Week in Core, Jan. 12-19 2016

Welcome back to the latest issue of Week in Core, covering changes from January 12th – January 19th, 2016, changesets [36269]–[36350]. Here are the highlights:

• 81 commits
• 38 contributors with props
• 127 tickets created
• 19 tickets reopened
• 100 tickets closed

Ticket numbers based on trac timeline for the period above.

Note: If you want to help write the next WordPress Core Weekly summary, check out the schedule over at make/docs and get in touch in the #core-weekly-update Slack channel.

Code Updates

Accessibility

• After [36333] correctly `use esc_attr()` instead of `esc_attr__()`. [36334] #35313_
• Remove title attributes from the Posts list table. [36333] #35313, Media Library list table. [36331] #35136 & the Comments screen. [36298] #35304
• Improve focus handling on the Taxonomies Quick Edit. Moves focus back to a proper place when saving or closing the form. [36304] #35460
• Improve focus handling and audible feedback on the Posts Quick-Bulk Edit. Avoids a focus loss when saving or closing the form moving focus back to a proper place. Uses `wp.a11y.speak()` to dispatch successful edits and error messages to screen readers. [36303] #34756

Administration

• CSS: Reference the original location of the CSS rule being overridden. [36342] #35229
• CSS: Stop using `wp-admin.min.css` and instead queue the individual stylesheets up through `load-styles.php`. We still generate the `wp-admin.*` files for compabitility purposes, however they only include the `@import()` lines. [36341] #35229
• List Tables: Use the `$GLOBALS` array when unsetting the global post and comment in `WP_Comments_List_Table::single_row()`. [36339] #35506
• Allow searching for 0 throughout the admin. [36302] #31025
• Add a “Drag boxes here” message to empty dashboard meta boxes so it’s clear to users that it’s possible to drag meta boxes into empty spaces. [36295] #26399
• Support searching for `’0’` in `WP_Query`. [36278] #31025

Build/Test Tools

• Build/Test Tools: Move PHP factory classes into their own files. [36347] #35492\
• Build Tools: Append the timestamp to $wp_version instead of only the current date. [36315] #28722

Canonical

• After [36280] remove the unit tests which are no longer supported for 4.4. This also removes the `is_feed()` code to avoid confusion – only pages & embeds will be redirected. [36281] #35344
• Restore the is_404() check in `wp_old_slug_redirect()` which was removed in [34659]. This reverts part of [34659] due to excessive canonical problems it’s caused in 4.4.x. [36280] #35344, #21602

Comments

• Ignore false values of ‘search’ in `WP_Comment_Query`. [36345] #35513
• Remove unused `$default_comments_page` variable in `get_comment_link()`. [36343] #34073, #35511
• Correct description of `comment_author` property in `WP_Comment` class. The `comment_author` property is the comment author’s name, not an ID. [36332] #35464
• Respect all post-related filters in `WP_Comment_Query`. [36326] #35478
• Use TEXT column type in fallback for `wp_get_comment_column_max_length()`. [36325] #10377
• Respect custom pagination params when using `wp_list_comments()` in a query loop. [36324] #35402
• Remove unneeded `$req` variable in `comments_template()`. [36322] #35473
• Add a new `pre_wp_update_comment_count_now` filter. [36318] #35060
• Use `assertEqualSets()` in comment_author test. The previous assertion was too specific, resulting in race conditions. [36279] #35377
• Use the post-filter `WHERE` clause when querying for comment descendants. [36277] #35192
• Always respect `$comments` array passed to `wp_list_comments()`. [36276] #35175, #35356
• Ignore hierarchy in pagination calculation when comment threading is disabled. [36275] #8071, #35419
• Restrict the maximum characters for input fields within the comments template. [36272] #10377

Customizer

• Aggregate similar CSS rules. [36291] #34333

Embeds

• Allow embedding static front pages and pages having a child page with an embed slug. This makes embed a special slug that can’t be used for new pages/posts. When `https://example.com/foo/embed/` is an existing page, embeds fall back to `https://example.com/foo/?embed=true`. Adds unit tests. [36307] #34971

Filesystem API

• Add a filter to `wp_unique_filename()`. [36310] #19121

Formatting

• Emoji: adjust $wpsmiliestrans. Swap simple-smile.png with SLIGHTLY SMILING FACE and frownie.png with SLIGHTLY FROWNING FACE [36336] #31710

