Calls for testing WordPress 5.0 beta 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. have been running since Oct 24, and the release is right around the corner. While we have highlighted a few plugins to test in past calls for testing here on make/test, it was pointed out that more plugin 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 testing would be helpful to have and so let’s add it in!
Plugins that are most likely to have compatibility issues are those that modify the the interface of the post edit screen, perform actions on post update/save or add custom taxonomies. /hat tip @gschoppe via https://twitter.com/gschoppe/status/1070344946643816448
To help test, you can install and activate the
WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a test site, select “Bleeding edge nightlies” from the Tools > Beta Testing page and then click “Update Now” on the Dashboard > Updates page in wp-admin. From there, pick any plugin from the list below and see what you can break. 🙂
If you find a plugin conflict between the plugin you are testing and
Gutenberg 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/, the very best place to report it is to the plugin developer directly. Each plugin has a
support forum WordPress 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. available by using the Support tab at the top of the plugin directory page. You may also report plugin conflicts to the
gutenberg repository on
GitHub 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/ where you will likely get more help testing and advice on where and how to report back to the plugin author if needed.
To start, I’ve picked a handful of plugins either because they seem like good candidates from the
popular plugins list or have been mentioned in
gutenberg on GitHub or on this blog:
- Yoast SEO
- Advanced Custom Forms
- Wordfence
- Elementor
- Contact Form 7
- WPForms
- NextGEN Gallery
- Divi Theme
There are many more plugins to test, and suggestions are welcome if you think any should be added to this list. This list should be considered a starting point and anything from the first four pages of the
popular plugins list would also be good to consider for testing. If you are able to help test, pick something you like, or that looks interesting to you, or (even better!) that you use on your own site.
It is worth noting that several of these plugins have been tested already and many developers have been working hard on updates along the way—some even include custom Gutenberg blocks. This call for testing is an extra way to try to provide help for those developers.
If you are a plugin developer and would like to add your plugin as a suggested addition for testing, it would be helpful to provide a link and a short list of testing ideas or steps to help testers get oriented with your work. Please leave a comment if you’re interested!
#call-for-testing, #gutenberg, #plugins, #popular-plugins
