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This will be added into the header template of your theme. 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This beta version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, you should evaluate Beta 2 on a test server and site. You can test WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 in [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"Amy Kamala\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6552:\"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 is now ready for testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This beta version of the WordPress software is under development</strong>. 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The full <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/12/wordpress-7-0-release-party-schedule/\">release schedule can be found here</a>. Your help testing Beta and RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible. Make sure to check the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/7-0\">7.0-related posts</a> in the coming weeks for more information. Thank you to everyone who contributes by testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Catch up on what’s new in WordPress 7.0</strong>: Read the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/02/wordpress-7-0-beta-1/\">Beta 1 announcement</a> for details and highlights.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to test this release</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your help testing WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 is key to ensuring everything in the release is the best it can be. 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Follow along with the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/\">testing initiatives in Make Core</a> and join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/core-test/\">#core-test channel</a> on <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/\">Making WordPress Slack</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beta 2 updates and highlights</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 contains more than 70 updates and fixes across the Editor and Core since the Beta 1 release.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each beta cycle focuses on bug fixes; and more are on the way with your help through testing. You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 1 using these links:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/commits/wp/7.0?since=2026-02-20&amp;until=2026-02-26\">GitHub commits for 7.0</a>&nbsp;since February 20, 2026</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;changetime=02%2F20%2F2026..02%2F26%2F2026&amp;milestone=7.0&amp;col=id&amp;col=milestone&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=priority&amp;order=id\">Closed Trac tickets for 7.0</a> since February 20, 2026</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Beta 2 also contains a new feature</strong>!</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI provider management is more intuitive in 7.0 Beta 2 with a new Connectors UI dashboard page. WordPress users can now manage external AI connections in a central place in wp-admin, under Settings &gt; Connectors. The new UI enables users to add, delete, and update external connections. It is powered by an extensible, route-based architecture that allows plugins and themes to hook into the page and expand its functionality. The new Connectors page builds on PHP-based script and menu infrastructure, and adds route components powered by <code>@wordpress/components</code> and <code>@wordpress/admin-ui</code>. A new <code>connections-wp-admin-init</code> hook and registration APIs allow plugins to integrate cleanly. This makes managing external connections easier while giving developers a clearer path to extend the experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Beta 2 haiku</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>New, and fresh as dew</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Crafted and refined for you:</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Beta 2 breaks through.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Props to <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/4thhubbard/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>4thhubbard</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/annezazu/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>annezazu</a></em>, <em><a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>audrasjb</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/mukesh27/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>mukesh27</a>, and <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/chaion07/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>chaion07</a></em> <em>for collaboration, proofreading and review.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"20025\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:75:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:20:\"WordPress 7.0 Beta 1\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/02/wordpress-7-0-beta-1/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 20 Feb 2026 15:39:10 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:7:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"General\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Releases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3:\"7-0\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3:\"7.0\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:4;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"beta\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:5;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"development\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:6;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=19908\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:341:\"WordPress 7.0 Beta 1 is ready for download and testing! This beta release is intended for testing and development only. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, use a test environment or local site to explore the new features. How to Test WordPress 7.0 Beta [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"Amy Kamala\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15437:\"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 7.0 Beta 1 is ready for download and testing! <strong>This beta release is intended for testing and development</strong> only. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, use a test environment or local site to explore the new features.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Test WordPress 7.0 Beta 1</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can test WordPress 7.0 Beta 1 in any of the following ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Plugin</strong></td><td>Install and activate the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\">WordPress Beta Tester</a> plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream.)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Direct Download</strong></td><td>Download the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-7.0-beta1.zip\">Beta 1 version (zip)</a> and install it on a WordPress website.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Command Line</strong></td><td>Use this <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/cli/\">WP-CLI</a> command: <code>wp core update --version=7.0-beta1</code></td></tr><tr><td><strong>WordPress Playground</strong></td><td>Use a <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?php=8.3&amp;wp=beta&amp;networking=no&amp;language=&amp;multisite=no&amp;random=r8nny4q18x\">7.0 Beta 1 WordPress Playground instance</a> to test the software directly in your browser. No setup required &#8211; just click and go!</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scheduled final release date for WordPress 7.0 is <strong>April 9, 2026</strong>. The full <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/12/wordpress-7-0-release-party-schedule/\">release schedule can be found here</a>. Your help testing Beta and RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible. Thank you to everyone who contributes by testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How important is your testing?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Testing for issues is a critical part of developing any software, and it’s a meaningful way for anyone to contribute &#8211; whether or not you have experience. <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2026/02/20/help-test-wordpress-7-0/\">Details on what to test in WordPress 7.0 are available here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you encounter an issue, please share it in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\">Alpha/Beta area</a> of the support forums. If you are comfortable submitting a reproducible bug report, you can do so <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\">via WordPress Trac</a>. You can also check your issue against this list of <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\">known bugs</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Curious about testing releases in general and how to get started? Follow along with the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/\">testing initiatives in Make Core</a> and join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/core-test/\">#core-test channel</a> on <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/\">Making WordPress Slack</a>. WordPress 7.0 will include new features that were previously only available in the Gutenberg plugin. Learn more about Gutenberg updates since WordPress 6.9 in the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/gutenberg-new/\">What’s New in Gutenberg</a> posts for versions <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-0-05-november/\">22.0</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/20/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-1-18-november-2025/\">22.1</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/12/03/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-2-dec3/\">22.2</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/12/17/gutenberg-22-3-december-17/\">22.3</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/01/22/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-4-20-january/\">22.4</a>, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/04/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-5-04-february/\">22.5</a> &amp; 22.6.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s new in WordPress 7.0?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 7.0 boasts numerous upgrades in the editing and admin experience, delivering enhanced real time collaboration, refined customizability, new dashboard styles, and an expanded developer toolbox for people who create, design, and build with WordPress every day.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Working as a team just got easier with the ability for multiple users to edit together in real time, while visual revisions allow a visual comparison between page versions, adding agility to the creation and review process. Working with patterns has been simplified, making layout updates and content changes more intuitive, while view transitions smoothly move you from screen to screen as you click.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New and improved blocks and design features in 7.0 make sites more customizable, with video embed backgrounds in the Cover block, a responsive-enabled Grid block, and new Icons, Breadcrumbs and Heading blocks. An updated Navigation block makes menu changes easier and more reliable in fewer steps. Responsive, mobile-friendly controls in 7.0 allow you to hide or reveal blocks based on screen size, while client-side media handling speeds up media processing. The Font Library screen for managing installed fonts is now enabled for all themes, so site editors are always able to browse, install, and organize fonts.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For developers, it’s now easier to build modern experiences while staying aligned with Core principles. The new WP AI Client in WordPress 7.0 brings a layer into Core that allows leveraging of AI models from any provider within the WordPress framework. This means plugins and themes can tap into any AI model to expound on its endless options. 7.0 offers even more versatility with the Client Side Abilities API that introduces a standardized way to register and run “abilities” in the browser, supporting richer, more consistent workflows. Additionally, 7.0 introduces PHP-only block registration with auto-generated inspector controls, adding a new dimension to block creation, while Block Bindings updates for pattern overrides expands support to custom dynamic blocks, giving block creators more options.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Needless to say, this release offers a wide range of flexibility to creators, teams and developers, while bringing a visual refresh to the admin experience you know and love with a fresh default style.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Work together in real time</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Building on the momentum started in WordPress 6.9, the ability for teams to create and edit together is more refined and robust in 7.0. With this version of WordPress multiple users can edit and collaborate on the same post or page in real time, with data syncing and stabilized notes for smoother teamwork and a more streamlined editing and review process.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Real Time Collaboration: Teams can now edit posts and pages together live from multiple locations, with offline editing and data syncing enabled, and a new default HTTP polling sync provider with options for plugins or hosts to include websocket support. With this collaborative content creation workflow, teams can brainstorm more effectively and boost productivity. For the beta period, real-time collaboration is opt-in in order to get broader feedback and testing.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Notes: 7.0 introduces real time syncing of notes that helps facilitate collaboration, a keyboard shortcut for new notes, and a series of quality-focused fixes that bring more stability to the Notes feature.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Refined Admin Experience</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 7.0 gives the wp-admin experience a boost with a fresh default color scheme, and a cleaner, more modern looking dashboard, while keeping the interface familiar. The upgraded dashboard enhances the editing experience with new visual revision comparisons, and smooth transitioning between screens.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Visual Revisions: Working with revisions is even better in 7.0 with the added ability to make visual comparisons to revision versions within the editor.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>View transitions: Cross-document view transitions in the dashboard offer visual continuity with seamless movement from screen to screen.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Customizing content with ease</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creators have more flexibility in 7.0 with new tools for content and design, enhanced editing controls, and attention to mobile friendliness.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Responsive Editing Mode: Block visibility is now more responsive and mobile-friendly, with the ability for blocks to be displayed or hidden based on screen size.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pattern Editing and contentOnly interactivity: WordPress 7.0 introduces pattern-level editing modes, a tree view for buttons and list blocks, and the ability to opt out of the default content only mode. The new Spotlight mode helps you isolate content in patterns and notes, while the Isolated Editor mode can be used for editing symbols and reusable pieces like synced patterns, template parts, or navigation.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Block supports and design tools: 7.0 includes text line indent support, text column support, aspect ratios for wide and full images, dimension width and height support, and dimension presets, tools and controls.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New blocks and design options at your fingertips</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">7.0 delivers a series of new and improved blocks and block features, a streamlined navigation workflow, and more versatile design options like video embeds as section backgrounds.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Navigation Block: Navigation workflow is now more intuitive and clear, with improved editing and presentation. 7.0 introduces customizable navigation overlays as template parts, including mobile version overlays that can be hidden or revealed based on custom breakpoint settings.&nbsp;</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Heading Block: Heading levels are now available as block variations, giving more control over page hierarchy and design.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>New blocks: 7.0 makes building pages more diverse with new Breadcrumbs and Icons blocks.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cover block embedded videos: Video embeds can now be used as a background in the cover block, opening up opportunities for sleeker and more creative designs.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Grid block is now responsive-enabled allowing grid-based layouts to adapt more smoothly across screen sizes.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Gallery block now has lightbox support that lets the user click through and view each gallery image.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Developer&#8217;s toolbox</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Working with WordPress on the backend is now more robust for developers, with new and enhanced API features that support flexibility and lay a foundation for future advancements. The Client Side Abilities API provides a client-side registry for WordPress capabilities that allows you to tap into new and innovative website options. WordPress 7.0 offers even more by introducing the Web Client AI API to Core, enabling access to generative AI models in one central interface.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Web Client AI API: The new AI client and API acts as a command center for accessing and communicating with generative AI models, with providers remaining external to WordPress Core, and Abilities API integration.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Abilities and Workflows API: With the new client side abilities package users have access to new and hybrid abilities, filter and search functionality for abilities, and an improved command palette and UI.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blocks and patterns created on the server: WordPress 7.0 boasts the ability for PHP-only blocks and patterns to be generated server-side and auto-registered with the Block API.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>DataForm: Introducing a new details layout, new controls (combobox, adaptiveSelect), and updated trigger for panel layout (dedicated edit button). Additionally, the initial iteration for validation is complete: all controls have support, and all layouts display error messages.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>DataViews: DataViews has a new activity layout, and a foundation has been laid to be able to register 3rd party types in future releases.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>CodeMirror update: CodeMirror has been updated to version 5.65.40, aiding more flexible extensibility and library options.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Media processing in the browser</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 7.0 introduces Client-side media processing, leveraging the browser&#8217;s capabilities to handle tasks, like image resizing and compression, for smoother image processing. This enables the use of more advanced image formats and compression techniques, and reduces demand on the web server; providing a more efficient media handling process for both new and existing content, and supporting smoother media workflows.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With so many options and enhancements in WordPress 7.0 Beta 1, this is still only the beginning. You can expect future releases to be even better.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Just for you: a Beta 1 haiku:</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>As sun kisses moon</em>,</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Beta 1 ignites in bloom</em>&#8230;</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Seven-oh lands soon</em>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Props to <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/ellatrix/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>ellatrix</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/jeffpaul/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>jeffpaul</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/annezazu/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>annezazu</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/chaion07/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>chaion07</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/zunaid321/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>zunaid321</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>audrasjb</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/mukesh27/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>mukesh27</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/ankit-k-gupta/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>ankit-k-gupta</a></em>, <em><a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/oandregal/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>oandregal</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/westonruter/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>westonruter</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/karmatosed/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>karmatosed</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/bph/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>bph</a> for reviewing and collaborating on this post!</em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"19908\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"Piloting the AI Leaders Micro-Credential\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/02/ai-leaders-credential/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 04 Feb 2026 19:03:18 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:3:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Education\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"Updates\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2:\"AI\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=19874\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:396:\"Today, we are happy to announce our first WordPress-focused micro-credential, designed to help students build practical AI skills, earn a recognized credential, and connect more directly to job opportunities. The program, AI Leaders, is a workforce-oriented credential rooted in WordPress and open source contributions. Students are paid for their time, work on real WordPress projects, [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Mary Hubbard\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4145:\"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, we are happy to announce our first WordPress-focused micro-credential, designed to help students build practical AI skills, earn a recognized credential, and connect more directly to job opportunities.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The program, <a href=\"https://ai-leaders.org/\">AI Leaders</a>, is a workforce-oriented credential rooted in WordPress and open source contributions. Students are paid for their time, work on real WordPress projects, and gain hands-on experience applying AI in ways that are directly relevant to the WordPress ecosystem. This pilot represents a meaningful step forward in how the project supports learning, contribution, and career pathways.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beginning in March 2026, AI Leaders launches its first cohort of 80 students from Illinois and Louisiana, with <a href=\"https://today.uic.edu/uic-and-wordpress-foundation-launch-workforce-focused-ai-literacy-course/\">University of Illinois Chicago</a> (UIC) students given priority to apply before enrollment expands to the public. Enrollees begin with an orientation covering generative AI tools and AI literacy. From there, 40 participants are selected for the full course experience. Ultimately, the program leads to the AI Leader WordPress Micro-Credential and an opportunity to pursue living-wage job pathways. Learners who complete the course also earn $1,000 (USD).</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This pilot is the result of collaboration across several organizations, each playing a distinct role. The program is funded through the UIC Tech Solutions Open Source Fund, with support from the University of Illinois Chicago and <a href=\"https://automattic.com/2026/02/03/uic-tech-solutions-open-source-fund/\">Automattic</a>. That funding supports program delivery, participant compensation, and the institutional infrastructure needed to run the pilot. Alongside that funding, the WordPress project and the WordPress Foundation will contribute to the development of the credential itself. This includes shaping the curriculum, grounding the work in real WordPress AI use cases, and ensuring alignment with open source values and public benefit.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-off-white-2-background-color has-background is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-2431c55b wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space)\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Visit the AI Leaders site to learn more and apply.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-3e41869c wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https://ai-leaders.org/\">Start Your Application</a></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the first WordPress Foundation-backed micro-credential, and it is intentionally being run as a pilot. We are exploring how the Foundation could support additional credentials over time, across different skill areas and partners, while maintaining clear governance, openness, and alignment with the WordPress project. It represents a step toward a future where WordPress contributors can more easily translate their skills into credentials, careers, and long-term opportunities.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-dark-strokes-grey-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-dark-strokes-grey-background-color has-background\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>WordPress offers a wide range of educational opportunities for people at every stage, from first steps to advanced contribution. Explore workshops, lesson plans, and community-created resources designed to help you build practical skills while connecting with others who are learning and contributing at <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/education/\">WordPress.org/education/</a>.</em></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"19874\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"WordPress 6.9.1 Maintenance Release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/02/wordpress-6-9-1-maintenance-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:07:31 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Releases\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=19862\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:373:\"WordPress 6.9.1 is now available! This minor release includes fixes for 49 bugs throughout Core and the Block Editor, addressing issues affecting multiple areas of WordPress including the block editor, mail, and classic themes. For a full list of bug fixes, please refer to the release candidate announcement. WordPress 6.9.1 is a short-cycle maintenance release. [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Aaron Jorbin\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9409:\"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>WordPress 6.9.1 is now available!</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This minor release includes fixes for 49 bugs <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?resolution=fixed&amp;milestone=6.9.1&amp;group=component&amp;col=id&amp;col=summary&amp;col=milestone&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=status&amp;col=priority&amp;order=priority\">throughout Core</a> and <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/74806\">the Block Editor</a>, addressing issues affecting multiple areas of WordPress including the block editor, mail, and classic themes. For a full list of bug fixes, please refer to the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/01/30/wordpress-6-9-1-rc1-is-now-available/\">release candidate announcement.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 6.9.1 is a short-cycle maintenance release. The next major version of WordPress will be 7.0; it is scheduled for release on 9 April 2026 at <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/\">WordCamp Asia</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have sites that support automatic background updates, the update process will begin automatically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.9.1.zip\">download WordPress 6.9.1 from WordPress.org</a>, or visit your WordPress Dashboard, click “Updates”, and then click “Update Now”. For more information on this release, please <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/wordpress-version/version-6-9-1\">visit the HelpHub site</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Thank you to these WordPress contributors</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This release was led by <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin/\">Aaron Jorbin</a> and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/wildworks\">Aki Hamano.</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 6.9.1 would not have been possible without the contributions of the following people. Their asynchronous coordination to deliver maintenance fixes into a stable release is a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-wporg-props-medium wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin\">Aaron Jorbin</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/aaronrobertshaw\">Aaron Robertshaw</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/acmoifr\">acmoifr</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/adamsilverstein\">Adam Silverstein</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/oztaser\">Adil Öztaşer</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/wildworks\">Aki Hamano</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/albigdd\">Alexander Bigga</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/amanandhishoe\">amanandhishoe</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/andrewserong\">Andrew Serong</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bernhard-reiter\">Bernie Reiter</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/brumack\">brumack</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/darerodz\">David Arenas</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidbaumwald\">David Baumwald</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/raftaar1191\">Deepak Gupta</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/deepakprajapati\">Deepak Prajapati</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dmsnell\">Dennis Snell</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/digitalblanket\">digitalblanket</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ellatrix\">Ella Van Durpe</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/fabiankaegy\">Fabian Kaegy</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mamaduka\">George Mamadashvili</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/hbhalodia\">Hit Bhalodia</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/iflairwebtechnologies\">iflairwebtechnologies</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/isabel_brison\">Isabel Brison</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jdeep\">Jaydeep Das</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb\">Jb Audras</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/maverick3x6\">Jeff Golenski</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jeffpaul\">Jeffrey Paul</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jhtjards\">jhtjards</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joedolson\">Joe Dolson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/johnbillion\">John Blackbourn</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jonsurrell\">Jon Surrell</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/desrosj\">Jonathan Desrosiers</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorgefilipecosta\">Jorge Costa</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/greenshady\">Justin Tadlock</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/karthickmurugan\">Karthick</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/solankisoftware\">Kirtikumar Solanki</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/0mirka00\">Lena Morita</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/luisherranz\">luisherranz</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/madhavishah01\">Madhavi Shah</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sirlouen\">Manuel Camargo</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jillro\">Maud Royer</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mehrazmorshed\">Mehraz Morshed</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/monarobase\">Monarobase</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mrwweb\">mrwweb</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mukesh27\">Mukesh Panchal</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/muryam\">Muryam Sultana</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mydesign78\">mydesign78</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/narenin\">Narendra Sishodiya</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ntsekouras\">Nik Tsekouras</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ninos-ego\">Ninos</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/noruzzaman\">Noruzzaman</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/oglekler\">Olga Gleckler</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/gabertronic\">Ophelia Rose</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ov3rfly\">Ov3rfly</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ozgursar\">Ozgur Sar</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/paragoninitiativeenterprises\">Paragon Initiative Enterprises</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/swissspidy\">Pascal Birchler</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/vybiral\">Pavel Vybíral</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc\">Peter Wilson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/pmbs\">pmbs</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/presskopp\">Presskopp</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/r1k0\">r1k0</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ramonopoly\">ramonopoly</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/youknowriad\">Riad Benguella</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ricjcs\">Ricardo S.</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rollybueno\">Rolly Bueno</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mikachan\">Sarah Norris</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/coffee2code/\">Scott Reilly</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sergeybiryukov\">Sergey Biryukov</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sajib1223\">Shazzad Hossain Khan</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/siliconforks\">siliconforks</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/soyebsalar01\">Soyeb Salar</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/spielers\">spielers</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sabernhardt\">Stephen Bernhardt</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/studiomondiale\">studio_m</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/iamtakashi\">Takashi Irie</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/inc2734\">Takashi Kitajima</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/threadi\">threadi</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/tobiasbg\">Tobias Bäthge</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/shimotomoki\">Tomoki Shimomura</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/umeshsinghin\">Umesh Singh</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/twvania\">Vania</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/westonruter\">Weston Ruter</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/wfmattr\">WFMattR</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/wolf45\">wolf45</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/zoe20\">zoe20</a></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to contribute</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To get involved in WordPress core development, head over to Trac, <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/report/6\">pick a ticket</a>, and join the conversation in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW\">#core</a> channel. Need help? Check out the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/\">Core Contributor Handbook</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Props to </em><a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>audrasjb</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidbaumwald/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>davidbaumwald</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/westonruter/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>westonruter</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/jeffpaul/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>jeffpaul</a>, <a href=\'https://profiles.wordpress.org/presskopp/\' class=\'mention\'><span class=\'mentions-prefix\'>@</span>presskopp</a><em> for proofreading.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"19862\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"New AI Agent Skill for WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:54:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/01/new-ai-agent-skill/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 30 Jan 2026 17:13:55 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"Development\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"development\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=19798\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:338:\"Faster Way For AI Agents To Test AI code agents are getting better at writing WordPress plugins and themes, but testing can still be the slow part. WordPress contributor Brandon Payton has published wp-playground, a new AI agent skill designed to run WordPress via the Playground CLI, giving agents a fast, repeatable way to run [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Brett McSherry\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5989:\"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Faster Way For AI Agents To Test</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI code agents are getting better at writing WordPress plugins and themes, but testing can still be the slow part. WordPress contributor <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bpayton/\">Brandon Payton</a> has published <mark style=\"background-color:#eff2ff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-dark-strokes-grey-color\">wp-playground</mark>, a new AI agent skill designed to run WordPress via the Playground CLI<strong>, </strong>giving agents a fast, repeatable way to run WordPress and verify their work as they iterate.