The tool for creating WordPress sites on the fly, WordPress Playground, has launched a manager that allows managing multiple instances simultaneously.
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Program transcript
Hello, I’m Alicia Ireland, and you’re listening to WPpodcast, bringing the weekly news from the WordPress Community.
In this episode, you’ll find the information from September 23th to 29th, 2024.
The final tweaks to Gutenberg are being prepared with an eye on the next major WordPress release.
The Zoom Out mode is no longer experimental and is available to all users, allowing patterns to be created at a more granular level.
Some interface elements have also been fixed, such as the publish button, or ensuring that custom block names are applied everywhere they should be.
Additionally, it will be possible to disable the pattern selection modal when creating a new page, and phone numbers will automatically link with the “tel” prefix.
An interesting feature is that in the Image block, multiple images can be dragged and dropped, automatically converting it into a Gallery block.
And, although it was already known, the release dates for WordPress 6.7 have been officially announced, along with the times when the corresponding packages will be prepared for each release.
The first beta version will be released on October 1, the first release candidate on October 22, the code freeze will be on November 11, and one day later, on November 12, around 18:00 UTC, the final package will be ready for download.
The Core team has provided a summary of the meetings the “Core Committers” had at the Core table during WordCamp US, where they emphasized the importance of enabling new contributors to connect with more experienced ones. They also discussed best practices for committing and encouraged each contributor to share their personal setup on blogs to improve documentation about the contribution process.
Furthermore, they addressed how to request feedback properly within the community, suggesting that personal blogs be used to validate ideas, while the official WordPress blog be reserved for more formal communications.
On another note, the improvement to the Query Loop block in the WordPress editor aims to make it more intuitive with smarter default settings. It now automatically inherits the page context queries, simplifying its use by displaying posts without additional configurations.
Filtering and customization options have also been grouped to facilitate the use of custom queries, including posts by author or format. These improvements will be available in WordPress 6.7.
The Performance team brings a proposal suggesting the creation of a private Slack channel (#performance-hosting) to connect the WordPress performance team with hosting company representatives.
This space would allow data sharing and testing of performance improvements in real-time, with a fast feedback loop.
The idea comes from the successful collaboration in the #security-hosting channel. While some suggest making the collaboration public, others see the need for a private channel to discuss sensitive performance-related topics.
In the Developers Blog, a post has been published on how to leverage the new Data Views to create a system that allows images to be uploaded to the Media Library, working with React and the corresponding components.
The detailed example explains how to display a list of images from another provider and add a button to integrate those images into the site’s Media Library.
The Playground team has added a feature that allows managing multiple instances simultaneously with different configurations.
Until now, when you entered the site, a new installation was generated, or you could retrieve a previous one if you had exported the data. With this new setup, through the Playground Manager, both stable and temporary instances can be created.
The Themes team reports that 49 contributors are already working on the new Twenty Twenty-Five theme, which will come bundled with WordPress 6.7. They are not only seeking contributions for the theme’s development but also for creating blocks, patterns, or design elements.
The Design team has presented its biweekly proposals, including the redesign of The WordPress Briefing podcast or moving the “Log In” link to the secondary menu on WordPress.org. They are also improving how users are informed that they can drag an element to a specific area, such as when uploading an image or font, making it much clearer where it can be dropped. Shadows and controls are two elements that will also change in WordPress 6.7.
The Accessibility team is continuing to work on the final details for WordPress 6.7, advancing in improving the Block Bindings interface, the Design System, and some general interface elements such as the Save and Publish button, the pattern selection modal, and several elements related to the zoom view.
Following the conclusion of WordCamp US 2024, some key details have emerged, such as the participation of 400 people contributing to 25 teams and projects, all heavily focused on the release of WordPress 6.7.
There was also a showcase with a series of presentations from projects and companies using WordPress, including Disney Experiences, The New York Post, CNN, and Amnesty International.
WordCamp US 2025 will be held again in Portland, Oregon, from August 26 to 29, 2025.
And finally, this podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons license as a derivative version of the podcast in Spanish; you can find all the links for more information, and the podcast in other languages, at WPpodcast .org.
Thanks for listening, and until the next episode!
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