Tag: Month in WordPress

September-October 2023 was yet another fun and eventful chapter in WordPress, with more WordCamps hosting exciting discussions, knowledge sharing, and learning. This month also welcomed the release of WordPress 6.4 and the Twenty Twenty-Four theme. Let’s check it out.

Meet WordPress 6.4 “Shirley”

WordPress 6.4 “Shirley” was released on November 7, 2023, and named after the iconic jazz artist Shirley Horn. With the release of WordPress 6.4 comes the new Twenty Twenty-Four theme, a multi-faceted, highly flexible default theme pre-loaded with more than 35 templates and patterns. 

This release includes more than 100 performance-related updates for a faster and more efficient experience. There’s also a host of new features and enhancements that help improve the content creation process and streamline site editing. 

WordPress 6.4 was made possible by more than 600 contributors in at least 56 countries. 

State of the Word 2023

Mark your calendars for State of the Word! The annual keynote address delivered by the WordPress project’s co-founder, Matt Mullenweg, will be held on December 11, 2023. For the first time, the event will take place outside North America—this time with the Spanish community in Madrid, Spain.

A live stream will be available for WordPress enthusiasts who will not be able to attend in person. Stay tuned for more information, including how to reserve a ticket, soon!

New in the Gutenberg plugin

Two new versions of Gutenberg shipped in October:

• Gutenberg 16.8 was released on October 11, 2023. It introduced enhancements to the Cover block and Font Library, and added the option to view the active template when editing pages.
• Gutenberg 16.9 was released on October 25, 2023. This update lets you rename nearly every block from within the editor, as well as duplicate or rename individual patterns. 

October’s Core Editor Improvement post dives into all the writing enhancements expected in the latest WordPress 6.4 release.

https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/

Team updates

• The journey to update WordPress.org continues with the launch of a new Showcase design. 
• The Performance Team held a Hallway Hangout to discuss WordPress 6.3 performance impact in the field, diving into WordPress 6.4 performance improvements and looking ahead at what can be learned for WordPress 6.5.
• The Documentation Team created a new GitHub repo for end-user documentation and its translations to all locales. You can find out more about this here.
• Openverse has been awarded the 2023 Open Education Award for Excellence in the Open Infrastructure category. Congratulations!
• Learn more about the next chapter for the FSE (Full Site Editing) Outreach Program, which looks to transition into a focused space for solving issues, creating resources, and facilitating conversations around adopting Phase 2 of Gutenberg.
• The Accessibility team is holding weekly office hours to discuss accessibility principles and best practices for the project.

Requests for feedback & testing

• Version 23.6 of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is ready for testing.

https://wordpress.org/news/2023/10/episode-64-patterns-in-wordpress/

WordPress events updates

• WordCamp Asia has extended their call for sponsors for their conference slated to take place in Taipei, Taiwan, March 7-9 2024. 
• There will be a WordPress #WPDiversity Speaker Workshop for Women Voices in Latin America in San Jose, Costa Rica on November 11, 2023.
• WordCamp Valencia 2023 will take place on November 10-11, 2203.
• WordCamp Verona 2023 will take place on November 17-18, 2203.
• WordCamp Hong Kong 2023 will take place on November 18, 2203.
• WordCamp Islamabad 2023 will take place on November 25-26, 2203.

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Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out this quick form to let us know.

Thank you to Bernard Meyer and Reyes Martínez for their contributions to this edition of The Month in WordPress.

August 2023 marked another exciting chapter in WordPress, with the Community Summit and WordCamp US bringing the community together for meaningful discussions, knowledge sharing, and learning. This month also welcomed the long-awaited WordPress 6.3 release and offered a glimpse of what’s to come. Let’s dive into it.

Meet WordPress 6.3 “Lionel”

WordPress 6.3 “Lionel” was released on August 8, 2023, and named after the acclaimed vibraphonist, pianist, and jazz percussionist Lionel Hampton.

This major update makes bringing your vision to life with blocks more intuitive and efficient. Your content, templates, and patterns are now seamlessly integrated into the Site Editor, enabling you to craft every aspect of your online presence within a single location. You can sharpen your designs with new tools, enjoy fine-tuned control over navigation menus, and work faster with the Command Palette. Explore what’s new.

WordPress 6.3 features over 500 features and enhancements with a continued emphasis on performance and accessibility. This release was made possible by more than 650 contributors from 52 countries.

While the Site Editor will continue to be enhanced, this release means a significant milestone as it marks the conclusion of Gutenberg Phase 2. Take a moment to watch “Designed with WordPress”—an ode to this remarkable journey worth celebrating.

Download WordPress 6.3.1.

Roadmap to 6.4

Contributors are already working on WordPress 6.4, expected to be released on November 7, 2023. This release, led by an underrepresented gender release squad, will focus on enhancing different aspects of the WordPress experience while continuing the foundational work for Gutenberg Phase 3. Users can anticipate features like font management and a new default theme, Twenty Twenty-Four.

Twenty Twenty-Four aims to be a versatile theme, featuring a range of templates and patterns specifically designed for three use cases: entrepreneurs and small businesses, photographers and artists, and writers and bloggers.

Check out the 6.4 roadmap post for a tentative preview of expected features.

New in the Gutenberg plugin

Two new versions of Gutenberg shipped in the last month:

• Gutenberg 16.4 was released on August 9, 2023. It introduced a new “auto-inserting blocks” experimental feature, a progress bar component that can be used throughout the interface, and block supports for the Footnotes block.
• Gutenberg 16.5 shipped on August 23, 2023, and focused on enhancements to the Command Palette and enabling further customization of blocks.

Follow the “What’s new in Gutenberg” posts to stay on top of the latest enhancements.

