The WordPress coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. development team builds WordPress! Follow this site for general updates, status reports, and the occasional code debate. There’s lots of ways to contribute:
Found a bugbugA bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority.?Create a ticket in our bug tracker.
We use Slack for real-time communication. Contributors live all over the world, so there are discussions happening at all hours of the day.
Our core development meetings are every Wednesday at 05:00 UTC and 20:00 UTC in the #core channel on Slack. Anyone can join and participate or listen in!
The Full Site Editing Go/No Go demo took place a few days ago, where project leadership determined what new features should be included in WordPress 5.8 based on their current status, feedback gathered in calls for testing, and the prospect of achieving a solid implementation before the feature freeze.
This post aims to provide a high-level overview of the focuses to attend to before the feature freeze; linked individual actionable GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ items further develop lower-level requirements to complete. Individual items are also being tracked in the WordPress 5.8 FSE Must Haves project board.
Schedule
According to the WordPress 5.8 pre-planning schedule, the feature freeze will take place on May 25th, leaving room for the following GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/pluginPluginA 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 releases to be merged:
Gutenberg version
RC release date
Final release date
10.5
April 21st
April 28th
10.6
May 5th
May 12th
10.7
May 19th
May 26th
To align with this schedule, the last version to be merged in coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. before the feature freeze will be 10.7-RC, with any future bugfix applied before or after the final 10.7.0 being ported as well. Moreover, to ease new feature testing with more frequent merges, as suggested in a recent dev chat, Gutenberg 10.4 -without experimental features- is already available in WordPress core.
Next steps
Apart from all the incremental improvements included by merging up to 9 plugin releases, from Gutenberg 9.9 to 10.7, the following work-in-progress features are targeted for 5.8 and should become stable by Gutenberg 10.7.
BlockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. theme building
Block themes might arguably represent one of the biggest core theme-building paradigm changes in the last decade. As such, a huge effort is being done to achieve a future-proof, evolvable foundation. With most of the infrastructure ready, the focus remains on the theme.json configuration file, and the “block supports” mechanism:
These blocks should display a badge in the inserter, denoting they are new blocks that, while completely stable and functional, might still need some UXUXUser experience polishing and are meant to experiment and tinker around.
Template editing within the post editor
With one of the targets for 5.8 being to introduce block templates, users will be able to create custom block templates for posts and pages in classic themes. Although this feature mostly relies on the existing site editing infrastructure already available in the plugin, these improvements will be focused on to provide a great user experience. User testing is planned in coordination with @annezazu from the FSE Outreach program during the WordPress 5.8 betaBetaA pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. phase. Users are encouraged to join this program as it provides invaluable feedback that helps drive the projects’ focus and determine feature usability.
Widgets Editor & Block Widgets in the CustomizerCustomizerTool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings.
The Widgets Editor project aims to bring the power of blocks to classic theme with two major milestones:
Adding support for blocks in widgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. areas
Embedding a block editor in the customizer
Once these milestones have been completed, the remaining efforts towards 5.8 focus on providing stellar stability and backward compatibility, with an upcoming call for testing to be launched in the near future; if this is of interest to you, please keep an eye out for a future post on this blogblog(versus network, site). A detailed list of the next actions can be found at the Widgets Editor tracking issue.
WordPress 5.8 aims to introduce the new duotone design tool as a “block supports” feature, available by default in the core image and cover blocks. The PR introducing this feature is currently in its last polishing iterations and should be expected to land in the plugin soon.
Gallery block refactor
Last, but not least, work and a round of testing continue on the Gallery block refactor which seeks to be a wrapper around Image block rather than a separate block entirely. This will allow the Gallery block to benefit by default from all design tools and improvements made to the Image block. Feedback collected is addressed as part of the PR efforts; users are welcome to test and submit their feedback as early as possible so that it can be acted upon in the upcoming weeks.
This meeting is held in the #coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.-editor channel in the Making WordPress SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/..
Gutenberg 10.4 GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ 10.5 RC
BlockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.-based WidgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. Editor.
