WordPress’ Performance team has put its WebP by Default proposal on hold after the community voiced critical feedback and significant technical concerns. The new feature would generate WebP images on upload by default for new JPEG uploads and would use WebP images by default for website content. WordPress’ Performance team proposed this update for the…
WordPress 6.0 will attempt to tackle comments lists via the block system. It is an area that has fallen behind other features, which have received the bulk of the work in prior releases. Last week, JuanMa Garrido called for volunteers to test the new blocks via the Make WordPress Test blog. Contributors are asked to…
WordPress hosted a “first-of-its-kind event” via Zoom this week where members of the 6.0 release squad and core contributors conducted a live walkthrough of the major features coming in the next release. The event was recorded and is now available on WordPress.tv and embedded below. WordPress 6.0 is set to include approximately 400 updates and…
The short answer: probably not. The longer answer… It will depend on many things going right over the next couple of months. WordPress 6.0 is scheduled for launch on May 24, 2022. The 6.0 Beta 1 is on April 12. Even with a slightly extended cycle, major updates come fast. Anne McCarthy opened a discussion…
Anne McCarthy announced the launch of the Museum of Block Art earlier today via the Gutenberg Times blog. The site’s goal is to showcase creative uses of blocks and inspire the WordPress community to push the limits of what is possible with the block editor. The site showcases 22 pieces of block art from 11…
WordPress core committer Jonny Harris merged a patch into WordPress core for a 12-year-old ticket that he says has the potential to bring “a massive effect on performance for custom pages.” The change, which will be included in the upcoming 6.0 release, stops unnecessary queries when developers are using the do_parse_request filter, thanks to a refreshed patch…
It feels like the end of an era. Last week, core contributors merged a patch that removed PHP variables named $pee and $tinkle from the WordPress codebase. Yes, the software that powers 43% of the web has pee-pee jokes in its code. I know how it sounds. I felt silly writing that sentence. My job…
The journey toward a web fonts API in WordPress has been a rollercoaster of emotions for developers. After being punted from the WordPress 5.9 release, it was moved to the Gutenberg project, where it could be built alongside related features that relied on it. The API has been merged into the Gutenberg plugin and should…
WordPress.org’s News section is sporting a new design with a bold color scheme and updated typography. The design was created by Automattic-sponsored contributor, Beatriz Fialho, who unveiled earlier versions of the update in June 2021. Fialho selected Inter, an open source font, for paragraphs and functional text, and EB Garamond for headings. As design trends change on the…
It has been over nine years since the late Alex Mills opened a ticket on WordPress Trac titled Plugin Dependencies (Yet Another Plugin Dependencies Ticket). It is not the oldest of similar feature requests, but it is still open. Most predecessors were closed with the “wontfix” label, which is usually the final nail in the…
Gutenberg design contributors are exploring how the template creation UI can be updated to expand the types of templates that user can create using the Site Editor. In WordPress 5.9 users can edit any template that a theme includes, but template creation is limited to a few basics: Front page Single Page Archive Search 404…
The WordPress Photo Directory is taking off, growing to more than 1,400 approved free photos in under two months. After a successful call for testers and volunteer photo moderators, the directory has an enthusiastic team of contributors ready to move the project forward. Angela Jin’s pitch for photo moderators resonated with a lot of people…
WordPress 5.9 has already been downloaded nearly 12 million times since its release earlier this week. Millions of WordPress users are discovering full-site editing (FSE) for the first time. What will they think? What struggles with they have that will need to be addressed? WordPress developers and power users have done an immense amount of…
With WordPress 5.9 only just stepping its toes out the door and greeting the world, the lead developers seem to have hardly taken a moment to catch their breath. Yesterday, Matías Ventura posted the preliminary roadmap for 6.0. It covers the general scope of the planned features to land this year. Version 6.0 is expected…
After a short delay, WordPress 5.9 “Josephine” has finally arrived with the long-awaited full-site editing features that give users more control over site design and page templates. This release is named for American-born jazz singer Joséphine Baker, who found success on broadway before moving to Europe and becoming very popular in France. She frequently made…