Team updates: Next generation of WordPress events, WP Admin redesign, and more

• The Community team has been busy ushering in the next generation of WordPress events. Four pilot events were successfully held in July and August, with another five planned before the end of the year.
• The Admin Design Kickoff post elaborates on the concepts explored so far to revitalize the WordPress admin experience.
• In response to Europe’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), leaders from Drupal, Joomla!, TYPO3, and WordPress co-authored an open letter addressing concerns about the current CRA definitions and terms and the implications for open source projects.
• Check out WordPress.org/blocks—A new page that explores the power of blocks within WordPress and as a broader framework.
• WordPressCS 3.0.0 is now available. This update to the WordPress Coding Standards introduces improvements in accuracy, performance, stability, and compatibility with modern PHP versions.
• The first cohort of the WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program, which aims to help new contributors onboard to Make teams, successfully concluded last month.
• WordPress Remembers went live in August to honor contributors who left a lasting impact on the project and have since passed away.
• Core team members proposed to sync Gutenberg code with core earlier in the release cycle to streamline the integration of new features and reduce risks and delays in major release milestones.
• Blue Note, the second block theme born from the Community Themes initiative, is live on the Theme Directory.
• Every month, the Training team works to expand the Learn WordPress catalog with new courses, tutorials, online workshops, and more. See what’s new.
• Openverse maintainers met in Copenhagen for an exciting exchange with Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), Denmark’s largest art museum. Learn about their discussions and collaboration efforts to advance openly licensed works.

Keen to see new WordPress event formats happening in your local community? Get inspired by these creative concepts and share your ideas!

Feedback & testing requests

• Core team members suggested updating the WordPress Field Guide by publishing it earlier in the development cycle and introducing a simplified Field Guide on the WordPress Developer Blog. Feedback is open until September 15, 2023.
• Help test the new Performant Translations plugin, which aims to make localized WordPress sites faster.
• A new proposal aims to refine and update WordPress’ support guidelines. You can provide your input by October 1, 2023.
• Version 23.2 of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is ready for testing.

The Training team seeks feedback on the first learning pathways outlined to improve the Learn WordPress educational experience. Share your thoughts by September 15, 2023.

WordPress events updates

• On August 22-23, a group of WordPress contributors gathered at the Community Summit to discuss key topics concerning the project. Read the notes from each session and join the conversations at make.wordpress.org/summit.
• Following the Summit, Washington, D.C. hosted WordCamp US 2023 from August 24-26. This event brought together nearly 2,000 attendees for a Contributor Day and two conference days filled with engaging sessions, conversations, and open source art. Saturday’s agenda concluded with keynotes by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy and a subsequent Q&A session. Check out the event recap for highlights.
• Join #WPDiversity with a free online speaker workshop for Indian women in the WordPress Community. The event will take place on September 23-24, 2023.
• The WordCamp Asia 2024 organizing team opened calls for speakers, volunteers, sponsors, and media partners.
• Be sure to visit WordCamp Central to find out about upcoming WordCamps.

Join Josepha Haden Chomphosy in Episode 61 of WP Briefing as she discusses her takeaways from the Community Summit.

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Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out this quick form to let us know.

The following folks contributed to this Month in WordPress: @rmartinezduque, @laurlittle.

May has been a month of celebrating WordPress and the open source community that makes it possible. In honor of the project’s 20th anniversary, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy reflected on this journey and the opportunity to build a better future for those who come after:

The more our community invests in itself and supports one another, the stronger WordPress and the open source software movement become.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy in Celebrating 20 Years of WordPress.

Read on for highlights of this milestone and the latest updates in the WordPress space.

WordPress at 20

May 27, 2023, marked the 20th anniversary of WordPress’ first release. Since its inception by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little in 2003, the project has transformed the digital publishing landscape and enabled millions of people to craft their stories.

WordPress enthusiasts from all over the world gathered at more than 130 events to celebrate this important milestone. WP20’s commemorative book, Building Blocks: The Evolution of WordPress, was published in tandem and documents some of the most significant moments and changes of the last decade of the project.

The anniversary date may have passed, but the festivities and fun aren’t over. You can still join a meetup, sign the #WP20 From Blogs to Blocks campaign birthday card, or participate in #WP20 social celebrations.

Join Josepha Haden Chomphosy in Episode 55 of WP Briefing as she looks back at the 20 years of WordPress and how the community made WordPress what it is today.

WordPress 6.3 is expected on August 8

Work on WordPress 6.3 officially kicked off with the announcement of its development cycle and release squad. Set for release on August 8, 2023, this version will be the second major update of WordPress in 2023 and will mark the end of Phase 2 of the project’s development roadmap.

WordPress 6.3 aims to bring a cohesive site editing experience by introducing expanded functionality, richer interfaces, and a dedicated focus on refinement.

Check out the 6.3 roadmap post for a tentative preview of anticipated features.

WordPress 6.2.2 security release

WordPress 6.2.2 became available for download on May 20, 2023. This release was a quick response to resolve a regression introduced in 6.2.1, specifically with shortcode support in block templates, and to further patch a vulnerability already addressed in the previous version.

Update your site if you haven’t yet.

New in the Gutenberg plugin

Three new versions of Gutenberg have shipped in the last month:

• Gutenberg 15.7, released on May 3, 2023, brings a new direct option to upload and replace a site’s logo from the block settings sidebar. Other enhancements include easier access to duotone filter controls via the style settings sidebar and an update to fluid typography to refine responsiveness.
• Gutenberg 15.8 shipped on May 17, 2023, and includes a new “Pages” item in the Site Editor sidebar to edit pages without leaving the interface. Moreover, this version brings the ability to navigate through revisions in the global styles interface and to preview block themes inside the Site Editor.
• Gutenberg 15.9 is ready for download as of May 31, 2023. The latest Gutenberg release comes with a new command tool and several enhancements to the Site Editor experience, including a more intuitive drag-and-drop function for moving blocks.

The latest Core Editor Improvement post highlights features such as revisions and the ability to preview block themes, and how they enable a smoother site editing experience.