Navigation block.
Full Site Editing.
Task Coordination.
Open Floor.
Even if you can’t make the meeting, you’re encouraged to share anything relevant for the meeting in the comments below:
If you have anything to share for the Task Coordination section, please leave it as a comment on this post.
If you have anything to propose for the agenda or other specific items related to those listed above, please leave a comment below.
The GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/pluginPluginA 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 shipped v10.4 yesterday, April 14th, and Matías hosted the go/no go demo to review the current state of Full Site Editing and determine what, if anything, should be included in WordPress 5.8 (July 2021), as described in my earlier post.
The demo lasted close to 1.5 hours; it’s impressive to see how far Gutenberg has come. It was evident in the demo how powerful Full Site Editing can be. There is plenty to iterate upon and refine, but from a high level perspective all participants felt this was a “go” for WP5.8. Listed below are the primary areas to focus our collaborative efforts on, as well as a full list of issues/questions raised in the demo. With the cadence of Gutenberg updates there should be three major releases of Gutenberg (10.7) before the feature freeze date for WP5.8 betaBetaA pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process..
The changes that Phase 2 bring to WordPress are substantial, so to avoid overwhelming users the Global Styles interface and Site Editor (managing all templates) will ship post-WP5.8. This also gives more time for more theme authors, plugin developers, agencies, designers, site builders, and the like to explore and provide feedback.
WP5.8 Go ✅
Improvements from Gutenberg 9.9+.
Introduce new blocks (Query, Site Logo, Navigation, etc).
theme.json mechanism.
Template Editor for Pages/Blank Template.
Widgets Screen & BlockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. widgets in CustomizerCustomizerTool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings..
Design tools: Duotone, Layout controls, padding, etc.
Not all of the above are currently ready but there’s some level of confidence that they can be by the time of 5.8.
Who Attended
Matt Mullenweg – Project Lead (advocating for the vision/mission of WordPress, and aggregate body of users)
Matías Ventura – Gutenberg project lead (host of the demo)
Helen Hou-Sandí – Lead developer (advocating for CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., and extender community)
Josepha Haden Chomphosy – Executive Director (advocating for the community of WordPress, and aggregate body of users)
Héctor Prieto – Technical Project Manager (following up on technical action items)
Chloé Bringmann – Assisting with administrative and operational logistics
Reflections and Action Items
Listed below are synthesized suggestions and comments from the conversation.
Pattern Directory
While the directory is not ready yet, iterations will continue. More available patterns will be necessary, if it is to live up to its potential.
Query Block
Perhaps rename Query along the lines of, “Block List.”
Define the “query” of query block, and refine nomenclature for users.
When selecting a pattern, it’s not clear that what you see is an example and that you still need to select which pattern you want. Iterate on UIUIUser interface.
Multi-entity saving flow is not clear, as when you don’t save some entities’ changes nothing tells you what happened, and unselected changes aren’t actually discarded, just not saved in the background.
Iterate on the best placement for block names.
The “inherit query” text is not clear, both from a technical standpoint and a jargon standpoint. We need to aim for the right type of verbose so that it’s clear and descriptive.
🚩 This is potentially too powerful for users—you can edit everything from the blocks in this block. Flag was seconded.
theme. jsonJSONJSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML.
When options aren’t available in the UI because they have been disabled by the theme, make it clear that the options are turned off.
theme.json should allow a primary block to declare the styles for any nested blocks (like a search block within the nav block).
Inserter
The slide-in inserter makes the canvas smaller, so when adding full-page patterns they don’t look the same as in the preview until the inserter is closed again. Add the possibility for the inserter to show the patterns in the canvas in a zoomed-view rather than in a responsive view.
Navigation
We need more user-testing of both the Navigation Block and the Navigation Editor.
Move most of the block popups to the toolbar like when cropping images in the Image Block. E.g., links are not visible until you edit them.
Two weeks have passed since the last GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ release, which means a new version is already available! Gutenberg 10.4 introduces cool features like blockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. widgets in the CustomizerCustomizerTool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings., enhancements to the Site Editor, improvements to rich text placeholders, and, as always, many bugbugA bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. fixes as well.
