WordPress 4.7 Beta 1 Now Available for Testing

WordPress 4.7 Beta 1 was released this evening with a long list of highlighted features that are certain to delight both end users and developers. Core contributors are asking for testing and feedback on some of the larger items ahead of the official release, slated for December 6.

Twenty Seventeen and its support for atmospheric videos is one of the major front-facing features in 4.7 that could use testing. Last week, when Twenty Seventeen was merged, there was some uncertainty as to whether or not the first version would ship with video headers. Contributors knuckled down and worked quickly to get basic core support for video headers ready for an initial commit.

Twenty Seventeen will be the first WordPress theme to use the new feature. Users will be able to manage video headers in the customizer by selecting a video via the media library or setting a URL to an external video, such as one hosted on YouTube. Theme authors who want to add support for videos will be able to do so by passing ‘video’ => true as an argument when adding theme support for custom headers. If the browser is unable to play the video, it will fallback to the header image.

Other user-facing features that require testing include:

New site setup flow

Custom CSS with live previews

User admin languages

PDF thumbnail previews

WordPress 4.7 release lead Helen Hou-Sandí also requested that plugin and theme developers test the REST API content endpoints, any plugins that might be impacted by the WP_Hook overhaul, the expanded Settings Registration API, custom bulk actions, post type templates, and a few other items.

With the impressive list of features on deck for 4.7, it’s only fitting that Beta 1 was accompanied by an extended five-stanza haiku. Check out the announcement post to read the haiku and find more information on how to test changes coming in the next release.