Current major releaseMajor Release A set of releases or versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as “X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases often are the introduction of new major features and functionality.: WordPress 5.6
The past month of October 2020 saw the WordPress 5.6 release cycle kick into high gear with weekly Betas.
You can read an update on the progress of the release and a note explaining why the widget screen will not ship in 5.6, after all.
Not included in the initial scope was the REST API Authentication, which was proposed and merged in October!
Minor Releases: 5.5.2 and 5.5.3
- WordPress 5.5.2, October 29th, 2020
- WordPress 5.5.3, October 30th, 2020
- Technical details about 5.5.3
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/
- At the beginning of every month, planned tasks are posted. This is what was planned for October.
- In October, Gutenberg 9.2 (the last version of 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 to go into WordPress 5.6)
New Default Theme: Twenty Twenty-One
At the end of September, the new default theme was introduced.
In October, work continued on tirelessly on it, to make it as accessible, performant and usable as possible. Meetings continued and a couple of test-scrubs were organised to test overall functionality, UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing., UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it., and Dark Mode.
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/preface.php. 8
Works continues to make WordPress CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. as compatible as possible with the next release of PHP 8, scheduled to be released few days before 5.6 is released.
A detailed call for testing has been published in the blog, with instructions. Deadline is November 17th.
Miscellaneous blog posts, updates, and discussions published in the Core Blog
- Revisiting Starter Content (on .org and beyond)
- Introducing GitHub Actions for Automated Testing
- Discussion: align the WordPress release cycle with the industry standard (Deadline to comment, November 17th 2020)
- Meeting for components and focuses have continued. You can find agendas and recaps in the Core blog. Look out for the relevant tags: Update/Install Component (working on the auto updates), Test Scrubs, Editor, Dev Chats, CSS, Media
The next update will be about November and it will be published in early December. We are committed to bringing Core updates to this blog 🙂
In the meantime, you can also check the Week In Core updates, which have been brought back today in the Core blog.