Block widgets in the Customizer
As part of the Block-based WidgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. Editor project, one goal is to enable block widgets in the Customizer, with Gutenberg 10.4 introducing the first iteration of this feature.
The publishing content UI found in block editors now includes the site icon and name so that it’s clearer in certain cases, such as full-screen or mobile, where you are publishing to.
Revert template to theme defaults within the Site Editor
Until now, to revert a template to the default provided by a theme, it had to be done outside the Site Editor. Thanks to this new feature, it is now possible to revert template customizations directly in the editor.
Rich text placeholder enhancements
To improve the editing experience, rich text block placeholders have seen a few tweaks in this release. Starting in Gutenberg 10.4, blocks containing rich text will display a shorter placeholder text that will remain shown even when being focused.
Post ExcerptExcerptAn excerpt is the description of the blog post or page that will by default show on the blog archive page, in search results (SERPs), and on social media. With an SEO plugin, the excerpt may also be in that plugin’s metabox.: Fix toolbar for post excerpt warning. (30280)
Post Title: Fix “‘length’ of undefined” error. (30208)
Query: Use a WordPress loopLoopThe Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop. for the query block. (30405)
Site Logo: Delete sitelogo option when custom logo does not exist or was removed. (30427)
Block List: Fix mover position in the docked toolbar. (30242)
Code Editor: Revert save editors value on change (#27717). (30524)
Post Editor:
Avoid focus attempt on a non-existent post title in code editor. (29922)
Fix the post author selector for contributor roles. (30218)
Gutenberg PluginPluginA 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: Ensure that plugin does not error with older versions of WordPress. (30230)
Inner blocks: Memoize allowedBlocks to prevent needlessly updating settings. (30311)
Server side renderer: Fix errors in template part editor context. (29246)
Polish navigation menuNavigation MenuA theme feature introduced with Version 3.0. WordPress includes an easy to use mechanism for giving various control options to get users to click from one place to another on a site. submenus. (30335)
Add description for templateParts in theme jsonJSONJSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML.. (30118)
Add instructions for finding attributes for use in templates. (30258)
Added a practical example of adding a component to the sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.. (30379)
Remove deprecations planned for 10.3 release. (30417)
Update the objectFitPolyfill vendor library. (30507)
PHPPHPThe web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higher Coding Standards fixes. (30346)
Tools
Add /packages/stylelint-config to CODEOWNERS. (30264)
Build: Ensure non-JSJSJavaScript, a web scripting language typically executed in the browser. Often used for advanced user interfaces and behaviors. changes are processed in the watch mode. (30343)
Testing:
Added end-to-end tests for navigation menu name editor. (29774)
GHA workflow improvements when setting up NodeJS. (29078)
The following benchmark compares performance for a particularly sizeable post (~36,000 words, ~1,000 blocks) over the last releases. Such a large post isn’t representative of the average editing experience but is adequate for spotting variations in performance.
Version
Loading Time
KeyPress Event (typing)
Gutenberg 10.4
5.94s
35.14ms
Gutenberg 10.3
5.98s
32.58ms
WordPress 5.7
5.05s
31.34ms
Kudos to all the contributors that helped with the release! 👏
Thanks @youknowriad for managing the release and @critterverse for helping with the release post assets.
GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ 10.4 release.
@youknowriad shared that the release post will be coming shortly (later today or tomorrow). It’s a release with a lot of work related to FSE, FSE Blocks, editor/frontend parity and many other updates.
Full Site Editing Scope for WP5.8
The post was shared during the chat and attention directed towards the outline of the 5.8 plans for FSE, and @annezazu shared that there is a new call for testing available. Also we now have a board with WordPress 5.8 FSE Must Haves.