<br></p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;AI agents work better when they have a clear feedback loop. That’s why I made the wp-playground skill. It gives agents an easy way to test WordPress code and makes building and experimenting with WordPress a lot more accessible.&#8221;</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8212; Brandon Payton, WordPress Contributor</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What the Playground skill does</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When launched, the skill starts WordPress and detects where the current code should live inside a WordPress install. For example, it can mount a plugin into <mark style=\"background-color:#eff2ff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-dark-strokes-grey-color\">wp-content/plugins</mark> or a theme into <mark style=\"background-color:#eff2ff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-dark-strokes-grey-color\">wp-content/themes</mark> by recognizing common file signatures (such as plugin headers or a theme’s <mark style=\"background-color:#eff2ff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-dark-strokes-grey-color\">style.css</mark>). This helps agents move from “generated code” to “running site” with fewer manual steps.<br></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover wp-elements-1323ebcb3edbff2bde6000899ed39b56\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space)\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim-80 has-background-dim\"></span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-cover-is-layout-a6a02316 wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-off-white-2-color has-text-color has-link-color has-eb-garamond-font-family has-huge-font-size wp-elements-11d5ec75ba50354c745eeb5f70fa912c wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\"><strong>Install and try it today.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Find more information on this GitHub link:</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-3e41869c wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-blue-1-background-color has-background has-eb-garamond-font-family has-large-font-size has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/agent-skills/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>WordPress AI Agent Skills</strong></a></div>\n</div>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Early results and testing workflow</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In testing, agents were able to start WordPress, build playful plugins, and validate behavior in a tight feedback loop. Once Playground was running, the agent alternated between tools such as <mark style=\"background-color:#eff2ff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-dark-strokes-grey-color\">curl</mark> and Playwright to interact with WordPress, verify results, apply fixes when needed, and then re-verify with Playground.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Faster startup and smoother iteration</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Helper scripts handle startup and shutdown, so an agent doesn’t waste time guessing when WordPress is ready. Using helper scripts reduced the “ready to test” moment from roughly a minute to a few seconds on the author’s machine. The Playground CLI can also log in automatically for easier <mark style=\"background-color:#eff2ff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-dark-strokes-grey-color\">WP-Admin</mark> access during testing.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Install and try it now</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For those who want to try it in Claude Code, Codex, or another AI agent, installation requires <a href=\"https://nodejs.org/\">Node.js</a> and npm and looks like this:</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-dark-strokes-grey-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-2a77bf7f3e8595318d429b5c7a3f6dd5 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"padding-top:10px;padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10);padding-bottom:10px;padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--10)\"># Run this in a project directory to install the skills for that project&nbsp;<br>npx openskills install WordPress/agent-skills<br><br># Make skills available to non-Claude agents<br>npx openskills sync</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A new repo for WordPress agent skills</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This release also comes with a new home for this kind of work: <br><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/agent-skills\">https://github.com/WordPress/agent-skills</a>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It’s an early step in exploring how AI agents can collaborate with WordPress tooling, and contributions from the community are welcome. Future additions being explored include persistent Playground sites based on the current directory, running commands against an existing Playground instance (including <mark style=\"background-color:#eff2ff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-dark-strokes-grey-color\">wp-cli</mark>), and Blueprint generation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"19798\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"Be Part of WordCamp Asia 2026\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:54:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/01/wordcamp-asia-2026/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 21 Jan 2026 12:07:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Events\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=19738\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:333:\"WordCamp Asia is back in 2026, this time in Mumbai, India, and it’s building on a year that showed just how ambitious and connected the WordPress community has become. Now is the time to get involved. Get your ticket, explore sponsorship opportunities, and help spread the word. In 2025, more than 1,400 attendees from 71 [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"Nicholas Garofalo\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:36987:\"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordCamp Asia is back in 2026, this time in Mumbai, India, and it’s building on a year that showed just how ambitious and connected the WordPress community has become. Now is the time to get involved. Get your ticket, explore sponsorship opportunities, and help spread the word.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-82d461e8 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/event-pass/\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(42,5,123) 0%,rgb(42,5,123) 100%)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Get Your Event Pass</a></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/call-for-sponsors/\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(42,5,123) 0%,rgb(42,5,123) 100%)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Become a Sponsor</a></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(42,5,123) 0%,rgb(42,5,123) 100%)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">About WordCamp Asia</a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2025, more than 1,400 attendees from 71 countries gathered in person, with nearly 15,000 more joining online for <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/02/shaping-tomorrow-at-wordcamp-asia-2025/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WordCamp Asia 2025</a>. With notable guests like WordPress <span style=\"margin: 0px;padding: 0px\">Co-founder&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/matt/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Matt Mullenweg</a>&nbsp;and Gutenberg Lead Architect&nbsp;<a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/matveb/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Matías Ventura</a>, and</span> a diverse lineup of speakers and panelists from across the ecosystem, WordCamp Asia 2025 brought together a community actively shaping the future of the open web.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s the people. It&#8217;s the friendships and the stories.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Cofounder</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordCamp isn’t just about sessions and schedules. It’s about connection. It’s about learning directly from people who are building, scaling, and sustaining WordPress in the real world. It’s about sharing ideas, debating the future of the open web, and leaving with renewed energy for the work ahead. 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has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18527\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18527\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1989-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			data-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69a6e1f243876&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" data-wp-key=\"69a6e1f243876\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18530\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18530\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC_1920-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			data-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69a6e1f2440c8&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" data-wp-key=\"69a6e1f2440c8\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18616\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18616\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/WORDCAMPASIA2025_PH_PICC_DAY01_CONTRIBUTORSDAY_JOHN_CARLO_PATTAGUAN-474-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			data-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69a6e1f2448db&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" data-wp-key=\"69a6e1f2448db\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18615\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18615\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C684&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C513&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/T2S_6305-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1367&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			data-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69a6e1f24511e&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" data-wp-key=\"69a6e1f24511e\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-id=\"18536\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18536\" style=\"border-radius:2px\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/02/20250220-DSC07465-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			data-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n</figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tickets for WordCamp Asia 2026 are on sale now, and this is the moment to secure your spot. WordCamps are intentionally priced to remain accessible, and early ticket sales help organizers plan an inclusive, high-quality experience for everyone.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover wp-elements-0b95616698be07100358c612d6a7c795\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space)\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"455\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-19746 size-large\" alt=\"\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/wca-hero-purple.webp?resize=1024%2C455&#038;ssl=1\" data-object-fit=\"cover\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/wca-hero-purple.webp?resize=1024%2C455&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/wca-hero-purple.webp?resize=300%2C133&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/wca-hero-purple.webp?resize=768%2C341&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/wca-hero-purple.webp?w=1440&amp;ssl=1 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim-0 has-background-dim\"></span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-cover-is-layout-a6a02316 wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-luminous-vivid-amber-color has-text-color has-link-color has-eb-garamond-font-family has-huge-font-size wp-elements-fc6f7f5274402af690db6c3dfeb817bc wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\"><strong>Join 3,000+ Web Professionals</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">April 9 – 11, 2026 | Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai, India</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-3e41869c wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-background-color has-background has-eb-garamond-font-family has-large-font-size has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/event-pass/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Get Your Event Pass</strong></a></div>\n</div>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordCamp Asia is also made possible by the organizations that step up to support it. Sponsorship plays a critical role in keeping the event accessible, supporting contributors and volunteers, and ensuring the experience reflects the values of the WordPress project. For sponsors, WordCamp Asia 2026 offers a rare opportunity to connect with a highly engaged, global audience in a setting built on trust, collaboration, and shared purpose.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sponsorship packages are designed to support a wide range of organizations, from local companies to global businesses building products and services on WordPress. Beyond visibility, sponsors become part of the story—helping sustain the ecosystem and invest directly in the community that makes WordPress possible.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-7c6780e0 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(42,5,123) 0%,rgb(124,78,224) 100%);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull is-content-justification-center is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-f56f9fcf wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-canva wp-block-embed-canva\" style=\"margin-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);margin-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space)\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"OFFICIAL: WCAsia 2026 Sponsorship Prospectus\" src=\"https://www.canva.com/design/DAG5LHsUR7o/b-nFPoZDgxpV2tlN-tbAew/view?embed&amp;meta\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" style=\"border: none; border-radius: 8px; width: 500px; height: 281px;\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" allow=\"fullscreen\"></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-white-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ba159f72435edac28651a9149c455a8c wp-block-paragraph\">If your company is interested in becoming a sponsor or you would like to know more, please reach out.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-3e41869c wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-background-color has-background has-eb-garamond-font-family has-large-font-size has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/call-for-sponsors/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Become a Sponsor</strong></a></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At every level, WordCamp Asia is powered by people. Organizers, volunteers, speakers, sponsors, and attendees all contribute to an experience that reflects WordPress’s shared values of openness and collaboration. It’s a place where new voices are welcomed, long-time contributors reconnect, and ideas move from conversation to action.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;galleryId&quot;:&quot;69a6e1f24668c&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/gallery\" class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped has-border-color has-darker-grey-background-color has-background wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-color:#1c2024;border-width:20px;border-radius:2px\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69a6e1f246cee&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core/image\" data-wp-key=\"69a6e1f246cee\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large has-custom-border wp-lightbox-container\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" 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/><button\n			class=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n			type=\"button\"\n			aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n			data-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n			data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n			data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n			data-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n			data-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n		>\n			<svg xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n				<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" />\n			</svg>\n		</button></figure>\n</figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordCamp Asia 2026 is more than an event—it’s a moment to come together, reflect on where we are, and help shape what comes next. Whether you’re attending for the first time, returning for another year, or supporting the event as a sponsor, your involvement helps strengthen the WordPress ecosystem and the global community behind it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We’ll see you in Mumbai.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"19738\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:43:\"A New Home for WordPress Education Programs\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/01/wordpress-education-programs-new-home/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:14:55 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:3:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"Updates\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Education\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=19636\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:392:\"Over the past few weeks, a new space has taken shape on WordPress.org for students who want to learn, build, and contribute. WordPress Education programs bring together initiatives that help students enter the WordPress ecosystem through clear, accessible entry points that lead to real-world practice. With hands-on initiatives and supportive communities, participants can grow new [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Brett McSherry\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17688:\"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the past few weeks, a new space has taken shape on WordPress.org for students who want to learn, build, and contribute. <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/education/\">WordPress Education programs</a> bring together initiatives that help students enter the WordPress ecosystem through clear, accessible entry points that lead to real-world practice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With hands-on initiatives and supportive communities, participants can grow new skills and take their first steps as contributors. Across campuses and communities worldwide, learners publish real projects, build practical experience, and gain confidence as part of open source creation.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/8467ac53c5cd33b1.95580622-scaled-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19638\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/8467ac53c5cd33b1.95580622-scaled-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/8467ac53c5cd33b1.95580622-scaled-2-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/8467ac53c5cd33b1.95580622-scaled-2-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/8467ac53c5cd33b1.95580622-scaled-2-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/8467ac53c5cd33b1.95580622-scaled-2-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/\">CC0</a> licensed <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/8467ac53c5/\">photo</a> by <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/author/whyviru/\">Virendra Kumar Yadav</a> from the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/photos/\">WordPress Photo Directory</a>.</em></figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A clearer path into the WordPress ecosystem</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress Education is designed to help students turn knowledge into practice, discover their strengths, and understand how their contributions can make a real impact through three core programs: WordPress Campus Connect, WordPress Credits, and WordPress Student Clubs.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through hands-on campus events, such as WordPress Campus Connect, on-campus groups like WordPress Student Clubs, and a practice-based program called WordPress Credits, participants can gain practical experience, publish real-world projects, and build confidence as contributors to a global culture of open-source creation.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At its heart, these WordPress education programs are about three simple ideas:</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Learn. Build. Connect.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This update brings WordPress education programs together in one place, with an easy way to explore initiatives, understand how they work, and take the next step.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You will find:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A home for WordPress Education programs and updates</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clear “how to get involved” paths for students, educators, mentors, organizers, and sponsors</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stories, highlights, and examples of real projects created through the programs</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Links to the Education Handbook for program guidelines and resources</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-off-white-2-background-color has-background is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-2431c55b wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space)\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Want to learn more about WordPress education opportunities?</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-3e41869c wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/education/\">Visit The Portal</a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><em>You can also view more information from the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/education/\">WordPress Community Education Programs Handbook</a>. Learn how this serves as a central guide and resource for all community-driven educational initiatives.</em></em></p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\">WordPress <br>Campus Connect</h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress Campus Connect is a growing global learning initiative that brings hands-on WordPress learning directly to the students on their campus.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The organizers can come from within educational institutions or from the local communities to help deliver WordPress programming and create the future stewards of WordPress.<br><br>Learn more: <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/education/campus-connect/\">https://wordpress.org/education/campus-connect/</a><br></p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\">WordPress <br>Credits</h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress Credits is a contribution-based program by the WordPress Foundation that connects higher education students with the global WordPress community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Educational institutions partner with the WordPress Foundation to offer students credits toward their degrees for contributing 150 hours to the WordPress project.<br><br>Learn more: <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/education/credits/\">https://wordpress.org/education/credits/</a></p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\">WordPress <br>Student Clubs</h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress Student Clubs empower students to build on-campus WordPress communities that keep learning going throughout the year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the spirit of our local community meetups, these groups operate as on-campus equivalents, keeping students engaged and connected with their local WordPress communities.<br><br>Learn more: <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/education/student-clubs/\">https://wordpress.org/education/student-clubs/</a></p>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Support This Growing Movement</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Help spread the word, and let friends, students, and others know how they can contribute to this growing effort, including a widely expanding translation effort. WordPress Education has already been translated into 10 new languages. WordPress Education is powered by people who believe in open learning and the power of collaboration.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-tiled-gallery aligncenter has-darker-grey-background-color has-background is-style-rectangular\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-left:0;padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\"><div class=\"\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__gallery\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__row\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:49.76204%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/alumnos-tabajando-Campus-Connect-Catarroja-scaled-1.webp?strip=info&#038;w=600&#038;ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/alumnos-tabajando-Campus-Connect-Catarroja-scaled-1.webp?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 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data-url=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCC-University-of-Brahmanbaria-1-scaled-1-1024x547.jpg\" data-width=\"2560\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCC-University-of-Brahmanbaria-1-scaled-1-1024x547.jpg?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" /></figure><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCC-Zamboanga-1-scaled-1-1024x768.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=600&#038;ssl=1 600w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCC-Zamboanga-1-scaled-1-1024x768.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 900w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCC-Zamboanga-1-scaled-1-1024x768.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1200&#038;ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCC-Zamboanga-1-scaled-1-1024x768.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1500&#038;ssl=1 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600w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCreditsMentorsAtWCPISA2025-1-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 900w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCreditsMentorsAtWCPISA2025-1-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1200&#038;ssl=1 1200w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCreditsMentorsAtWCPISA2025-1-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1500&#038;ssl=1 1500w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCreditsMentorsAtWCPISA2025-1-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1800&#038;ssl=1 1800w,https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCreditsMentorsAtWCPISA2025-1-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=2000&#038;ssl=1 2000w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"1707\" data-id=\"19648\" data-link=\"https://wordpress.org/news/?attachment_id=19648\" data-url=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCreditsMentorsAtWCPISA2025-1-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg\" data-width=\"2560\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/WPCreditsMentorsAtWCPISA2025-1-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\" /></figure></div></div></div></div></div>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"19636\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:58:\"WordPress Playground Brings Speed, Stability, and Momentum\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:81:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/01/wordpress-playground-speed-stability-momentum/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:53:33 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7:\"General\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=19673\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:399:\"WordPress Playground had a busy year in 2025, with updates that make it more capable for day-to-day development, plugin previews, and learning environments. The project’s latest year-in-review highlights progress across performance, compatibility, database support, and tooling, expanding what can be done in a WordPress environment that runs in the browser and through the command line. [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Brett McSherry\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12643:\"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress Playground had a busy year in 2025, with updates that make it more capable for day-to-day development, plugin previews, and learning environments. The project’s latest year-in-review highlights progress across performance, compatibility, database support, and tooling, expanding what can be done in a WordPress environment that runs in the browser and through the command line.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From faster load times to broader plugin support, the throughline is clear: Playground is moving beyond quick demos and into workflows that help developers and educators test, iterate, and share WordPress experiences more easily.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-b1f71d27 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-blue-5-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https://wordpress.org/playground/\" style=\"border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px\">Try Playground Now</a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"551\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.13.49-pm.png?resize=1024%2C551&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19689\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.13.49-pm-scaled.png?resize=1024%2C551&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.13.49-pm-scaled.png?resize=300%2C161&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.13.49-pm-scaled.png?resize=768%2C413&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.13.49-pm-scaled.png?resize=1536%2C826&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.13.49-pm-scaled.png?resize=2048%2C1102&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-off-white-background-color has-background is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-2033d2f1 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space)\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key Takeaways</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Plugin previews are more reliable: </strong>99% of the top 1,000 plugins can be installed and activated successfully, making demos and evaluations more trustworthy.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Everything is faster:</strong> A performance upgrade reduced average response time by 42%, and further optimizations improved overall “time to first useful click.”</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Database tools work in browser:</strong> Improved database compatibility enabled tools like phpMyAdmin to be used directly on <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net\">playground.wordpress.net</a>.<br><strong>More practical tooling for real work:</strong> Testing configurations and previewing changes can happen in one place, without a complete local environment first.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>New visual gallery of blueprints:</strong> A new <a href=\"https://wordpress.github.io/blueprints/\">visual gallery of blueprints</a> provides excellent starting points for various types of sites.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global adoption:</strong> Playground was used 1.4 million times globally, with growing documentation translations and community contributions.</li>\n</ul>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reliable Plugin Previews and Experimentation</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A headline update from 2025 is the focus on compatibility. In testing with the top 1,000 plugins from the WordPress plugin directory, 99% installed and activated successfully. That matters because it raises confidence in what Playground is best known for: letting people try things quickly, without a complex setup, and with fewer surprises.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This highlighted that Playground is increasingly useful as a general-purpose PHP sandbox. Alongside WordPress, it can support standard PHP tools and projects, which makes it easier to explore how WordPress fits into broader development workflows and to share reproducible environments with others.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you try something new and unexpected in Playground, the update encourages you to share what you learn in the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/playground\">#playground</a> Slack channel, so the community can build a clearer picture of what works well today and what is improving next.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Faster Load Times</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speed was a central theme in 2025. A recent <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/playground/2025/12/03/wordpress-playground-2025-year-in-review/\">year-in-review report</a> revealed a 42% reduction in average response time, and this is not just a single change. A series of improvements make Playground feel quicker in the moments people notice most, such as loading WordPress, opening wp-admin, and switching between tasks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several behind-the-scenes updates were described in plain terms as “less waiting”: checks happen earlier, parts of the experience load in a smarter order, and more content is reused from cache, so repeat actions are snappier.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For people using Playground to review a plugin, validate a bug fix, or teach a class, these improvements mean the same thing: faster feedback loops, with fewer pauses that break concentration.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Better Tooling and Compatibility</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2025, Playground also became more “toolbox-like” in the browser. The update highlighted features that reduce context switching, such as editing files on the page, building and testing starter configurations (Blueprints) in a dedicated editor, and launching database tools such as phpMyAdmin and Adminer with a single click.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the database side, a significant compatibility upgrade was introduced to improve support for more complex database behavior. The practical outcome is that more WordPress sites and plugins behave as expected in Playground, and more developer tools can run inside the environment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blueprints also advanced in ways that benefit both builders and sharers. The updates focus on making starter setups easier to create, browse, and reuse, especially when a demo requires content, media, or a specific configuration that should launch consistently.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the clearest ways to see that progress is the <a href=\"https://wordpress.github.io/blueprints/\"><strong>WordPress Blueprints Gallery</strong></a>, a community library of ready-to-launch WordPress environments. From practical “building block” examples (such as starting with a specific login role) to demos that automatically install themes and plugins, to richer setups that generate posts and featured images via WP-CLI, the gallery demonstrates how quickly an idea can become a fully functional site that you can browse and share.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Examples:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center has-dark-strokes-grey-background-color has-background is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-width:12px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"714\" height=\"828\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.51.02-pm.png?resize=714%2C828&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19694\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.51.02-pm.png?w=714&amp;ssl=1 714w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.51.02-pm.png?resize=259%2C300&amp;ssl=1 259w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 714px) 100vw, 714px\" /></figure>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https%3A%2F%2Fraw.githubusercontent.com%2Fwordpress%2Fblueprints%2Ftrunk%2Fblueprints%2Fstylish-press%2Fblueprint.json\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"714\" height=\"828\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.53.15-pm.png?resize=714%2C828&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19698\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.53.15-pm.png?w=714&amp;ssl=1 714w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.53.15-pm.png?resize=259%2C300&amp;ssl=1 259w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 714px) 100vw, 714px\" /></a></figure>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https%3A%2F%2Fraw.githubusercontent.com%2Fwordpress%2Fblueprints%2Ftrunk%2Fblueprints%2Forganization-kentwood%2Fblueprint.json\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"714\" height=\"826\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-3.05.37-pm.png?resize=714%2C826&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19704\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-3.05.37-pm.png?w=714&amp;ssl=1 714w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-3.05.37-pm.png?resize=259%2C300&amp;ssl=1 259w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 714px) 100vw, 714px\" /></a></figure>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>For anyone who wants to experience the power of WordPress without the setup, the gallery serves as a strong reminder of what Playground makes possible: shareable, repeatable site experiences that work the same way every time — ideal for demos, workshops, testing, and “try it now” links.&nbsp;</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clear adoption signals back all of this. The review reports 1.4 million uses globally, documentation translations in multiple languages, and growing integration across the plugin directory through Playground-powered previews. It also points to a steady increase in community contribution, from documentation and support to talks and real-world workflows built on top of Playground.<br><br>A huge thank you to everyone who tried Playground over the past year,&nbsp; whether you launched a quick demo, tested a change, taught a workshop, or helped make the documentation more accessible in your language. And if there’s anything that would make Playground even more helpful for your day-to-day work, the project actively welcomes ideas and feature requests via the WordPress Playground GitHub issues tracker.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Looking Ahead</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As we closed out 2025 and now look forward to 2026, we can see several forward-looking initiatives, including work on MySQL binary protocol support (to enhance broader compatibility with MySQL tools) and continued exploration of debugging enhancements, such as expanded XDebug access.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For anyone who last tried Playground as a quick demo environment, 2025’s updates suggested a shift in direction: Playground is increasingly positioned as a practical layer for testing, teaching, previewing, and reviewing WordPress, both in the browser and in local workflows.