As the preparation for WordPress 6.7 approaches, so does the third edition of the Mentorship Program, which is now seeking new participants.
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Program transcript
Hello, I’m Alicia Ireland, and you’re listening to WordPress Podcast, bringing the weekly news from the WordPress Community.
In this episode, you’ll find the information from August 12th to 18th, 2024.
As has been discussed for months, the time has come to announce the third edition of the WordPress Contributor Mentorship Program, which helps connect deeply involved members of the WordPress community with newcomers who want to get involved, all with guided support.
This edition will run parallel to the release dates of WordPress 6.7, so not only will participants learn how to contribute to their chosen teams, but they will also get to see what it’s like to launch a new major version of WordPress.
The application process will be open from August 16 to 26, and the selection of mentors and mentees will be announced on September 9. This edition will begin on October 7 and end on November 15.
If you’ve ever attended a Contributor Day, enjoyed it, but didn’t know how to continue, this is likely an ideal opportunity to learn all the secrets of the global WordPress Community.
And another big announcement is Twenty Twenty-Five. No, it’s not available… yet.
Twenty Twenty-Five will be the new default theme for WordPress 6.7 for 2025, designed to offer flexibility and customization for both novice and expert users.
Inspired by the evolution of Gutenberg, this theme aims to more organically integrate blocks and patterns, enabling the creation of unique and visually appealing sites with ease. It will offer a variety of predefined templates and styles, catering to different needs, from personal blogs to online stores, prioritizing accessibility and speed.
Additionally, the theme will be highly configurable, with advanced options that allow users to adjust details like typography, colors, and overall design without the need for coding knowledge, emphasizing WordPress’s trend towards democratizing web creation with tools in an intuitive and user-friendly environment.
To achieve this new version of the future default theme, we have Gutenberg 19.0, featuring two elements that will be experimental and can be activated manually.
The first of these features is the interface that allows connecting blocks with custom fields, and the second is quick and bulk editing in the page list with the new Data View.
And to achieve the release of WordPress 6.7, a team has finally been formed and finalized. It will be led by Matt Mullenweg and coordinated by David Baumwald.
The Core team has announced that the HEIC image format, which has been used by default since iOS 11 and is only visible in Safari, will be automatically converted to JPEG when the image is uploaded, starting with WordPress 6.7.
This decision was made to ensure images are viewable in most browsers, and as with almost everything WordPress does, it can be disabled with a small filter.
If you’ve wondered how to extend the functionality of a WordPress block, the Developers Blog has published a post detailing how to do it.
By extending with an extra plugin or function, an existing block can be expanded by registering new styles and variations, and then adding the desired functionality.
The Test team is looking for representatives who will be announced in early October and will contribute between 2 and 4 hours per week; nominations are open until Monday, September 23.
The Themes team is seeking the best solution for finding a theme name that might be duplicated. While it’s true that these names can be found in the WordPress.org directory itself, there are many sites outside the WordPress repository where some of these names can be found, making the task more complex.
The Media Corps team had its second major meeting, highlighting several important topics, including the latest WordPress updates, such as the WordPress 6.7 release cycle and new Gutenberg features.
The main focus was on the recent revamp of Learn WordPress, which now includes structured learning paths for different types of users and developers. Upcoming events like WordCamp US 2024 and the annual “State of the Word” address in Tokyo were also mentioned.
The Community team has announced that the camera kit rental program in North America, used to record videos of WordPress events, will be discontinued due to low demand and high maintenance costs.
Between 2022 and 2024, requests for these kits were minimal, reflecting a declining interest from the community. Additionally, the equipment is outdated and would require expensive upgrades. The lack of use and significant expense led to the decision to shut down the program in North America, although it will be maintained in Europe.
The Photos team is looking for new representatives, as the initial representatives have remained in place since its creation, and after more than two years, due to availability, they must step aside for others.
The announcement of the new representatives will be made during WordCamp US on September 17.
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, and the podcast in other languages, at WordPress Podcast .???.
Thanks for listening, and until the next episode!
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