Team updates: Next-generation WordCamps, proposal for a Sustainability Team, and more

• The Community Team proposed broadening the purpose of WordPress events to “spark innovation and adoption by way of accessible training and networking.” This opens the door to organizing a more diverse range of formats focused on specific topics and audiences.
• WordPress contributors suggested creating an official Sustainability Team.
• The Polyglots Team rebranded the WP Translation Playground tool as Translate Live and announced improvements that make translating plugins and themes easier.
• The new WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program pilot aims to provide cohort-based and 1:1 mentorship to prepare new and aspiring contributors for success.
• Results of the 2022 WordPress Annual Survey were announced last month.
• The Training Team published a new course on Creating a 4-page business website. See What’s new on Learn WordPress in May 2023 for the latest learning resources.
• Meet Stacks—the first community theme born from the Community Themes initiative. This theme is designed for creating slide decks that can be used for a presentation.
• This Core proposal explores ways to reduce the maintenance of older default WordPress themes and retire them.
• The May 2023 issues of What’s New for Developers?, the Polyglots monthly newsletter, and the Meetup Organizer newsletter are available for reading.
• Find out how WordPress and its global community of contributors made a difference in Stefano Cassone’s life in the latest edition of People of WordPress.

What is WordPress Playground, and why it matters? WP Briefing Episode 56 discusses the benefits and potential of this tool with special guests Rich Tabor and Adam Zielinski.

Feedback & testing requests

• Core Team members seek feedback on the new command tool introduced in the Gutenberg plugin and its API.
• The latest call of the Full Site Editing (FSE) Outreach Program invites you to test some features being worked on to upgrade and polish the experience of using the Site Editor. Share your thoughts by June 8, 2023.
• Version 22.5 of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is ready for testing.

Which next generation of WordPress events would you like to see? Share your ideas and start exploring new event formats this year.

WordPress events updates

• Get ready for WordCamp Europe 2023 from June 8-10 in Athens, Greece! The event will start with Contributor Day on June 8, followed by two days of presentations and workshops. Attendees can join a wellness track and a dedicated space to connect, among many other initiatives.
• The WordCamp US organizing team is calling for volunteers.
• For another year, the WordPress Foundation’s Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship will award funding for a woman-identifying contributor to attend WordCamp US 2023. Applications are open through June 12, 2023.
• WordCamp Sylhet 2023, the second ever WordCamp in Bangladesh, was successfully held on May 19-20 with its first Contributor Day.
• Join #WPDiversity with a free online workshop on How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events APAC. The event will take place on July 2, 2023.
• Don’t miss these other upcoming WordCamps:
  • WordCamp Cartagena, Spain on June 10-11, 2023
  • WordCamp Montclair, NJ, USA on June 24, 2023

Join WordPress project leadership on June 10 at WordCamp Europe 2023 to hear about the latest developments and what’s next for WordPress. Check out the schedule for details.

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Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out this quick form to let us know.

The following folks contributed to this Month in WordPress: @rmartinezduque, @nahidsharifkomol, @chaion07, @devinmaeztri, @bsanevans, @ninianepress.

With preparations for the next major releases already underway, the community is gearing up to celebrate WordPress’ 20th anniversary, which is just around the corner. This month has also seen some major highlights, such as WordPress 6.2’s performance wins and the launch of WP Translation Playground. Read on to find out what’s new.

Forthcoming WordPress releases

Following the successful release of WordPress 6.2 “Dolphy,” which has garnered over 31 million downloads (and counting), contributors across all teams are already planning future major releases, including versions 6.3 and 6.4.

While WordPress 6.3 will focus on refinements to the site editing experience, 6.4 will reprise the underrepresented gender release initiative introduced in WordPress 5.6 “Simone.” If you’re interested in contributing, now is the perfect time to get involved.

Check out the WordPress 6.3 proposed schedule and call for volunteers.

WP20 is just around the corner

Mark your calendars for May 27 and join the community for a day filled with exciting parties and activities!

With a refreshed look, the WP20 website offers a list of events to join, swag to show your WordPress pride, and downloadable “selfie props” to add fun to your celebrations.

The Marketing Team has also launched #WP20 From Blogs to Blocks, a community-focused initiative that encourages you to take a small daily WordPress-focused action for 20 days leading up to the anniversary date.

On the other hand, details are being finalized for the 20th anniversary commemorative book, Building Blocks: The Evolution of WordPress 2013-2023. This volume will span the history and most meaningful moments of the last decade of WordPress.

What’s your favorite WordPress swag? Do you have a special memory from a WordCamp or meetup? Share them with the community and join the #WP20 fun on social media.

WordPress 6.2 performance

WordPress 6.2 reiterates the platform’s commitment to optimizing website performance with significant improvements. Load times are 14 to 18% faster for block themes and 2 to 5% for classic themes. Server-side performance is also seeing a big boost, with an increase of 17 to 23% for block themes and 3 to 5% for classic themes.

Learn more about the performance wins in 6.2, including a retrospective from the Performance Core Team on the efforts that made it happen.

New in the Gutenberg plugin

Two new versions of the Gutenberg plugin have shipped in the last month:

• Gutenberg 15.5 shipped on April 5, 2023, with many user-facing features to improve the creation experience. Enhancements include caption style customization, theme-defined template patterns when adding a new template, and experimental support for grid layouts in the Group block.
• Gutenberg 15.6 is available for download as of April 19, 2023. This version introduces an experimental Details block to expand and toggle the visibility of hidden content, and more presets for core block spacing and border controls, among other highlights.

Follow the “What’s new in Gutenberg” posts to stay on top of the latest enhancements.

Team updates: WP Translation Playground, WordPress.org redesign next steps, and more

• The Polyglots Team launched WP Translation Playground, an innovative tool that combines Local GlotPress with WordPress Playground to translate plugins and themes in context—without having to set up anything.
• Wondering what’s next in the WordPress.org redesign project? Learn about the latest updates and how to get involved.
• This Community Team post discusses ways to make WordCamp Contributor Days more effective.
• Explore what’s new on Learn WordPress in April 2023, including the latest content on the platform and the projects the Training Team has been working on.
• WordPress Playground was used in a hackathon to prototype different ways to build plugins with minimal setup, right in the browser. See it in action in these tech demos.
• Members of the Marketing Team suggested improvements to submission guidelines to revitalize the WordPress.org Showcase.
• Most of the work to refocus the WordPress mobile app on core features is complete. Find out how to help shape its future with contributions opportunities for developers, writers, translators, and more.
• Keep up with the latest enhancements and development updates you need to build on top of WordPress in last month’s edition of What’s new for developers?
• The latest issue of the Meetup Organizer Newsletter shares tips and inspiring ideas to help you plan successful community events.
• Find out how WordPress and its global community of contributors positively impacted Monika Rao’s web career in April’s edition of People of WordPress.