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"></p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"19673\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:6:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"2026 Global Partner Program Announcement\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/12/2026-global-partner-program/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:16:48 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Events\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=19534\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:412:\"Become a driving force behind WordPress innovation by joining the Global Community Sponsorship Program: a comprehensive initiative that supports the events and people powering our open source mission. As a Global Sponsor, your organization gains meaningful visibility across the international WordPress ecosystem while helping to fund events that foster growth, collaboration, and community. Why Choose [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Harmony Romo\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11677:\"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Become a driving force behind WordPress innovation by joining the Global Community Sponsorship Program: a comprehensive initiative that supports the events and people powering our open source mission. As a Global Sponsor, your organization gains meaningful visibility across the international WordPress ecosystem while helping to fund events that foster growth, collaboration, and community.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/WordPress-Global-Partners-Program-2026-.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19617\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/WordPress-Global-Partners-Program-2026-.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/WordPress-Global-Partners-Program-2026-.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/WordPress-Global-Partners-Program-2026-.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/WordPress-Global-Partners-Program-2026-.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/WordPress-Global-Partners-Program-2026-.jpg?w=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Choose Global Sponsorship?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of managing multiple individual sponsorships, this streamlined program consolidates your efforts into one efficient and impactful partnership.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Efficiency and Simplified Administration</h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Skip the complexity of coordinating invoice payments with numerous volunteer teams. Our centralized approach saves time and resources. In 2026, sponsors will benefit from:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A dedicated Slack channel for direct communication with the WordPress Community Support team and Community Program Managers</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monthly updates listing upcoming WordPress events, their current planning stages, and scheduled dates</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Expanded Reach and Impact</h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your sponsorship amplifies your presence worldwide, ensuring consistent visibility across global WordPress community events.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stability and Reliability</h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your commitment strengthens locally organized events by providing predictable funding that supports venues, logistics, and growth.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Flexible Branding Options</h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adapt across your portfolio—Global Sponsors can represent different brands at different events (subject to approval and advance notice).</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Program Benefits</h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\"></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Global&nbsp;Leader</strong></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Regional Powerhouse</strong></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Community Builder</strong></td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\"><br><br><br><br><strong>Best for:<br></strong></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Established brands seeking global reach and year-round visibility.</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Companies aiming for regional dominance and strong brand recognition.</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Organizations supporting the next generation of WordPress education.</td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Sponsorship payable in full or through quarterly installments</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$180,000</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$110,000</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">$60,000</td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Top tier sponsorship benefits at all local <a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/\">WordCamp</a> events (excludes flagships) with priority access to claim a sponsor table at in-person <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/\">WordPress events</a></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2714.png\" alt=\"✔\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Option to feature multiple brands across events</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2714.png\" alt=\"✔\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Dedicated sponsor landing page</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2714.png\" alt=\"✔\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2714.png\" alt=\"✔\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Complimentary WordPress event tickets for your team</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2714.png\" alt=\"✔\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2714.png\" alt=\"✔\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Recognition across all <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/\">WordPress events</a></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2714.png\" alt=\"✔\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2714.png\" alt=\"✔\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Sponsor Spotlight post on WordPress.org/news featuring highlights from recent <a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/\">WordCamps</a></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Quarterly</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Annually</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Inclusion of your company logo in signage and materials for <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/campusconnect/\">WordPress Campus Connect</a> events</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">All signage &amp; materials for the year (digital and printed)</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Signage &amp; materials for 5 events per year (printed only)</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">All signage &amp; materials for the year (digital and printed)</td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Opportunity to be featured in an exclusive digital binder for <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/campusconnect/\">WordPress Campus Connect</a> event organizers</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Priority placement (logos &amp; text)</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Feature listing (text only)</td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Feature listing (text only)</td></tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Regular recognition in <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2025/11/03/monthly-education-buzz-report-october-2025/\">monthly education buzz report</a></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"></td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2714.png\" alt=\"✔\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" /></td></tr></tbody></table></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Sponsorship Funds Are Used</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Global Sponsorship funds directly support:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Local WordPress events worldwide (venue rental, catering, A/V, and more)</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Meetup.com license fees for over 671 WordPress Meetup groups globally</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Administrative costs like insurance, banking, and annual financial audits that ensure transparent operations</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your partnership helps sustain the community that powers more than 43% of the web. Together, we can keep the WordPress project thriving and expanding for years to come.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-off-white-2-background-color has-background is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-2431c55b wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--edge-space)\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><strong>If your company is interested in joining the Global Sponsorship program or you would like to know more, please reach out</strong></strong>.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-3e41869c wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"mailto:support@wordcamp.org\">Contact WordPress Community Support</a></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Please see&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/handbook/wordcamp-organizer/planning-details/fundraising/global-community-sponsorship-for-event-organizers/#rules-for-sponsor-materials\">Rules for Sponsor Materials</a>&nbsp;for more details about terms of sponsorship. Please also see our&nbsp;<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/files/2024/12/Draft-of-2025-WordPress-Global-Community-Sponsorship-Agreement-Template-Google-Docs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sample sponsorship agreement</a>.</em></p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you’d like to go one step further, please consider <a href=\"https://wordpressfoundation.org/donate/\">donating directly to the WordPress Foundation</a>. We operate lean—every dollar goes toward keeping WordPress free, supporting education, and funding the community that makes the web a better place. In short, your donation helps us keep the lights on and the mission alive.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:30:\"com-wordpress:feed-additions:1\";a:1:{s:7:\"post-id\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"19534\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:65:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n					\n										\n					\n		\n		\n\n\n			\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:4:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:54:\"State of the Word 2025: Innovation Shaped by Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:45:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2025/12/sotw-2025/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 03 Dec 2025 18:26:05 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:3:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9:\"Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6:\"Events\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"state of the word\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=19447\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:354:\"State of the Word 2025 brought the WordPress community together for an afternoon that felt both reflective and forward-moving, blending stories of global growth with technical milestones and glimpses of the future. This year also marked the twentieth State of the Word since the first address in 2006, a milestone noted in the WordPress history [&#8230;]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:9:\"enclosure\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:0:\"\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:3:{s:3:\"url\";s:59:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/Telex-demo-776.mp4\";s:6:\"length\";s:8:\"29136831\";s:4:\"type\";s:9:\"video/mp4\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:0:\"\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:3:{s:3:\"url\";s:53:\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/wapu-513.mp4\";s:6:\"length\";s:9:\"102323371\";s:4:\"type\";s:9:\"video/mp4\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"Nicholas Garofalo\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:38068:\"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/U_DF4-23C8Q?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State of the Word 2025 brought the WordPress community together for an afternoon that felt both reflective and forward-moving, blending stories of global growth with technical milestones and glimpses of the future. This year also marked the twentieth State of the Word since the first address in 2006, a milestone noted in the WordPress history book <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/book/2015/11/wordcamp-2006/\"><em>Milestones: The Story of WordPress</em></a> as the beginning of a tradition that has helped the project tell its own story.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From the outset, the keynote carried a sense of momentum shaped by thousands of contributors, educators, students, and creators whose steady participation continues to define the open web. It was a reminder that WordPress is more than software. It is a community writing its future together.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What we have is more than code. It’s momentum, it’s culture, and it’s a system that lets people learn by doing and lead by showing up.  — <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/4thhubbard/\">Mary Hubbard</a>, WordPress Executive Director</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mary opened the evening by reflecting on her first full year as Executive Director, a year spent listening deeply and seeing firsthand how people across regions learn, contribute, and lead. Her remarks grounded the keynote in the lived reality of a community that grows because people invest in one another, teach openly, and build trust through contribution.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I’ve met people using WordPress to unlock new careers. I’ve met contributors who started a single translation or forum post and are now leading major pieces of the project. In LatAm, Europe, and the States, I’ve seen students get access to WordPress tools and start building faster than we could have ever imagined. I’ve watched communities build in public, resolve disagreements in the open, and collaborate across languages and time zones.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That reflection offered a clear reminder of what makes WordPress resilient through change: a culture of showing up, learning by doing, and supporting others along the way. The project moves forward because people choose to participate in ways both large and small, strengthening the foundation that has carried WordPress for more than two decades.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With that foundation in place, the keynote moved through a series of stories and demonstrations that highlighted where WordPress stands today and where it is headed next — from a historic live release of WordPress 6.9 to expanding global education pathways, emerging AI capabilities, and deeper collaboration across the entire ecosystem.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress by the Numbers</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Project Cofounder <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/matt/\">Matt Mullenweg</a> began with a wide-angle view of the project’s growth. WordPress powers over 43% of the web, with 60.5% of the CMS market. Shopify, its nearest competitor, holds 6.8%. Among the top 1,000 websites, WordPress’s share climbed to 49.4%, up 2.3% from the previous year.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-43.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Globe graphic noting 43% of websites and 60.5% CMS market share\" class=\"wp-image-19500\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-43-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-43-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-43-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-43-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-43-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Multilingual usage continued its strong rise. Over 56% of WordPress sites now run in languages other than English. Japan stood out, with WordPress powering 58.5% of all Japanese websites and 83% of the CMS market. Japanese became the second most-used language on WordPress at 5.82%. Spanish followed, then German, French, and Brazilian Portuguese.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plugin ecosystem saw explosive growth. The directory surpassed 60,000 plugins, and plugin downloads were on pace to reach 2.1 billion by year-end. Over 1,500 themes have been released this year as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contributors also hit new highs. The 6.8 release included 921 contributors, the largest group yet. WordPress 6.8 saw 79.5 million downloads, up 13%, and WordPress 6.9 included contributions from 230 first-time contributors and more than 340 enhancements and fixes.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Release Moment to Remember</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year’s keynote delivered something WordPress had never attempted before: a live on-stage release of <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/download/releases/6-9/\">WordPress 6.9</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-gene.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"WordPress 6.9 Gene album cover art\" class=\"wp-image-19511\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-gene-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-gene-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-gene-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-gene-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-gene-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mary set the moment up earlier in the program, calling WordPress 6.9 “fast, polished, and built for collaboration.” She explained that it reflected a year of intentional iteration, improved workflows, and deeper cross-team participation.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt took the stage with some of the release leads, the release button in hand. The room counted down, and then WordPress 6.9 shipped live, instantly updating millions of sites around the world. It was both a celebration and a testament to the reliability and trust the WordPress community has built into its release processes. Shipping a major version of WordPress in real time, on stage, without drama, is something the early contributors could hardly have imagined.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/release-leads.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Photo of WordPress release leads pressing the button to release 6.9\" class=\"wp-image-19457\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/release-leads-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/release-leads-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/release-leads-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/release-leads-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/release-leads-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That reflection connected back to WordPress’s origin story. Matt talked about discovering the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress#History\">B2</a> forums, asking questions, and eventually reaching the point where he could answer someone else’s. That transition from learner to contributor remains at the heart of the project today. Two decades later, WordPress has grown from those early interactions into a platform that can ship a major release in front of the world, powered by thousands of contributors building together.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress and the Future of AI</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the keynote shifted toward the future, Matt acknowledged what has become an essential truth of the moment: it would be impossible to talk about the next chapter of WordPress without talking about AI. He reminded the audience that in 2022, long before ChatGPT entered global conversation, he encouraged the community to “learn AI deeply.” The speed of change since then, he said, has exceeded every expectation, and WordPress has been preparing for it in ways both visible and behind the scenes.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-AI.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Timeline of AI: 2022 ChatGPT launches, 2023 GPT-4 and Claude launches, 2024 Multimodel and video generation, 2025 AI everywhere\" class=\"wp-image-19510\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-AI-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-AI-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-AI-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-AI-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-AI-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt introduced one of the most important architectural developments of the year: the Abilities API and the MCP adapter. The Abilities API defines what WordPress can do in a structured way that AI systems can interpret, while the MCP adapter exposes those abilities through a shared protocol. This means AI agents — whether built by individuals, companies, or larger platforms — can understand and interact with WordPress safely and predictably. Instead of relying on one-off integrations or brittle interfaces, WordPress now participates in a broader ecosystem of tools that can query its capabilities and perform tasks using a standard, governed approach.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt then highlighted how developers are already using AI in their everyday work through tools like Cursor, Claude Code, and next-generation CLIs. These tools can explore entire codebases, generate documentation, produce tests, refactor large components, and even coordinate sequences of WP-CLI commands. For many developers, they expand what a single person can accomplish in an afternoon. They don’t eliminate the need for human judgment — they amplify it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With that foundation laid, Matt turned the audience’s attention to <a href=\"https://telex.automattic.ai/\">Telex</a>, the experimental environment designed to turn natural-language prompts into Gutenberg Blocks. Telex has already moved beyond experimentation and into real use. Matt showed examples from community creator Nick Hamze, who uses Telex to power micro-business tools that represent practical, revenue-generating workflows that previously required custom engineering.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"2160\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 3840 / 2160;\" width=\"3840\" controls src=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/Telex-demo-776.mp4\"></video></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt then widened the lens to show what companies across the ecosystem are building with AI. Hostinger’s Kodee can generate a complete WordPress site from a single description. Elementor AI demonstrated similarly rapid creation inside its own editor, producing full sections and layouts in seconds. WordPress.com showcased how its AI tools help users draft, rewrite, and refine content while keeping language aligned with the site’s voice. Yoast demonstrated how AI can support SEO workflows by generating structured suggestions and improving readability. Together, these examples illustrated that AI is not arriving in one place — it is arriving everywhere.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Experimental browsers can navigate WP Admin autonomously, performing tasks such as clicking buttons, opening menus, changing settings, and performing multi-step tasks without requiring any custom plugins or APIs. This raised a key question that Matt encouraged the community to consider: Which AI capabilities should live inside WordPress itself, and which should remain external, operating through the browser or operating system?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt closed the section by discussing WordPress-specific AI benchmarks and evaluation suites. These shared tests will measure how well AI systems understand and execute WordPress tasks, from enabling plugins to navigating WP Admin to modifying content and settings. The goal is to create a foundation where future AI tools behave predictably and responsibly across the entire ecosystem, giving creators confidence that intelligent tools understand the platform deeply.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Global Community Growing Together</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mary then returned to the stage to celebrate the ecosystem that supports WordPress&#8217;s growth. Across continents, diverse groups of people have hosted WordPress events, training new contributors and welcoming newcomers into the project. WordCamp growth in 2025 reflected that: more than 81 WordCamps across 39 countries, powered by over 5,000 volunteers and attended by nearly 100,000 people, with sixteen more events still underway.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wordcamps.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19503\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wordcamps-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wordcamps-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wordcamps-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wordcamps-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wordcamps-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Education played a major role in this community expansion. Learn.WordPress.org served over 1.5 million learners this year, with clearer pathways into more structured programs like <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/education/campus-connect/\">Campus Connect</a> and <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/education/credits/\">WordPress Credits</a>. This bridging was deliberate. Many learners arrive through tutorials or workshops but need clearer guidance on how to deepen their skills. By reshaping navigation and improving wayfinding across WordPress.org, the project began closing that gap.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She spotlighted <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2025/09/29/wordpress-and-higher-education-an-alliance-that-transforms/\">Costa Rica’s Universidad Fidélitas</a>, where WordPress moved beyond extracurricular interest into formal academic integration. Long before signing an agreement with the WordPress Foundation, their students were hosting WordCamp San José, forming student clubs, and treating WordPress as a crucial part of digital literacy and professional development.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-photo.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19505\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-photo-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Students of the WordPress Fidélitas Club</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wapuu appeared across events as a familiar companion and a cultural thread running through contributor tools and community projects. Its presence was a reminder that creativity and playfulness are as essential to open source as documentation or code.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wapuu.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Various Wapuu artwork examples\" class=\"wp-image-19506\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wapuu-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wapuu-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wapuu-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wapuu-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-wapuu-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt highlighted the story of <a href=\"https://events.wordpress.org/managua/2025/wordpress-youth-day/\">Youth Day in Managua, Nicaragua</a>. Seventy-five young people spent a full day building their first WordPress sites. Sessions were taught by teenagers, for teenagers. They learned to pick themes, customize layouts, create contact forms, and publish content. Contribution often starts with a simple moment of confidence, and those early sparks can shape entire careers.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"2160\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 3840 / 2160;\" width=\"3840\" controls src=\"https://wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/wapu-513.mp4\"></video></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Together, these moments illustrated a project expanding not just in numbers, but in depth, diversity, and global reach. WordPress is growing because communities are finding their own ways to embrace it.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s New in WordPress 6.9</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joining virtually, WordPress Lead Architect, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/matveb/\">Matías Ventura</a>, shifted the keynote from vision to practice. Matías offered a detailed walkthrough of what makes WordPress 6.9 one of the most refined, collaborative, and forward-looking releases the project has shipped in years. He returned to the four familiar lenses of creation — writing, designing, building, and developing — and showed how each evolved in this release cycle.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He began with notes in the Block Editor, one of the most anticipated features. Notes allow collaborators to comment directly on individual blocks in a post or page. When a note is selected, the surrounding content subtly fades, helping contributors stay focused on context. Because notes are built on WordPress’s native comment system, they integrate seamlessly with existing communication workflows, including email notifications. Matías highlighted that notes development exemplified collaboration at its best, with contributors from various companies working together to bring the feature to life.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/vkYulcN0lbc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From there, he turned to refinements across the writing and design experience. Editor interactions feel smoother and more consistent. Patterns behave more predictably. Spacing and typography controls are clearer, more organized, and more intuitive. Together these capabilioties make the experience of writing and designing inside WordPress calmer, more reliable, and more empowering.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Block bindings now provide a more intuitive, visual way to connect blocks to dynamic data sources. Users can switch or remove bindings with a single click, and developers can register additional sources to support custom workflows. This work lays the foundation for a future where dynamic data flows more naturally through blocks, enabling site creators to build richer interfaces without writing code.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the developer front, Matías focused on three foundational upgrades that represent major steps forward in how WordPress will evolve over the coming years.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The first was the <strong>Abilities API</strong>, a unified registry that describes what WordPress can do — across PHP, REST endpoints, the command palette, and future AI-driven interactions.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>HTML API</strong> introduces new ways of working with and modifying HTML server-side. The API ensures safer, more reliable handling, lowering the barrier for theme and block developers who work with dynamic or structured markup.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>Interactivity API</strong> delivers smoother, faster interactions without requiring heavy JavaScript frameworks. Improved routing, better state management, and clearer conventions help developers create rich, modern interfaces without leaving the WordPress philosophy of simplicity and flexibility.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Matías wrapped his presentation, Matt stepped back in to highlight several developments that build on the foundations of 6.9 and strengthen the overall WordPress ecosystem. He pointed first to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/plugin-check/\">Plugin Check Plugin</a>, a tool designed to help developers align with current WordPress standards and catch common issues early, making plugins more reliable for users and easier to maintain over time. Matt then spoke about ongoing progress in <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/\">Data Liberation</a>, noting improvements to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-importer/\">WordPress importer</a> that make it easier for people to bring their content into WordPress without disruption or loss, an important step toward ensuring the open web remains portable and resilient. He also highlighted advances across the <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/\">Playground</a> ecosystem, including <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.com/studio/\">WordPress Studio</a>, the Playground CLI, and an expanding set of Blueprints. These allow developers and learners to spin up complete WordPress environments in seconds, test ideas, and experiment without servers or configuration. Matt closed this portion by emphasizing work on safer updates, which help WordPress avoid partial installs and ensure that updates complete smoothly even in less predictable hosting conditions, reinforcing WordPress’s commitment to stability as the platform continues to grow.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt emphasized that WordPress 6.9 is not defined by any single headline feature, but by a broad spectrum of refinements across the entire experience. It is a release that deepens reliability, expands capability, and sets the stage for future innovation.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Insights from the AI Panel</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The keynote transitioned into a live AI panel moderated by Mary Hubbard. The panel brought together four perspectives from across the ecosystem: <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/isotropic/\">James LePage</a> (Automattic), <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/flixos90/\">Felix Arntz</a> (Google), and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jeffpaul/\">Jeff Paul</a> (Fueled, FKA 10up), and Matt Mullenweg. Their conversation touched on the philosophy, practice, and future of AI inside WordPress — not as a distant trend, but as an active part of the project’s evolution.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A central theme was AI’s ability to amplify human creativity. James LePage put it plainly:</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It’s not that we’re going to just add sparkle buttons everywhere. We’re going to do some crazy stuff here — things we’re going to build into the way you interact with creating content, with expressing yourself digitally. We want to give you more power, more control, and make you more effective at creating.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jeff Paul echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that AI should make developers more productive by handling repetitive work and freeing them to focus on higher-level decisions. Felix Arntz expanded the idea further, describing how Google sees AI as a way to make the web more accessible and intuitive, especially for new creators who may not have formal technical training.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/panel.jpg?resize=1024%2C572&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19462\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/panel-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C572&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/panel-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/panel-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C429&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/panel-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C858&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/panel-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1144&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">From left to right: Mary Hubbard, Matt Mullenweg, Jeff Paul, Felix Arntz, James LePage</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking ahead, the panelists predicted deeper contextual integrations, AI-assisted debugging and scaffolding for developers, and workflows where agents can take on sequences of tasks while remaining directed by human decisions. They also highlighted the importance of standards, shared protocols, and privacy-focused design as essential components of WordPress’s long-term approach.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next 20 years looks like WordPress remaining what it is today, which is the center of the open web.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The panel closed on a forward-looking but steady note. AI is accelerating, but WordPress is designing its foundations with flexibility and values that endure. The tools may change, but the commitment to openness, agency, and creative freedom remains the compass.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Questions That Push Us Forward</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt introduced the Q&amp;A as one of his favorite parts of State of the Word because it reveals what people are imagining, struggling with, or eager to build.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-QandA.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Q&amp;A\" class=\"wp-image-19512\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-QandA-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-QandA-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-QandA-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-QandA-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/wordpress.org/news/files/2025/12/State-of-the-Word-2025-QandA-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first question addressed the growing interconnectedness of today’s web. What happens, a participant asked, when a major provider like Cloudflare goes down? As tools and agents rely more heavily on external services, failures can cascade. Matt acknowledged that outages are increasingly visible, but also argued that each one strengthens the system.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Every failure, every edge case, everything that you never imagined is just another opportunity to find that new edge case,” he said. Resilience is not avoidance of failure, but the ability to grow stronger after it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another question focused on the longevity of web content. With platforms shutting down or links breaking over time, how can creators ensure their work endures? Matt pointed to the Internet Archive as one of the great stabilizers of the open web. He highlighted a <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/internet-archive-wayback-machine-link-fixer/\">new plugin</a> that automatically scans posts and replaces dead links with archived versions, helping preserve the historical fabric of the web even as individual services come and go.