Monthly Priorities & Key Project Updates
Global Styles
@nosolosw shared in his GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ tracking issue:
Landed:
Parts of theme.jsonJSONJSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML. with elements PR:29891
i18ni18nInternationalization, or the act of writing and preparing code to be fully translatable into other languages. Also see localization. Often written with a lowercase i so it is not confused with a lowercase L or the numeral 1. Often an acquired skill. process: make it not depend on a particular path PR:30604
add mechanism to migrate from a v0 schema to the latest PR:30600
border radius for the button blockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.PR:30194
font size & font family for the button block PR:30394
For the Block based WidgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. Editor the main focus these days is improving the performance of the block editor in the customizerCustomizerTool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. and moving our attention to testing the level of back compat existing and achievable.
ongoing discussion about the block’s markup and the work on adding a Links List block
Update on the post schedule component
@retrofox shared an update about a couple of enhancements in the post-schedule component. Now, it shows calendar events with a small blue bullet. Events are scheduled and published posts.
I mainly worked on enhancementenhancementEnhancements are simple improvements to WordPress, such as the addition of a hook, a new feature, or an improvement to an existing feature. issues:
Working on all things FSE Outreach Program — responding to feedback for the fourth call for testing/opening lots of issues, held a hallway hangout about FSE, still testing FSE everyday, and am going to ship a fifth call for testing today with a summary post of the fourth call for testing to follow later this week.
@poena announced that last week there was a contributor day at Yoast with user testing and code contributions to FSE. A large amount of feedback issues were open and some that are already being solved.
Issues and PRs needing eyes and contributions
Discussion: documentation handbook plans for site editing and beyond: Issue:30637
FSE: Finalizing the name and menu item placement Issue: 29630
Shared block editor settings PR, which requires some updates to the existing PHPPHPThe web scripting language in which WordPress is primarily architected. WordPress requires PHP 5.6.20 or higherhooksHooksIn WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same. and could use some eyes for sanity checks and reviews PR: 1118
Status of the existing Block Template APIAPIAn API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways.
@itsjusteileen asked about the future of the Block Template API in the context of FSE developments and noted that the code examples in the handbook don’t work anymore. It doesn’t appear that the block template API will go away and we should have some issues open if the documentation is outdated or the API broken.
Feedback needed on several widgets/blocks discussions
a discussion about allowing users to insert a Classic Block in a SidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. on the Widgets (betaBetaA pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process.) screen
a discussion about reconstructing Widgets Screen to use the Customize API. This is a fancy way to say that we should or could remove the standalone editor as the new block based widgets editor lands in a future WP release.
a question: assuming the block based widgets editor is an opt out feature what is the preferred way to opt out
Design process for the widgets updates
@Anthony Nolan brought up a question around where can one find the process that led up to the current state in the block based widgets editor project, and was guided towards going through closed issues such as this one or this one, which cover updating the customizer or look at the open project to see how the stand alone widgets editor progresses.
GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ 10.4 release.
BlockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. based WidgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. Editor.
Navigation block.
Full Site Editing.
Task Coordination.
Open Floor.
If you are not able to attend the meeting, you are encouraged to share anything relevant for the discussion:
If you have anything to share for the Task Coordination section, please leave it as a comment on this post.
If you have anything to propose for the agenda or other specific items related to those listed above, please leave a comment below.
The first go/no go date is next week (April 14, 2021), and I’d like to offer a roadmap and some high level clarifications for folks following along.
Full site editing is a collection of projects and together they represent a big change, arguably too much for a single release. The most important context to share is that it isn’t shipping as the full, default experience for users. One of the clearest pieces of feedback from the Phase One merge process was that there wasn’t enough time for our extenders (agencies, theme authors, pluginPluginA 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 developers, site builders, etc.) to prepare for the upcoming changes.
With that in mind, this merge process won’t be an on/off switch. The focus now is not on a full and nuanced user experience, but more of an open public betaBetaA pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. within WordPress 5.8.
With that context, let’s take a look at what is coming up in the next week and beyond..
Next Steps
Go/No Go Dates
On April 14 the GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ plugin will ship v10.4 and shortly thereafter will be the go/no go demo.
