In this episode of WordPress Weekly, Marcus Couch and I are joined by Mike Schroder who led the WordPress 4.5 release cycle. Schroder tells us what it’s like to release software to millions of websites across the world. We learn about the checklists and processes he went through on launch day. We discuss the emotional…
WordPress 4.5 was released today, named in honor of Coleman Hawkins, an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first musicians to establish the tenor saxophone as a jazz horn. Compared to other major releases, this one is short on show-stopping features but keeps WordPress on the path of steady, incremental improvements. Most…
Daniel Bachhuber, maintainer of WP-CLI, a popular command line interface utility for managing WordPress sites, has released version 0.23.0. This release includes a number of bug fixes, improvements, and features, but the most important thing to note is that earlier versions of WP-CLI will not work with WordPress 4.5. According to Bachhuber, WordPress 4.5 loads…
Building on the momentum generated from the WordPress 4.4 development cycle, WordPress 4.5 includes a number of enhancements to comments. In a post on the Make Core blog, Rachel Baker explains the changes and what to expect. “WordPress 4.5 includes several ancient bug fixes and a few enhancements in the Comments component. We have closed…
Jetpack 3.9.3 and 3.9.4 are now available. Although 3.9.3 is billed as a “maintenance and compatibility release,” there are a number of significant changes and improvements that make this an important release. WordPress 4.5 will introduce native support for a theme logo. This will render Jetpack’s site logo feature obsolete. The 3.9.3 release of the…
Today Andrew Ozz, one of the maintainers on WordPress’ core Editor component, announced some major improvements coming to the links modal in the 4.5 release. Currently, when adding a link to text in the visual editor, a modal launches where you can paste in the URL, add link text, and set the target to open…
In our first episode in more than a month, Marcus Couch and I discuss the latest WordPress news, including a preview of WordPress 4.5. I share my experience taking a month off away from WordPress and the lessons learned in doing so. This show is a little rough around the edges but we’ll be back…
In October 2014, Jetpack 3.2 introduced a new site logo feature for theme developers. As Jetpack is widely used, it provided a way for theme developers to easily build in logo support, thereby increasing data portability across themes. After discussion in yesterday’s core development meeting, WordPress 4.5 is now set to introduce theme support for…
Last week the feature plugin decision deadline closed and WordPress core contributors approved Responsive Preview and Selective Refresh for merge. The merge deadline is Wednesday, February 17, followed by the first beta next week. Both feature approved for 4.5 extend the customizer to improve live previews. A new version of the Customize Partial Refresh plugin…
WordPress 4.5 development is now in full swing with Mike Schroder at the helm, leading the kickoff meeting today. Schroder is joined by newly named deputies, Mel Choyce and Adam Silverstein, who will help manage the release. The 4.5 project schedule is now posted. The merge window for feature plugins opens February 3rd and the…
Contributors to the WordPress core Customize component are targeting the upcoming 4.5 release for inclusion of a new feature plugin. Customize Pane Resizer allows users to drag the edge of the pane to make the customizer wider than the default 300px. According to Customize component maintainer Weston Ruter, the idea for the plugin came out…