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next question turned to real-time collaboration inside WordPress. A participant asked how co-editing fits into the future of WordPress and how these tools might help creators work more confidently. Matt talked about how collaboration tools can support people who are just starting their creative journeys — whether they are entrepreneurs, students, or first-time site builders. He described real-time editing as part of a broader vision of WordPress “just doing the work for you” in high-pressure or early-stage creative moments.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final question considered long-term decision-making. Matt noted that predicting what will change is difficult, but identifying what will remain the same is much easier. For WordPress, he said, the invariant is clear: people will always want agency, openness, and the ability to publish on their own terms. These values guide decisions not only in the present, but across decades of future evolution.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">TBPN Podcast Appearance</h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&#x1f534; CODE RED &#x1f534;, Dell Donates Size, Bun Acquired, AWS CEO Joins, Tae Kim Tells All\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/eBQh57HuJzk?start=10036&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the Q&amp;A, the keynote shifted gears with a live crossover segment featuring TBPN (the Technology Business Programming Network), a tech-focused podcast. The segment introduced a lively, unscripted energy into the room.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hosts kicked things off by asking Matt what the “word of the year” should be. He chose “freedom”, connecting it directly to the core philosophy of open source. He described open source licenses as a kind of “bill of rights for software,” giving users inalienable rights that no company can revoke. In a world increasingly shaped by software platforms and digital ecosystems, these freedoms form the heart of what keeps the web open and accessible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conversation then moved to <a href=\"https://www.beeper.com/\">Beeper</a>, the multi-network messaging client. Asked whether Beeper aims to “tear down walled gardens,” Matt rejected that framing. Instead, he offered a more collaborative metaphor: bringing gardens together. Most people have friends and colleagues scattered across WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, Messenger, and SMS. 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With vibe coding, we may get back to that space where everyone&#8217;s personal setup is like a crazy specific Emacs config file.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 10:11:53 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"Open Channels FM: How Freelancers Can Tame Digital Distractions\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://openchannels.fm/?p=1650174\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:70:\"https://openchannels.fm/how-freelancers-can-tame-digital-distractions/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:173:\"Starting conversations around strategies to reduce digital distractions, emphasizing boundaries for emails, social media habits, and personalizing routines for better focus.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 09:29:53 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Bob Dunn\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"Gutenberg Times: Schedule of WordCamp Asia Birgit’s selected sessions\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=44484\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:79:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/schedule-of-wordcamp-asia-birgits-selected-sessions/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6541:\"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year&#8217;s WordCamp Asia just published the first version of its <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/schedule/\">schedule with sessions and workshops</a>. Contributor Day also has a few workshop slots. If you registered for Contributor Day you are looking at three days of learning and discussions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is my personal list of talks and workshops, mostly about the block editor, themes or AI in WordPress. I will update the post with the video links after WordCamp Asia once the recordings are uploaded to WordPress TV. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Livestreams are available on April 10 and 11 on the three session tracks, Foundation, Growth and Enterprise. Times are all local Indian Standard time (UTC +5.30).</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Updated March 2, 2026</strong>,</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/schedule/\">The schedule</a> has a few placeholder spots for </p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Journalism and the Open Web </li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI and WordPress </li>\n\n\n\n<li>And quite few TBD for talks and workshop</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The schedule for the Contributor Day hasn&#8217;t been finalized either. It&#8217;s unclear when my workshop <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/building-a-block-theme-from-scratch/\"><strong>Building a block theme from scratch</strong></a> will take place. There are three workshop slots reserved. We will have a <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/wordpress-7-0-release-on-contributor-day/\">WordPress 7.0 Release</a> ssession and Open-source Library spaces as well. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conference days also have six workshop slots that are still &#8220;TBA&#8221;. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The program team is working on the final version of the schedule. Make sure to check back on weekly basis.  </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Birgit&#8217;s selected sessions</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">April 10, 2026</h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After opening remarks and introduction of speakers the day begins with</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">10 am <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/fireside-chat/\"><strong>Fireside Chat with Mary Hubbard</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1:00 pm <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/from-static-to-dynamic-mastering-the-interactivity-api/\"><strong>From Static to Dynamic: Mastering the Interactivity API</strong></a> with Ryan Welcher</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2:50 pm <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/lost-found-in-ai-wonderland-an-honest-journey-through-hype-headaches-and-real-wins/\"><strong>Lost &amp; Found in AI Wonderland: An Honest Journey Through Hype, Headaches, and Real Wins</strong></a> with Nirav Mehta</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3:55 pm <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/ten-times-the-value-why-automation-is-worth-the-investment-in-open-source/\"><strong>Ten Times the Value: Why Automation Is Worth the Investment in Open Source</strong></a> with Jonathan Desrosiers</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">April 11, 2026 </h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">9:15 am  <strong><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/wordpress-playground-ai-building-autonomous-testing-pipelines/\">WordPress Playground + AI: Building Autonomous Testing Pipelines</a> </strong>with Fellyph Cintra</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">11:15 <strong><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/entity-first-optimization-how-to-make-wordpress-content-machine-readable/\">Entity-First Optimization: How to Make WordPress Content Machine-Readable</a> </strong>with Adeline Dahal</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">11:35 am: <strong><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/from-chaos-to-clarity-scaling-teams-with-block-theme-standards/\">From Chaos to Clarity: Scaling Teams with Block Theme Standards</a></strong> with JC Palmes</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">12:25 pm <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/build-for-what-comes-next-how-enterprise-wordpress-is-powering-the-agentic-future/\"><strong>Build for What Comes Next: How Enterprise WordPress Is Powering the Agentic Future</strong></a> with James Giroux</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3:00 pm Don&#8217;t miss: <a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/session/closing-keynote-wordpress-co-founder-matt-mullenweg/\"><strong>Closing Keynote: WordPress Co-Founder Ma.tt Mullenweg</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">First time in Mumbai?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The communication team published some really cool posts about Mumbai and India, which is super helpful for anyone heading there for their first time.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns has-light-background-background-color has-background is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">First-time WordCamper</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-first-wordcamp/\">How to Make the Most of Your First WordCamp Asia?</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/about-the-venue/\">Venue</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/how-to-prepare-for-contributor-day/\">How to Prepare for Contributor Day?</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/5-career-conversations/\">5 Career Conversations You Will Have at WCAsia26</a></li>\n</ul>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Food, Culture and Travel</h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list has-small-font-size\">\n<li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/food-walk/\">Your Next Bite Is Here</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/sim-cards-internet-and-upi-payments-made-simple/\">SIM Cards, Internet, and UPI Payments Made Simple</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/namaste-india-guide-to-indian-culture/\">Namaste India! Guide to Indian Culture</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/mumbai-on-a-plate/\">Mumbai on a Plate</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://asia.wordcamp.org/2026/things-to-do-in-mumbai/\">Things to do in Mumbai</a></li>\n</ul>\n</div>\n</div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 02 Mar 2026 12:01:31 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"Open Channels FM: Open Channels New YouTube Channel and Newsletter\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://openchannels.fm/?p=1650400\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"https://openchannels.fm/open-channels-new-youtube-channel-and-newsletter/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:80:\"Host Bob Dunn announces  a new YouTube channel and a new newsletter and roundup.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 02 Mar 2026 11:45:05 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Bob Dunn\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:70:\"Open Channels FM: Omnisend Continues Their Support of Open Channels FM\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://openchannels.fm/?p=1650182\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:77:\"https://openchannels.fm/omnisend-continues-their-support-of-open-channels-fm/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:141:\"Omnisend continues to sponsor us, offering a powerful marketing platform for ecommerce. They provide easy migration support and so much more.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 02 Mar 2026 09:46:50 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Bob Dunn\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Matt: Sunday Links\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=151324\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://ma.tt/2026/03/sunday-links/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2313:\"<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://transparency.automattic.com/2026/02/23/transparency-report-update-july-december-2025/\">Automattic&#8217;s new transparency report is up</a>, and <a href=\"https://transparency.automattic.com/wordpress-dot-com/intellectual-property/intellectual-property-2025-jul-1-dec-31/\">TorrentFreak covers how AI-generated notices have been flooding the system</a>. We don&#8217;t talk about it much, but for two decades now Automattic has been a fierce fighter for free speech on behalf of our customers and journalists. Our legal team has gotten a big upgrade in the past 15 months so look for more in this area.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>WordPress 7.0 is shaping up to be a great release, and we&#8217;re moving fast! As someone noted, after <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/18/wordpress-7-0-product-review-meeting-with-matt/\">the product review</a>, <a href=\"https://x.com/SteveJBurge/status/2027152882445775168\">we got the new Connectors setting screen in beta 2 at AI speed</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Yesterday, <a href=\"https://tinkertendo.com/\">TinkerTendo</a> hosted a fun <a href=\"https://luma.com/a6t92ohv\">BioArena Hackathon</a>. <a href=\"https://cloudup.com/cYjePWS3QRx\">From the pics, it looked like a great event</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kudos to WP community member Matt Medeiros, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcKBDzrER3g\">who used AI to spin up a quick webapp to help his community</a> track which streets had been plowed after that crazy snowstorm. Making local communities better is definitely part of the WordPresser ethos.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://claude.com/import-memory\">Claude&#8217;s hack to import your memory</a> is an amazing application of what I hoped for with the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/data-liberation/\">Data Liberation push on WordPress.org</a>. However, it&#8217;s just re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic; what you really want is for that memory to be personal to you and work with every model, which is what <a href=\"https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw\">OpenClaw</a> and its many claw descendents, like <a href=\"https://github.com/zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw\">ZeroClaw</a>, do for you. It reminds me of <a href=\"https://tantek.com/presentations/2005/01/attentionxml.html\">Tantek&#8217;s 2005 Attention.xml presentation</a>.</li>\n</ul>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sun, 01 Mar 2026 18:55:49 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:83:\"Gutenberg Times: Gutenberg Changelog #127 – WordPress 7.0 Beta and Gutenberg 22.6\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:53:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?post_type=podcast&p=44570\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:78:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-127-wordpress-7-0-beta/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:68978:\"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Episode 127 of the GT Changelog podcast, Birgit Pauli-Haack and Jessica Lyschik dive deep into the upcoming release of WordPress 7.0, focusing on the features arriving with beta 2 and their impact on users and developers. They begin by emphasizing the importance of testing betas, especially for plugin and theme creators, highlighting how early testing helps prevent compatibility issues at launch. A walk-through of the beta testing process, tools like the beta tester plugin, and considerations for time zone differences during the official release (scheduled for April 9th) are discussed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The majority of their conversation centers around the headline features of WordPress 7.0. Real-time collaboration steals the spotlight, now allowing multiple users to edit posts and pages simultaneously—streamlining workflows and minimizing version conflicts. The episode also celebrates the introduction of visual revisions within the block editor, making change tracking clearer and more intuitive. Other notable updates include responsive block visibility controls, enhanced navigation and submenu options, improved lightbox support for gallery blocks, and the long-awaited introduction of the icon and breadcrumbs blocks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Birgit Pauli-Haack and Jessica Lyschik also discuss the new content-only pattern editing feature, revamped backend color schemes, and incremental improvements for both end-users and developers, such as the font library UI and under-the-hood advances. They note that some planned features, like the playlist and tabs blocks, did not make the cut for 7.0 but might arrive in future releases. The episode ends with practical advice: test your sites early and stay informed to ensure a seamless transition to WordPress 7.0.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-127-wordpress-7-0-beta/\">Show Notes</a> / <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-127-wordpress-7-0-beta/\">Transcript</a></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Editor: <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-reed/\">Sandy Reed</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Logo: <a href=\"https://markuraine.com/\">Mark Uraine</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Production: <a href=\"https://icodeforapurpose.com\">Birgit Pauli-Haack</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-larger-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"shownotes\"><strong>Show Notes</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Special guest: Jessica Lyschik</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://x.com/jessicalyschik\">https://x.com/jessicalyschik</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@jessicalyschik\">https://www.youtube.com/@jessicalyschik</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=channel_description&amp;redir_token=QUFFLUhqa2tsT25ETnVSM20xS3ZoNDhpTkhwUVhlM2J0UXxBQ3Jtc0tsY2NmeEdxT01xdEMzMlR4WWxjYll2bGoyMXlSZVZFZm82alVtS3hpdW01Y3U1R3U0RGVBT19lbEhQeXNYeTcxZ0EwaVg4YUlYV2ZGR085ZXA1U0pYYzdSelRnejR5cDBHUm1pZDRpQi1fdHRPbkw3UQ&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fprofiles.wordpress.org%2Fluminuu\">profiles.wordpress.org/luminuu</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtf0_A0KILu5lspB8oXQjinPhIe87s3nJ\">Greyd Conversations, to be found on YouTube</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WordPress 7.0</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2026/02/20/help-test-wordpress-7-0/\">Help Test WordPress 7.0</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/24/iframed-editor-changes-in-wordpress-7-0/\">Iframed Editor Changes in WordPress 7.0</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/12/11/planning-for-7-0/#comment-48392\" id=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/12/11/planning-for-7-0/#comment-48392\" type=\"link\">What made it into WordPress 7.0</a> </li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-6-25-february/\">What’s new in Gutenberg 22.6? (25 February)</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Stay in Touch</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Did you like this episode? <a href=\"https://lovethepodcast.com/gutenbergchangelog\"><strong>Please write us a review </strong></a></li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ping us on X (formerly known as Twitter) or send DMs with questions. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gutenbergtimes\">@gutenbergtimes </a>and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bph\">@bph</a>.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>If you have questions or suggestions, or news you want us to include, send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. </em></li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Please write us a review on iTunes! <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/itunes/\">(Click here to learn how)</a></em></li>\n</ul>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"transcript\"><strong>Transcript</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> So welcome to our 127th episode of the Gutenberg Changelog podcast. In today&#8217;s episode, we will talk mostly about WordPress 7.0 because Beta 2 has been out and a little bit about Gutenberg 22.6, but most of what&#8217;s in that release is actually coming to WordPress 7.0. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m your host, Birgit Pauli-Haack, curator at the Gutenberg Times and a full-time core contributor for the WordPress open source project, sponsored by Automattic. And today, Jessica Lyschik is with me on the show again, and we will tackle most of the WordPress 7.0 updates. Jessica is a core contributor to WordPress, default theme co-lead for Twenty Twenty-Four, speed building champion Twenty Twenty-Five, and works as a senior developer for Grade, a company building WordPress products for agencies and large companies. And Jessica is a regular host on the Grade Conversations to be found on YouTube. How are you today, Jessica? Welcome to the show again.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik:</em> Thanks for having me. I&#8217;m good. I&#8217;m good. I mean, the sun is shining outside, so I&#8217;m expecting hopefully a nice workday today and then catch some sun rays because it&#8217;s been a long winter here. Yeah, it&#8217;s been very cold, very moody, cloudy. So the sun is very nice. Having some sunshine is a very nice change.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack:</em> Yeah, I was walking the streets of Munich the other day and I saw the little plants kind of coming out, crocuses and whites and yellow. So spring is coming.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik: </em>Definitely, definitely.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>And it&#8217;s— I actually saw a sunrise at 6:30 in the morning. So the days are getting longer too, which is part of my mood changing thing. Yeah. </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s Released &#8211; WordPress 7.0</h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So WordPress 7.0 comes in big steps and WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 was released just yesterday and we&#8217;re recording this on February 27th. So let&#8217;s go through the list of things that actually made it into 7.0. I&#8217;m also sharing in the show notes, not only the list, but also a link to the help test WordPress 7.0 that the test team has put together with some nice instructions and videos on how things are supposed to work. And you have to— can go in and test if they&#8217;re actually working like that or if something else is breaking. And you ask dear listeners to help do that. I also always kind of say, the best way to learn what&#8217;s in WordPress 7.0 is to heed to the call of testing, because that&#8217;s the first step to learn what&#8217;s working for you, what works with your sites and with your plugins. And it will be really helpful to know this before the release comes out. So if you just follow the instructions on how to present feedback and bug reports. Your team has started testing. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: When you have a plugin and you do not look at the Beta versions or release candidates and suddenly the release date rolls around and you&#8217;re not prepared and clients update their websites and then they say, hey, my site&#8217;s broken, then you&#8217;re in trouble. So avoid that as best as possible. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m glad that we have Beta phase and release candidate phase so we can like really have a closer look. And it&#8217;s so easy with the Beta tester plugin. To be honest, that&#8217;s still the one way I&#8217;m using it, just installing the plugin. I configure the default configuration a little bit differently only to show me Beta and release candidates versions. And then it&#8217;s just hit update and go for it with whatever installation you have at the moment. So that&#8217;s actually, I find this to be one of the easiest ways without needing to have big technical knowledge about that. Of course there&#8217;s WP CLI, there&#8217;s many other ways you can achieve that, but for me, this is probably the easiest and can be thrown on any installation, local or online, probably not live sites, but any staging or testing environment that you have.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So exactly. And it&#8217;s a good point. Don&#8217;t test this on a live site.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah. Things can break. I mean, that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s called a Beta version or release candidate. Things are supposed to break. I spotted an issue this morning with something, not a big issue, but it is an issue. So we have to look into this, but we still have time. How long are we away? 6 weeks, I think about 6 weeks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So yeah, April 9th is the final release date. So we are a little bit 5 weeks more than 6 weeks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: And it will be, I just saw the note, will be released during Contributor Day at WordCamp Asia. So some of the release squad members will be in Mumbai to hit the big button. But of course, it&#8217;s all remotely and you can do it from anywhere. So it doesn&#8217;t really matter where the release squad is. The only thing that might screw it a little bit, skew it, not screw it, skew it a little bit is the time difference between where the other release squad members are and the ones in Mumbai. But for Europe, it&#8217;s a 3.5-hour time difference. So it&#8217;s not that big of a deal. You just need to organize it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, usually they are fast in Europe, their releases are in the evening. So something around 7 PM, 8 PM sometime. It depends on when the dates are announced and the times. So it will be a bit earlier for us in the day, but still like afternoon-ish. So not in the middle of the night. So, but of course, if you move further to US time zones, like East Coast, West Coast is particularly early for them, I guess. If it&#8217;s fun, it could be like early morning for them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, could be in the middle of the night.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Oh no, no, we have to, we have to think backwards. It will be like, I don&#8217;t know, but is it like in the afternoon on the 9th? Do you know more details about that?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I was looking for the release party. Post, but I haven&#8217;t seen it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I mean, there&#8217;s an overview post somewhere.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. I remember that. Yeah. On the Make blog. Definitely. I&#8217;m just looking at it when the release party schedule is.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I&#8217;ll see if, uh, there&#8217;s only a date so far on the, on the overview.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Beta release was about 3 PM UTC. So that&#8217;s 4 o&#8217;clock in the afternoon in Europe. -9, that&#8217;s about 7 o&#8217;clock in the morning.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: It&#8217;s early morning. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: In Pacific time. Yeah. So about that time. Yeah. I&#8217;ll get a better look at that when we get closer to see when they actually schedule the release parties. But it&#8217;s always great fun to be in the core channel to kind of see it coming together.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. So that&#8217;s about the process. April 9th, we mentioned it, is the release. We have release candidate. So Beta is the feature freeze. So after that, only bug fixes are going to be merged into core. Release candidate 1 is on March 19th, and that is considered a string freeze. There will be release candidate 1, 2, and 3, and only things that are— don&#8217;t have a string. Well, the reason why they do string freeze is because then the translator can start translating the version or the new strings into their respective languages. And to give them about 3 weeks to 4 weeks is a good number. But when you don&#8217;t do string freeze, then they have to start all over again when the new version comes out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: So many things change. I mean, things will change. Maybe there&#8217;s always the thing that a bug appears and maybe strings have to be changed. So there&#8217;s always some moving parts, but it is way much reduced if you would just, if you&#8217;re stopping to actually make massive changes so people can catch up with things and then when it&#8217;s just a few more strings that need to be adjusted or retranslated, then it&#8217;s not like 500 new strings, but only 5 the day before the release. So yeah, it makes total sense. I mean, it has worked great over the past many years that we&#8217;ve been doing this like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Absolutely. Yeah. So now with all the talk about the release, what&#8217;s actually going to be in WordPress 7.0? And there have been quite a few. So there was a roadmap and then there were these tracking issues that are on the Gutenberg repo. So there is not a whole lot of mystery behind what&#8217;s coming, but we definitely should talk through that. And one of the biggest features is the real-time collaboration. So now the message that somebody else is editing your post will go away, or it will still be there, but you still can access the post and then you can see who else is working on the post. And you can have more than one person in the post or in the page to actually edit that and not get into trouble with losing content. So that&#8217;s a feature that has been a long time coming. And it&#8217;s also something that has been tested already in the enterprise section for, I think, a little over a year or half a year since August last year. So, and now it comes to WordPress core. So it&#8217;s really cool. I&#8217;ve, I like it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I have not seen it in action yet because I mostly work on things where it&#8217;s only me and rarely anyone else, but I&#8217;ve seen the notes feature. This is like the kind of site quest, if you will, which has been already around since 6.9, if I remember correctly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: But yeah, I&#8217;ve just opened the GitHub issue around it that is linked in the testing post. And it&#8217;s quite interesting. It will be interesting to see. I think we have to spin up a session with my colleagues and all go into one page and see what it looks like, how it feels like.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So yeah, there are some avatar bubbles showing up on multiple places. Yeah, it&#8217;s kind of in the headline and also when they&#8217;re both there. And also if they&#8217;re the notes and the real-time collaboration are kind of merging now. So the same avatars that show up in the notes will also show up in the, in as where the cursor is. So it&#8217;s kind of really interesting to see. I think it&#8217;s not only for enterprise, it&#8217;s also for if you have a blog site, you probably also have a designer or a person that manages your media. You can all be in the post and kind of do things just right before publishing and you don&#8217;t have to coordinate, get out of the post, get into the post. What do we change? Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: It will save things. Even if you have a team of two, it&#8217;s still an interesting feature. And I&#8217;m really hoping as working on the WordPress developer blog that we kind of cut out the step where we do everything in Google Docs, do all the comments there. And then once everybody kind of has their word and say to move it and that we actually start creating the post in the blog and then just do the reviews from there. The only caveat is that to review and help, you have to be a member of the blog. You have to be an editor of the blog. But I think everybody who&#8217;s writing and reviewing either will be on the blog or will in the future or already has written a blog post. So they should be able to do it. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Right now it&#8217;s only me doing it. Yeah, I publish in January and in February a post and it&#8217;s only me doing it. But it&#8217;s interesting to do this via notes. Yeah, because you get emails and all of that. Yeah, already. So it&#8217;s a good feature. The real-time collaboration, I haven&#8217;t done anything on that yet because it just came out. Yeah. So it&#8217;s not yet implemented. Anything else about real-time collaboration? Oh yeah. At the moment, and that&#8217;s with Beta 2, it&#8217;s a setting that you can opt into. So you have to go to settings. Writing, and I think the fourth from the top is the enable collaborative editing or real-time collaboration. Otherwise it wouldn&#8217;t work. I think for later versions it will be an opt-out, but it will be on the same space.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Where do you put this? I&#8217;ve just opened up the preferences. I have a test site which I spin this one up.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: But you go to the admin settings, the normal settings for writing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Ah, the normal setting. Okay. I was in the editor, so that&#8217;s probably why I&#8217;m not seeing it there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. It&#8217;s not in the preferences. It&#8217;s in the admin dashboard and then settings and then writing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Writing. Yeah. Oh yeah. There it is. Enable real-time collaboration. Let&#8217;s just try this out, how it looks like.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I mean, I&#8217;m curious to see.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: You don&#8217;t see it when, when you are alone, all alone.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Well, I could create a second user and then just—</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, and switch over in the second browser.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Switch over in another browser or another incognito tab.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I think it could be in a different browser window. I tested it with Firefox and Google just to kind of not get into the way of each other.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, you need a different browser tab in the same browser. It&#8217;s not going to work because then you&#8217;re logged in with the same user, so you need to be logged in with two different users in order to make that happen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: So it&#8217;s either an incognito window in the same browser or a different browser.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack: </em>Basically, you log in as admin, but you can switch the user over. There&#8217;s a user switching plugin. That&#8217;s what I&#8217;m using by John Blackburn. He has a very easy user switching plugin, and I&#8217;ll share the plugin link in the show notes. But then you can switch over to a different user. And then because I uploaded two avatars, so I can see the difference and all that. In the same note, another big feature, it&#8217;s not a new feature, but it&#8217;s a total revamp, is the visual revisions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Oh yeah. Yeah. This is a big change. I&#8217;ve, I&#8217;ve tested this out before we started because I was really curious to see and Yeah, this is no more text walls and complicated HTML tags to understand and everything like before. I mean, I think the old one does have an advantage for like someone like me who&#8217;s used to looking at code all day and I can get my way around it. But I guess for many people who are not this, do not have an eye for this, this is like a massive wall of text and some green and some red stuff flying around somewhere. So I found it a very interesting way to create the revisions, to visualize the changes. I mean, I only made minimal changes to a page, like adding a paragraph, removing, removing a sentence and whatnot. But yeah, it&#8217;s actually kind of interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So one of the major features is it&#8217;s in the editor. You don&#8217;t have to switch screens to see your revisions. That&#8217;s also a plus. It knows what blocks are. So every change is filled in red and green. Red when you remove something, green when you add something. And it has a little banner on the right-hand side to outline.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: To indicate where on the page about where. I mean, I only had a short page, so it wasn&#8217;t that big of a deal, but it kind of, I think it really showed where it was. Like if there&#8217;s a specific paragraph you&#8217;re looking at, then let me just open up this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, it&#8217;s really nice. Ella did a fabulous job on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: And there&#8217;s also not just red and green, but there&#8217;s also yellow if something inside a paragraph changes that is not like completely adding or I think I know for this one, I added something inside an existing block. So the block itself is outlined in yellow. Hey, something changed here. And then the part where I added the words that is highlighted in green. So it&#8217;s like also kind of detailed and not just red and green like before, but you have also yellow, which indicates some sort of change, maybe with either an additional removal.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah. It&#8217;s really nice. It&#8217;s very visual and staying in the block editor is such a relief. You don&#8217;t have to go back and forth and you have on the top of the screen. You also have the different versions of things. So you can, it&#8217;s a slider with the dates attached. So you can kind of, and the publish button changes to a restore button. So you can select the version that you wanna restore here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: And you can also exit there. So it&#8217;s like you do not have the editing ability anymore. So the entire editing ability is stripped from that page. And instead you have either restore or exit. So I think this makes it distraction-free. So it&#8217;s also good because then people will not start editing inside that. It&#8217;s just a visual representation of things that have changed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Exactly. Yeah. Good. And then do you want to take the next feature or?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I have not. I have seen this. So I was curious to see because I saw something else down in the Gutenberg 22.6 Release notes, if you will. But I saw that when you&#8217;re trying to hide any block, you can now hide them specifically either on desktop, tablet, or mobile. So it&#8217;s not just on or off, but you can now, in WordPress core without any extra plugins, say this either show only on desktop, show only on tablet, show only on mobile. The little downside here is that if I&#8217;m not mistaken, you can still not change the ranges of the viewports. You can?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: No, no, that&#8217;s still hard-coded. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Exactly. So you&#8217;re still tied to the default states of what is desktop, what is tablet, what is mobile. So that is the little downside, if I say so, because oftentimes, at least in my experience, people want to really hone in. I want mobile to go to up until this specific size and tablet to be in this range. And they often differ from what WordPress offers by default. So that&#8217;s why many plugins have been popular in the past and many different integrations are there. So I think it&#8217;s important to mention that it does work. I guess it does work because otherwise it wouldn&#8217;t be in the Beta version, but it is restricted to what core says about the viewports.