Changes to block editor components and blocks

URLInput component

In previous versions the URLInput component available on the @wordpress/components package and script had the autoFocus prop set to true by default. The main reason for this was that the component was used as the first input in different modals/popovers (link, inserter) but most third-party usage had to explicitly disable that behavior (in blocks for instance). In WordPress 5.6, that prop is false by default. It’s a better choice for most use-cases as auto-focus is often an accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (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) bugbug A 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., but consider checking your components if you previously relied on this behavior.

Written by @youknowriad.

BlockBlock Block 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. supports

Following the initial work done for WordPress 5.6 to automatically support style properties for blocks and expose UIUI User interface controls for users, in WordPress 5.7 this mechanism has been expanded to new blocks. Themes may want to review if their styles need to adjust their specificity to accommodate the user choices.

User have now the ability to update the font size of the following blocks via the inspector panel:  core/codecore/listcore/preformattedcore/verse.

Written by @nosolosw.

Empty paragraph changes

In #27995 the default behavior of a published empty paragraph (<p></p>) changed. Before, the tagtag A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses tags to store a single snapshot of a version (3.6, 3.6.1, etc.), the common convention of tags in version control systems. (Not to be confused with post tags.) would collapse to zero width and zero height, and be inconsistent with what users saw in the editor. Now an invisible space character is output in empty paragraphs, ensuring linebreaks in the editor correspond to linebreaks on the frontend.
There is a chance of empty paragraphs accidentally published, which will now take up space. If that is the case, it is easily fixed by deleting the empty paragraphs.

Written by @joen.

Cover Block

As of #25171, the cover block now uses an img element instead of using CSSCSS Cascading Style Sheets. background-image for images that are not using fixed or repeated backgrounds. This means that, when rendering the post, a srcset attribute will be applied with the various generated image sizes, saving bandwidth by loading smaller images when possible.

Written by @ajlende.

Button block

The buttons block now provides justification options for its inner button blocks (Justify items left, Justify items center, Justify items right, Space between items).

To implement this feature, the block’s <div> element is now a flexbox container (display: flex)—previously it was display: block. It’s recommended that theme developers check that the buttons block still displays correctly for users for the various alignment and justification options it now provides.

The left and right alignment options for the buttons block have now been deprecated. Users can achieve the same results using a combination of a full alignment and left or right justification. Any buttons blocks that were already added to posts with left and right alignment will be migrated (via the block deprecation system) to use justification in this way when a post is loaded—users should see no change in the visual appearance of buttons.

Written by @talldanwp.

#5-7, #block-editor, #dev-notes