Join Josepha Haden Chomphosy in Episode 54 of WP Briefing as she explores the concept of the four freedoms of open source and their likeness to today’s Bill of Rights for the open web.

Feedback & testing requests

• The latest Full Site Editing (FSE) Outreach Program testing opportunity invites feedback on the features included in WordPress 6.2 and those remaining in Gutenberg Phase 2. Share your thoughts by May 8, 2023.
• This update on the WP Feature Notifications project explains the progress towards a modern WordPress user notification system and how you can get involved.
• Help test the latest version of the Preferred Languages feature plugin.
• Version 22.2 of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is ready for testing.

This discussion post welcomes ideas and questions about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be integrated into the WordPress experience.

WordPress events updates

• WordCamp Europe 2023 is fast approaching! The organizing team introduced the first confirmed speakers.
• WordCamp US 2023 announced updates on the programming for the upcoming event, for which tickets are now on sale. Organizers are also calling for sponsors.
• The 2023 Community Summit will provide a valuable opportunity for in-person discussions across contributor teams. Submit your topics if you haven’t yet.
• Don’t miss these upcoming WordCamps:
  • WordCamp Barcelona, Spain on May 5-6, 2023
  • WordCamp Buffalo, NY, USA on May 6, 2023
  • WordCamp Gliwice, Poland on May 12-14, 2023
  • WordCamp Sylhet, Bangladesh on May 19-20, 2023
  • WordCamp Lisboa, Portugal on May 19-20, 2023
  • WordCamp Apatin, Serbia on May 27-28, 2023

Join #WPDiversity with a free online workshop on Organizing Diverse & Inclusive WordPress Events APAC on May 13, 2023.

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Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out this quick form to let us know.

The following folks contributed to this Month in WordPress: @sereedmedia, @ninianepress, @rmartinezduque.

March saw the arrival of the first major release of 2023, WordPress 6.2 “Dolphy.” Planning for the project’s 20th anniversary continues with new celebratory updates and commemorative swag. Read on for the latest happenings in the WordPress space.

Meet WordPress 6.2 “Dolphy”

WordPress 6.2 “Dolphy” was released on March 29, 2023. Named after the acclaimed jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer Eric Allan Dolphy Jr., the latest version of WordPress further enhances the site editing experience with significant updates.

Highlights include a reimagined Site Editor interface, a more intuitive way to manage menus, and a distraction-free writing mode. A new Block Inserter design adds integration with Openverse, allowing you to easily browse and insert free, openly-licensed images and audio files into your content.

Whether you’re a content creator, designer, or developer, WordPress 6.2 has something for you. Check out the full announcement post for an overview of what’s new and the Field Guide for detailed developer notes.

WordPress 6.2 is one of the last major releases planned for Phase 2 of the project’s development roadmap and was made possible thanks to more than 600 contributors.

Download WordPress 6.2 “Dolphy.”

WP20 swag is here

Show your WordPress excitement with limited edition 20th anniversary merchandise—now available at the official WordPress Mercantile store. If you prefer to create your own swag, you can use these WP20 downloadable assets.

The 20th anniversary website lists celebrations as organizers announce and schedule them. Check back regularly to see if there’s an event in your area to join or help organize one to celebrate this milestone with your local community.

Enter the Wapuu Coloring Giveaway by April 17, 2023, for a chance to win some commemorative WP20 swag!

New in the Gutenberg plugin

Two new versions of the Gutenberg plugin have shipped in the last month:

• Gutenberg 15.3 was released on March 13, 2023. This version polishes the Site Editor experience, includes a new “Time to Read” block for displaying estimated read time to posts, and enhances the Duotone design tool.
• Gutenberg 15.4 is available for download as of March 22, 2023, and focuses primarily on bug fixes and testing improvements. Other additions include color and layout support for the Cover block, improved descriptions to help you understand the purpose of each template in the Site Editor, and the ability to turn paragraph blocks into columns.

Follow the “What’s new in Gutenberg” posts to stay on top of the latest enhancements.

Team updates: Phase 3 planning, WordPress Developer Blog launch, and more

• Gutenberg Lead Architect Matías Ventura outlined the focus areas for Phase 3 of the WordPress development roadmap, known as Collaboration or Collaborative Editing.
• Last month, the WordPress Developer Blog officially launched (removing the “beta” label). Subscribe to keep up with the latest features, tutorials, and learning resources in the WordPress development space.
• The Documentation Team seeks volunteers to help with WordPress 6.2 end user documentation.
• Are you looking to broaden your knowledge and improve your WordPress skills? See what’s new on Learn WordPress in March 2023, including the latest course on Converting a Shortcode to a Block.
• A new Community Themes initiative aims to bring together a group of contributors to collaborate and build block themes.
• The Training Team is looking for assistance in creating content to complete this WordPress Development syllabus.
• The newly formed Contributor Working Group hosted an inaugural chat to kick off work on the WordPress Mentorship Program.
• The Polyglots Team is testing AI systems to help with translation work.
• The WordPress.org redesign project has a new dedicated Making WordPress Slack channel to coordinate work: #website-redesign.
• The March 2023 editions of the Polyglots monthly newsletter and the Meetup Organizer newsletter are available for reading.
• The Mobile Team announced a new support forum for the WordPress mobile app.

Tune in to Episode 52 of WP Briefing to learn more about the visioning behind Phase 3, Collaboration.

Feedback & testing requests

• A new Full Site Editing (FSE) Program exploration looks into the Site Editor as a design tool in light of the recent WordPress 6.2 release. Participants are asked to create a block theme without coding using the current editor tools. Share your experience by April 26, 2023.
• A group of Core contributors is working on a new Interactivity API proposal to provide a better developer experience for building interactive blocks.
• Version 22.0 of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is ready for testing.

Members of the Core Team are looking for user experience (UX) feedback on the Plugin Dependencies feature plugin.

