WordPress 7.1 is here, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible effort of the testing community. Behind every stable release is a dedicated group of people who download 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. versions, apply patches, reproduce bugs, and report what they find. They are the safety net that catches issues before they reach millions of WordPress users. This post is a celebration of those people.

7.1 Testing, By the Numbers

These numbers were compiled using the WordPress Test Contribution Tracker, an automated tool that scans TracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. tickets, classifies test contributions, and identifies new contributors. If we missed your contribution or a number looks off, let us know in the comments — we’ll gladly fix it.

During the WordPress 7.1 release cycle, the testing community achieved something remarkable:

– 337 Core Trac tickets were evaluated and tested
– 84 unique contributors participated in testing and bug reproduction
– 50 of them were new contributors — testing WordPress without a Test Contributor badge yet
– 75 contributors tested patches directly
– 21 contributors helped reproduce confirmed bugs
– 20+ countries across 5 continents were represented

That’s 60% of all test contributors being new candidates to WordPress testing. If that’s not a sign of a growing and healthy community, we don’t know what is.

A Global Effort

Testing WordPress is truly a worldwide effort. During the 7.1 cycle, contributors joined in from 20+ countries across 5 continents, working across time zones and languages to make WordPress better for everyone.

🇮🇳 India led the way with 31 contributors — more than a third of all testers. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh followed with 10 contributors, and 🇺🇸 United States contributed 7. Rounding out the top countries: 🇵🇰 Pakistan (4), 🇪🇸 Spain (3), 🇫🇷 France (2), and 🇵🇭 Philippines (2).

Contributors also joined from 🇧🇹 Bhutan, 🇧🇬 Bulgaria, 🇨🇿 Czech Republic, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇯🇵 Japan, 🇰🇪 Kenya, 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein, 🇱🇹 Lithuania, 🇳🇱 Netherlands, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇷🇺 Russia, 🇹🇳 Tunisia, and 🇺🇬 Uganda — each with 1 contributor proving that every single test makes a difference.

Every Contribution Counts

We want to recognize every single person who tested a ticket, left a “reproduced” comment, or tried a patch during the 7.1 cycle. Whether you tested 12 tickets or just 1, you made a difference.

Here’s the full list of all 84 contributors who participated in testing or reproduction for WordPress 7.1:

@abcd95 @adamsilverstein @afercia @alexodiy @alshakero @ankitkumarshah @anukasha @cweiske @darshitrajyaguru97 @deepakprajapati @dhrupo @dhruvang21 @drwpcom @eishanoor @ekamran @fakhriaz @fatimatd @fushar @gaurangsondagar @gazipress @gulamdastgir04 @habiburdev @hbhalodia @hmbashar @huzaifaalmesbah @iamchitti @iamraju @jadavsanjay @jamesbregenzer @jeffpaul @joedolson @jonsurrell @juliemoynat @khokansardar @liaison @luisdavid01 @madhavishah01 @manhar @manishxdp @masteradhoc @mdridipu @mirmpro @mkrndmane @mosescursor @mukesh27 @n8finch @nadabulija @nazmulasif @noruzzaman @ozgursar @pavanpatil1 @pedrofigueroa1989 @phpbits @r1k0 @RavanH @ravichudasama01 @rejaulalomkhan @reneyap @rishabhwp @robert681 @rollybueno @sanayasir @SergeyBiryukov @shailu25 @shamimmoeen @shreyasikhar26 @simison @SirLouen @softglaze @soyebsalar01 @sumitbagthariya16 @swapnil1010 @tusharaddweb @tusharbharti @tyxla @ugyensupport @valani9099 @vedantere @vgnavada @westonruter @wildworks @yashjawale @yogeshbhutkar @yusufmudagal

Thank you, all of you. WordPress 7.1 is better because of your time and effort.

Get Involved — Help Test WordPress 7.2

The WordPress 7.2 cycle is already underway, and we’d love for you to join the testing effort. Testing is one of the most impactful ways to contribute to WordPress — and you don’t need to be a developer. If you can install WordPress, follow instructions, and describe what you see, you can be a test contributor.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Choose Your Setup

Depending on what you want to test and your setup preference, you can choose:

• WordPress Playground — The fastest way to test directly in your browser with zero setup (best for quick PR reviews).
• WordPress Contributor Toolkit by JuanMa — A zero-prerequisite desktop app (user guide) that lets you apply and test both .patch/.diff files and GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. https://github.com/ PRs locally without needing Docker.
• Local Docker Environment — Best for running automated test suites (PHPUnit, E2E) and advanced command-line development.
• Test Gutenberg — Follow this guide to test 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 features and pre-release 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/ versions.

2. Find Something to Test

There are tickets and PRs waiting for testers right now:

•  Core Trac — Needs Testing — All open Core tickets needing testing, across all milestones
•  Gutenberg Issues — Needs Testing — Open Gutenberg issues that need reproduction or verification
•  Gutenberg PRs — Needs Testing — Pull requests that need someone to verify the fix works

You can also check the Calls for Testing on the Test Team blog — these are focused, guided testing tasks with step-by-step instructions, perfect for new contributors.

3. Test and Report

Once you’ve found a ticket, there are two main types of testing you can do:

• – Issue Reproduction — Confirm that a reported bug is real by following the steps and describing your results. Use the Issue Reproduction template from the handbook.
• – Patch Testing — Apply a patch and verify it fixes the issue (or delivers the expected feature). Watch for regressions where the patch fixes one thing but breaks another. Use the Patch Testing template from the handbook.

Both templates include fields for your environment (OS, PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. https://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php version, WordPress version, browser) and space for your results. Just copy, fill in, and post as a comment on the ticket.

4. Help with Triage

If you’re comfortable navigating Trac, you can also help with ticket triage. When a ticket is tagged `needs-testing`, testers evaluate it and decide the next step. The Trac Keyword Triage Guide explains the four keywords testers manage (`needs-testing`, `needs-test-info`, `dev-feedback`, `needs-refresh`) and includes ready-to-use comment templates.

5. Get Recognized

Contributors who provide meaningful test contributions — reproduction reports, patch tests, unit tests, or documentation updates — earn the Test Contributor badge on their 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/ profile. Learn more at Test Team Profile Badges.

Join the Community

• #core-test 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/ — The main hub for testing discussions, questions, and coordination
• Test Team Handbook — Everything you need to know about testing WordPress
• Contributor Day — Join a Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ at a WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. near you, or participate remotely

Let’s keep making WordPress better, one test at a time. 🎉

Props to @nikunj8866, @ozgursar, @mosescursor for helping review this article and offering feedback.

#7-1, #core-test, #make-wordpress-orgupdates