WordPress 5.8 Release Candidate

The first release candidate for WordPress 5.8 is now available!

Please join us in celebrating this very important milestone in the community’s progress towards the final release of WordPress 5.8!

“Release Candidate” means the new version is ready for release, but with thousands of plugins and themes and differences in how the millions of people use WordPress, it is possible something was missed. WordPress 5.8 is slated for release on July 20, 2021, but your help is needed to get there—if you have not tried 5.8 yet, now is the time!

You can test the WordPress 5.8 release candidate in three ways:

• Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (select the Bleeding edge channel and then Beta/RC Only stream)
• Directly download the release candidate version (zip)
• Using WP-CLI to test: wp core update --version=5.8-RC1

Thank you to all of the contributors who tested the Beta releases and gave feedback. Testing for bugs is a critical part of polishing every release and a great way to contribute to WordPress.

What is in WordPress 5.8?

The second release of 2021 continues to progress on the block editor towards the promised future of full site editing with these updates:

• Manage Widgets with Blocks
• Display Posts with New Blocks and Patterns
• Edit Post Templates
• Overview of the Page Structure
• Suggested Patterns for Blocks
• Style and Colorize Images
• theme.json
• Dropping support for IE11
• Adding support for WebP
• Adding Additional Block Supports
• Version 10.7 of the Gutenberg plugin

WordPress 5.8 also has lots of refinements to enhance the developer experience. To learn more, subscribe to the Make WordPress Core blog and pay special attention to the developer notes tag for updates on those and other changes that could affect your products.

Plugin and Theme Developers

Please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 5.8 and update the Tested up to version in the readme file to 5.8. If you find compatibility problems, please be sure to post to the support forums, so those can be figured out before the final release.

The WordPress 5.8 Field Guide, due to be published very shortly, will give you a deeper dive into the major changes.

How to Help

Do you speak a language other than English?  Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!  This release also marks the hard string freeze point of the 5.8 release schedule.

If you think you have found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We would love to hear from you! If you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.

Props to @audrasjb, @cbringmann, @webcommsat, and @pbiron for copy suggestions and final review.

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We are almost there,
WordPress 5.8 comes next month.
We need your help: test!

WordPress 5.8 Release Candidate was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2021/06/wordpress-5-8-release-candidate/

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WordPress 5.8 Beta 4

WordPress 5.8 Beta 4 is now available for testing!

This software is still in development, so it is not recommended to run this version on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with it.

You can test the WordPress 5.8 Beta 4 in three ways:

• Install/activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (select the Bleeding edge channel and the Beta/RC Only stream).
• Direct download the beta version here (zip).
• Using WP-CLI to test: wp core update --version=5.8-beta4

The current target for the final release is July 20, 2021. That’s less than four weeks away, so we need your help to make sure the final release is as good as it can be.

Some Highlights

Since Beta 3, 18 bugs have been fixed. Most tickets focused on polishing existing default themes, fixing bugs in the new block Widget screen, and squashing Editor bugs collected during beta.

How You Can Help

Watch the Make WordPress Core blog for 5.8-related developer notes in the coming weeks, which will break down these and other changes in greater detail.

So far, contributors have fixed 254 tickets in WordPress 5.8, including 91 new features and enhancements, and more bug fixes are on the way.

Do some testing!

Testing for bugs is a vital part of polishing the release during the beta stage and a great way to contribute.

If you think you’ve found a bug, please post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We would love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac. That’s also where you can find a list of known bugs.

Props to @desrosj @clorith for reviews and @chanthaboune for final edits!

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Releasing software
Is complex when open source
Yet WordPressers do

WordPress 5.8 Beta 4 was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2021/06/wordpress-5-8-beta-4/

WordPress 5.8 Beta 3

WordPress 5.8 Beta 3 is now available for testing!

This software is still in development, so it is not recommended to run this version on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with it.

You can test the WordPress 5.8 Beta 3 in three ways:

• Install/activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (select the Bleeding edge channel and the Beta/RC Only stream).
• Direct download the beta version here (zip).
• Using WP-CLI to test: wp core update --version=5.8-beta3

The current target for the final release is July 20, 2021. That’s just four weeks away, so we need your help to make the final release is as good as it can be.