WordPress events updates

• WordCamp Asia 2024 is calling for organizers. Apply by April 15, 2023.
• Registration for the WordCamp Europe 2023 Contributor Day is now open.
• Want to create diverse and inclusive WordPress events? Mark your calendars for the upcoming #WPDiversity workshops.
• Four WordCamps are taking place this month:
  • WordCamp Torino, Italy, on April 14-15, 2023
  • Wordcamp Vienna, Austria, on April 15-16, 2023
  • WordCamp Paris, France, on April 21, 2023
  • WordCamp Sofia, Bulgaria, on April 22-23, 2023

Join WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy as she discusses the benefits of routine and what role it plays in the WordPress project.

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Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out this quick form to let us know.

The following folks contributed to this Month in WordPress: @bsanevans, @cbringmann, @eidolonnight, @rmartinezduque, @sereedmedia.

February has been an exciting month for the WordPress community, with the celebration of the first-ever WordCamp Asia bringing friends and contributors back together in person. But that’s not all; read on for the latest project updates.

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Get ready for WordPress 6.2

WordPress 6.2 Beta 4 arrived earlier this week and is ready for download and testing. Work continues on track, with the first release candidate (RC1) due next week and the target for the final release on March 28, 2023—less than four weeks away!

WordPress 6.2 is one of the last major releases planned for Phase 2 of Gutenberg, taking the Site Editor out of beta with a more polished user experience and refreshed interface.

On March 2, members of the release squad hosted the 6.2 live product demo. The recording and transcript will be available soon. In the meantime, these resources will give you a taste of what’s to come:

• Roadmap to 6.2
• Phase 2, Finale
• WordPress 6.2 Accessibility Improvements

Help test WordPress 6.2. Your feedback is key to ensuring everything in this release is the best it can be.

Join WordPress 20th anniversary celebrations

WordPress is turning 20, and the community is getting ready to celebrate!

As part of the festivities, the project has released a 20th anniversary Wapuu, a set of commemorative logos, and a special playlist with 46 tracks from the jazz artists selected to represent WordPress releases. Official WP20 swag will also be available soon.

In addition, the Museum of Block Art (MOBA) is calling all artists to submit block art themed on “20 years of WordPress.”

Find out how to organize and participate in the WP20 celebrations.

What’s new in Gutenberg

Two new versions of Gutenberg have shipped in the last month:

• Gutenberg 15.1 was released on February 8, 2023, with access to the Openverse library of openly-licensed media from the Editor. Other highlights include the ability to add custom CSS on a per-block basis and support for shadow presets in Global Styles. This is the last version of Gutenberg that will be included in WordPress 6.2.
• Gutenberg 15.2 is available for download as of February 22, 2023. Besides continued accessibility improvements, this release adds support for revisions when editing templates and template parts, and refines the navigation experience in the Site Editor.

Follow the “What’s new in Gutenberg” posts to stay on top of the latest enhancements.

Team updates: Global community sponsors for 2023, contributor mentorship program, and more

• The Community Team announced the global sponsors that will support the WordPress community programs in 2023.
• A few months ago, Meetup.com removed an accessibility overlay in response to some concerns from the WordPress community. A recent update reports that the company has conducted an assessment and plans to address the issues identified.
• The Training Team launched a new onboarding program for contributors. In addition, they worked on numerous lesson plans, online workshops, and tutorials last month. Check out what’s new on Learn WordPress.
• The Documentation Team shared future plans for HelpHub.
• Openverse moved to a standalone domain, openverse.org, with improvements to the site’s homepage, header, and footer.
• The Plugin Review Team posted a notice to inform about the latest Twitter API changes and the types of plugins that might be affected.
• The February edition of the Polyglots monthly newsletter highlights some recent enhancements to GlotPress’ functionality and the translate.wordpress.org platform.
• The latest Meetup Organizer newsletter shares tips on how to help your meetup group stay connected and engaged between events.
• Check out What’s new for developers? (February 2023), the first edition of a new monthly series with features and resources developers should know about.
• The latest edition of People of WordPress features Hauwa Abashiya.

Following discussions on improving the contributor journey, a new WordPress contributor mentorship program has been proposed to roll out this year.

Feedback & testing requests

• A new proposal from the Community Team seeks to modify the Events and News dashboard widget to show topic-based meetups worldwide.
• Members of the Core Team suggested some updates to the WordPress release cycle.
• Version 21.8 of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is available for testing.

Redesign work is well underway on the WordPress Theme Directory. Contributors can follow along on the GitHub repository.

WordPress events updates

• Bangkok, Thailand, hosted a successful inaugural WordCamp Asia on February 17-19. The event welcomed 1,299 attendees, and more than 600 participants joined the Contributor Day. At the event’s closure, organizers announced that WordCamp Asia 2024 will take place in Taipei, Taiwan!
• The application to attend the 2023 Community Summit is now open to WordPress contributors. Learn more about the ins and outs of this working event in Episode 49 of WP Briefing.
• WordCamp Europe 2023 is looking for media partners and supporters.
• Want to create diverse and inclusive WordPress events? Don’t miss this free #WPDiversity workshop happening March 16, 2023.
• Many WordCamps are coming up in the next weeks:
  • WordCamp Entebbe, Uganda, on March 10-11, 2023
  • WordCamp Torrelodones, Madrid, Spain, on March 11-12, 2023
  • WordCamp Phoenix, Arizona, USA, on March 24-25, 2023
  • WordCamp Kerala, India, on March 25, 2023
  • WordCamp Bogotá, Colombia, on March 31-April 1, 2023 (Online)
  • WordCamp Switzerland on April 1, 2023

Join WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy as she explores three interesting trends from WordCamp Asia.

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The following folks contributed to this Month in WordPress: @ninianepress, @jpantani, @rmartinezduque.

Welcome to the first 2023 edition of The Month in WordPress! January kicked off with an overview of WordPress’ big goals for 2023 and new projects beginning to take shape. Moreover, work on the next major release, WordPress 6.2, continues with Beta 1 scheduled for next week. Read on for the latest news.

