WordPress.org

We’re at a turning point: 2017 is going to be the year that we’re going to see features in WordPress which require hosts to have HTTPS available. Just as JavaScript is a near necessity for smoother user experiences and more modern PHP versions are critical for performance, SSL just makes sense as the next hurdle our users are going to face.

SSL basically means the link between your browser and the server is encrypted. SSL used to be difficult to implement, and often expensive or slow. Modern browsers, and the incredible success of projects like Let’s Encrypt have made getting a certificate to secure your site fast, free, and something we think every host should support by default, especially in a post-Snowden era. Google also weighs SSL as a search engine ranking factor and will begin flagging unencrypted sites in Chrome.

First, early in 2017, we will only promote hosting partners that provide a SSL certificate by default in their accounts. Later we will begin to assess which features, such as API authentication, would benefit the most from SSL and make them only enabled when SSL is there.

Separately, I also think the performance improvements in PHP7 are particularly impressive, and major kudos to everyone who worked on that. We will consider whether hosts use PHP7 by default for new accounts next year as well.

 

The release candidate for WordPress 4.7 is now available.

RC means we think we’re done, but with millions of users and thousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible we’ve missed something. We hope to ship WordPress 4.7 on Tuesday, December 6, but we need your help to get there. If you haven’t tested 4.7 yet, now is the time! To test WordPress 4.7, you can use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

WordPress 4.7 is a jam-packed release, with a number of features focused on getting a theme set up for the first time. Highlights include a new default theme, video headers, custom CSS, customizer edit shortcuts, PDF thumbnail previews, user admin languages, REST API content endpoints, post type templates, and more.

We’ve made quite a few refinements since releasing Beta 4 a week ago, including usability and accessibility enhancements for video headers, media and page template support in starter content, and polishing of how custom CSS can be migrated to and extended by plugins and themes. The REST API endpoints saw a number of bugfixes and notably now have anonymous comment off by default.

Not sure where to start with testing? Try setting up a fresh site on a new installation with Twenty Seventeen (hint: head into customizing your site before touching any pages or widgets) and taking notes on what you enjoyed and what got you stuck. For more details about what’s new in version 4.7, check out the Beta 1, Beta 2, Beta 3, and Beta 4 blog posts.

Think you’ve found a bug? Please post to the Alpha/Beta support forum. If any known issues come up, you’ll be able to find them here.

Developers, please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 4.7 and update your plugin’s Tested up to version in the readme to 4.7. If you find compatibility problems please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release – we work hard to avoid breaking things. An in-depth field guide to developer-focused changes is coming soon on the core development blog.

Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages! And if you haven’t yet done so, now is a great time to take the Annual WordPress Survey and send it on to your friends.

Happy testing! And now for another Rami Abraham haiku break.

Select your language
Then let your users choose theirs
get_user_locale()

Theme authors rejoice
Any option may employ
Selective refresh

Custom header video
Make sure to add_theme_support
Bling above the fold

A new template dawns
A hierarchy member
Post-type templates live

PDF updates
Pack a parade of polish
Prettier previews

Template Post Type: New
Template Post Type: And Useful
Template Post Type: Thing

Let lists live lively
Laud wp_list_sort()
Less laconic lists

WordPress 4.7 Beta 4 is now available!

This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site just to play with the new version. To test WordPress 4.7, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the beta here (zip).

For more information on what’s new in 4.7, check out the Beta 1, Beta 2, and Beta 3 blog posts, along with in-depth developer guides on make/core. We’ve made about 60 changes in the last few days for beta 4, including tweaks to Twenty Seventeen, custom CSS, and the REST API content endpoints.

Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!

If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.

We are almost there
Please test your plugins and themes
RC coming soon

The title says it all. We had some great applications for cities to host WordCamp US after we finish up in Philadelphia this year, and the city chosen for 2017-2018 is Nashville, Tennessee.

Based on the other great applications we got I’m also excited about the pipeline of communities that could host it in future years as WordCamp US travels across the United States and gives us an opportunity to learn and love a new city, as we have with Philadelphia.

By the way, if you haven’t yet, now is a great time to take the Annual WordPress Survey and ask your friends to as well.

Photo Credit.

WordPress 4.7 Beta 3 is now available!

This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site just to play with the new version. To test WordPress 4.7, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the beta here (zip).