Some Highlights

Since Beta 2, 38 bugs have been fixed. Here is a summary of some of the included changes:

• Block Editor: Move caching to endpoint for unique responses. (#53435)
• Bundled Themes: Improve display of blocks in widget areas. (#53422)
• Coding Standards: Bring some consistency to HTML formatting in wp-admin/comment.php. (#52627)
• Editor: Include Cover block in the list of block types registered using metadata files. (#53440)
• Editor: Include Cover block in the list of block types registered using metadata files. (#53440)
• Media: Add new functions to return the previous/next attachment links. (#45708)
• Media: Improve upload page media item layout on smaller screens. (#51754)
• Media: Update total attachment count when media added or removed. (#53171)
• REST API: Decode single and double quote entities in widget names and descriptions. (#53407)
• Twenty Nineteen: Update margins on full- and wide-aligned blocks in the editor. (#53428)
• Widgets: Add editor styles to the widgets block editor. (#53344)

How You Can Help

Watch the Make WordPress Core blog for 5.8-related developer notes in the coming weeks, which will break down these and other changes in greater detail.

So far, contributors have fixed 254 tickets in WordPress 5.8, including 91 new features and enhancements, and more bug fixes are on the way.

Do some testing!

Testing for bugs is a vital part of polishing the release during the beta stage and a great way to contribute.

If you think you’ve found a bug, please post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We would love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac. That’s also where you can find a list of known bugs.

Props to @jeffpaul @desrosj @hellofromtonya @pbiron for reviews and final edits!

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Esperanza first.
Want to know the next jazzer?
Then please test beta.

WordPress 5.8 Beta 3 was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2021/06/wordpress-5-8-beta-3/

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WordPress 5.8 Beta 2

WordPress 5.8 Beta 2 is now available for testing!

This software is still in development, so it’s not recommended to run this version on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with it.

You can test the WordPress 5.8 Beta 2 in two ways:

• Install/activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (select the Bleeding edge channel and the Beta/RC Only stream)
• Direct download the beta version here (zip).

The current target for the final release is July 20, 2021. That’s just five weeks away, so your help is vital to ensure that the final release is as good as it can be.

Some Highlights

Since Beta 1, 26 bugs have been fixed. Here is a summary of some of the included changes:

• Block Editor: Remove bundled block patterns and support the patterns directory. (#53246)
• Block Editor: Add a type property to allow Core to identify the source of the editor styles. (#53175)
• Build/Test Tools: Adds some tests for Quick Draft section in Dashboard. (#52905)
• Build/Test Tools: Replaced @babel/polyfill with core-js/stable. (#52941)
• Coding Standards: Further update the code for bulk menu items deletion to better follow WordPress coding standards. (#21603)
• External Libraries: Update Underscore to version 1.13.1. (#45785)
• General: A number of block editor, template mode and widget screen related fixes. (#51149)
• Login and Registration: Improve the unknown username error message. (#52915)
• Media: Restore AJAX response data shape in media library. (#50105)
• Site Health: Display a list of file formats supported by the GD library. (#53022)
• Twemoji: It’s the new one! (#52852)

How You Can Help

Watch the Make WordPress Core blog for 5.8-related developer notes in the coming weeks, which will break down these and other changes in greater detail.

So far, contributors have fixed 214 tickets in WordPress 5.8, including 87 new features and enhancements, and more bug fixes are on the way.

Do some testing!

Testing for bugs is a vital part of polishing the release during the beta stage and a great way to contribute.

If you think you’ve found a bug, please post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We would love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac. That’s also where you can find a list of known bugs.

Props to @chanthaboune for revision, @webcommsat, @youknowriad, @jorbin, and @jeffpaul for proofreading, and @cbringmann for final edits!

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Install won’t you please
WordPress 5-8 Beta 2?
We need your help: test!

WordPress 5.8 Beta 2 was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2021/06/wordpress-5-8-beta-2/

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WordPress 5.8 Beta 1

WordPress 5.8 Beta 1 is now available for testing!

This software is still in development, so it is not recommended to run this version on a production site. Instead, we recommend that you run this on a test site to play with the new version.

You can test the WordPress 5.8 Beta 1 in two ways:

• Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).
• Direct download the beta version here (zip).

The current target for the final release is July 20, 2021. This is just six weeks away, so your help is vital to ensure this release is tested properly and as good as it can be.