HTTP API

• Add response status code aliases on WP_Http for convenience. These provide a more descriptive way to set response codes elsewhere, so it’s readable and less chance for the wrong response code to be used such as 401 vs 403. [36294] #35426
• Add missing HTTP status code descriptions (specifically 308 and 421.) [36274]
• Add support for 451 http status code (Unavailable For Legal Reasons.) Though this is technically still in the proposal stage, there is support from the core team and precedent in #16914 [36273] #16914, #35333

I18n

• Introduce tests for `WP_Locale`. [36292] #34688
• Correct an argument description and return value for `wp_dropdown_languages()`. [36290] #35294

JavaScript

• In `wp.Backbone.Subviews`, extract subviews with proper Underscore.js functions. [36305] #34350
• jQuery: Replace use of deprecated methods and events. [36288], [36287], and [36286] for #35380,
• External Libraries: Update jQuery to 1.12.0 and jQuery Migrate to 1.3.0. [36285] #35380

Media

• Update some attach/detach strings in the columns view. [36328] #33237

Multisite

• Add initial tests for the `allowed_themes filter`. [36350] #28436

Network and Sites

• Clarify the docblock for get_current_site() so it’s clear that it returns the current network object, not anything to do with the current site. As a further exercise, the reader is invited to fix the nomenclature surrounding blogs, sites, and networks in WordPress. [36293] #35414

Performance

• Share post fixture in WP_Comment_Query tests. [36346] #30017
• Script Loader: Add Etag: `$wp_version` header in `load-scripts.php` and `load-styles.php`. This improves performance since browsers won’t re-download the scripts and styles when there was no change in `$wp_version`. [36312] #28722

Plugins

• Prevent a warning when searching in the plugins list table. [36301] #35461
• Make sure the ‘Beta testing’ tab is first in the plugin installer. This makes feature plugins more discoverable for people running development builds. [36297] #29631
• In `_get_plugin_data_markup_translate()` remove the fallback to the “default” textdomain for Akismet. Akismet has its own language files since WordPress 3.9. [36283] #35436

Posts, Post Types

• Correctly pass `$post` to `post_password_required()` in `get_the_excerpt()`. Corrects the relevant test. [36329] #35486
• After [36319], add `$post` parameter to the `get_the_excerpt` filter. [36321] #35474
• Add a `$post` parameter to `get_the_excerpt()`. [36319], [36320] #27246
• Introduce `unregister_post_type()`. [36316] #14761

Taxonomy

• Don’t double-escape the ‘name’ param in get_terms(). [36348] #35493
• Populate term cache with proper clone of term objects. [36323] #35462
• Fix unit tests after [36308]. [36309] #34988
• Introduce `wp-admin/term.php` for editing single terms. [36308] #34988
• Correct the accetped types for the taxonomy element in the arguments passed to `wp_dropdown_categories()`. [36289] #35446

Themes

• Show template loading error to users with switch_themes cap. [36344] #21931
• Only users with proper capability should see theme errors. [36338] #21931
• Show an error message to logged-in users if a template file isn’t loaded. [36335] #21931
• Clear floated theme cards on Themes page. Also maintains visual separation for Broken Themes table on searches that return no results. [36270] #26646

Upgrade/Install

• Add a locking mechanism to avoid two concurrent updates of WordPress occuring. [36349] #34878

Users

• Always return `$current_user` in `wp_get_current_user()`, never a boolean. [36313] #19615
• Deprecate the `get_currentuserinfo()` pluggable function. [36311] #19615
• Decode special characters in password and email change notification emails. [36306] #35283

Props

Thanks to @5um17, @adamsilverstein, @afercia, @andizer, @berengerzyla, @boonebgorges, @chriscct7, @danielbachhuber, @dd32, @DrewAPicture, @ericlewis, @firebird75, @grapplerulrich, @iseulde, @ivankristianto, @jeremyfelt, @jmdodd, @joehoyle, @johnbillion, @jrf, @kraftbj, @Latz, @meitar, @MikeHansenMe, @obenland, @ocean90, @peterwilsoncc, @rachelbaker, @realloc, @rmccue, @scribu, @sebastianpisula, @sergejmueller, @SergeyBiryukov, @swissspidy, @valendesigns, @westonruter, and @xavortm for their contributions this week!

Week in Core, Jan. 12-19 2016 by Eric Binnion was originally posted at https://make.wordpress.org/core/2016/01/20/week-in-core-jan-12-19-2016/