This release includes the final About page design. It also contains fixes for:
New WordPress installs not setting the database table prefix correctly (#46220).
A HTTP error occurring when opening browser developer tools (#46218).
The legacy media dialog having incorrect pagination link styling (#41858).
The comment form not appearing when clicking “Reply” on comments loaded via Ajax (#46260).
Plugin and Theme Developers
Please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 5.1 and update the Tested up to version in the readme to 5.1. If you find compatibility problems, please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release.
The WordPress 5.1 Field Guide has also been published, which goes into the details of the major changes.
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
WordPress Five Point One: It’s so slick, shiny, and new. Lands in a few days!
The first release candidate for WordPress 5.1 is now available!
This is an important milestone, as the release date for WordPress 5.1 draws near. “Release Candidate” means that the new version is ready for release, but with millions of users and thousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible something was missed. WordPress 5.1 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, February 21, but we need your help to get there—if you haven’t tried 5.1 yet, now is the time!
Inspired by Archie Bell & The Drells, WordPress’s theme for 2019 is to “tighten up”, and WordPress 5.1 focussed on exactly that.
With security and speed in mind, this release introduces WordPress’s first Site Health features. WordPress will start showing notices to administrators of sites that run long-outdated versions of PHP, which is the programming language that powers WordPress.
Furthermore, when installing new plugins, WordPress’s Site Health features will check whether a plugin requires a version of PHP incompatible with your site. If so, WordPress will prevent you from installing that plugin.
The new block editor has kept improving since its introduction in WordPress 5.0. Most significantly, WordPress 5.1 includes solid performance improvements within the editor. The editor should feel a little quicker to start, and typing should feel smoother. There are more features and performance improvements planned in upcoming WordPress releases, you can check them out in the Gutenberg plugin.
Plugin and Theme Developers
Please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 5.1 and update the Tested up to version in the readme to 5.1. If you find compatibility problems, please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release.
The WordPress 5.1 Field Guide has also been published, which goes into the details of the major changes.
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
This is my release candidate. There are many like it. This is mine.
The momentum from December’s WordPress 5.0 release was maintained through January with some big announcements and significant updates. Read on to find out what happened in the WordPress project last month.
WordPress Leadership Grows
In a milestone announcement this month, WordPress project lead, Matt Mullenweg (@matt), named two individuals who are coming on board to expand the leadership team of the project.
Both Josepha and Joost have contributed to the WordPress project for many years and will certainly have a much larger impact going forward in their new roles.
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version.
There are two ways to test the WordPress 5.1 beta: try the WordPress Beta Testerplugin (you’ll want to select the “bleeding edge nightlies” option), or you can download the beta here (zip).
WordPress 5.1 is slated for release on February 21, and we need your help to get there!
Site Health Check
One of the features originally slated for WordPress 5.1—the PHP error protection handler—will target WordPress 5.2 instead. Some potential security issues were discovered in the implementation: rather than risk releasing insecure code, the team decided to pull it out of WordPress 5.1. The work in #46130 is showing good progress towards addressing the security concerns, if you’d like to follow development progress on this feature.
Additional Changes
A handful of smaller bugs have also been fixed in this release, including:
TinyMCE has been upgraded to version 4.9.2 (#46094).
The block editor has had a couple of bugs fixed (#46137).
A few differences in behaviour between the classic block and the classic editor have been fixed (#46062, #46071, #46085).
When adding rel attributes to links, ensure the value isn’t empty (#45352), and that it works as expected with customizer changesets (#45292).
Developer Notes
WordPress 5.1 has many changes aimed at polishing the developer experience. To keep you informed, we publish developers’ notes on the Make WordPress Core blog throughout the release cycle. Subscribe to the Make WordPress Core blog for updates over the coming weeks, detailing other changes in 5.1 that you should be aware of.
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
In just a few weeks WordPress Five-One will be here. Your testing helps us!
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version.
There are two ways to test the WordPress 5.1 beta: try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want to select the “bleeding edge nightlies” option), or you can download the beta here (zip).
WordPress 5.1 is slated for release on February 21, and we need your help to get there!
Over 110 tickets have been closed since beta 1, many of which are documentation and testing suite improvements. Here are the major changes and bug fixes:
The pre_render_block and render_block_data filters have been introduced allowing plugins to override block attribute values (#45451, dev note coming soon).
get_template_part() will now return a value indicating whether a template file was found and loaded (#40969).
