With the arrival of the first release candidate of WordPress 6.5, most of the final changes that this version will incorporate are announced.
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Program transcript
Hello, I’m Javier Casares, and you’re listening to WordPress Podcast, bringing the weekly news from the WordPress Community.
You’ll find updates from March 4th to 10th, 2024.
We now have the WordPress 6.5 Release Candidate, which, although still a development version, already includes all the features that will come in the final version.
And with this, practically all functionalities have been revealed.
The block hooks have received an update, introducing improvements and new features. It’s now possible to inject blocks into modified layouts and within the navigation block. New filters have been added for finer control over blocks, allowing for the adjustment of attributes and internal blocks. Additionally, confusing behaviors in the inspection panel have been corrected, and technical support has been improved to respect user customizations.
The “viewScriptModule” field has been introduced in the block metadata of WordPress 6.5, allowing developers to use script modules on the frontend. This field facilitates the inclusion of script modules that depend on others, such as the Interactivity API, improving the development experience.
And this can be related to the introduction of the “Script Modules” interface to support native JavaScript modules. This includes benefits such as the use of “import” and “export”, enforced strict mode, and deferred loading, thus improving JavaScript development.
Although it had been previously discussed in the development part, it now reaches end users. The Interactivity API allows developers to add interactions on the frontend of their blocks in a standard way, facilitating the creation of rich and interactive user experiences. Communication between blocks is improved, allowing for the sharing of data, actions, and callbacks.
The HTML API receives significant updates, improving the way HTML documents are processed. With the new Tag Processor, it’s possible to scan every token of the document, facilitating operations like removing tags or truncating HTML. Concepts such as editable text and new methods for advanced handling of HTML content are introduced.
Finally, the interface and behavior of the site editor and the post editor have been unified, aiming to offer a consistent user experience. This includes the unification of preferences such as the top toolbar, minimal distraction modes, and other relevant adjustments. The site editor is based on the editor package, facilitating uniform content and preference management.
Something already known is the introduction of plugin dependencies, allowing to specify required plugins for another plugin to function. Dependent plugins cannot be installed or activated without first meeting their dependencies. Moreover, plugins that others depend on cannot be deactivated or deleted while the dependents are active.
In addition to the major features, there are dozens of changes both in the editor and in the core of the new version.
By the way, the WordPress 6.5 version can now be translated from translate.wordpress.org into any of the available languages so that, on the day of its release, it is available in as many different languages as possible.
The Polyglots team has proposed a change in the functioning of suggestions for untranslated strings.
Until now, the system showed all available options, and the idea now is to show only one prioritized option, taking into account the Translation Memory, OpenAI, and Deepl, or all, in that order, depending on availability.
The Training team is proposing a collaboration to transform Learning Paths into Skill Trees.
The idea is that the skill tree format allows teachers to select the skills needed and immediately develop a curriculum and obtain learning resources tailored for each individual.
And finally, this podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons license as a derivative version of the WordPress Podcast in Spanish; you can find all the links for more information at WordPress Podcast .org or follow the content in Catalan, Spanish, and French.
Thanks for listening, and until the next episode!
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