-link focus fix script for navigating by keyboard in Internet Explorer and old versions of Chrome. As of WordPress 6.3, Twenty Thirteen and Twenty Fourteen no longer include it in their functions.js files, and the six themes from Twenty Fifteen to Twenty Twenty-One do not enqueue or print the script.
In addition, special stylesheets and the HTML5 Shiv script are not enqueued or included in the header.php template for three themes:
Twenty Thirteen (its conditional code is also removed)
Twenty Fifteen
Twenty Seventeen
Future versions of Twenty Eleven, Twenty Twelve, Twenty Fourteen and Twenty Sixteen may remove their special styles and conditional code too.
What if I want to continue supporting Internet Explorer?
Restoring the skip-link focus fix
Twenty Thirteen users can add a minified version of the script found in later themes:
Twenty Fourteen would need an adjustment for the fixed headerHeaderThe header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes.:
Sites may have been severely broken when using old versions of Internet Explorer, even with the HTML5 Shiv script and IE-specific styles, but you could add them again.
If you have a child themeChild themeA Child Theme is a customized theme based upon a Parent Theme. It’s considered best practice to create a child theme if you want to modify the CSS of your theme. https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/. of Twenty Thirteen, you can ensure it has a header.php template that includes the conditional code and HTML5 script from previous versions of the theme. Then you could enqueue the styles in the child theme functions (or 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).
For Twenty Fifteen, you could enqueue the two IE stylesheets. If a child theme does not already have the HTML5 script in a header.php template, the same function could enqueue that too.
function wpdocs_twentyfifteen_ie_restore() {
// Enqueue stylesheets.
wp_enqueue_style( 'twentyfifteen-ie' );
wp_enqueue_style( 'twentyfifteen-ie7' );
// If the header template does not have the HTML5 script already, enqueue it.
wp_enqueue_script(
'twentyfifteen-html5',
get_template_directory_uri() . '/js/html5.js',
array(),
'3.7.0',
false
);
wp_script_add_data( 'twentyfifteen-html5', 'conditional', 'lt IE 9' );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wpdocs_twentyfifteen_ie_restore' );
With Twenty Seventeen, both the style and script can be enqueued.
For more details, see TracTracAn open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. tickets #54421 and #56699.