For more information on what’s new in 4.7, check out the Beta 1 and Beta 2 blog posts, along with in-depth field guides on make/core. Some of the changes in Beta 3 include:

• REST API: The unfiltered_html capability is now respected and rest_base has been added to response objects of wp/v2/taxonomies and wp/v2/types, while get_allowed_query_vars() and the rest_get_post filter have been removed.
• Roles/Capabilities: Added meta-caps for comment, term, and user meta, which are currently only used in the REST API.
• I18N: Added the ability to change user’s locale back to site’s locale. (#38632)
• Custom CSS: Renamed the unfiltered_css meta capability to edit_css and added revisions support to the custom_css post type.
• Edit shortcuts: Theme authors should take a look at the developer guide to the customizer preview’s visible edit shortcuts and update their themes to take advantage of them if not already implementing selective refresh.
• Various bug fixes: We’ve made over 50 changes in the last week.

Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!

If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.

Building the future
A global community
Stronger together

WordPress 4.7 Beta 2 is now available!

This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site just to play with the new version. To test WordPress 4.7, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the beta here (zip).

Notable changes since WordPress 4.7 Beta 1:

• Twenty Seventeen: The theme wasn’t being installed on upgrades – sorry about that! Now you should see it if you’re upgrading an existing site. There are also plenty of fixes, especially for the header and small screen views.
• Edit shortcuts: These are always visible while editing (hide them on bigger screens by collapsing the controls) and should now work properly in Firefox. (#27403 and #38532)
• REST API endpoints: There have been a number of changes over the past week; your attention is requested on the following:
  • The DELETE response format has changed and may need to be accounted for. (#38494)
  • Enabled querying by multiple post statuses. (#38420)
  • Return an error when JSON decoding fails. (#38547)
• More developer notes
  • Fine grained capabilities for taxonomy terms
  • WP_Taxonomy
  • wp_list_sort() and WP_List_Util
  • Post type templates
  • New post type labels
  • Attributes for resource hints
• Various bug fixes: We’ve made almost 150 changes in the last week.

For more of what’s new in version 4.7, check out the Beta 1 blog post.

If you want a more in-depth view of what major changes have made it into 4.7, check out posts tagged with 4.7 on the main development blog, or look at a list of everything that’s changed. There will be more developer notes to come, so keep an eye out for those as well.

Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!

If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.

Happy testing!

Ya es la hora
Time for another beta
请您帮下忙!

WordPress 4.7 Beta 1 is now available!

This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site just to play with the new version. To test WordPress 4.7, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the beta here (zip).

WordPress 4.7 is slated for release on December 6, but we need your help to get there. We’ve been working on a lot of things, many of them to make getting your site set up the way you want it much easier. Here are some of the bigger items to test and help us find as many bugs as possible in the coming weeks:

• Twenty Seventeen – A brand new default theme brings your site to life with immersive featured images, video headers, and subtle animations. With a focus on business sites, it features multiple sections on the front page as well as widgets, navigation and social menus, a logo, and more. Personalize its asymmetrical grid with a custom color scheme and showcase your multimedia content with post formats. Our default theme for 2017 works great in many languages, for any abilities, and on any device.
• Video Headers – Sometimes a big atmospheric video as a moving header image is just what you need to showcase your wares; go ahead and try it out with Twenty Seventeen. Need some video inspiration? Try searching for sites with video headers available for download and use.
• Set up your site in one flow – From finding and installing themes right inside the customizer, to automatically staged theme-specific starter content, to clickable shortcuts that jump directly to editing an item from the preview pane, to adding pages while you’re building a nav menu or setting a static front page: getting a new site spun up and ready to share with a friend or a coworker is faster and easier than it’s ever been. Note: starter content appears when live previewing brand new sites and is currently only available in Twenty Seventeen. We’ll be expanding this to other bundled themes very soon, and perhaps to sites with existing content in future releases of WordPress.
• Custom CSS with live previews – Ever needed to hide or tweak the look of something in your theme or from a plugin? Now you can do it with CSS and live preview the results while customizing your site. CSS can be a powerful tool; you may find that you won’t need the theme editor or child themes anymore.
• User admin languages – Just because your site is in one language doesn’t mean that everybody helping manage it prefers that language for their admin. To try this out, you’ll need to have more than one language installed, which will make a user language option available in your profile.
• PDF thumbnail previews – Uploading PDFs will now generate thumbnail images so you can more easily distinguish between all your documents.