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So yeah, yeah. And it&#8217;s a, it&#8217;s a range. It&#8217;s mobile starts at 480 and desktop starts at 768 and in between is the tablet. So I have found that I cannot make my browser window small enough to see the mobile version, but that&#8217;s, I think, a setting on my desktop. I&#8217;m not quite sure, but if you use the developer tools, you can see it or the previews, of course. Yeah, the preview inside the block editor will show you yes or no. With 20.6, they also added a feature for the list view where you see the eye for visible or invisible. It also has a little tooltip saying, okay, it&#8217;s visible on desktop or it&#8217;s visible on mobile and hidden on tablet and these kind of things. So there&#8217;s a little bit more visual support for figuring out why is that block not working. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, that&#8217;s true. Yeah, it seems to work pretty well. So I just played around with it and put a paragraph to hide on desktop. It does no longer show at desktop, but once I make the browser smaller, it appears again. So seems to be working pretty well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah, the next feature is, well, it&#8217;s kind of a set of features for the navigation block. That has been coming in. There are a few things that are making navigation easier. One is that you now have control for your hamburger menus, your mobile hamburger menus, or if you want them on desktop too. Yeah. So you can now create different overlays for your navigation. And 7.0 will come with a few patterns. So you don&#8217;t have to do the whole creative work. You can just kind of say, okay, I will use this one and this one. It&#8217;s on the basis of template parts, so it can be reused on other places and templates if you have different overlays. And so I really like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, it gives more customization that wasn&#8217;t there before because you just only had a mobile version of the navigation you created. And I know from our experience at Grade that people like to switch up things in this mobile view because they want to add a button or add information or whatever, or change the menu items by default to have less menu items than they would have on desktop. So this was only possible with other tools, and now it&#8217;s in core as well. I also played around with it a bit, just adding random blocks to it. So it&#8217;s not just limited to specifically a navigation, but can add anything you need into that because it&#8217;s a template part, as you said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So yeah, right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So it actually is then also possible to create mega menus, which is also something that a lot of people wanted to do with those template parts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Well, I haven&#8217;t played with, played it that far so far. I haven&#8217;t looked at the settings in detail, but. I guess I have to test this out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Well, there are a lot of people who are going to be testing things and I wish they would share a little bit more about their successes or, well, they never really talk about their successes, mostly about, oh, this is a bug that needs to change kind of thing. But it would be really cool to see some other implementations. Yeah. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They also revamped the submenus a little bit with handling that. So it now defaults to open or closed states, and you have a place to put the close button for that. Yeah, the patterns we talked— the overlay patterns is kind of with a black background, with an orange background, with a side info as well. So it&#8217;s pretty cool. Oh yeah, and what also changed in the navigation is that you can now— well, you always could add new pages when you create a navigation bar, create a new page, but now you can, you have a toggle switch that you can actually publish it. So the create a page is then available in your pages, but the menu works. And they did also a fantastic job making the links in the menu a little bit more smart. Yeah. So when you change the title or the slug of a page, it now reflects in the menu where it&#8217;s actually used. So that is, was also a big big pain point that you always had to think about, oh, I changed the slug of my page or my post. Now I need to update two menu items because I have a header, a footer, a header menu and a footer menu. And yeah, it&#8217;s all kind of a, it was a little bit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Or another five menus in different places that you all need to update and you forgot about them. So yeah, that&#8217;s actually very nice. I just opened up also the, when you have a navigation block focused and go select one of the pages that is in there. It now shows a little, I&#8217;m not sure how long this has been there, but there&#8217;s a box popping out saying the title of the link and then it links to this specific page, which is a page. So the post type is shown and also what status it has. So it is published, is it draft or whatever. So there&#8217;s, I think if I click on that, yeah, I can now go directly into editing and I can go back. Oh, this is fancy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah. That&#8217;s also fairly new. I think it was in 22. So it&#8217;s between 6.9 and 7.0. It&#8217;s a new feature. It&#8217;s a new feature.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah. I think this will definitely enhance the whole working with navigation, with navigation in general, because to be honest, it has been a pain to work with navigation. So I&#8217;m glad to see some improvements here. They&#8217;re looking really good. Oh, you can even add more stuff, description and real attribute. Nice. That&#8217;s looking good. I like that. I honestly like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Awesome. Very good, Birgit. What&#8217;s next on the list?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Next on the list is gallery block add lightbox support.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Ooh, that&#8217;s my personal favorite. Yeah. Well, lightbox support was there before, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I was just saying that the lightbox has been around for a while. But yeah, not only for images, right? Not for the gallery.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: It was for the gallery, but it only added the click to open big. It wasn&#8217;t a real lightbox. It kind of— you needed to close it and then look at the next picture and open it up again. And now you actually have navigation with next and previous, so you could actually have a really nice gallery viewing experience. And I was waiting for this for quite a while. Not that I didn&#8217;t find any plugins that do that, but yeah, to have it in the browser.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I think that&#8217;s a very nice feature because it reduces the need for a plugin if the functionality is enough for the user. I mean, there will always be plugins that enhance this functionality or create another variation of a lightbox with even more features. There&#8217;s always like that, but it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s good to have that because it&#8217;s just, I&#8217;ve never really worked so much with galleries in the past, but probably I will do more because now you can continue switching to the other images without even having to close that. So I think that&#8217;s really a good quality of life improvement.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Those sites that have big visual assets on there, like pictures and they have portfolios or they want to show a decoration or be it food. Yeah. Each one of the sites. And what I like about it is also that you can swipe it on mobile. You don&#8217;t need to—</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Oh, nice.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: It&#8217;s not animated, but it&#8217;s definitely there. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So the thing that moved to the next version in WordPress is showing the captions somewhere on that. Yeah. Right now it&#8217;s just a picture and the navigation, but that&#8217;s a huge step forward. What also is new for the gallery block and many blocks is that the sidebar where the settings and the styles are now also have a content tab where you can see, for instance, all the pictures in a list and then just open it up and add an alt text to it, for instance. So you can have an easier way to update the content of things. You&#8217;ll see that also on other blocks that are kind of multi-blocks, like the social icons or the buttons or the list, that you get now a little content section on the right-hand side. And you don&#8217;t have to, for that, open up the list view. It&#8217;s a little bit of duplication, but I think it&#8217;s a different mindset when you just want to edit that particular group of blocks and see it in one view.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, but you can, I just created a gallery on my test site and picked some of the pictures. And when you are in this content section and you click on an image, you are put to the specific image block within the gallery. So I don&#8217;t think this is too much of a crazy thing. Yeah, you are right about the duplication that if you are on the gallery block itself, you can add something. That&#8217;s probably easier on the right side now to add something. But you also get the context options that you would have in the list view. So this is the duplicated part. But to be honest, I mean, I work a lot with the list view. I always— the first thing I do when I come into a brand new editor is go to preferences and say, list view, always show list view. Because I still don&#8217;t get why this is not the default. But yeah, for people who may be not using the list view too much, I think this is a pretty nice way to work with the gallery block. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: And there are also people who are overwhelmed by the list view. Yeah. So kind of, they don&#8217;t.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, I can understand. But yeah, I&#8217;m a big fan of the list view.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So yeah, there will be two new blocks. There&#8217;s a breadcrumbs block and the icon block. And the icon block just made it out of experimental with 22.6. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I think this was a very close call, right? I just saw Ryan&#8217;s post the other day. It&#8217;s like, we made it. And I was like, oh, that&#8217;s close. Isn&#8217;t Beta 1 already out yet?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, no, it was, uh, actually in Beta, but the discussion was about— not about the icon block per se, but it only has limited functionality. When you— for a designer, you cannot register your own icon collection.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: That would have been my question. Yes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: And that has been the API that was too close to be comfortable in creating a new API at the last minute, so to speak. And they said that needs to be similar for a moment. And that was pushed in 7.1, but you still can use the icons that are in the block editor already.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: It mostly, it will be arrows or the chevrons or maybe something like pencil or image or home. Yeah. The default ones are there. So it&#8217;s, I would say for, for the, for the beginning, it&#8217;s fine. And I think for the extensibility, it&#8217;s definitely needed that we have an API to add any kind of icon that we want or that the user needs because people work with the most different things. I think the same, we had the same thing with the social icons block, if I remember correctly, like you had a fixed set, but then later on. It was added the ability that you can upload your own icons, if I&#8217;m correct.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: So I would very much look forward to potentially in 7.1 that we get the ability to extend this icon library to whatever icons we need, have an upload.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah. I think designers really work, love working with icons and when they design sites, it would be really helpful to actually have the branded icons, whatever they have to be uploaded. But yeah, in the release post of 22.6, Bernie Reiter, who was a release lead, he uploaded an implementation which makes perfect sense, which is the location for a map, kind of, yeah, what&#8217;s the address, what&#8217;s the link for Google Maps, and what are the ratings, so to speak. And you can all do that with the icon set that&#8217;s already in the block editor. It was worth it, even with not registering the API, to put that into a core. And it&#8217;s still helpful.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I mean, the icon block has been long awaited, so it was about time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And the other block is the breadcrumbs block, which I&#8217;m really happy that it made it because that&#8217;s a very versatile block. It has a lot of smartness behind it where you can put it on any page and then it figures out what are the breadcrumbs to get to that page and also to get back again. So you could do categories, archives, subpages, parent pages, child pages. It&#8217;s all picking up those things. And it&#8217;s a really nice addition for larger websites to have a user find their way back or orient themselves on the website.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, I think there&#8217;s also enough settings to work with it. So it&#8217;s looking good. I just added it to my test page. You have all the color, typography, dimensions, border. So there&#8217;s, there&#8217;s something to do with it. I would say.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, you can definitely work with that. So then the existing blocks obviously also get some improvements. Do you have any favorite of those? I do. So the paragraph has two new things. One is the indentation. So you can make a paragraph or on a page manage the indentation of the first line in a paragraph. There are two versions of it that you need to handle in the settings page. One is to have the first paragraph not indented, but all the subsequent paragraphs. And then if you toggle that off, then also the first paragraph is indented. And that is that it&#8217;s in the English-speaking countries, the first paragraph is not indented. But in the right-to-left and other countries, even if they are left-to-right, they always want all the paragraphs indented. So it&#8217;s a different standard for publications in different countries. So they needed to take care of that. But the default is to have the first paragraph not indented and all the subsequent paragraphs are.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: It&#8217;s like I usually do not come around that the need for this. But obviously if there&#8217;s a need for it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. A lot of publications have that as standard, especially those that are in the news and long-form content publications like essays and that kind of thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Apparently I do not read those, so I do not have any experience with that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Or you just haven&#8217;t noticed it because it feels natural.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: But probably, yeah, yeah, I maybe, maybe that&#8217;s also the case. I don&#8217;t know. Yeah, but it&#8217;s interesting to see that. I was wondering, didn&#8217;t we have something like this before, or was it something else, or I&#8217;m mixing this up with something? I don&#8217;t know.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And the second formatting part for paragraph block is that automatic text columns. So you can have a larger paragraph and say, okay, but I need this into a smaller space, but I have multiple columns. And that also works very well. That was actually a plugin from the Block Editor Learn program. There was one course that actually created that kind of columns. So I&#8217;m glad that it made it to core because I really found it nice to have that possible. It automatically creates those columns. You can say 2 columns or 3 columns, and it&#8217;s really nice. You need to enable it through the typography, the 3-dot menu. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I was just about to say, I&#8217;m not seeing the setting. Where is it? Ah, here it is. Columns.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, yeah, columns. And also the indentation. And that&#8217;s also where you&#8217;ll find the fit the text into that. So there are typography changes, but right now only, I think, available for the paragraph block.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, it made sense to have moved to the tools panel to get a bit more in the technical side, because if I&#8217;m looking now at the typography settings that are available, but this list is like endless. Yeah, it&#8217;s getting endless. So having this to be hidden by default and you can, if you need the to change something, you edit. That&#8217;s something, yeah, definitely to not clutter the sidebar too much.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah. Yeah. It&#8217;s a good call to always look at the three dots in the menu to see, okay, what other options do I have available there? Because they may not be visible just, and you look stupid like I did to find the columns.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: You look not that stupid.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, it&#8217;s just like, well, why, why I&#8217;m not seeing this? Where is this? Is this a setting somewhere? It&#8217;s like panicking on the inside on the podcast. I know it&#8217;s, it&#8217;s like day-to-day business.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So yeah, I&#8217;m all good. So what else is in the current block? There are so many things in there. So the font library has now its own menu item in the appearance menu. Yeah. Nothing else.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: So it&#8217;s available for any themes if I recall correctly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So it&#8217;s not—</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: you can now do all the stuff. Yeah, it&#8217;s exactly the same like the modal. You just have it like as in the regular backend, basically. It&#8217;s been like extracted from the editor to be its own backend page.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: But it&#8217;s in the new style. I just realized that when switching between the default themes, we have the overview to switch the themes. It&#8217;s like still the we did get a little change in the backend. Maybe we can talk about that later. But when you are on themes, you have still this dark, not dark, but lighter gray, very light gray background. And it&#8217;s no rounded corners. And when you go into fonts, you have this more site editor-like white background and rounded corners around. I just realized that there&#8217;s this kind of difference.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, I think that the team really wanted to do the data views. Use components from the data views for these new pages. And it will also be, and I just saw that for the Beta 2, that the connector for the AI client, that the connector page is under Settings. Yep. And the page also follows that data view.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Correct.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Design from what&#8217;s actually going to be the new admin design that&#8217;s not coming to 7.0, but some of the pages are, look a little bit different yet. Now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I just see, I just see these small details like instantly. So I was like, oh, this looks different.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah. It looks a little bit fresher. It&#8217;s my personal view on that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: And I, I think the most visual change everyone will have is when they log in. So, or when they upgrade to 7.0 and they have not seen the Beta or release candidate that suddenly the default color scheme changes. In the backend. So I think this will be a bit of a woo moment for everyone who is not like looking into this before. So if I guess it&#8217;s a shout out to everyone who&#8217;s working with clients who do not see a Beta version before, be prepared because I&#8217;m sure there will be questions coming in from everyone like, my admin looks different. What happened?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, the buttons all have a different color. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, the, the, I think the black is a bit darker if I remember correctly. And of course the blue shines very differently. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So, but the color scheme was available before. It&#8217;s called the modern.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yes, correctly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. So it&#8217;s now just the default. I don&#8217;t think we have materialized any writing about that. So I kind of need to look at the core changes. Right now I&#8217;m just looking at the block changes, but yeah. Oh, and one thing that we should mention is the content-only pattern editing that&#8217;s now coming with 7.0. And that is a way, if you have a pattern that you put into a post or a page, that the edit the pattern is kind of reduced to edit the content of it. So you don&#8217;t have to change the pattern. Yeah. And I think that&#8217;s reducing a little bit the overwhelm. And the danger that people get into when they just use pattern, that they are kind of, you still can edit them, throw out the image and put a different block in there. You always can, you can change the headline, paragraph, whatever the pattern is designating as content only. Blocks, patterns, headlines, paragraphs, lists, buttons, those can all be just added, just change the content of it. But there is an edit button on the right edit pattern, and it&#8217;s for unsynced patterns as well as for sync patterns. The sync patterns has a different workflow when you change the original. That was always in there, but now this is coming to the unsynced patterns as well. When there are multiple patterns in multiple blocks in a pattern. So they&#8217;re kind of designated a section and then you can reduce the trouble a content editor can get themselves into.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I see. I see. Yeah, it certainly looks different. Yeah, you have different buttons. But yeah, you cannot go into like— yeah, you can like make it bold or italic or any of the work with the text. But yeah, you cannot say I want the button color to change. Is this the default for all patterns? As you said, it&#8217;s like I&#8217;ve now just added a regular pattern. And it&#8217;s not synced. So I assume it&#8217;s not synced.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Let me check.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I think so. Interesting. So when I go to edit pattern, oh, I now have to go to edit pattern in the toolbar. In the sidebar. I have now edit pattern.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: No, no, in the block toolbar.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: That&#8217;s the block toolbar. You can say edit pattern and then you get all the controls for each block to move them, delete them, whatever. And then you can go back and then you have, when you are in the pattern, you have only the editing ability as you described. So you can, cannot change the blocks itself, but you can like change the contents. I can change the image and set an alternative text, but I cannot say, give it a different aspect ratio or use a different image size or whatever.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Or make the paragraph a list or something like that. There, those decisions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: So this is actually very good to know because I just stumbled upon that and, ooh, this will be why I wanted to do this. This will be interesting because that&#8217;s like, that&#8217;s a huge change. I can see the struggle people will have who are not aware of this to get into the editor. They have added a pattern, simply a pattern, and now they want to change the heading. For example, and now on 7.0, they&#8217;re like, the possibility to change the heading is gone. And they do not realize that they have to click on the edit pattern block first in order to change the heading level, for example. So I think this could be from the user experience part.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, a little bit of a stumble block. Yeah, absolutely. The dev note, and I see, I saw the draft of this dev note for that. There&#8217;s also a way for site admins to opt out of content-only. That especially if you are working with clients or you&#8217;re creating themes, you probably want to, because you want to edit the pattern all the time. You can opt out of it with a filter. And both are available for PHP as well as for JavaScript. And as a plugin developer or theme developer, you can designate patterns as content-only. And with an attribute in the pattern. Block thing. Those who create custom blocks, they can also designate in the block JSON which attributes are content only. You give it a role equals content in the block JSON. So there are multiple ways to kind of skin that cat, as they say in America. So for the end user, I think the advantage is that there is no ambiguity if I change that. Is that getting me into trouble or something like that? Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah. Yeah. From that point of view, I&#8217;m coming from a different point of view where the user is used to working with that and suddenly they cannot on the first glance, they cannot edit stuff anymore. Like they cannot change the heading level or font, font size, font, font family, whatever. So I think from that perspective, this will be a bit of a struggle.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So yeah. But I think the edit pattern button is prominent enough in the sidebar. But yeah, we&#8217;ll kind of need to see what the verdict is about that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, yeah, true, true. So this will be an interesting thing to catch on, especially if you&#8217;re a heavy pattern user. This will be very interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, I think the—</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik: </em>I mean, I do see, I do see, don&#8217;t get me wrong, I do see the point in like having this content only. I mean, we have something very similar in our Grid plugin. Where you can lock down, like you have the structure, but you can only edit the content. It&#8217;s very, very similar. So there is the need for this. It&#8217;s just like coming when you are already working with WordPress and then you&#8217;re coming to this. That is the issue that I&#8217;m seeing. So, but for real, for real, the, yeah, for real, the, this reduction of overwhelm to, oh my God, I have so many options, but the pattern is there, but you cannot break it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Mm-hmm.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Uh, totally. That&#8217;s totally a cool thing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. And I get your point, but what is it? It&#8217;s a 30-second, oh, I need to click on edit pattern. Uh, kind of reveal of that. Yeah. It&#8217;s not a kind of totally, oh, I, I get your point.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Well, if, if you are lucky, if you are lucky and the people see it and have the, I do not want to sound, uh, too, too negative about it, but if they have the curiosity to like explore. To do like, okay, what happens if I click on edit pattern? But you also have those people like who are like literally overwhelmed already by this and then go to whatever support people you have, whether it&#8217;s a plugin, a specific plugin is, I do see an increase of people coming into our support, for example, and saying, hey, things are not working anymore because of, I don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s happening here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So, yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. So I get that, especially because people just go into the website to get something done. And if they are overwhelmed with all the changes, it&#8217;s kind of a certain whoops.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I didn&#8217;t expect that to change on me forever. Yeah. I totally get it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: If they just want to add a text, they will probably not notice or maybe realize, okay, something is different. But as soon as they want to change anything that is related to the blog, I think then it&#8217;s when it&#8217;s going to be—</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: just to the design. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah, exactly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: So I think the last thing that we talk about a little bit here is what did not make it into the 7.0. That was on the roadmap. And that was the playlist block didn&#8217;t finish in time. The dialog block, which I really like. The dialog block is something that you get a button or a link and then you can control what dialog comes up for that. And the tabs block that I&#8217;m really sad about that it did not make it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Do you know what happened to like why the decision was made to not bring it in?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: They have some, there was an aspect of the active tab state in a non-standard way. There were some accessibility issues that they kind of wanted to revisit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Oh yeah. Tell me about it. Tell me about it. I made the Tabs plugin, the great plugin accessible. So it&#8217;s possible. So, but yeah, I get that this may be the reason why it has been cut out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: I think there were too many people, too many cooks in the kitchen for that with different changes. So I think they need to be finalized as well. And then the playlist block. I&#8217;m really sad about that, but we will see. And then some of the notes features that were thought about didn&#8217;t make it either. There were a few things that haven&#8217;t been worked on that were in the roadmap, were kind of, kind of was aspirational, but it wasn&#8217;t really prioritized. So like there were short blocks. A lot of people would like to see that. That&#8217;s like block binding, but inside the paragraph. So you can change dynamic data in a paragraph and just in, in a certain way. It could be a date or could be a change like the time zone change, yeah, depending on something. Or data from the meta fields, custom fields that are just in the flow text kind of, you want to put them in. I know that people work on that. Slider block was not worked on and some of the media things. Didn&#8217;t make it either. So are you excited about WordPress 7.0? </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: I mean, there&#8217;s a lot of very interesting changes and I mean, just because something didn&#8217;t make it, I think there&#8217;s a lot that made it that is already giving an impact. We haven&#8217;t even touched the AI part. So I think this is also something that is really coming. And even that in itself is probably enough to make another episode about if you want to. Yeah. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But overall, I think there&#8217;s some good quality of life improvements. I mean, real-time collaboration is something that everyone has to look for themselves if it&#8217;s useful. I can see it useful, of course, in like Google Docs style if you need to collaborate really on something, but also in support essentially to like, okay, let me get into the same page and show me on a video call what are you doing, or without even being on a video call, without screen sharing, to see what the other person is doing essentially. I&#8217;m not sure if I think you can only see the editing sort of things, but overall to see, okay, I do this, I do that, and then this happens. I don&#8217;t know. This could maybe be a thing. Maybe we get the icon block, long, long awaited. We do have some more responsive hiding features, if you will. It&#8217;s, how to say, rudimentary, but it&#8217;s like, it works. So if you&#8217;re fine with that, then you&#8217;re good. Font library available to everyone. I think that&#8217;s not bad either. So yeah, I think overall this will be an interesting, an interesting release to have available.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: And I mean, there&#8217;s always work to do, so we&#8217;re not running out of work. You know, no, even if, uh, with the help of AI, I think the work is always going to be there. So for the developers amongst us, I think you want to look at the PHP-only registration for blocks. Also, some of the data view package changes for your own plugin might be very interesting for you. </p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gutenberg 22.5 RC</h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, the client-side media improvements, they are there, but it&#8217;s not visible to anybody. It&#8217;s just kind of that the browser is now doing all the changes to the image, the downsizing for smaller aspect ratios or sizes. Yeah, it is done in the browser and doesn&#8217;t have to go to server and back. But that&#8217;s all relatively invisible to a normal user. True. I would come to an end here. We are almost at the hour and it was so much stuff to talk about. So is there anything, Jessica, that you want our listeners to know and you didn&#8217;t get a chance to talk about?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Not really. Go testing, I would say. Make sure if you have a product like us, make sure things work so you do not get in too much trouble. There will always be people coming to you saying, hey, something does not work. I mean, we do have that too. It&#8217;s like, then it&#8217;s just simply helping people with WordPress that is not related to the product itself. But yeah, overall, just make sure things work because like there are some changes happening. We also didn&#8217;t touch too much on the iframe editor situation in our chat. So I think this is something you should look into. I think there has been a new post by Ella this week with some more information. So yeah, for the developers of us, take a look at that because I think that maybe can potentially cause issues.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: It shouldn&#8217;t, but yeah. And I&#8217;m kind of hard to think about a scenario how we could test this with older plugins because I don&#8217;t see sites that are in with maintenance with a developer, so they probably won&#8217;t have a problem. They&#8217;re already kind of up there because the Gutenberg plugin has always already been updated with the iframe. So, I&#8217;m looking at people who haven&#8217;t updated their site for 5 years or something like that with the old blocks version in there. And all of a sudden they come back, but they, the front end won&#8217;t change. So they wouldn&#8217;t see it unless they go in, in the editor. And I have not seen yet something that fails. So that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s now in the Gutenberg plugin. That the post editor is loaded in the iframe.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Yeah, it will not be enforced in 7.0, but on the horizon we already see, okay, if it&#8217;s now in Gutenberg 22.6, potentially we will have to deal with it in 7.1. So this summer around that time. Yeah, I think that&#8217;s, that&#8217;s something important to, to just have in the back of your mind that if you have a product or if you have not just a product, but also like, like you said, created custom blocks for a client for specific websites. And there is like either no maintenance or very low maintenance contract, then you need to be aware that things can change, will change. And we had these discussions in the past. I have to say that there are people who were very frustrated that things have changed in the editor and made actually their frontend go sideways and not too bad, but like, okay, wasn&#8217;t looking as it was before. So I can totally understand that frustration, but, I mean, it&#8217;s software. It&#8217;s a moving project. It&#8217;s never going to be this forever unless you lock in the default WordPress version and only receive security updates, then well, okay, you can deal with that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: But yeah. Yeah. But I don&#8217;t think that this block iframe or block editor iframe thing for post edits, this is really a major change or breaking change. That, yeah, it, I don&#8217;t think that most WordPress users would even know that that happened or haven&#8217;t even noticed that it&#8217;s already happening. So for those who do client-side that are a little older, yeah, keep an eye out and let us know or let the contributors know if it&#8217;s breaking, what is breaking, so it can be dealt with for the next iteration on it. All right. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And I also share in the show notes, the latest conversations that Grade and Jessica had with two agency owners about the block editor and FSE. I think that&#8217;s pretty insightful.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Oh, that was with the Codable Experts. Yeah, it was not the agency owners, but the Codable Experts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Birgit Pauli-Haack</em>: Yeah. Yeah. Codable is an agency that matches up projects with freelancers and they have a very strict screening method for the freelancers. So they are real experts and they know what they&#8217;re doing and so, thank you for telling me that. Anyway, so I will share that. So if anybody who wants to listen some more, it&#8217;s on YouTube and it was Jessica. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, and as always, the show notes will be published on <a href=\"http://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast\">gutenbergtimes.com/podcast</a>. This is episode 127. And if you have questions and suggestions or news you want us to include, send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. That&#8217;s <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a>. And thank you so much for spending this time with me and Jessica and going over the WordPress 7.0 features with me. And it was good to see you and talk to you. Thanks for listening and goodbye.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Jessica Lyschik</em>: Thanks for having me. Bye.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sun, 01 Mar 2026 17:15:04 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19:\"Gutenberg Changelog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:108:\"Gutenberg Times: Help test WordPress 7.0 beta2, CSS in Block themes, AI experiements – Weekend Edition 359\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=44470\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:113:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/help-test-wordpress-7-0-beta2-css-in-block-themes-ai-experiements-weekend-edition-359/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:24645:\"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Happy Saturday! </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s been another interesting week in WordPress, Gutenberg and AI. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you would like to know more about my two weeks in New York and the immersive AI training there, here is a post for you. <a href=\"https://automattic.com/2026/02/25/ai-enablement-wordpress/\">What Automattic’s AI Enablement Training Means for WordPress</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And now, enjoy all the videos, blog posts and podcasts below.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yours, <img alt=\"💕\" class=\"wp-smiley\" src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/1f495.png\" style=\"height: 1em;\" /><br /><em>Birgit</em></p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-word-press-release-information\">Developing Gutenberg and WordPress</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress <strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/02/wordpress-7-0-beta-2/\">7.0 Beta2</a> </strong>is now available for testing. How? Glad you asked. The Test team has compiled a great list in their post <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2026/02/20/help-test-wordpress-7-0/\"><strong>Help Test WordPress 7.0</strong></a>. It&#8217;s the perfect way to learn what&#8217;s in the new release and you can help find bugs, that could be squashed before the final release.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ray Morey</strong>, editor of The Repository, has some details in <a href=\"https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-7-0-beta-2-ships-with-connectors-ui-delivering-on-mullenwegs-ai-vision\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 Ships With Connectors UI, Delivering on Mullenweg’s AI Vision</strong></a></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ella Van Durpe</strong> shares <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/24/iframed-editor-changes-in-wordpress-7-0/\"><strong>what&#8217;s shifting with the iframed post editor in WordPress 7.0</strong></a>: instead of checking all registered blocks across your plugins, WordPress will now only look at blocks actually inserted in the post. If they&#8217;re all Block API version 3 or higher, you get the iframe — if not, it steps back gracefully. Full enforcement isn&#8217;t happening in 7.0, but <em>Gutenberg plugin 22.6</em> enforces it for classic themes to gather real-world feedback first.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Release lead <strong>Bernie Reiter,</strong> published a new version, Gutenberg 22.6 and in his release post <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-6-25-february/\"><strong>What’s new in Gutenberg 22.6? (25 February)</strong></a> he highlighted:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-6-25-february/#in-editor-revisions-visual-change-tracking\">In-Editor Revisions: Visual Change Tracking</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-6-25-february/#icon-block\">Icon Block</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-6-25-february/#navigation-overlay\">Navigation Overlay</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-6-25-february/#client-side-media-processing\">Client-Side Media Processing</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-6-25-february/#real-time-collaboration\">Real-Time Collaboration</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-6-25-february/#gallery-lightbox-navigation\">Gallery Lightbox Navigation</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-22-6-25-february/#other-notable-highlights\">Other Notable Highlights</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Anne McCarthy</strong> shares a candid look at <a href=\"https://nomad.blog/2026/02/28/iterating-on-notes-in-wordpress/\"><strong>iterating on Notes features in WordPress</strong></a> that didn&#8217;t quite make the 7.0 cut. Built with Claude Code as part of her &#8220;Learn AI deeply&#8221; efforts, the three PRs in progress cover show/hide notes on the canvas, filter options (she leans toward &#8220;Open&#8221; over &#8220;Unresolved&#8221;), and compact note display. Questions around a resizable sidebar and UX friction remain open — your feedback on the PRs is warmly welcomed.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jessica Lyschik,</strong> senior developer at Greyd, and I had fun recording another Gutenberg Changelog episode. We discussed the main user-facing features coming to WordPress 7.0. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-background-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img alt=\"🎙\" class=\"wp-smiley\" src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/1f399.png\" style=\"height: 1em;\" /> The latest episode is <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast/gutenberg-changelog-127-wordpress-7-0-beta/\">Gutenberg Changelog #127 – WordPress 7.0 Beta and Gutenberg 22.6</a> with special guest <strong>Jessica Lyschik</strong>, senior developer at Greyd</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-no-vertical-margin\"><img alt=\"Jessica Lyschik and Birgit Pauli-Haack recording Gutenberg changelog episode number 127\" class=\"wp-image-44548\" height=\"184\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-27-at-12.47.56.png?resize=652%2C184&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"652\" /></figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block\" width=\"100%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-pocket-casts wp-block-embed-pocket-casts\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\n</div></figure>\n</div></div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"0-p\">Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tom Finley</strong> introduces <a href=\"https://tomfinley.com/stop-rebuilding-wordpress-block-patterns-from-scratch-use-block-zapper/\"><strong>Block Zapper</strong></a>, a utility block that strips custom colors, spacing, typography, and backgrounds from WordPress block patterns in one click — so you can actually use them as clean starting points. You get granular control: preserve images and cover backgrounds while clearing everything else. Finley&#8217;s one important warning: it&#8217;s largely vibe-coded with AI assistance, so sandbox it thoroughly before touching any real project, and move your zapped blocks out before leaving the editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This seems to be inline with the <strong>Content Only Pattern editing experience</strong>, core contributors also try to achieve abstracting away the design aspects of working with patterns for content creators. It&#8217;s about to come to WordPress in 7.0 (or 7.1, the jury is still out) It is already available in the Gutenberg plugin 22.6 and this <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/73775#issuecomment-3930751877\">GitHub comment by Ramon Dodd.</a> </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carleton University&#8217;s <strong>Troy Chaplin</strong> built the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-accessibility-checks/\"><strong>Block Accessibility Checks plugin</strong></a> to catch what the WordPress block editor won&#8217;t — out-of-order headings, missing image alt text, and other gaps that slip through unexpectedly. Chaplin joined Chris Reynolds, Pantheon, on this week&#8217;s <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/mLsC2tDcdL8\">YouTube Livestream</a> for a walk-through of how the plugin validates your content in real time and flags issues before they reach your readers. A practical tool for anyone serious about making their content genuinely accessible to everyone.</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block\" width=\"100%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\n</div></figure>\n</div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On WP Builds, <strong>Nathan Wrigley</strong> sits down with <strong>Ian Svoboda</strong>, a veteran of 10up, GenerateBlocks, and GeneratePress, to unpack the<a href=\"https://wpbuilds.com/2026/02/26/458-unpacking-the-clever-content-area-block-with-ian-svoboda/\"> <strong>Content Area Block plugin</strong></a>. Born from a news site needing multiple editable regions per template, the plugin solves WordPress&#8217;s single-content-area limitation without meta field workarounds. You&#8217;ll hear about the technical hurdles — duplicating core hooks, navigating unstable APIs — and why this capability still hasn&#8217;t made it into Core.</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block\" width=\"100%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-pocket-casts wp-block-embed-pocket-casts\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\n</div></figure>\n</div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Rodolfo Melogli</strong> is the organizer of the <a href=\"https://checkoutsummit.com/\">Checkout Summit in April</a> and editor of the <a href=\"https://wcwkly.com/\">WooWeekly</a> newsletters. In his recent blog post, he discusses <a href=\"https://www.businessbloomer.com/my-honest-take-on-woocommerce-checkout-block-adoption/\">WooCommerce Checkout Block adoption</a> and explains that most merchants still use the classic Shortcode even after two years of the block being the default option. The main issue is hesitation around plugin compatibility. Although WooCommerce data shows a 27% boost in conversions with the block checkout, the ecosystem has not fully adapted, and merchants are reluctant to risk disrupting their working stores.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-word-press-6-0-1-and-6-1-scheduled\">Theme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;ve ever wondered where your custom CSS actually lives — or should live — this comprehensive guide on <a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/\"><strong>14 ways to add custom CSS in the WordPress Block Editor</strong></a> is your new reference. Covering everything from <code>theme.json</code> structured properties and CSS variables to per-block Additional CSS, Block Style Variations, and <code>wp_enqueue_style()</code>, you&#8217;ll find a decision guide to match each method to your role, whether you&#8217;re a site builder, designer, or theme developer.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jon Ang</strong>, Human Made, made the case that <a href=\"https://humanmade.com/wordpress-for-enterprise/how-wordpress-solves-visual-editing-without-the-complexity-tax/\"><strong>WordPress in 2026 escapes the complexity tax</strong></a> that headless and composable stacks imposed on enterprise teams. The Site Editor, combined with Synced Patterns, Block Bindings, and the Interactivity API, now forms a structured visual system that scales alongside enterprise design systems without forcing teams into heavyweight JavaScript frameworks or fragile third-party glue. As Ang put it, it becomes a system interface &#8220;where visual work is grounded in real content models&#8221;.</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"ng-block-773202c1b2b2f583 wp-block-newsletterglue-container ng-block\" style=\"color: #666666;\" width=\"100%\"><div><div><div class=\"ng-block-vs ng-block-vs-1\" colspan=\"3\" height=\"0\" style=\"height: 0px;\"></div></div><div><div class=\"ng-block-hs ng-block-hs-1\" height=\"0\" style=\"width: 0px;\"></div><div align=\"none\" class=\"ng-block-td\" style=\"font-size: 16px; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: normal; padding-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; text-align: none; color: #666666; background-color: #fdfcea; border-radius: 12px;\"><div class=\"ng-block-28678be8119d6f36 wp-block-newsletterglue-text ng-block\" style=\"color: #666666;\" width=\"100%\"><div><div><div align=\"none\" class=\"ng-block-td\" style=\"font-size: 16px; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: normal; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: none; color: #666666;\"><p><strong> <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Keeping up with Gutenberg &#8211; Index 2026&#8221;</a> </strong><br />A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test, and Meta team from Jan. 2024 on. Updated by yours truly. </p></div></div></div></div>\n\n<div class=\"ng-block-21b39cbaed2a3e1a wp-block-newsletterglue-text ng-block\" style=\"color: #666666;\" width=\"100%\"><div><div><div align=\"none\" class=\"ng-block-td\" style=\"font-size: 16px; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: normal; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: none; color: #666666;\"><p>The previous years are also available: <br /><strong><strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2020/\">2020</a> | <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2021/\">2021</a></strong> | <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index-2022/\">2022</a></strong></strong> | <strong><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/gutenberg-index-2023\">2023</a></strong> | <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/references/keeping-up-with-gutenberg-index/gutenberg-index-2024/\"><strong>2024</strong></a></p></div></div></div></div></div><div class=\"ng-block-hs ng-block-hs-2\" height=\"0\" style=\"width: 0px;\"></div></div><div><div class=\"ng-block-vs ng-block-vs-2\" colspan=\"3\" height=\"0\" style=\"height: 0px;\"></div></div></div></div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-building-themes-for-fse-and-word-press\">Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor.</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ryan Welcher</strong> released v. 1.0.3 of his VSCode extension <strong><a href=\"https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ryanwelcher.wordpress-interactivity-api-helper\">WordPress Interactivity API Helper</a></strong> that adds autocomplete for directive and even detects items in your store. After you install it you can invoke it by &#8220;Simply start typing <code>data-</code> in any HTML attribute position within PHP or HTML files&#8221;.  </p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img alt=\"Ryan Welcher\'s Interactivity API VSCode extension\" class=\"wp-image-44552\" height=\"318\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/interactivityAPI-VSCode-extension-1024x500.jpg?resize=652%2C318&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"652\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ryan Welcher </strong>also released a new version of <a href=\"https://github.com/ryanwelcher/advanced-query-loop/releases/tag/4.4.0\"><strong>Advanced Query Loop 4.4.0</strong></a> that enhances query speed and reliability. It includes transient caching for AQL instances and a new management control, along with fixes and improvements to caching. The current post ID and type are now included in the context, and the release features expanded unit tests, E2E tests via Playground, and static linting for both PHP and JavaScript.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>JuanMa Garrido</strong> walks you through <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2026/02/a-better-way-to-test-html-in-wordpress-with-assertequalhtml/\"><strong>the new <code>assertEqualHTML()</code> assertion introduced in WordPress 6.9</strong></a>, available on <code>WP_UnitTestCase</code>. If fragile PHPUnit tests that break over attribute ordering or style whitespace are your nemesis, this is your fix. It compares HTML semantically — not literally — so your tests only fail when markup is genuinely different. Covers block render callbacks, HTML API transformations, Interactivity API directives, and tips for migrating away from <code>assertSame()</code>. </p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ai-and-wordpress\">AI and WordPress </h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his post on The Repository, <strong><a href=\"https://www.therepository.email/wordpress-faces-an-event-horizon-not-a-sunset\">WordPress Faces an Event Horizon, Not a Sunset</a></strong>, <strong>Matt Cromwell</strong>, founder of Roots &amp; Fruits,  pushes back on the &#8220;WordPress is dying&#8221; narrative, reframing what looks like decline as an event horizon — a boundary where old rules break and new, denser ones form. AI, he argues, actually favors WordPress&#8217;s open, structured architecture. Flat plugin sales signal market maturity, not collapse. Educational pipelines are creating new builders. The real question isn&#8217;t whether WordPress survives, but whether its community will design for the physics ahead.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD-KgrQ_E_w\"><strong>WordPress AI experiments roundup</strong></a>, <strong>Jonathan Bossenger</strong> dives into community-submitted projects, starting with the WP AI Client Mistral provider, where he clones the repo, gets the AI SDK running, and generates a &#8220;WordPress haiku&#8221; post — though the model returns Markdown rather than block markup. He then tests a Claude-to-WordPress MCP integration plugin, successfully publishing a post directly from Claude, uses MCP Tracker to monitor requests, and briefly explores Ability Scout, which surfaces potential abilities from code.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Rich Tabor</strong> walks you through <a href=\"https://richtabor.com/wordpress-ai-client\" id=\"https://richtabor.com/wordpress-ai-client\" type=\"link\"><strong>the new WP AI Client landing in WordPress 7.0</strong></a> — a provider-agnostic layer for calling Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and other AI models from both PHP and JavaScript, without plugins shipping their own API wrappers or credential pages. Configure once, use everywhere. His companion <a href=\"https://github.com/richtabor/wp-ai-content-kit\"><em>WP AI Content Kit</em></a> demonstrates auto-generating alt text and post excerpts using structured JSON responses. WordPress 7.0 is due April 9, coinciding with WordCamp Asia. </p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Glen Davies </strong>at Automattic introduces <a href=\"https://wordpress.com/blog/2026/02/13/new-plugin-and-skills-for-claude-cowork/\"><strong>new Skills and a Claude Cowork plugin</strong></a> that turns a conversation with Claude into a fully built block theme, deployed locally via WordPress Studio — no technical skills required. Describe your site, pick from design options, and Claude builds it. Setup takes about ten minutes and currently requires macOS. These tools are early and evolving fast, but the team wanted to ship them now rather than wait.</p>\n\n\n<div class=\"ng-block-4f9bedee8f1bc317 wp-block-newsletterglue-container ng-block\" style=\"color: #666666;\" width=\"100%\"><div><div><div class=\"ng-block-vs ng-block-vs-1\" colspan=\"3\" height=\"0\" style=\"height: 0px;\"></div></div><div><div class=\"ng-block-hs ng-block-hs-1\" height=\"0\" style=\"width: 0px;\"></div><div align=\"none\" class=\"ng-block-td\" style=\"font-size: 16px; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: normal; padding-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; text-align: none; color: #666666; background-color: #f8f8f8; border-radius: 8px;\"><div class=\"ng-block-942e5a901b9d941e wp-block-newsletterglue-text ng-block\" style=\"color: #666666;\" width=\"100%\"><div><div><div align=\"none\" class=\"ng-block-td\" style=\"font-size: 16px; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: normal; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: none; color: #666666;\"><p><strong><a href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/need-a-zip-from-master/\">Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg&#8217;s master branch?</a></strong><br />Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review.</p></div></div></div></div>\n\n<div class=\"ng-block-63f1c4ad74732e48 wp-block-newsletterglue-image ng-block size-full is-resized\" width=\"100%\"><div><div><div align=\"center\" class=\"ng-block-td\" style=\"padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;\"><a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/playnightly.json\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-42874 ng-image\" height=\"45\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2025-11-15-at-12.06.44.png?resize=196%2C45&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border-style: none; border-color: transparent;\" width=\"196\" /></a></div></div></div></div>\n\n<div class=\"ng-block-1cedbefc9771207b wp-block-newsletterglue-text ng-block\" style=\"color: #666666;\" width=\"100%\"><div><div><div align=\"none\" class=\"ng-block-td\" style=\"font-size: 16px; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 1.6; font-weight: normal; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: none; color: #666666;\"><p>Now also available via <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?blueprint-url=https://gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/playnightly.json\">WordPress Playground</a>. There is no need for a test site locally or on a server. Have you been using it? <a href=\"mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com\">Email me </a>with your experience.</p></div></div></div></div></div><div class=\"ng-block-hs ng-block-hs-2\" height=\"0\" style=\"width: 0px;\"></div></div><div><div class=\"ng-block-vs ng-block-vs-2\" colspan=\"3\" height=\"0\" style=\"height: 0px;\"></div></div></div></div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Questions? Suggestions? Ideas? </em><br /><em>Don&#8217;t hesitate to send <a href=\"mailto:pauli@gutenbergtimes.com\">them via email</a> or</em><br /><em> send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph</em>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">For questions to be answered on the <a href=\"http://gutenbergtimes.com/podcast\">Gutenberg Changelog</a>, <br />send them to <a href=\"mailto:changelog@gutenbergtimes.com\">changelog@gutenbergtimes.com</a></p>\n\n\n<div class=\"ng-block-9c7641b1283edbe2 wp-block-newsletterglue-separator ng-block\" style=\"color: #666666;\" width=\"100%\"><div><div><div align=\"center\" class=\"ng-block-td\" style=\"padding-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; color: #666666;\"><hr style=\"background-color: transparent; color: transparent; margin: 0; border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #666666; width: 560px; height: 0;\" /></div></div></div></div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-newsletterglue-showhide ng-block\" width=\"100%\"></div>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:53:22 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:68:\"Gutenberg Times: 14 ways to add Custom CSS in WordPress Block Editor\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/?p=44344\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:79:\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:100197:\"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the new Custom CSS on a block and post/page level, I was wondering if I would know where to look if something needs to be changed that was modified by a Custom CSS setting. Turns out there are 14 different ways to skin WordPress. I am a fan of keeping one source of truth, but it might not always be possible to keep it in theme.json. So I also wanted to figure out what decisions making process goes into selecting a method in the first place.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Below is a comprehensive reference for users, site builders, designers and developers covering all methods from no-code to full theme development.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These methods only apply to Block themes, though. Classic theme methods (like the Customizer&#8217;s Additional CSS panel etc.) are excluded.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Table of contents</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<nav class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents\"><ul><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#the-specificity-cascade\">The specificity cascade</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#1-theme-json-structured-style-properties\">1. theme.json — structured style properties</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#2-theme-json-the-css-property\">2. theme.json — The css Property </a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#3-custom-css-properties-variables-via-theme-json-settings\">3. Custom CSS Properties (Variables) via theme.json Settings</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#4-child-theme-s-theme-json\">4. Child Theme&#8217;s theme.json</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#5-global-styles-ui\">5. Global Styles UI </a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#6-additional-css\">6. Additional CSS </a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#7-per-block-additional-css\">7. Per-Block Additional CSS </a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#8-additional-css-class-es-on-individual-block-instances\">8. Additional CSS Class(es) on individual block instances</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#9-global-style-variations-theme-level-style-presets\">9. Global Style Variations (Theme-Level Style Presets)</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#10-block-style-variations-json-php-and-javascript\">10. Block Style Variations (JSON, PHP, and JavaScript)</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#11-section-styles\">11. Section Styles </a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#12-block-stylesheets-via-wp-enqueue-block-style\">12. Block Stylesheets via wp_enqueue_block_style()</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#13-enqueuing-stylesheets-via-wp-enqueue-style-in-php\">13. Enqueuing Stylesheets via wp_enqueue_style() in PHP</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#14-the-theme-s-style-css\">14. The Theme&#8217;s style.css</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#summary-table\">Summary Table</a></li><li><a class=\"wp-block-table-of-contents__entry\" href=\"https://gutenbergtimes.com/14-ways-to-add-custom-css-in-wordpress-block-editor/#decision-guide\">Decision Guide</a></li></ul></nav>\n</div></div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-specificity-cascade\">The specificity cascade</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before diving in, it helps to understand WordPress&#8217;s style hierarchy for block themes. Styles resolve in this order, with later layers overriding earlier ones on four levels.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Default </strong>mostly the styling and layouts of WordPress Core.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Block-level</strong> styling can be altered with plugins and overwrites the Default styling.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Theme-level </strong>styling is the whole suite of design tools controlled by the active Theme. It overwrites Default and block-level styles and layouts for instance (e.g. template and template parts).</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>User-level</strong> styling uses the Design tools within the Site Editor to modify styles and layouts. These changes are stored in the database and overwrite the theme-level styling.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Within each layer, more specific targets (per block, per element) override more general ones. This cascade is central to how all the methods below interact.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-theme-json-structured-style-properties\">1. theme.json — structured style properties</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Theme developers, child theme authors<br /><strong>Where:</strong> <code>theme.json</code> (root of your theme) → <code>styles</code> section</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the <strong>recommended first choice</strong> for styling in block themes. Rather than writing raw CSS, you define styles as structured JSON properties — colors, typography, spacing, borders, shadows, and more — at the global, element, or per-block level.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can use hardcoded values directly in <code>styles</code>, and they work just fine:</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>JSON</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">{\n  \"version\": 3,\n  \"styles\": {\n    \"color\": {\n      \"background\": \"#ffffff\",\n      \"text\": \"#333333\"\n    },\n    \"elements\": {\n      \"link\": {\n        \"color\": { \"text\": \"#0073aa\" }\n      }\n    },\n    \"blocks\": {\n      \"core/button\": {\n        \"color\": { \"background\": \"#0073aa\" }\n      }\n    }\n  }\n}</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">version</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">3</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">styles</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">background</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#ffffff&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">text</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#333333&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">elements</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">link</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">text</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#0073aa&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">blocks</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">core/button</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">background</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#0073aa&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As your theme grows, hardcoded values become harder to manage. If you decide to change your primary color, you&#8217;d need to find and update every instance of <code>#0073aa</code> across styles. A more maintainable approach is to define your values as presets in the <code>settings</code> part of theme.json and then reference them in <code>styles</code> using the <code>var:preset||</code> syntax. WordPress converts these presets into CSS custom properties (e.g., <code>--wp--preset--color--primary</code>), keeping everything connected:</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>JSON</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">{\n  \"version\": 3,\n  \"settings\": {\n    \"color\": {\n      \"palette\": &#91;\n        { \"slug\": \"primary\", \"color\": \"#0073aa\", \"name\": \"Primary\" },\n        { \"slug\": \"base\", \"color\": \"#ffffff\", \"name\": \"Base\" },\n        { \"slug\": \"contrast\", \"color\": \"#333333\", \"name\": \"Contrast\" }\n      &#93;\n    },\n    \"typography\": {\n      \"fontSizes\": &#91;\n        { \"slug\": \"medium\", \"size\": \"18px\", \"name\": \"Medium\" }\n      &#93;\n    }\n  },\n  \"styles\": {\n    \"color\": {\n      \"background\": \"var:preset|color|base\",\n      \"text\": \"var:preset|color|contrast\"\n    },\n    \"typography\": {\n      \"fontSize\": \"var:preset|font-size|medium\",\n      \"lineHeight\": \"1.6\"\n    },\n    \"elements\": {\n      \"link\": {\n        \"color\": { \"text\": \"var:preset|color|primary\" }\n      },\n      \"heading\": {\n        \"typography\": { \"fontWeight\": \"700\" }\n      }\n    },\n    \"blocks\": {\n      \"core/button\": {\n        \"border\": { \"radius\": \"4px\" },\n        \"color\": { \"background\": \"var:preset|color|primary\" }\n      },\n      \"core/quote\": {\n        \"typography\": { \"fontStyle\": \"italic\" }\n      }\n    }\n  }\n}</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">version</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">3</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">settings</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">palette</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&#91;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">slug</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;primary&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#0073aa&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">name</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;Primary&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">slug</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;base&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#ffffff&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">name</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;Base&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">slug</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;contrast&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#333333&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">name</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;Contrast&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&#93;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">typography</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">fontSizes</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&#91;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">slug</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;medium&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">size</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;18px&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">name</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;Medium&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&#93;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">styles</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">background</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;var:preset|color|base&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">text</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;var:preset|color|contrast&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">typography</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">fontSize</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;var:preset|font-size|medium&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">lineHeight</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;1.6&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">elements</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">link</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">text</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;var:preset|color|primary&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">heading</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">typography</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">fontWeight</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;700&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">blocks</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">core/button</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">border</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">radius</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;4px&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">background</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;var:preset|color|primary&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">core/quote</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">typography</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">fontStyle</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;italic&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This token-based approach pays off in a few ways. When a user changes &#8220;Primary&#8221; in the Global Styles UI, every element referencing that token updates automatically. It keeps your theme internally consistent — no risk of one button being <code>#0073aa</code> while another drifted to <code>#0074ab</code>. And it makes global style variations far simpler to create: a dark mode variation only needs to redefine the palette, not hunt down every color reference in styles. Either approach is valid, but tokens tend to save time as a theme matures.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Automatic integration with the Global Styles UI:</strong> Users can view and override your styles in the Site Editor without writing CSS.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>WordPress manages specificity for you:</strong> the &#8220;base → theme → user&#8221; cascade works correctly.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Generates CSS custom properties automatically</strong> (e.g. <code>--wp--preset--color--primary</code>).</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Visual parity</strong> between editor and front end.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Machine-readable: </strong>other tools and plugins can consume and extend these styles.</li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reduces the amount of CSS</strong> enqueued overall.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Can only express what <a href=\"https://schemas.wp.org/trunk/theme.json.\">theme.json&#8217;s schema</a> supports (growing with each release, but not yet comprehensive).</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pseudo-classes like <code>:hover</code>, <code>:focus</code>, <code>:active</code>, and <code>:visited</code> are supported for elements such as links and buttons (e.g., <code>\"elements\": { \"link\": { \":hover\": { \"color\": { \"text\": \"var:preset|color|contrast\" } } } }</code>), but pseudo-elements like <code>::before</code> and <code>::after</code>, media queries, and more complex selectors are not available in the structured properties — use the <code>css</code> property (#2) or block stylesheets (#3) for those.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Documentation</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/global-settings-and-styles/\">Global Settings and Styles (theme.json)</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2024/10/mastering-theme-json-you-might-not-need-css/\">Mastering theme.json: You might not need CSS</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/global-settings-and-styles/styles/using-presets/\">Using Presets</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/global-settings-and-styles/styles/styles-reference/\">Styles Reference</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-theme-json-the-css-property\">2. theme.json — The <code>css</code> Property </h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Theme developers<br /><strong>Where:</strong> <code>theme.json</code> → <code>styles.css</code> (global) or <code>styles.blocks.[blockname].css</code> (per-block)</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When theme.json&#8217;s structured properties aren&#8217;t enough, you can drop to raw CSS strings within theme.json itself. Available since WordPress 6.2.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"global-custom-css\">Global custom CSS</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>JSON</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">{\n  \"version\": 3,\n  \"styles\": {\n    \"css\": \".my-custom-class { opacity: 0.8; } body { scroll-behavior: smooth; }\"\n  }\n}</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">version</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">3</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">styles</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">css</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;.my-custom-class { opacity: 0.8; } body { scroll-behavior: smooth; }&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"per-block-custom-css\">Per-block custom CSS</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>JSON</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">{\n  \"version\": 3,\n    \"styles\": {    \n       \"blocks\": {\n          \"core/image\": {\n              \"css\": \"&amp; img { border-radius: 8px; transition: transform 0.3s; } &amp;:hover img { transform: scale(1.02); }\"\n              },     \n          \"core/post-title\": {\n              \"css\": \"letter-spacing: 1px;\"\n             },\n         \"core/paragraph\": {       \n              \"css\": \"&amp;.has-background { padding: .5rem .8rem; }\"\n           }\n        }\n    }\n}</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">version</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">3</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">styles</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">       </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">blocks</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">          </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">core/image</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">              </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">css</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;&amp; img { border-radius: 8px; transition: transform 0.3s; } &amp;:hover img { transform: scale(1.02); }&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">              </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\">     </span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">          </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">core/post-title</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">              </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">css</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;letter-spacing: 1px;&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">             </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">         </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">core/paragraph</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\">       </span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">              </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">css</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;&amp;.has-background { padding: .5rem .8rem; }&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">           </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress auto-generates the selector for per-block CSS—you don&#8217;t need to know the block&#8217;s class name. The <code>&amp;</code> selector is supported for targeting nested elements and pseudo-selectors (<code>:before</code>, <code>:after</code>, <code>:hover</code>, <code>:not()</code>, etc.).