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WordPress 6.2 Beta 1 is on its way

The first beta release of WordPress 6.2 is scheduled for next Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

As you may have heard, this version will wrap up work on Gutenberg Phase 2 (Customization), but what does this mean in the larger context of the WordPress project?

Tune in to Episode 48 of WP Briefing to hear Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy discuss what it means to conclude a Gutenberg phase.

What’s new in Gutenberg

Gutenberg 15.0 was released on January 18, 2023. Some highlights include a new “paste styles” feature to easily create multiple blocks with identical styling, and a “sticky” option to keep a block at the top of the page while the rest of the content scrolls.

In addition, block settings have been split into two tabs in the sidebar: Styles and Settings. This makes blocks with more controls, such as the Group block, easier to customize, and allows the interface to scale with the growing number of design tools.

The latest “Core Editor Improvement” post highlights the newest style features enhancements. Learn how they can help give your site a unique and cohesive look and feel.

Team updates: Matrix exploration, WordPress.org redesign news, and more

• WordPress and Matrix contributors published a proposal to explore the open source chat system Matrix as a possible replacement for the WordPress community’s Slack.
• Several sections of WordPress.org have been redesigned lately, including Documentation (HelpHub), Enterprise, and Mercantile (the official WordPress swag store). Learn more about the latest redesign updates.
• The implementation of the block editor in the WordPress.org forums is progressing well and the feedback so far has been very positive.
• This comprehensive post clarifies how WordPress Community Support (also known as WordCamp Central) and WordPress Foundation entities are set up and addresses some misconceptions about them.
• The bug scrub schedule for WordPress 6.2 is now published. The goal of bug scrubs is to ensure tickets move towards a resolution—anyone can join these sessions to learn, help, or even lead one.
• Openverse will be moving from wordpress.org/openverse to openverse.org next week. Along with this move, new improvements are coming to the site’s homepage, header, and footer.
• The Plugin Review Team is looking for your (intentionally) wrong plugins.
• The latest edition of People of WordPress features Daniel Kossmann, a software engineer from South America.

As part of the discussion on improving the contributor journey, Josepha wrote some thoughts on the Eternal September phenomenon in open source and invites you to share yours.

Feedback & testing requests

• The Community Team is gathering feedback on a proposed move to GitHub for standardizing the project’s management tools.
• To mark WordPress’ 20th anniversary milestone, Core Team contributors are organizing several bug scrub sessions to tackle long-standing Trac tickets. 
• Version 21.6 of the WordPress mobile app for iOS is available for testing.

The Training Team calls all WordPress users to complete this short Individual Learner Survey by February 20, 2023. Your feedback will help identify the most high-impact resources for Learn WordPress.

WordPress events updates

• Would you like to be a speaker at WordCamp Europe 2023? Submit your application by February 5, 2023. The organizing team released the first batch of tickets and is also calling for volunteers and photographers.
• The first WordCamp to be held in Africa in 2023, WordCamp Entebbe, is well underway and set to take place on March 10-11.
• Don’t miss these other upcoming WordCamps:
  • WordCamp Birmingham, Alabama, USA on February 4-5, 2023
  • WordCamp Cebu, Philippines on February 11, 2023
  • WordCamp Chiclana, Spain, on March 3-4, 2023

WordCamp Asia 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand, is only two weeks away! Check out the livestream schedule if you are attending virtually.

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The following folks contributed to this edition of The Month in WordPress: @webcommsat, @rmartinezduque.

Last month at State of the Word, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shared some opening thoughts on “Why WordPress” and the Four Freedoms of open source. In this recent letter, she expands on her vision for the WordPress open source project as it prepares for the third phase of Gutenberg:

“We are now, as we ever were, securing the opportunity for those who come after us, because of the opportunity secured by those who came before us.”

Josepha Haden Chomphosy

December brought with it a time for reflection—a time to look back, celebrate, and start planning new projects. Read on to find out what 2023 holds for WordPress so far.

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WordPress is turning 20!

2023 marks the 20th anniversary of WordPress’ launch. The project has come a long way since the first release as it continues to advance its mission to democratize publishing. From its beginnings as a blogging platform to a world-leading open source CMS powering over 40% of websites.

Join the WordPress community in celebrating this important milestone. As the anniversary date approaches, there will be events, commemorative swag, and more.

Stay tuned for updates.

WordPress 6.2 is scheduled for March 28, 2023

Work on WordPress 6.2, the first major release of 2023, is already underway. It is expected to launch on March 28, 2023, and will include up to Gutenberg 15.1 for a total of 10 Gutenberg releases.

The proposed schedule includes four Beta releases to accommodate the first WordCamp Asia and avoid having major release milestones very close to this event.

Read more about the 6.2 schedule and release team.

What’s new in Gutenberg

Two new versions of Gutenberg have shipped in the last month:

• Gutenberg 14.8 was released on December 21, 2022. This version features a reorganized Site Editor interface with a Browse Mode that facilitates navigation through templates and template parts. In addition, it includes the ability to add custom CSS via the Style panel and a Style Book that provides an overview of all block styles in a centralized location.
• Gutenberg 14.9 became available for download on January 4, 2023. It introduces a new “Push changes to Global Styles” button in the Site Editor, which allows users to apply individual block style changes to all blocks of that type across their site. Other features include typography support for the Page List block, and the ability to import sidebar widgets into a template part when transitioning from a classic theme.

Learn how Gutenberg’s latest releases are advancing the Site Editor experience to be more intuitive and scalable.

Team updates: WordPress big picture goals, new Incident Response Team, and more

• Josepha shared WordPress’ big picture goals for 2023, which support the vision set out in State of the Word 2022 and her recent letter to WordPress.
• Let’s welcome the newly formed WordPress Incident Response Team (​​IRT)—a group of contributors who will help as a community resource when behavior or actions do not align with the code of conduct.
• A number of Make teams have announced their team representatives for 2023, including Community, Core, Marketing, Polyglots, Themes, and Training.
• As part of the WordPress.org redesign project, the Theme Directory will soon get a refreshed look and feel.
• The return of in-person events and the Meetup Reactivation project are some of the highlights that marked a challenging but successful year for the Community Team. Learn more about what they achieved in 2022.
• #WPDiversity also celebrated its accomplishments in this report. Last year, the training group held 15 events attended by more than 200 participants.
• A Year in Core – 2022 provides a data overview of contributions made to the WordPress core codebase in the past year.
• Are you into WordPress development? Don’t miss this post on 2022’s most notable milestones and learning resources for block developers.
• The January 2023 editions of the Polyglots monthly newsletter and the Meetup Organizer newsletter are now available for reading.