As always, there have been exciting changes for developers to explore as well, such as:

• REST API content endpoints – If you only test one thing as a developer, please test these. This phase is particularly helpful for people building plugins, themes, and in-admin interfaces. Can you build the things you need? Are these ready for release, and is the world ready for them? (#38373)
• WP_Hook – The code that lies beneath actions and filters has been overhauled. You likely aren’t affected, but if you’ve done things to the $wp_filter global or experienced funky recursion bugs in the past, please take a moment to read the dev note and test your code.
• Custom bulk actions – List tables, now with more than bulk edit and delete.
• Expanded Settings Registration API via register_setting().
• For theme developers: Post type templates (#18375)
• More goodies for theme developers!
• Locale switching (#26511)
• Comment allowed checks have the potential for a back-compat break.

If you want a more in-depth view of what major changes have made it into 4.7, check out posts tagged with 4.7 on the main development blog, or look at a list of everything that’s changed. There will be more developer notes to come, so keep an eye out for those as well.

If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.

Happy testing, and please enjoy this extended haiku break, courtesy of Rami Abraham.

Exquisite endpoints
Extol epic exabytes
Enabling earthlings

Careful interfaces
Considerately conjured
Customizer chic

Ring in the new year
With elegance and balance
Twenty Seventeen

Hooks hook healthily
17817
Sane iterations

Admin in your tongue
One site, many languages
We all speak WordPress

The WordPress Polyglots team is organizing the second Global WordPress Translation Day on November 12th. Everyone is invited to join – from anywhere in the world!

Translating is one of the easiest ways to get involved with WordPress and contribute to the project. Global WordPress Translation Day is your chance to learn more about translating WordPress, meet people from all over the world, and translate WordPress into one of more than 160 languages.

Join us on November 12th from anywhere in the world

The translation day starts on Saturday, November 12th, 2016, at 0:00 UTC and ends 24 hours later. See what time that is for you! You can join right from the start, or any time it’s convenient for you throughout the day.

What are we doing?

Local contributor days are happening all over the world, and are a great way to get involved. Check out this map to see if there’s already a local event happening near you. Can’t find one? Organize a local event!

At the same time, join the community for 24 hours of live-streamed, remote sessions in numerous languages. Sessions will cover localization, internationalization, and contributing in your language.

Who’s it for?

Whether you’re new to translating and want to learn how to translate, or an experienced translation editor building a strong team, the translation day is for you. Developers will also enjoy topics from experienced contributors, whether you’re learning about internationalization and or want to find more translators for your themes and plugins. There’s a session for everyone!

Get Involved

Joining is easy! On November 12th, in your own timezone, translate WordPress or your favorite plugins and themes into your language, while watching live sessions over the course of the day.

Want to get more involved? Sign up to organize a local event and invite your local community to translate together on November 12th. Events can be formal or completely informal – grab your laptop and a couple of friends, and head to a local coffee shop to translate for an hour or two.

Can you get involved if you only speak English?

Absolutely! Even if you only speak English, there are great sessions about internationalization that can benefit every developer. There’s also lots of English variants that need your help! For example, English is spoken and written differently in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. You can learn about these differences and why these variants are important during the sessions.

And if you’re feeling fun, try translating WordPress into emoji! Yep, we have a translation of WordPress in emoji! 🌎🌍🌏

Questions?

If you have any questions, the polyglots team and the event organizers hang out in #polyglots in Slack and are happy to help! (Get an invite to Slack at chat.wordpress.org.)

Sign up to take part in the event on the official website.

WordPress 4.6.1 is now available. This is a security release for all previous versions and we strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately.

WordPress versions 4.6 and earlier are affected by two security issues: a cross-site scripting vulnerability via image filename, reported by SumOfPwn researcher Cengiz Han Sahin; and a path traversal vulnerability in the upgrade package uploader, reported by Dominik Schilling from the WordPress security team.

Thank you to the reporters for practicing responsible disclosure.

In addition to the security issues above, WordPress 4.6.1 fixes 15 bugs from 4.6. For more information, see the release notes or consult the list of changes.