A notice will now be triggered when developers incorrectly register REST API endpoints (related dev note).
Bulk editing posts will no longer unintentionally change a post’s post format (#44914)
Twemoji has been updated to the latest version, 11.2.0 (#45133).
A bug preventing the Custom Fields meta box from being enabled has been fixed (#46028).
The treatment of orderby values for post__in, post_parent__in, and post_name__in has been standardized (#38034).
When updating language packs, old language packs are now correctly deleted to avoid filling up disk space (#45468).
Developer Notes
WordPress 5.1 has many changes aimed at polishing the developer experience. To keep you informed, we publish developers notes on the Make WordPress Core blog throughout the release cycle. Subscribe to the Make WordPress Core blog for updates over the coming weeks, detailing other changes in 5.1 that you should be aware of.
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
Do you enjoy bugs? I don’t. So, we fixed them all. Well, not all. But close.
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version.
There are two ways to test the WordPress 5.1 beta: try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want to select the “bleeding edge nightlies” option), or you can download the beta here (zip).
WordPress 5.1 is slated for release on February 21, and we need your help to get there. Here are some of the big items to test so we can find as many bugs as possible in the coming weeks.
Site Health Check
Site Health Check is an ongoing project aimed at improving the stability and performance of the entire WordPress ecosystem. The first phase of this project is included in WordPress 5.1. For the first time, WordPress will catch and pause the problem code, so you can log in to your Dashboard and see what the problem is (#44458). Before, you’d have to FTP in to your files or get in touch with your host.
Added LIKE support to meta_key comparisons in WP_Meta_Query (#42409).
There have been over 360 tickets closed in WordPress 5.1, with numerous small bug fixes and improvements to help smooth your WordPress experience.
Keep your eyes on the Make WordPress Core blog for more developer notes (which are assigned the dev-notes tag) in the coming weeks detailing other changes in 5.1 that you should be aware of.
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
Miss my haiku? I will have plenty for you in the coming weeks.
5.0.3 is a maintenance release that includes 37 bug fixes and 7 performance updates. The focus of this release was fine-tuning the new block editor, and fixing any major bugs or regressions.
Here are a few of the highlights:
15 block editor related bug fixes and improvements have been added to bundled themes. Make sure to update these for an improved block editing experience.
You can download WordPress 5.0.3 or visit Dashboard → Updates on your site and click Update Now. Sites that support automatic background updates have already started to update automatically.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to WordPress 5.0.3:
New features, a big event, and important announcements marked December as a milestone month for the WordPress community.
Release of WordPress 5.0
On December 6 WordPress 5.0 was released. This release includes the much anticipated new block editor as the default editing experience. While some users have chosen to continue using the Classic Editor on their sites, many site owners have quickly upgraded to this latest version.
Two security and maintenance releases came out over the course of the month, with the latest update providing a huge boost to performance and stability.
The new version of WordPress comes a new default theme: Twenty Nineteen. This theme is designed to highlight how the block editor can be used.
The next phase of Gutenberg is being decided, starting with widgets, which will make it easier for users to customize their sites. This will be done with features being added to the Gutenberg plugin.
WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg outlined 9 projects for the year 2019. These projects range from creating a block for navigations menus, porting all existing widgets into blocks, forming a triage team to tackle open issues on Trac and more.
A status update for porting existing widgets to blocks has been posted by Mel Choyce.
WordCamp US 2019 Dates announced
WordCamp US 2019 will be held during Nov. 1-3, 2019, in St Louis, Missouri. It will be one of our largest events of the year and will feature Matt Mullenweg’s annual State of the Word address.
5.0.2 is a maintenance release that addresses 73 bugs. The primary focus of this release was performance improvements in the block editor: the cumulated performance gains make it 330% faster for a post with 200 blocks.
Here are a few of the additional highlights:
45 total Block Editor improvements are included (14 performance enhancements & 31 bug fixes).
You can download WordPress 5.0.2 or visit Dashboard → Updates and click Update Now. Sites that support automatic background updates have already started to update automatically.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to WordPress 5.0.2:
Save the date! The next WordCamp US will be held on November 1-3, 2019, in beautiful St Louis, Missouri. One of our largest events of the year, WordCamp US is a great chance to connect with WordPress enthusiasts from around the world. This is also the event that features Matt Mullenweg’s annual State of the Word address.
We’d love to see you in St. Louis next year, so mark your calendar now!