Check out the 2022 State of the Word Q&A post, which answers submitted questions that Matt could not address at the live event.

Feedback & testing requests

• Join the latest FSE Program testing call to help strengthen the upcoming WordPress site editing experience. Leave your feedback by February 1, 2023.
• The WordPress Developer Blog is gathering ideas for content topics.
• Version 21.4 of the WordPress mobile app for Android and iOS is available for testing.

Have thoughts for improving the Five for the Future contributor experience? This post calls for ideas on how this initiative can better support the project and the people behind it.

WordPress events updates

• Get ready for WordCamp Asia 2023! The first flagship WordCamp in Asia is happening on February 17-19, 2023, in Bangkok, Thailand. Check out the schedule to learn more about the sessions and speakers.
• The WordPress Community Summit and WordCamp US 2023 will take place in Maryland, USA, in August 2023. You can now apply to join the organizing team and help bring the next WCUS to life.
• Join #WPDiversity with a free online workshop on How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events APAC. The event will take place on January 28, 2023.
• Don’t miss these other upcoming WordCamps:
  • WordCamp Zaragoza, Spain on January 20-21, 2023
  • WordCamp Birmingham, Alabama, USA on February 4-5, 2023
  • WordCamp Cebu, Philippines on February 11, 2023

Would you like to be a speaker at WordCamp Europe 2023? Submit your application by the first week of February.

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The following folks contributed to this edition of The Month in WordPress: @cbringmann, @laurlittle, @rmartinezduque.

WordPress enthusiasts tuned in last week for the State of the Word address to celebrate the project’s yearly accomplishments and explore what 2023 holds. But that’s not the only exciting update from the past month. New proposals and ideas are already emerging with an eye on the year ahead—let’s dive into them!

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Highlights from State of the Word 2022

WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg delivered the annual State of the Word address on December 15, 2022, before a live audience in New York City. Most attendees joined the event via livestream or one of the 33 watch parties held across 11 countries.

Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Executive Director of WordPress, kicked off this year’s event with an introduction to the Four Freedoms of open source and the importance of WordPress in ensuring “a free, open and interconnected web for the future.”

Similar to past State of the Word events, Matt reflected on the project’s achievements over the past year, including Gutenberg’s adoption beyond WordPress, the steady progress in advancing the site editing experience, and the return to in-person events. In addition, he took the opportunity to remind everyone of the 2023 Community Summit and the 20th anniversary of WordPress coming up next year.

Ahead of 2023, Matt announced new taxonomies in the WordPress.org theme and plugin directories to help users identify the extensions that best fit their needs and plans for Phase 3 of Gutenberg—Collaboration—among other notable updates.

People who watched the State of the Word enjoyed a demo of WordPress Playground, an experimental project to explore, experiment, and build apps with a WordPress instance that runs entirely in the browser.

Missed the event? Read the recap or watch the State of the Word recording and Q&A session on WordPress.tv.

The 2022 WordPress Survey is open

The annual WordPress survey helps project leadership and those who build WordPress understand more about the contributor experience, how the software is used, and by whom.

This year’s survey will remain open through the end of 2022 and is available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.

Take the 2022 WordPress Survey to help make an impact on the project.

What’s new in Gutenberg

Two new versions of Gutenberg have shipped in the last month:

• Gutenberg 14.6, released on November 23, 2022, came with many refinements to core blocks. Notable highlights include a variation picker that allows users to choose a desired layout when a Group block is inserted on a page, a new list view for editing the Navigation block, and a keyboard shortcut to transform paragraph blocks into headings.
• Gutenberg 14.7, released on December 7, 2022, introduced an experimental tabbed sidebar, colors to help identify some block types in list view, and improvements to the Page List block to make it easier to manage page links in the content.

Follow the “What’s new in Gutenberg” posts to stay on top of the latest enhancements.

Team updates: Introducing the block editor in the support forums, a revamped Showcase page, and more

• The Support and Meta Teams are bringing the block editor experience into the WordPress.org support forums.
• WordPress.org’s redesign continues with a refreshed Showcase page.
• A proposal for the 2023 Global Community Sponsorship Program has been published.
• WordPress is accessible to more people thanks to 19,357 contributors who translated more than eight million strings this year. Learn more about the Polyglots Team’s achievements in 2022.
• Speaking of accomplishments, supporters of the Global Meetup Reactivation project helped reactivated 126 meetup groups in 2022! There are also some discussions on how these efforts can support the Polyglots Outreach Effort project, and vice versa.
• The Community Team met with members of the Meetup.com team to help report some feedback and issues with an accessibility overlay that they ultimately agreed to remove.
• The Training Team highlighted the latest updates that have been made to Learn WordPress. In addition, part 1 and part 2 of the Developers Guide to Block Themes are now available on the platform.
• The Themes and Polyglots Teams announced their team representatives for 2023.
• The final releases for WordPress 3.7-4.0 were made available on November 30, 2022, with a notice that they are no longer receiving security updates. WordPress 4.1 and later will continue to receive such updates.
• Fresh off the press, the December 2022 edition of the Polyglots monthly newsletter is available for reading.
• The latest edition of People of WordPress features Huanyi Chuang, a front end developer from Taiwan.

Curious about why WordPress has so many releases? Tune in to Episode 44 of WP Briefing to learn about the role of major and minor releases in the project.

Feedback & testing requests

• Help efforts to wrap up Gutenberg Phase 2 by testing the Site Editor’s latest updates. Leave your feedback by January 6, 2023.
• The Performance Team shared a new proposal for enhancing the Scripts API with a loading strategy.
• The Full Site Editing (FSE) Outreach Program is looking for volunteers to use Replay.io for capturing bugs. Express your interest by December 28, 2022.
• Version 21.4 of the WordPress mobile app for Android and iOS is available for testing.