Download WordPress 4.6.1 or venture over to Dashboard → Updates and simply click “Update Now.” Sites that support automatic background updates are already beginning to update to WordPress 4.6.1.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to 4.6.1:

Andrew Ozz, bonger, Boone Gorges, Chaos Engine, Daniel Kanchev, Dion Hulse, Drew Jaynes, Felix Arntz, Fredrik Forsmo, Gary Pendergast, geminorum, Ian Dunn, Ionut Stanciu, Jeremy Felt, Joe McGill, Marius L. J. (Clorith), Pascal Birchler, Robert D Payne, Sergey Biryukov, and Triet Minh.

Version 4.6 of WordPress, named “Pepper” in honor of jazz baritone saxophonist Park Frederick “Pepper” Adams III, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard. New features in 4.6 help you to focus on the important things while feeling more at home.

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Streamlined Updates

Don’t lose your place: stay on the same page while you update, install, and delete your plugins and themes.

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Native Fonts

The WordPress dashboard now takes advantage of the fonts you already have, making it load faster and letting you feel more at home on whatever device you use.

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Editor Improvements

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Under The Hood

Resource Hints

Resource hints help browsers decide which resources to fetch and preprocess. WordPress 4.6 adds them automatically for your styles and scripts making your site even faster.

Robust Requests

The HTTP API now leverages the Requests library, improving HTTP standard support and adding case-insensitive headers, parallel HTTP requests, and support for Internationalized Domain Names.

WP_Term_Query and WP_Post_Type

A new WP_Term_Query class adds flexibility to query term information while a new WP_Post_Type object makes interacting with post types more predictable.

Meta Registration API

The Meta Registration API has been expanded to support types, descriptions, and REST API visibility.

Translations On Demand

WordPress will install and use the newest language packs for your plugins and themes as soon as they’re available from WordPress.org’s community of translators.

JavaScript Library Updates

Masonry 3.3.2, imagesLoaded 3.2.0, MediaElement.js 2.22.0, TinyMCE 4.4.1, and Backbone.js 1.3.3 are bundled.

Customizer APIs for Setting Validation and Notifications

Settings now have an API for enforcing validation constraints. Likewise, customizer controls now support notifications, which are used to display validation errors instead of failing silently.

Multisite, now faster than ever

Cached and comprehensive site queries improve your network admin experience. The addition of WP_Site_Query and WP_Network_Query help craft advanced queries with less effort.

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The Crew

This release was led by Dominik Schilling, backed up by Garth Mortensen as Release Deputy, and with the help of these fine individuals. There are 272 contributors with props in this release. Pull up some Pepper Adams on your music service of choice, and check out some of their profiles:

A5hleyRich, Aaron Jorbin, achbed, Adam Silverstein, Adam Soucie, Adriano Ferreira, afineman, Ahmad Awais, aidvu, Aki Björklund, Alex Concha, Alex Dimitrov, Alex King, Alex Mills (Viper007Bond), alexvandervegt, Alice Brosey, Ana Aires, Andrea Fercia, Andrea Gandino, Andrew Nacin, Andrew Ozz, Andrew Rockwell, Andy Fragen, Andy Meerwaldt, Andy Skelton, Anil Basnet, Ankit K Gupta, anneschmidt, Antti Kuosmanen, Arunas Liuiza, Barry, Barry Ceelen, Bernhard Kau, Birgir Erlendsson (birgire), bobbingwide, bonger, Boone B. Gorges, Brad Touesnard, Brandon Kraft, brianvan, Bruno Borges, Bryan Petty, Bryan Purcell, Chandra Patel, Chaos Engine, Chouby, Chris Mok, Chris Olbekson, chriscct7, Christoph Herr, Christopher Finke, Cliff Seal, clubduece, cmillerdev, Craig Ralston, crstauf, dabnpits, Daniel Bachhuber, Daniel Hüsken, Daniel Kanchev, Daniele Scasciafratte, dashaluna, davewarfel, David A. Kennedy, David Anderson, David Brumbaugh, David Cavins, David Herrera, David Mosterd, David Shanske, Dennis Ploetner, Derek Herman, Devin Price, Dion Hulse, Doug Wollison, Drew Jaynes, Ella Iseulde Van Dorpe, elrae, Eric Andrew Lewis, Erick Hitter, Fabien Quatravaux, Faison, Felix Arntz, flyingdr, FolioVision, francescobagnoli, Frank Bueltge, Frank Klein, Frank Martin, Fredrik Forsmo, Gabriel Koen, Gabriel Maldonado, Gary Pendergast, gblsm, Geeky Software, geminorum, George Stephanis, Hardeep Asrani, Helen Hou-Sandí, Henry Wright, Hugo Baeta, Iain Poulson, Ian Dunn, Ignacio Cruz Moreno, imath, Inderpreet Singh, Ionut Stanciu, Ipstenu (Mika Epstein), J.D. Grimes, James Huff, James Nylen, Janne Ala-Äijälä, Jasper de Groot, javorszky, Jeff Farthing, Jeffrey de Wit, Jeremy Felt, Jeremy Green, Jeremy Herve, Jeremy Ward, Jerry Bates (jerrysarcastic), Jesin A, Jip Moors, Joe Dolson, Joe Hoyle, Joe McGill, Joel Williams, Johan Falk, John Blackbourn, John James Jacoby, John_Schlick, johnpgreen, Jon (Kenshino), Jonathan Brinley, Jonny Harris, Joost de Valk, Joseph Scott, Josh Pollock, Joshua Goodwin, jpdavoutian, jrf, jsternberg, Juanfra Aldasoro, Juhi Saxena, julesaus, Justin Sainton, Kelly Dwan, Kevin Hagerty, Kite, kjbenk, Konstantin Kovshenin, Konstantin Obenland, Kurt Payne, Laurens Offereins, Luke Cavanagh, Lutz Schröer, Marcel Pol, Marius L. J. (Clorith), Mark Jaquith, Mark Uraine, martin.krcho, Matt Miklic, Matt Mullenweg, Matthew Batchelder, mattyrob, Mayeenul Islam, mdwheele, medariox, Mehul Kaklotar, Meitar, Mel Choyce, Michael, Michael Arestad, Michael Arestad, Michael Beil, Michael Moore, Mike Bijon, Mike Hansen, Mike Schroder, Milan Dinić, Morgan Estes, moto hachi ( mt8.biz ), Mustafa Uysal, Nícholas André, Nextendweb, Niall Kennedy, Nick Halsey, Nikhil Chavan, Nilambar Sharma, Ninos, Noah, noahsilverstein, odyssey, ojrask, Olar Marius, ovann86, pansotdev, Pascal Birchler, Paul Bearne, Paul Vincent Beigang, Paul Wilde, pavelevap, pcarvalho, Peter Westwood, Peter Wilson, PeterRKnight, Petter Walbø Johnsgård, Petya Raykovska, Pieter Daalder, Pollett, postpostmodern, Presskopp, prettyboymp, r-a-y, Rachel Baker, rafaelangeline, raffaella isidori, Rahul Prajapati, Rami Yushuvaev, Rian Rietveld , Richard Tape, Robert D Payne, Robin Cornett, Rodrigo Primo, Ronald Huereca, Ruud Laan, Ryan McCue, Ryan Welcher, Samantha Miller, Samir Shah, Sara Rosso, schlessera, Scott Basgaard, Scott Kingsley Clark, Scott Reilly, Scott Taylor, screamingdev, Sebastian Pisula, semil, Sergey Biryukov, shahpranaf, Sidati, Silvan Hagen, Simon Vikström, sirjonathan, smerriman, Soeren Wrede, southp, Stanko Metodiev, Stephane Daury (stephdau), Stephen, Stephen Edgar, Stephen Harris, Steven Word, stubgo, Sudar Muthu, Swapnil V. Patil, Taco Verdonschot, Takashi Irie, Tammie Lister, Taylor Lovett, theMikeD, thomaswm, Thorsten Frommen, Timothy Jacobs, tloureiro, Travis Northcutt, Triet Minh, Ulrich, Unyson, Viktor Szépe, Vishal Kakadiya, vortfu, vovafeldman, websupporter, Weston Ruter, wp_smith, wpfo, Xavi Ivars, Yoav Farhi, Zack Tollman, and zakb8.

 

Special thanks go to Jerry Bates for producing the release video and Hugo Baeta for providing marketing graphics.

Finally, thanks to all the community translators who worked on WordPress 4.6. Their efforts make it possible to use WordPress 4.6 in 52 languages. The WordPress 4.6 release video has been captioned into 43 languages.

If you want to follow along or help out, check out Make WordPress and our core development blog. Thanks for choosing WordPress. See you soon for version 4.7!