The scope is the same as the past few months and focuses on the interface that allows for template editing, a number of new theme-building-oriented blocks, and design tools. This part of the FSE merge will not change the users’ default experience, but instead will focus on bringing tools to the extenders in our community so that they can experiment with their users in mind.
Block theme building based on the theme.json configuration file. (https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/29891)
Site-editing-oriented blocks, such as the Query block, Template Part block, and Site Logo block.(https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/28744)
Along with the query block, a collection of patterns and contextual pattern transformations. (https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/30508)
On June 8 the WordPress 5.8 release will reach its beta period.
The components below are some of the most complex, and the user experience of them will be key. They are all high priority to complete (hopefully for WP5.8), but will be punted if they aren’t ready in time for Beta.
On July 20 the WordPress 5.8 release will reach general availability.
The components below came up frequently in user testing as being confusing and need more attention. Polishing these components has been moved out of the focus for WP5.8 for proper prioritization.
Making the saving flow more intuitive when in the template editor and making changes to multiple areas of a site.
Phased rollout of user-interface for Global Styles and interactions with the template editor & template parts.
The Demo
This has been scheduled for April 14.
Attending
Matt Mullenweg – Project Lead (advocating for the vision/mission of WordPress, and aggregate body of users)
Matias Ventura – Gutenberg project lead (host of the demo)
Helen Hou-Sandi – Lead developer (advocating for CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., and extender community)
Josepha Haden Chomphosy – Executive Director (advocating for the community of WordPress, and aggregate body of users)
Agenda
Matias will demo the features intended for WP5.8
Discussions and implementation questions
Afterward
Blocking items (if any) will be gathered and shared publicly
If yes: A plan to prioritize and address issues prior to the second go/no-go date of April 27 will be shared
This monthly update contains the high-level items that GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ contributors are focusing on for April. Please join us in our efforts and let us know in the comments if anything is blocking you from doing so.
Work on the blockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.-based WidgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. Editor is a continued focus for the month ahead. This effort aims to bring the flexibility of block editing to the widgets and customizerCustomizerTool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. screens. The current efforts include:
You can find more information about the current work in progress in this tracking issue, as well as on this project board. Moreover, you can join #feature-widgets-block-editor in WordPress.orgWordPress.orgThe community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. for future Widget Editor-focused meetings.
Navigation Editor
Like the Widgets Editor, the Navigation Editor aims to help expand what’s possible with menus while bringing block functionality to yet another part of WordPress to allow for more adoption and offer a more modern experience. Because the Navigation Editor needs to work nicely with the Navigation block (and vice versa), much of the current effort from contributors focus on the Navigation block. With this in mind, current efforts include:
As with the prior months, work on this major focus for phase 2 is ongoing and is expected to continue as a big-picture goal for 2021. Work this month will include the following focus areas:
You can follow the progress of this project with this overview issue showing key milestones for site editing. For each major milestone, there are related issues you can follow if you want a more granular look at each next step.
Block & PluginPluginA 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 Developers:
CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Blocks can now load JavaScript in the frontend on demand.
We’re still watching the Theme Experiments repo to see how theme developers are building block themes. Please continue to share there and know we appreciate it.
Ways to Get Involved
While the above items are our focuses, don’t forget that you can always help with triage, needs testing issues, good first issues, and reviewing PRs. In particular, if you’re interested in helping with triagetriageThe act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. but don’t know where to start, there’s a course on Learn WordPress for how to do triage in GitHub! Check it out and join us.
If there’s anything we can do to make contributing easier, let us know in the comments or in #core-editor chats. While we can’t promise to fix everything, we’d appreciate being aware of any blockers.
GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/10.3.1 release shipped on April 1st.
Making the margins the same between frontend and backend (no opinionated margins provided by the blockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. editor by default).
Block Supports: added a gutenberg_block_has_support helper function and support for padding in dynamic blocks 30322, border for search block #30227.
Fixes: title in the save panel of the site editor 30521, fix for themes without theme.jsonJSONJSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML. support but with experimental link color support 30452.