</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Integrates with the Styles interface in the Site Editor — users can see and modify your per-block CSS under Styles → Blocks → [Block] → Advanced → Additional CSS.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>WordPress handles the selector, so you avoid specificity conflicts.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>CSS from elements and variations is also supported (from WordPress 6.6).</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provides a bridge between structured theme.json properties and full CSS freedom.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>JSON doesn&#8217;t support line breaks, so everything must be on one line — cumbersome for large blocks of CSS.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>No syntax highlighting in JSON files.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Best for small, targeted additions — for anything extensive, use block stylesheets instead.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Documentation</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/03/06/custom-css-for-global-styles-and-per-block/\">Custom CSS for global styles and per block</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-custom-css-properties-variables-via-theme-json-settings\">3. Custom CSS Properties (Variables) via theme.json Settings</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Theme developers<br /><strong>Where:</strong> <code>theme.json</code> → <code>settings.custom</code></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Create your own CSS custom properties that can be used anywhere in your CSS—in stylesheets, block stylesheets, or even within the <code>css</code> property.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>JSON</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">{\n  \"version\": 3,\n  \"settings\": {\n    \"custom\": {\n      \"contentMaxWidth\": \"800px\",\n      \"spacing\": {\n        \"gutter\": \"2rem\"\n      },\n      \"transition\": \"all 0.3s ease\"\n    }\n  }\n}</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">version</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">3</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">settings</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">custom</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">contentMaxWidth</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;800px&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">spacing</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">gutter</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;2rem&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">transition</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;all 0.3s ease&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This generates:</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>JSON</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">body {\n  --wp--custom--content-max-width: 800px;\n  --wp--custom--spacing--gutter: 2rem;\n  --wp--custom--transition: all 0.3s ease;\n}</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">body </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">--wp--custom--content-max-width</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">800</span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">px;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">--wp--custom--spacing--gutter:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">2</span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">rem;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">--wp--custom--transition:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">all</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">0.3</span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">s</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">ease;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Centralized design tokens accessible from any CSS source.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Automatic generation of CSS custom properties following WordPress naming conventions.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Changes propagate everywhere the variable is used.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only generates the variables — you still need to reference them in your CSS.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Not directly editable by users in the Site Editor UI (unlike presets for colors or font sizes).</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Documentation</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/08/adding-and-using-custom-settings-in-theme-json/\">Adding and using custom settings in theme.json</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-child-theme-s-theme-json\">4. Child Theme&#8217;s <code>theme.json</code></h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Developers customizing a parent theme<br /><strong>Where:</strong> <code>theme.json</code> in the child theme root</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Override or extend the parent theme&#8217;s <code>theme.json</code> with a child theme. WordPress merges both files automatically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All changes survive parent theme updates.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Full access to every theme.json capability — structured properties, css property, presets, and settings.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Combined with block stylesheets and style.css, it provides a complete override system.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Requires maintaining a child theme.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Merging behavior can be tricky: child values override parent values at the same path but won&#8217;t remove parent values at other paths.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Documentation</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Theme Handbook: <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/\">Child Themes</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"5-global-styles-ui\">5. Global Styles UI </h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Site owners, content editors (no code required)<br /><strong>Where:</strong> <strong>Appearance → Editor → Styles</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The visual interface for customizing your site&#8217;s appearance. Users can adjust typography, colors, spacing, and layout for the entire site, individual elements, or specific block types — all without writing any code.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44500\" height=\"569\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-24-at-18.40.45.png?resize=652%2C569&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"652\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>Style Book</strong> helps you keep the overall context for your styles and you and double-check on how blocks behave when Styles change. </p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44499\" height=\"334\" src=\"https://i0.wp.com/gutenbergtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-24-at-18.38.39.png?resize=652%2C334&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"652\" /></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>No code required — fully visual.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Highest specificity: user styles override theme defaults.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Changes are stored in the database (<code>wp_global_styles</code> post type), separate from theme files, so they survive theme updates.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supports global style variations — users can switch between whole-site style presets.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Limited to what the UI controls expose (which grows with each WordPress release).</li>\n\n\n\n<li>For anything the UI can&#8217;t handle, users fall back to the Additional CSS options below.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"6-additional-css\">6. Additional CSS </h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Site owners with CSS knowledge<br /><strong>Where:</strong> Appearance → Editor → Styles → three-dot menu (⋮) → Additional CSS</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the block theme replacement for the classic Customizer&#8217;s Additional CSS panel. A free-form CSS editor for site-wide custom styles.</p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Free-form CSS handles any valid CSS.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stored in the database as part of Global Styles (not in theme files), so it&#8217;s theme-specific but survives code deployments.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Preview changes before saving.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Revision history (last 25 versions).</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Higher specificity than theme styles.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Not scoped to blocks — loads globally.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>No syntax highlighting or code formatting.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Intended as a last resort for styles that can&#8217;t be achieved through theme.json or the visual Styles interface.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"7-per-block-additional-css\">7. Per-Block Additional CSS </h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Site owners with CSS knowledge<br /><strong>Where:</strong> Appearance → Editor → Styles → Blocks → select a block → scroll to Advanced → Additional CSS</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Target CSS to a specific block type site-wide. WordPress auto-generates the selector — you just write the CSS properties.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-videopress\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\n</div></figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>CSS</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">/* Example: added to Styles → Blocks → Quote → Additional CSS */\nfont-style: italic;\nborder-left: 4px solid currentColor;\npadding-left: 1.5em;</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593; font-style: italic;\">/*</span><span style=\"color: #9893A5; font-style: italic;\"> Example: added to Styles → Blocks → Quote → Additional CSS </span><span style=\"color: #797593; font-style: italic;\">*/</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">font-style</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\">: italic;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">border-left</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\">: 4px solid currentColor;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">padding-left</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\">: 1.5em;</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <code>&amp;</code> selector works here for nested elements and pseudo-selectors.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scoped to a specific block type — only loads when that block is present on a page.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>No need to know CSS selectors — WordPress handles them.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>User-level styles (highest priority in the cascade).</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Media queries may not work reliably (as of 2025). Use CSS functions like <code>clamp()</code>, <code>min()</code>, and <code>max()</code> for responsive behavior, or put responsive styles in theme-level CSS.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Small text area with no code formatting.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"8-additional-css-class-es-on-individual-block-instances\">8. Additional CSS Class(es) on individual block instances</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Content editors with CSS knowledge<br /><strong>Where:</strong> Select any block in the editor → Settings sidebar → Advanced → Additional CSS Class(es)</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Add custom class names to a specific block instance. The CSS itself must be defined elsewhere (style.css, block stylesheets, Additional CSS, etc.). As a user the global Additional CSS is probably the most practical place. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Precision targeting of individual block instances rather than all blocks of a type.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Perfect for one-off styling: a highlighted paragraph, a special call to action, etc.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Multiple classes can be added, separated by spaces.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Works with any CSS source — just define the class styles somewhere.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only adds class names — you still need to write the CSS elsewhere.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Per-instance, which means it doesn&#8217;t scale well for repeated patterns (use block style variations for those).</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"9-global-style-variations-theme-level-style-presets\">9. Global Style Variations (Theme-Level Style Presets)</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Theme developers<br /><strong>Where:</strong> JSON files in the theme&#8217;s <code>/styles</code> directory (at the top level, not in a <code>/blocks</code> subfolder)</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Provide entire alternative site-wide style schemes. Each variation is a JSON partial that can override settings and styles from the main theme.json. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since WordPress 6.6, style variations are further classified into three subtypes based on their content. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A variation file that defines only <code>settings.color</code> or <code>styles.color</code> is automatically recognized as a <strong>color variation</strong>, appearing under <strong>Styles → Colors → Palette. </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One that defines only <code>settings.typography</code> or <code>styles.typography</code> becomes a <strong>typography variation</strong>, appearing under <strong>Styles → Typography → Presets. </strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Files that touch other properties remain full <strong>theme style variations</strong>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Color and typography variations can be mixed and matched with each other and with theme variations. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To keep the <code>/styles</code> folder organized, it&#8217;s recommended to use subfolders (e.g., <code>/styles/color</code>, <code>/styles/typography</code>, <code>/styles/global</code>). </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>JSON</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">// /styles/dark-mode.json\n{\n  \"$schema\": \"https://schemas.wp.org/trunk/theme.json\",\n  \"version\": 3,\n  \"title\": \"Dark Mode\",\n  \"settings\": {\n    \"color\": {\n      \"palette\": &#91;\n        { \"slug\": \"base\", \"color\": \"#1a1a2e\", \"name\": \"Base\" },\n        { \"slug\": \"contrast\", \"color\": \"#e0e0e0\", \"name\": \"Contrast\" }\n      &#93;\n    }\n  },\n  \"styles\": {\n    \"color\": {\n      \"background\": \"#1a1a2e\",\n      \"text\": \"#e0e0e0\"\n    }\n  }\n}</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593; font-style: italic;\">//</span><span style=\"color: #9893A5; font-style: italic;\"> /styles/dark-mode.json</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">$schema</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;https://schemas.wp.org/trunk/theme.json&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">version</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">3</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">title</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;Dark Mode&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">settings</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">palette</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&#91;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">slug</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;base&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#1a1a2e&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">name</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;Base&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">slug</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;contrast&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#e0e0e0&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">name</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;Contrast&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&#93;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">},</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">styles</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">color</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">background</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#1a1a2e&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">      </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #56949F;\">text</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">&quot;</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">&quot;#e0e0e0&quot;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">  </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Users can switch between entire style schemes (light/dark, color themes, typographic variations) from the Styles panel.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Makes one theme feel like many — more versatile without requiring separate themes.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fully declarative (no PHP).</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only affects settings and styles — not templates or patterns.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Documentation</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/global-settings-and-styles/style-variations/\">Style Variations</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2024/07/mixing-and-matching-styles-colors-and-typography-in-wordpress-6-6/\">Mixing and matching styles, colors, and typography in WordPress 6.6</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"10-block-style-variations-json-php-and-javascript\">10. Block Style Variations (JSON, PHP, and JavaScript)</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Theme developers, plugin developers<br /><strong>Where:</strong> JSON files in <code>/styles</code>, PHP via <code>register_block_style()</code>, or JavaScript via <code>wp.blocks.registerBlockStyle()</code></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Block style variations give content creators pre-made styling options in the Styles panel — like &#8220;Rounded&#8221; or &#8220;Outline&#8221; on core blocks. You can register them via JSON files in <code>/styles</code> (WordPress 6.6+, no PHP needed), PHP with <code>register_block_style()</code>, or JavaScript. The JSON-based methods integrate with Global Styles so users can customize them in the Site Editor; <code>inline_style</code>, <code>style_handle</code>, and JavaScript methods do not.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a thorough walkthrough of all six registration methods — with code examples, a companion theme and plugin on GitHub, and a comparison table showing which methods support Global Styles — see the comprehensive guide <strong><a href=\"https://wordpress.com/blog/2025/05/07/custom-block-styles/\">Mastering Custom Block Styles in WordPress: 6 Methods for Theme and Plugin Developers</a>.</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"11-section-styles\">11. Section Styles </h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Theme developers<br /><strong>Where:</strong> JSON files in <code>/styles</code> directory, targeting mostly group or column blocks. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Section styles are more of a convention than a separate feature. They are essentially Block Style Variations. The difference is naming the variation slug: <code>style-1</code>, <code>style-2</code>, etc. so that they can be reused across themes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since WordPress 6.6, block style variations can style nested inner blocks and elements, enabling &#8220;section styling&#8221; — where a Group block&#8217;s style variation changes the appearance of all blocks within it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Twenty Twenty Five theme showcases this convention quite nicely. </p>\n\n\n\n		<figure class=\"wp-block-jetpack-videopress jetpack-videopress-player\">\n			<div class=\"jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper\"> </div>\n			\n			\n		</figure>\n		\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Apply coordinated styles to entire sections (background, text color, button colors, link colors) with a single click.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Users select the section style in the block&#8217;s Styles panel.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Powerful for creating consistent design sections (hero areas, dark sections, testimonials).</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Easy to overwhelm users with too many section style options — restraint is needed.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Requires careful design token architecture (using base/contrast/primary/secondary color naming).</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Documentation</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2024/06/24/section-styles/\">Section Styles</a> (WordPress 6.6)</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"12-block-stylesheets-via-wp-enqueue-block-style\">12. Block Stylesheets via <code>wp_enqueue_block_style()</code></h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Theme developers<br /><strong>Where:</strong> Separate <code>.css</code> files in your theme (e.g., <code>/assets/blocks/core-image.css</code>), registered in <code>functions.php</code></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the recommended approach when you have more CSS than what&#8217;s comfortable in theme.json&#8217;s <code>css</code> property.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>JSON</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">/* /assets/blocks/core-image.css */\n.wp-block-image img {\n    padding: 1rem;\n    background: linear-gradient(-60deg, #ff5858, #f09819);\n}</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593; font-style: italic;\">/*</span><span style=\"color: #9893A5; font-style: italic;\"> /assets/blocks/core-image.css </span><span style=\"color: #797593; font-style: italic;\">*/</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">.wp-block-image img </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">padding</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">1</span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">rem;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">background:</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">linear-gradient(</span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">-60</span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">deg</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">#ff5858,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">#f09819);</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>JSON</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">// functions.php\nadd_action( \'init\', function() {\n    wp_enqueue_block_style( \'core/image\', array(\n        \'handle\' => \'my-theme-image-styles\',\n        \'src\'    => get_theme_file_uri( \'assets/blocks/core-image.css\' ),\n        \'path\'   => get_theme_file_path( \'assets/blocks/core-image.css\' ),\n    ) );\n});</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593; font-style: italic;\">//</span><span style=\"color: #9893A5; font-style: italic;\"> functions.php</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">add_action( \'init\', function() </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">wp_enqueue_block_style(</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">\'core/image\',</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">array(</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">\'handle\'</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">=&gt;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">\'my-theme-image-styles\',</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">\'src\'</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">=&gt;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">get_theme_file_uri(</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">\'assets/blocks/core-image.css\'</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">),</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">\'path\'</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\">   </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">=&gt;</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">get_theme_file_path(</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">\'assets/blocks/core-image.css\'</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">),</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">)</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A;\">);</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\">);</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Performance:</strong> CSS only loads when the block is actually present on the page. WordPress inlines it in the <code>&lt;head&gt;</code> section</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Full CSS syntax with syntax highlighting, multi-line formatting, and preprocessor support (Sass/SCSS).</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clean code organization — one file per block.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Works for any CSS, including media queries, animations, complex selectors, and pseudo-elements.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applies in both the editor and front end.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Requires PHP registration in functions.php.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>These styles aren&#8217;t exposed in the Global Styles UI for user editing.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Documentation</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/features/block-stylesheets/\">Block Stylesheets</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2022/12/leveraging-theme-json-and-per-block-styles-for-more-performant-themes/\">Leveraging theme.json and per-block styles for more performant themes</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"13-enqueuing-stylesheets-via-wp-enqueue-style-in-php\">13. Enqueuing Stylesheets via <code>wp_enqueue_style()</code> in PHP</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Theme and plugin developers<br /><strong>Where:</strong> <code>functions.php</code> using the <code>wp_enqueue_scripts</code> (front end) and <code>enqueue_block_editor_assets</code> (editor) hooks</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The traditional WordPress approach still works and is useful for loading third-party CSS libraries, fonts, or complex stylesheets. </p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>PHP</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">add_action( \'wp_enqueue_scripts\', function() {\n    wp_enqueue_style(\n        \'my-theme-custom\',\n        get_theme_file_uri( \'assets/css/custom.css\' ),\n        array(),\n        \'1.0.0\'\n    );\n});\n\n// For editor-only styles:\nadd_action( \'enqueue_block_editor_assets\', function() {\n    wp_enqueue_style(\n        \'my-theme-editor\',\n        get_theme_file_uri( \'assets/css/editor.css\' ),\n        array(),\n        \'1.0.0\'\n    );\n});</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">add_action</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'wp_enqueue_scripts\'</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #286983;\">function</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">()</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">wp_enqueue_style</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'my-theme-custom\'</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">get_theme_file_uri</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'assets/css/custom.css\'</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">),</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A; font-style: italic;\">array</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(),</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'1.0.0\'</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">);</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">});</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593; font-style: italic;\">//</span><span style=\"color: #9893A5; font-style: italic;\"> For editor-only styles:</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">add_action</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'enqueue_block_editor_assets\'</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #286983;\">function</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">()</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">wp_enqueue_style</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'my-theme-editor\'</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">get_theme_file_uri</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'assets/css/editor.css\'</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">),</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #B4637A; font-style: italic;\">array</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(),</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">        </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'1.0.0\'</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">    </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">);</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">});</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Full control over loading conditions (you can conditionally enqueue based on page, template, user role, etc.).</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Familiar to all WordPress developers.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Can load external stylesheets, Google Fonts, icon libraries, etc.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Supports dependencies, versioning, and media attributes.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Can target editor-only or front-end-only.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Loads on every page (unless you add conditional logic).</li>\n\n\n\n<li>No integration with the Global Styles UI.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Doesn&#8217;t benefit from the block stylesheet system&#8217;s per-block inlining.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Documentation</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/how-to-guides/enqueueing-assets-in-the-editor/#editor-scripts-and-styles\">Enqueueing assets in the Editor</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/core-concepts/including-assets/#editor-stylesheets\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Editor Stylesheets</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/wp_enqueue_scripts/\">do_action( ‘wp_enqueue_scripts’ )</a></li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_enqueue_style/\">wp_enqueue_style( string $handle, string $src, string[] $deps = array(), string|bool|null $ver = false, string $media )</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-s-the-difference-between-wp-enqueue-style-and-add-editor-style\">What&#8217;s the difference between wp_enqueue_style and add_editor_style?</h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><code>wp_enqueue_style()</code> is the general-purpose function for loading stylesheets — you choose where it loads by picking your hook (<code>wp_enqueue_scripts</code> for the frontend, <code>enqueue_block_editor_assets</code> for the editor). When you use it on the editor hook, the stylesheet loads into the entire editor page, including the UI chrome (sidebar, toolbar, etc.).</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><code>add_editor_style()</code> is specifically designed for visual parity between the editor and the frontend. WordPress takes the stylesheet you pass it and automatically scopes every selector to <code>.editor-styles-wrapper</code>, so your styles only affect the content canvas and don&#8217;t bleed into the editor UI. In block themes it&#8217;s typically called from an <code>after_setup_theme</code> hook — this is how themes get their <code>style.css</code> to apply inside the editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The practical upshot: if you want your theme&#8217;s frontend styles to look the same in the editor, use <code>add_editor_style()</code>. If you need to style the editor UI itself (like a custom sidebar panel) or need fine-grained control over loading conditions, dependencies, and versioning, use <code>wp_enqueue_style()</code> on the appropriate hook.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"14-the-theme-s-style-css\">14. The Theme&#8217;s <code>style.css</code></h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Who:</strong> Theme developers<br /><strong>Where:</strong> <code>style.css</code> in the theme root</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The traditional main stylesheet still works in block themes, but its role has changed significantly. It now primarily holds theme metadata (name, version, description) and is loaded globally. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In block themes it&#8217;s typically called from an <code>after_setup_theme</code> hook — this is how themes get their <code>style.css</code> to apply inside the editor.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-kevinbatdorf-code-block-pro cbp-has-line-numbers\"><span>PHP</span><span class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button\" style=\"color: #575279; display: none;\" tabindex=\"0\"><pre class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-pre\"><textarea class=\"code-block-pro-copy-button-textarea\" readonly=\"readonly\" tabindex=\"-1\">add_action( \'after_setup_theme\', \'theme_slug_setup\' );\n\nfunction theme_slug_setup() {\n	add_editor_style( get_stylesheet_uri() );\n}</textarea></pre><svg fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/2000/svg\"><path class=\"with-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2m-6 9l2 2 4-4\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path><path class=\"without-check\" d=\"M9 5H7a2 2 0 00-2 2v12a2 2 0 002 2h10a2 2 0 002-2V7a2 2 0 00-2-2h-2M9 5a2 2 0 002 2h2a2 2 0 002-2M9 5a2 2 0 012-2h2a2 2 0 012 2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\"></path></svg></span><pre class=\"shiki rose-pine-dawn\" style=\"background-color: #faf4ed;\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">add_action</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'after_setup_theme\'</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">,</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #EA9D34;\">\'theme_slug_setup\'</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">);</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #286983;\">function</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">theme_slug_setup</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">()</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">{</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #575279;\">	</span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">add_editor_style</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">(</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #D7827E;\">get_stylesheet_uri</span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">()</span><span style=\"color: #575279;\"> </span><span style=\"color: #797593;\">);</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color: #797593;\">}</span></span></code></pre></div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Familiar workflow for developers with classic theme experience.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Good for truly global CSS that should always be available (e.g., custom utility classes, print styles, CSS resets beyond what theme.json handles).</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Full CSS syntax, syntax highlighting, and preprocessor support.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Limitations:</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Needs to be enqueued like any other stylesheet file (see #13)  </li>\n\n\n\n<li>Loads on every page, even if the styles aren&#8217;t needed — no per-block performance optimization.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Not integrated with the Global Styles UI.