The Community Team is calling on WordPress contributor teams to suggest topics for the 2023 Community Summit by January 16, 2023.

WordPress events updates

• The #WPDiversity working group organized several workshops during the past few months. Among other highlights, attendees of the Speaker Workshop for Women Voices in Latin America reported a 52% increase in self-confidence to speak in public. Stay tuned for the next events.
• The WordCamp Europe 2023 organizing team shared their content vision for next year’s flagship event in Athens, Greece.
• WordCamp Asia 2023 is just a few months away, scheduled for February 17-19, 2023, in Bangkok, Thailand. Organizers have announced the first recipient of the WordCamp Asia Diversity Scholarship, Awais Arfan.
• Three more WordCamps are happening in the next few months:
  • WordCamp Zaragoza, Spain on January 20-21, 2023
  • WordCamp Birmingham, Alabama, USA on February 4-5, 2023
  • WordCamp Cebu, Philippines on February 11, 2023

WordCamp Europe 2023 is calling for sponsors and speakers.

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The following folks contributed to this edition of The Month in WordPress: @cbringmann, @webcommsat, @sereedmedia, and @rmartinezduque.

With the end of the year fast approaching, the WordPress project has not slowed down. Read on to learn more about the latest major release, WordPress 6.1, and the State of the Word 2022 live event, among other exciting news. It’s time to catch up on all things WordPress!

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Say hello to WordPress 6.1 “Misha”

The third and last major release of 2022, WordPress 6.1 “Misha,” shipped on November 1, 2022. Named after jazz pianist Mikhail “Misha” Alperin, this release comes packed with many improvements that refine the site-building experience introduced earlier this year in WordPress 5.9 and 6.0, as well as accessibility and performance upgrades.

WordPress 6.1 is also bundled with a new default block theme, Twenty Twenty-Three (TT3), that features 10 style variations designed by WordPress community members. These intentionally unique designs ensure that you can change the visual details of your site with ease—and within a single theme.

Learn more about what’s in 6.1:

• WordPress 6.1 “Misha” Announcement
• WordPress 6.1 Field Guide

Following WordPress 6.1 “Misha”, a 6.1.1 maintenance release landed on November 15, 2022. This minor release includes about 50 bug fixes.

Download WordPress 6.1.1

State of the Word 2022 is coming on December 15

State of the Word 2022, the annual keynote address delivered by the WordPress project’s co-founder, Matt Mullenweg, will be held on December 15, 2022. The event will take place in person in New York City and live-streamed via various WordPress.org social media platforms.

You can also host or join a State of the Word watch party to enjoy the event with your WordPress friends.

Learn more about State of the Word 2022

What’s new in Gutenberg

Two new versions of Gutenberg have shipped in the last month:

• Gutenberg 14.4 was released on October 26, 2022, with support for a distraction-free mode that allows a more focused writing experience. Other notable highlights include a redesigned pattern inserter, content locking to the Navigation block, and improvements to fluid typography.
• Gutenberg 14.5 sets the groundwork for future releases with code quality improvements and bug fixes. This version introduces a new “Document Overview” panel for easier access to the list view and document information, expands margin and padding support, and improves spacing visualizers. It was released on November 9, 2022.

Explore some of the latest enhancements to the writing experience in this Core Editor Improvement post.

Team updates: Documentation Contributor Day, WordPress.org redesign updates, and more

• After a lively discussion around the site editing terminology, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy announced that the term “Site Editor” will be used going forward in reference to the suite of site editing tools.
• Last month, the Docs Team successfully held its first online Contributor Day to collaborate in real-time, help onboard new contributors, and work on backlog tasks.
• Progress and next steps for the WordPress.org website redesign were shared in this post. The following pages that will get a refreshed look and feel soon include Showcase and Documentation (HelpHub).
• The WordPress.org Theme Directory introduced a new feature that allows visitors to preview style variations in block themes.
• Inspired by the Community Team’s efforts to reactivate meetup groups, the Polyglots Team is looking to start a Polyglots outreach project and welcomes help.
• The Training Team shared an overview of some of the new Learn WordPress courses they have been recently working on.
• Openverse’s catalog now includes more than one million audio records!
• The WordPress Photo Directory also reached a significant milestone by surpassing 5,000 photos! Check out this celebratory retrospective from the Photos team.
• Speaking of Openverse and the Photo Directory, don’t miss the latest episode of the WP Briefing podcast—it covers the differences between these two resources, and how they work to further openly-licensed media.
• The latest edition of People of WordPress features Raghavendra Satish Peri.

Enjoy a spooky Halloween Mad Libs story completed by community contributors in Episode 42 of WP Briefing.

Feedback & testing requests

• The Plugin Dependencies feature plugin is available for testing. Provide your feedback by December 1, 2022.
• What does a genuinely sustainable WordPress community look like to you? Share your vision and thoughts in this discussion post.
• The new WordPress developer blog is in public beta and ready for feedback.
• The Core Team requests assistance with testing a new Rollback Feature in WordPress core.
• Version 21.2 of the WordPress mobile app for Android and iOS is available for testing.

Were you involved in WordPress 6.1? Share your thoughts on the release process by December 15, 2022.

Event updates & WordCamps

• The WordCamp Asia organizing team is collaborating with WordCamp Central to bring the WordCamp Asia Diversity Scholarship. In addition, the team recently announced the first round of speakers.
• Preparations for WordCamp Europe 2023 are underway.
• Don’t miss these upcoming WordCamps:
  • WordCamp São Paulo, Brazil on November 26, 2022
  • WordCamp Kolkata, West Bengal, India on December 17-18, 2022

Boost your speaking confidence in WordPress events. Register for the How to Own Your Expertise & Start Speaking at WordPress Events online workshop happening December 7, 2022.

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The following folks contributed to this edition of The Month in WordPress: @rmartinezduque, @webcommsat, @santanainniss, @dansoschin, @eidolonnight.