Theme.json: Update format #29891, there’s now a draft PR at #30541, conversation about whether and how to expand the use of CSSCSSCascading Style Sheets. Custom Properties #29714
Updates and improvements keep chugging along! The dependency on responsive nav will likely get merged today, and then the responsive PR can move forward. A new update attempts to fix the HTML produced by the block. This is blocked by the lack of advancement in the discussions opened by @talldanwp (Issue30007 and Issue30006). Any help moving those points forward would be greatly appreciated! Plenty of other refinements and updates continue too, for example the placeholder state was updated. The best way to follow along is by labels in GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ PRs or this tracking issue.
The Block based Navigation editor is advancing with a host of PRs aimed at polishing various functionality (PR30374, PR30403, PR30524 , PR30340) and some that could use a review and testing (PR30446, PR30440, PR30349).
WidgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. Editor from @andraganescu
Block based Widget Editor work is focused on tidying up blocks in customizerCustomizerTool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. for better accessibilityAccessibilityAccessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) and various bugs.
Started doing PR reviews by testing and adding comments. Hopefully, this can help the “Gutenberg CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.” team a little bit.
Currently figuring out the best way to filterFilterFilters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. PRs for reviews.
I’d love feedback on the approach in this PR for 24337, please. If it seems appropriate, I can built it out for the rest of the existing blocks that support the feature, but thinking it’s possible this change should happen higher up somewhere so that blocks don’t have to adjust for it.
I’ve mainly focused on the FSE Outreach Program responding to the current call for testing and pausing to get some feedback for how to improve the program.
I plan to ship another call for testing shortly after this current one ends alongside a summary post.
I want to experiment tomorrow too with holding a friendly, casual zoom call for about 30-45 min to talk through some fun FSE issues/designs/PRs that have caught my attention! Join #fse-outreach-experiment to stay tuned if that’s of interest.
Next week I will probably keep working on the same things: FSE MVPMinimum Viable Product"A minimum viable product (MVP) is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers, and to provide feedback for future product development." - WikiPedia & hybrid-themes.
I’ve been continuing on the Navigation block, polishing and polishing. While it’s in a good place, it’s opening up some grand questions about the next steps, all exciting ones. And I’m excited to delve into patterns for it as soon as I can.
Open Floor
Are there any updates for a home/name for Site Editor Documentation? Raised by @poena.
Carolina brought up a previous post from early February asking whether there was an update around the name and place for documentation as currently it’s causing blockers/confusion for how to proceed. Currently, the documentation in the block editor handbook that’s related to FSE is in several places and pretty difficult to find. At the same time, as interest grows around FSE, people are seeking out more information. For example, one of the concerns that Carolina shared was around how if the documentation is in the theme developer handbook or the block editor handbook, it will be difficult to find and likely not visible enough for when a large number of people are first introduced to FSE. Carolina then passed along a suggestion to have a “front page” with basic explanations of the key concepts that then guides visitors to user or developer docs depending on their interests.
After some back and forth discussion, a loose consensus was reached on the following:
The lack of a decision around name and placement shouldn’t stop us from creating docs and organizing them properly when these things get clarified.
The go/no go dates should provide clarification this month around what needs to be documented first.
An introduction page that can guide people curious about FSE likely needs to be created or at least explored.
Exploring renaming the “Block Editor Handbook” to something more general might help alleviate some of these concerns by making the Handbook more flexible to allow for FSE items.
Next steps: @mkaz will kick off a discussion for renaming the handbook and create an issue for an initial intro FSE page to direct people.
GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/10.3.1 release.
Monthly Plan for April 2021 (link to hopefully come by meeting time) and key project updates:
Global Styles.
BlockBlockBlock is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. based WidgetWidgetA WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user. Editor.
Navigation block.
Full Site Editing.
Task Coordination.
Open Floor.
If you are not able to attend the meeting, you are encouraged to share anything relevant for the discussion:
If you have anything to share for the Task Coordination section, please leave it as a comment on this post.
If you have anything to propose for the agenda or other specific items related to those listed above, please leave a comment below.