Keep your eyes on the Make WordPress Core blog for 5.8-related developer notes in the coming weeks, breaking down these and other changes in greater detail.

So what’s new in this 5.8? Let’s start with some highlights.

Highlights

Handpicked Patterns

Patterns can now also be recommended and selected during block setup, offering powerful new flows. Pattern transformations are also possible and allow converting a block or a collection of blocks into different patterns.

New collection of Patterns and an initial integration with the upcoming Pattern Directory on WordPress.org.

Powerful Blocks

• Discover several new blocks and expressive tools, including blocks for Page Lists, Site Title, Logo, and Tagline. A powerful Query Loop block offers multiple ways for displaying lists of posts and comes with new block patterns that take advantage of its flexibility and creative possibilities.
• Interacting with nested blocks has been made easier with a permanent toolbar button for selecting a parent. Block outlines are shown when hovering or focusing on the different block type buttons. Block handles are now also present for drag and drop when in “select” mode.
• Introduces the List View, a panel that can be toggled and helps navigate complex blocks and patterns.
• Reusable blocks have an improved creation flow and support for history revisions.
• A cool new duotone block adds images effects which can be used in media blocks or supported in third-party blocks. Color presets can also be customized by the theme.

Better Tools

• New template editor that allows creating new custom templates for a page using blocks.
• Themes can now control and configure styling with a theme.json file, including layout configuration, block supports, color palettes, and more.
• New design tools and enhancements to existing blocks, including more color, typography, and spacing options, drag and drop for Cover backgrounds, additions to block transformation options, ability to embed PDFs within the File block, and more.
• Includes improvements to how the editor is rendered to more accurately resemble the frontend.

Internet Explorer 11

Support for Internet Explorer 11 is ending in WordPress this year. In this release, most of those changes are being merged so use the Beta and RC periods to test!

Looking for a change and can’t find it! There are more improvements listed after the break.

How You Can Help

Do some testing!

Testing for bugs is an important part of polishing the release during the beta stage and a great way to contribute.

If you think you’ve found a bug, please post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We would love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac. That’s also where you can find a list of known bugs.

Thanks for joining us, and happy testing!

Props to @audrasjb, @cbringmann, @youknowriad, @annezazu, @matveb, and @desrosj for editing/proof reading this post, and @chanthaboune for final review.

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Full Site Editing
Coming at the end of year
But first, Beta 1

Improvements in this Release

• Improvements to Reusable blocks, Cover block, Table block, List View, Rich text placeholder, Template Editing Mode, Block Inserter, and Top Toolbar
• Query loop block that uses a query/filter to create a flexible post list based on templates. Best used with patterns.
• Parity refinement between editor and frontend, Standardization to block toolbars organization
• Block widgets in the Customizer
• Introducing the Global Styles and Global Settings APIs: control the editor settings and available customization tools and style blocks using a theme.json file.Template editor opens inside an iframe to more accurately resemble the front end.
• Ability to transform Media and Text into Columns
• Embedded PDFs within File block
• Spacing options for Social Links and Buttons, Spacer block width adjustments
• Twemoji has been updated to version 13.1, bringing you many new Emoji.
• Editor performance improvements
• Hide writing prompt from subsequent empty paragraphs
• More descriptive publishing UI
• Added capability to set the default format for image sub-sizes as well as WebP support
• Added widgets block editor to widgets.php and customize.php
• Added block patterns to default themes
• Added ability to mark a plugin as unmanaged
• Enable revisions for the reusable block custom post type
• Enqueue script and style assets only for blocks present on the page
• Abstracted block editor configuration by deprecating existing filters and introducing replacements that are context-aware
• New sidebars, widget, and widget-types REST API endpoints
• Added support for modifying the term relation when querying posts in the REST API
• Site Health now supports custom sub-menus and pages
• Themes now display the number of available theme updates in the admin menu
• Speed cached get_pages() calls
• Underscore updates from 1.8.3 to 1.9.1

To see all of the features for Gutenberg release in detail check out these posts: 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7. In addition to those changes, contributors have fixed 215 tickets in WordPress 5.8, including 88 new features and enhancements, with more bug fixes on the way.

WordPress 5.8 Beta 1 was originally posted at https://wordpress.org/news/2021/06/wordpress-5-8-beta-1/

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