On June 15, 2023, a Hallway Hangout was held to discuss the WordPress 6.3 roadmap, the major changes coming in the next release, and how they will impact building 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. themes and managing themes from within the Site Editor. 42 community members attended, including the facilitator @ndiego. 

The meeting was recorded live over Zoom and is now available on WordPress TV:

The meeting began with introductions and a review of the 6.3 timeline and current roadmap, as well as the latest call for testing. The following resources were shared:

• WordPress 6.3 Development Cycle
• Roadmap to 6.3 
• FSE Program Testing Call #24: Momery Makeover

@ndiego then provided a demonstration of the major changes coming in 6.3, including the content editing flows in the Site Editor, the new Library, changes to the Query 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. block, dimension controls, and improvements to navigation. There was also a discussion around the need for user permission controls in the Site Editor and more general extensibility.

These additional resources were shared:

• The Gutenberg 16.0 release post
• A sneak peek at When Block Styles Are Not Enough: Extending Blocks in Themes by @greenshady
• The WordPress 6.3 Editor Tasks project board on 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/

The next Hallway Hangout will be held in July. The focus will be on extending block themes beyond what is available in WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. Stay tuned for the official announcement. In the meantime, you can test out the latest functionality coming to WordPress 6.3 by using Gutenberg 16.0 or by completing the latest FSE Program Testing Call #24: Momery Makeover.

#hallway-hangout

On May 25, 2023, a Hallway Hangout was held to discuss ways to curate the Editor experience in WordPress, building 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. themes, and challenges you might encounter when building with blocks for clients. 40 community members attended, including facilitators @ndiego and @greenshady. 

The meeting was recorded live over Zoom and is now available on WordPress TV:

The meeting began with introductions and a quick review of the timeline for 6.3 and Phase 3 of 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/. The following resources were shared:

• WordPress 6.3 Planning Roundup 
• Roadmap to 6.3 
• Phase 3 Collaboration 

@ndiego then provided a brief overview of the concept of “curation.” He then demonstrated new functionality in WordPress 6.2 that allows users to modify block settings in the Editor using client-side filters. This generated a lively discussion about the pain points builders are currently facing with block themes and additional functionality that’s needed.

One attendee asked how to restrict template part editing by user capabilities (roles). This included providing more granular access to the Site Editor. Attendees mentioned that they are hesitant to give clients full access to the Site Editor but want to provide them with some access. For example, some users need access to menus and specific template parts but nothing else.

Folks were excited about the upcoming changes to patterns. Partially synced patterns will address many pain points. One attendee noted that their agency explicitly does not use patterns currently since they cannot sync and easily update a pattern’s design.

The following resources were shared:

• Curating the Editor Experience (Block Editor Handbook)
• Curating the Editor Experience with client-side filters (WordPress Developer Blog)
• An external repo of block curation examples using client-side filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. by @ndiego
• Block templates and how to enable content lock (Block Editor Handbook)
• Discussion on partially synced patterns

While time ran short, @greenshady also shared a quick preview of his new starter/educational theme, First Draft.

The next Hallway Hangout will likely focus on building block themes and will be announced here on the Make WordPress Themes blog. In the meantime, please share your thoughts in the comments about any pain points you’re currently experiencing or new functionality that would make building for clients easier.

Props to @greenshady for co-hosting the meeting and for feedback on this follow-up post.

#hallway-hangout