</li>\n\n\n\n<li>Not the recommended approach for block-specific styling; use block stylesheets instead (#12)</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Documentation</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/core-concepts/main-stylesheet/\">Main Stylesheet (style.css)</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"summary-table\">Summary Table</h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table alignwide is-style-stripes\" style=\"font-size: 0px;\"><table><thead><tr><th>#</th><th>Method</th><th>Who</th><th>Scope</th><th>Loads When</th><th>Editable by Users</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>theme.json structured properties</td><td>Developer</td><td>Global / block / element</td><td>Always (inlined)</td><td>Yes, via Global Styles UI</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>theme.json <code>css</code> property</td><td>Developer</td><td>Global or per-block</td><td>Always (inlined)</td><td>Yes, per-block CSS is visible in Styles</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Custom CSS properties (<code>settings.custom</code>)</td><td>Developer</td><td>Global (variables)</td><td>Always</td><td>No (indirectly via tokens)</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Child theme.json</td><td>Developer</td><td>Inherits parent</td><td>Same as parent</td><td>Same as parent</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Global Styles UI (visual)</td><td>User</td><td>Global / block / element</td><td>Always (inlined)</td><td>It <em>is</em> the user editing</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Additional CSS (site-wide)</td><td>User</td><td>Global</td><td>Every page</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Per-block Additional CSS</td><td>User</td><td>Per-block type</td><td>When block present</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Additional CSS Class(es)</td><td>User</td><td>Single block instance</td><td>When that block is present</td><td>N/A (class only)</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Global style variations</td><td>Developer</td><td>Whole site preset</td><td>When active</td><td>Users switch presets</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Block style variations (JSON, PHP, JS)</td><td>Developer</td><td>Per-block variation</td><td>Only when block + variation is used</td><td>JSON/<code>style_data</code> methods: yes; <code>inline_style</code>/JS: no</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Section styles</td><td>Developer</td><td>container blocks </td><td>When block + variation is used</td><td>Yes, via Styles panel</td></tr><tr><td>12<br /> </td><td>Block stylesheets (<code>wp_enqueue_block_style</code>)</td><td>Developer</td><td>Per-block</td><td>Only when block is present</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td><code>wp_enqueue_style()</code></td><td>Developer</td><td>Configurable</td><td>Configurable</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td><code>style.css</code></td><td>Developer</td><td>Global</td><td>Every page</td><td>No</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"decision-guide\">Decision Guide</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Start here:</strong> Use <strong>theme.json structured properties</strong> (#1) for everything they support. This gives you the best integration with the Global Styles system and lets users customize your styles.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Need CSS that theme.json properties can&#8217;t express?</strong> Use the <strong>theme.json <code>css</code> property</strong> (#2) for small additions or <strong>block stylesheets</strong> (#12) for anything substantial.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Want to offer style choices to content editors?</strong> Create <strong>block style variations</strong> (#10) so they appear in the Styles panel.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Site owner making tweaks?</strong> Use the <strong>Global Styles UI</strong> (#5) first, then fall back to <strong>Additional CSS</strong> (#7 or #7) for anything the visual interface can&#8217;t handle.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Need to target one specific block instance?</strong> Use <strong>Additional CSS Class(es)</strong> (#8) and define the class in your preferred CSS source.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Building a child theme?</strong> Override the parent via <strong>child theme.json</strong> (#4) and add block stylesheets as needed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Need to sync user edits with theme files</strong>? Use the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/create-block-theme/\">Create Block Theme plugin</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>How to sync user editor to theme files and maintain version control?</strong> Here is a tutorial: <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2026/01/streamlining-block-theme-development-with-wordpress-playground-and-github/\">Streamlining block theme development with WordPress Playground and GitHub</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" />\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Huge Thank you to Justin Tadlock for reviewing the post to make sure it&#8217;s all technically accurate. </em></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 27 Feb 2026 18:01:03 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"Birgit Pauli-Haack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:25:\"Open Channels FM: Empathy\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://openchannels.fm/?p=1497274\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"https://openchannels.fm/empathy/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"For some of us it comes naturally. For others, it may need to be learned.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:55:43 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Bob Dunn\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:16:\"Matt: Enablement\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=151317\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:33:\"https://ma.tt/2026/02/enablement/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:474:\"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year at <a href=\"https://automattic.com/\">Automattic</a> has been intense. We kicked it off with two weeks of in-person AI enablement training, <a href=\"https://automattic.com/2026/02/25/ai-enablement-wordpress/\">and there&#8217;s a great post about it now</a>. I&#8217;ve been so impressed and inspired by my colleagues leaning in to learn and grow together in the most consequential time in software development in the past 40 years.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 27 Feb 2026 02:00:52 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"WordPress.org blog: WordPress 7.0 Beta 2\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:35:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=20025\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/02/wordpress-7-0-beta-2/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:6527:\"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 is now ready for testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This beta version of the WordPress software is under development</strong>. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, you should evaluate Beta 2 on a test server and site. You can test WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 in any of the following ways:</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Plugin</strong></td><td>Install and activate the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/\">WordPress Beta Tester</a> plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream.)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Direct Download</strong></td><td>Download the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/wordpress-7.0-beta2.zip\">Beta 2 version (zip)</a> and install it on a WordPress website.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Command Line</strong></td><td>Use this <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/cli/\">WP-CLI</a> command: <br /><code>wp core update --version=7.0-beta2</code></td></tr><tr><td><strong>WordPress Playground</strong></td><td>Use the <a href=\"https://playground.wordpress.net/?php=8.0&amp;wp=beta&amp;networking=no&amp;language=&amp;multisite=no&amp;random=y4q1rn88xn\">WordPress Playground instance</a> to test the software directly in your browser.  No setup required – just click and go! </td></tr></tbody></table></figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scheduled final release date for WordPress 7.0 is <strong>April 9, 2026</strong>. The full <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/02/12/wordpress-7-0-release-party-schedule/\">release schedule can be found here</a>. Your help testing Beta and RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible. Make sure to check the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/7-0\">7.0-related posts</a> in the coming weeks for more information. Thank you to everyone who contributes by testing!</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Catch up on what’s new in WordPress 7.0</strong>: Read the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2026/02/wordpress-7-0-beta-1/\">Beta 1 announcement</a> for details and highlights.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to test this release</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your help testing WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 is key to ensuring everything in the release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/2026/02/20/help-test-wordpress-7-0/\">guide on what to test in WordPress 7.0</a> will walk you through testing features in WordPress 7.0.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you encounter an issue, please report it to the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\">Alpha/Beta area</a> of the support forums or directly to <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket\">WordPress Trac</a> if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major\">known bugs</a>. Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/test/\">testing initiatives in Make Core</a> and join the <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/core-test/\">#core-test channel</a> on <a href=\"https://wordpress.slack.com/\">Making WordPress Slack</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beta 2 updates and highlights</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 contains more than 70 updates and fixes across the Editor and Core since the Beta 1 release. </p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each beta cycle focuses on bug fixes; and more are on the way with your help through testing. You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 1 using these links:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/commits/wp/7.0?since=2026-02-20&amp;until=2026-02-26\">GitHub commits for 7.0</a> since February 20, 2026</li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&amp;changetime=02%2F20%2F2026..02%2F26%2F2026&amp;milestone=7.0&amp;col=id&amp;col=milestone&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=priority&amp;order=id\">Closed Trac tickets for 7.0</a> since February 20, 2026</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Beta 2 also contains a new feature</strong>!</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI provider management is more intuitive in 7.0 Beta 2 with a new Connectors UI dashboard page. WordPress users can now manage external AI connections in a central place in wp-admin, under Settings &gt; Connectors. The new UI enables users to add, delete, and update external connections. It is powered by an extensible, route-based architecture that allows plugins and themes to hook into the page and expand its functionality. The new Connectors page builds on PHP-based script and menu infrastructure, and adds route components powered by <code>@wordpress/components</code> and <code>@wordpress/admin-ui</code>. A new <code>connections-wp-admin-init</code> hook and registration APIs allow plugins to integrate cleanly. This makes managing external connections easier while giving developers a clearer path to extend the experience.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Beta 2 haiku</h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>New, and fresh as dew</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Crafted and refined for you:</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Beta 2 breaks through.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Props to <a class=\"mention\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/4thhubbard/\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>4thhubbard</a>, <a class=\"mention\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/annezazu/\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>annezazu</a></em>, <em><a class=\"mention\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>audrasjb</a>, <a class=\"mention\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mukesh27/\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>mukesh27</a>, and <a class=\"mention\" href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chaion07/\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@</span>chaion07</a></em> <em>for collaboration, proofreading and review.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:32:56 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"Amy Kamala\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"Open Channels FM: Open Source vs SaaS: The Freedom Debate\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://openchannels.fm/?p=1650282\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"https://openchannels.fm/open-source-vs-saas-the-freedom-debate/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:126:\"In this clip, hosts Dave and Robert discuss the balance between personal convenience and the ideals of open source technology.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:50:00 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Bob Dunn\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19:\"Matt: Great Writing\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:23:\"https://ma.tt/?p=151313\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:36:\"https://ma.tt/2026/02/great-writing/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1961:\"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Especially in an age where generating words is cheap, when you come across truly great writing, it really stands out. I want to pull two quotes from The Economist&#8217;columnist Charlemagne&#8217;s article <a href=\"https://www.economist.com/europe/2026/02/25/luxury-goods-are-europes-global-tax-on-vanity\">Luxury goods are Europe’s global tax on vanity</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flogging luxury goods is one of the few fields of business in which Europe excels (if one excludes the crafting of regulation). In an ironic twist, an egalitarian continent with an ever-declining share of global GDP hosts an industry that thrives on inequality and bombastic money-making. For how many seasons more can this alchemy of aspiration endure?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I mean, gosh, look at every word there. How they flow. The density of concepts and metaphors. Here&#8217;s another delicious excerpt.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Luxury houses sell the idea of scarcity, with hordes of publicists explaining that the years-long wait for a Birkin handbag is due to the lack of sufficient artisans to craft these pinnacles of refinement. This is a fairy tale stitched in fine silk. The luxury-goods industry has roughly tripled in size since 2000; its €358bn in annual sales—half a Walmart or Amazon, give or take—betrays how thoroughly mainstream supposed exclusivity has become. Fifty years ago, Louis Vuitton had but two outlets, both in France. These days it has two stores in Ningbo, China’s 34th-biggest city. Exclusive, <em>moi</em>?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I guess this post also serves as an endorsement of why it&#8217;s worth subscribing to publications like The Economist. </p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 26 Feb 2026 07:04:40 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:21:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:112:\"WPTavern: #206 – Jonathan Desrosiers on WordPress Sustainability, Community Engagement, and Release Strategies\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"https://wptavern.com/?post_type=podcast&p=202772\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:124:\"https://wptavern.com/podcast/206-jonathan-desrosiers-on-wordpress-sustainability-community-engagement-and-release-strategies\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:57656:\"<details>Transcript<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:00:19] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Welcome to the Jukebox Podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case WordPress sustainability, community engagement and release strategies.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;d like to subscribe to the podcast, you can do that by searching for WP Tavern in your podcast player of choice. Or by going to wptavern.com/feed/podcast, and you can copy that URL into most podcast players.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have a topic that you&#8217;d like us to feature on the podcast, I&#8217;m keen to hear from you and hopefully get you, or your idea, featured on the show. Head to wptavern.com/contact/jukebox, and use the form there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So on the podcast today, we have Jonathan Desrosiers. Jonathan has been involved with WordPress for almost two decades, both as a user and a contributor. He&#8217;s a principal software engineer at Bluehost, where his role sees him sponsored to work on WordPress through the Five for the Future program. Over the years, he&#8217;s become a Core committer, and has spent many hours thinking about how to enhance the contributor experience, and make it easier for people to get involved in the project.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this episode we discuss how WordPress releases might become more impactful by synchronizing them with flagship community events like WordCamps and State of the Word. A recent experiment of combining a major release with a live event spark some excitement, and Jonathan shares insights on the logistics behind such synchronized moments, the challenges posed by international holidays, and regional scheduling, and the broader vision for connecting releases with community gatherings.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We also get into the challenging landscape of the WordPress community, how it&#8217;s recovering from the effects of COVID, the struggle to rebuild local Meetups, and efforts like mentorship and educational initiatives to bring in new contributors, particularly from younger generations.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jonathan reflects on the importance of making release moments engaging and fun, akin to the anticipation of a new TV series or software launch, and the role of AI and open source in empowering a new wave of builders.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re interested in how release cycles, community events, and contributor onboarding are involved in WordPress, or what the future might hold for the platform and its community, this episode is for you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re interested in finding out more, you can find all of the links in the show notes by heading to wptavern.com/podcast, where you&#8217;ll find all the other episodes as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so without further delay, I bring you Jonathan Desrosiers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am joined on the podcast by Jonathan Desrosiers. Hello.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:03:06] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> Hi, how are you?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:03:07] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, good. Jonathan&#8217;s joining me again. Most recently, I think we were at WordCamp somewhere. I can&#8217;t exactly remember where, but I was chatting with him and Joe Dolson if memory serves. And a very different conversation to be had today because Jonathan has been mulling over how we can make releases impactful, and also how we can bind those to community events, particularly flagship WordPress events like WordCamps, things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before we begin that conversation, Jonathan, I wonder, it&#8217;s a bit of a banal question, but people like to have the context of who you are. So would you mind just, very quick potted bio. Just tell us who you are and what you do in the WordPress space.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:03:44] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> Sure. So my name is Jonathan Desrosiers. I am a principal software engineer at Bluehost and I am sponsored there, the majority of my time is sponsored to contribute back to the WordPress project through the Five for the Future program. And so I&#8217;ve been there, probably since 2018, I think. And I&#8217;ve been a Core committer for almost eight years now.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve been involved as an accredited contributor for 13 years now. And so I&#8217;ve been involved with WordPress for over a decade in many ways, contributing, but also as a user for almost, geez, almost two decades now I think. And so, I just had that realisation, it&#8217;s been a really long time. It&#8217;s been almost 20 years that I&#8217;ve been at least using WordPress in some way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But week to week I do a lot of thinking about contributor experience, how we can automate things, or how we can make our processes more clear so that more people can participate. And just generally making sure that everybody has what they need to be successful. And whether that&#8217;s mentorship, or they have blockers they need, certain people to come together and discuss, and get a consensus or understanding, you know, how the sausage is made in some way.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:04:56] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I think it&#8217;s fair to say that you are very much connected to the WordPress project. I think it&#8217;s the fulcrum of your working life, and you are working at a very high level as well. So Core committer, things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, in the recent past, it was probably, I want to say December in the year 2025, we had a kind of strange event happened. Not strange in the sense of weird, but strange in the sense of different, unusual. A release of WordPress came out and it coincided with an actual event. Now, in this case, it was State of the Word. So there was a bunch of people, and I believe they were gathered in New York. I could be wrong about that, but I think it was in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:05:33] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> It was in San Francisco.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:05:35] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> San Francisco. Okay, there we go. Thank you for the correction. It was in San Francisco and the idea was that the release of WordPress would go out and it would be bound to this event. And there was this almost, how can we describe it? It was almost like television, basically. It was being filmed and streamed live all over the place. And there was this feeling of a big red button. There was a lot of people gathered around and they all sort of leaned in and pushed a big red button, and the release of WordPress came out.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, I don&#8217;t know if the button actually did anything or if it was really sort of smoke and mirrors. I like the idea that the button actually did signal the release, but I don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s the case. But the point was, there was a little bit of theater put into it. There was this idea that, okay, we&#8217;ve got this live event which lots of people will be watching. We&#8217;ve got a release which we need to do, which lots of people will be looking forward to. Why don&#8217;t we sort of combine the two things?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so it was a bit of PR really. And it also felt a bit like sort of marketing, and I&#8217;m going to use gimmick in the real sense of the word. So not like gimmick as in something pointless, but gimmick as in something different, unique. Something to draw your attention and grab you in. And I think the idea has been proposed that in the year 2026, the flagship events, the flagship WordCamps, so I&#8217;ll list them in order in which they&#8217;re happening.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So we&#8217;ve got WordCamp Asia, and then we&#8217;ve WordCamp Europe, and then we&#8217;ve got WordCamp US. The three releases of WordPress during 2026 will happen in tandem with those events. Now, why? Why would we want to do this?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:07:12] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> Yeah, so I don&#8217;t think it was intentional, but the schedule just happened to coincide. You know, we were working on 6.9 and we realised, oh, the release date is the same as State of the Word. And so, I can&#8217;t remember who originally had the idea, but it was mentioned that it would be really neat to just be able to publish it live at the event and celebrate that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I guess the main reason behind it is just that, the more I&#8217;m involved in open source, the more I realise that the code and the license and all those things are important, but the most important thing underneath any open source project is the community that&#8217;s involved with it. And what better way to celebrate our achievements and our accomplishments when we get together in different ways.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so, typically that&#8217;s in Slack or social media, right? We celebrate a release and we share the posts and say what we&#8217;re excited about. But we also get together at different events and we do the same thing, right? We talk about what we&#8217;re excited about, what we&#8217;re working on, what&#8217;s coming, or what we think should change in certain ways. Why not just do that at the same time and create even a more ultimate celebration, right? Another community moment where people have another opportunity to feel involved in something greater than them.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:08:25] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Do you have any notion that this is going to be carried forward? I mean, I know that there was obviously a bit of serendipity in how it happened. The coincidence of timing and things like that. But do you have every confidence that this will happen, that Asia will get a release, Europe will get a release, and the US will get a release. In the year 2026, do you think that&#8217;s going to actually occur?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:08:46] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> We will see. So as the proposed schedule is for this calendar year, right? There&#8217;s three releases. Unfortunately, it&#8217;s tough because the people planning WordCamps don&#8217;t plan around our software&#8217;s release cadence, right? They plan around budget, regional holidays, travel factors, weather, cost of venues and availability.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so, you know, it&#8217;s not reasonable for the Core team and the people working on releases to say you have to have an event in a certain month, right? And so this year, some people may not have noticed, but WordCamp Asia is in April this year, which it&#8217;s been in February so far in the previous editions. And WordCamp Europe is in June, which it&#8217;s traditionally usually in.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so that&#8217;s not a big enough gap to have another major release. And so the proposed schedule is saying, let&#8217;s release during WordCamp Asia, let&#8217;s release during WordCamp US, and then we&#8217;ll release again at the end of the year around State of the Word. We don&#8217;t have a date for State of the Word yet, but it&#8217;s around where we think it might be.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And likewise, creating a schedule for releases is incredibly hard because if we don&#8217;t release in the first week of April, for example, then I believe the whole month of April has major religious holidays scattered throughout it in different areas of the world. And if we released in March, that was way too soon because we started the alpha phase of 7.0, that starts when the previous release is branched, like it&#8217;s separated from the primary branch in the code base, and that happened in like November.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there&#8217;s US Thanksgiving, there&#8217;s Hanukkah, there&#8217;s Christmas, there&#8217;s New Year&#8217;s, right? A lot of people in the community take the majority of December off, and so that&#8217;s like a washed month, right? And so we would&#8217;ve had essentially four weeks until the feature complete point of the release. So that was too soon. And so it&#8217;s just as hard to plan the release schedule in a way that doesn&#8217;t negatively impact everybody as best as possible as it is to plan these major events.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so I can&#8217;t say that it will be a guarantee going forward. We&#8217;re trying it out this year to see how it goes and what we can learn from it. We felt that the State of the Word was successful and it was exciting. It was unique in its own ways. And so we want to try, continue trying this this year and see how it goes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:11:06] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Gosh, the piece that you just said there about the religious holidays and what have you, that really opens up a really interesting discussion. Because it is quite likely, I imagine, that the listenership to this podcast probably never gave that any thought, that this kind of international calendar, be it a religious calendar or maybe just a vacation calendar in certain parts of the globe would really impact when the release can happen.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because there are people who are committing to the project, and they tend to be in certain jurisdictions. And so if there are people who are on, I don&#8217;t know, a week long holiday, nationally, in a specific jurisdiction, and they typically are a large part of the team that are committing in various different respects, that&#8217;s important, but probably something that many people would not have thought about.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, in terms of these releases then, is the idea, well, I&#8217;ll backpedal a little bit. It occurred to me that quite a lot of the people who may be involved in releases are the very kind of people who would find themselves also at some of these flagship events. Now, obviously it&#8217;s not going to be 100%, maybe it&#8217;s 25% of the people who are release leads and part of the teams that are committing here, there, and everywhere.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was worried that there&#8217;d be people on airplanes, people trying to land and orientate themselves in the country that they&#8217;ve landed in in the same period of time when they would&#8217;ve been heads down, in their office, in their study, figuring out the bits that might be broken with the upcoming release. Is that a thing? Is that part of the jigsaw puzzle of this?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:12:32] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> It definitely is, yeah. With any release, there&#8217;s no time of the day where everyone on the planet is available to work on something, right? And so another part of this is that, in a way it forces us to have a major release in different geographic areas so that everywhere on the globe there&#8217;s a WordPress release that they may be able to participate in, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so, likewise with travel, right? So when we assemble a release squad, we have to think, okay, it&#8217;s based in, for example, this one was planned to be released at WordCamp Asia in India. So we want to make sure we have a mix of people that are in different areas of the world. And not just so that there&#8217;s always people around to respond to things throughout the entire cycle, but we also want to have people that are present and not present at the event that are participating. And maybe the wifi is completely unusable or maybe something happens, right? So it&#8217;s good to have people that are there and not.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that was part of the announcement too, is that we tried to underscore the point that it would be great if everybody could go to WordCamp Asia, but traveling is not a requirement to participate in the release at all. And that&#8217;s a good thing, because it&#8217;s good to have people in multiple areas, multiple time zones.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With WordCamp Asia, once contributor day ends, it&#8217;s the beginning of the US daytime, right? And so those contributors can sign off and there&#8217;s people around to help carry that torch and continue on if there&#8217;s any follow-up issues or anything that needs to be investigated.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so, yeah, that&#8217;s also a consideration is how, I guess we can call it global coverage, right? Like, how can we ensure we have global coverage so that there are people with the right skill sets, and right availability, and right knowledge, to be able to take on certain tasks or responsibilities or perform investigations, whatever may need to be done as part of that release process.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:14:26] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I, like you, am really in the weeds of the WordPress project. I obsess about it in a way that&#8217;s probably not all that healthy. I&#8217;m very well aware of when the next release is coming up. I&#8217;m usually fairly aware of what is going to be in that release. But I imagine most people using WordPress, it&#8217;s probably a bit of a surprise. You know, they open up WordPress one day and either it has updated. If it&#8217;s a point release, probably it&#8217;s a more manual thing, if it&#8217;s a major release, I should say, but if it&#8217;s a more minor release, maybe things have updated in the background during the course of the night and what have you.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I&#8217;m thinking of TV series now. So when a successful TV series has a new season, there&#8217;s all this fanfare and buildup and you know it&#8217;s coming. You see the commercials, you see the adverts. And the moment that TV series comes around, you are excited, you&#8217;re ready to go. And I remember back in the day, this is going back a long time, when Firefox would make a release, they sort of did this thing like, I don&#8217;t know, every 18 months or something like that. Not like now where it&#8217;s every couple of hours it seems, that browsers update themselves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But when it went to, I don&#8217;t know, 3.6 or something like that, there was this big fanfare, this big moment. Everybody took stock and what have you. And are you trying to encourage a bit of that? Are you trying to create a bit of razzmatazz and drama and intrigue and awareness and all of that around the release, and make it feel like an important thing, which with the best will in the world, it kind of has not been more recently? Most people, it just updates. There&#8217;s no fanfare whatsoever. But we can leverage it to make it important, significant, fun, interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:16:04] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> Yes and no, right? Like, we want to celebrate the community and the work we&#8217;re doing now. I actually would love it if we could get to a point where we&#8217;re releasing every, I don&#8217;t know, every week or every month even, right? Not have to wait every three or four months. There&#8217;s some value in having that penultimate moment, right? Of, we&#8217;ve worked for three months on this. But there&#8217;s also aspects of the world where we expect things faster and more instant and waiting for the patch that you submit in January to be released in April is not really, like maybe you lose interest in contributing in that time, right? So there&#8217;s many different things like that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some things that you mentioned really resonated with me as far as awareness of what&#8217;s coming or like what&#8217;s been done. In a way, the fact that users are not so aware of what&#8217;s being added or what their site has updated to, it&#8217;s a sign of the success of auto updates and how seamless those are.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because for a little while I&#8217;ve been considering, when you update WordPress manually, you&#8217;re redirected into the about page in the dashboard, right? And every release, there&#8217;s a new about page that&#8217;s designed, it works hand in hand with, we call them the micro sites, which is like a wordpress.org&#8217;s landing page that showcases the release. And it just explains all the features that have been added.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But you only see that if you either go to the about page manually or you manually click update when you&#8217;re in the dashboard. And a site might have many administrators that only the person that actually updates will see it. And so I&#8217;ve been thinking about ways that we can make users more aware that their site is updated. Or maybe that&#8217;s not the important part, but maybe it&#8217;s just the important part to make them aware of the new features that are available to them, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe we put some type of a widget on the dashboard where we link off to a Learn WordPress page that teaches you about how to use the Notes feature that got added. The other thing too is you mentioned about the TV shows advertise when they&#8217;re coming up, right? Maybe we need to do a better job of advertising what&#8217;s coming up and encouraging people to opt in early and test.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And in a way a more rapid release cycle leads to that because many of the browsers have different feature flags and they build features out in different branches, and you can actually opt into testing a specific feature and that would get turned on, but maybe not all the other things that they&#8217;re working on until it&#8217;s ready.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so maybe we need different ways for people to get involved testing, or trying things out earlier to understand what&#8217;s coming, but also to give us valuable feedback, how it works on their site, what breaks, what it doesn&#8217;t interact with. All of that is very valuable feedback, and we should always be striving to get more testers and more awareness around what&#8217;s coming because it creates new feedback loops that are valuable for different reasons.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:18:58] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Yeah, it&#8217;s kind of interesting, and what I&#8217;m about to say, I am sure that a significant proportion of the listeners to this podcast will say, no, Nathan, we don&#8217;t want this. But here&#8217;s a proposal then. Here&#8217;s an idea. And again, I&#8217;m going to hark back to the TV series.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The TV series, typically when they&#8217;ve started advertising between other television programs, that TV series has been made, the footage has been shot, the graphics have been done. It&#8217;s basically ready to roll. And then they parcel all that up and then they release little snippets of what&#8217;s coming so that you can prepare yourself and get excited.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I kind of wondered if something like that in the dashboard, akin to the about us page, but in the run up to the release. So all the graphics have been made. We know basically what&#8217;s going to drop in this release. Now it may get tweaked here and there at the edges, but we know what&#8217;s coming. I&#8217;ve always thought that would be a really nice idea.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I would love to see that. And I realise a proportion of people would think, no, we really don&#8217;t want that. But I think that&#8217;s a perfect opportunity to get people drawn into, oh, this is coming. Collaborative editing, that&#8217;s about to happen is it? Gosh, that&#8217;s really interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then this call to action could be dropped in, but we need some testing around the edges of it. We&#8217;ve got the bare bones of it, but we need some more eyeballs on it and what have you. So that proactive demonstration of what&#8217;s going to happen rather than the reactive, your site has been updated, here&#8217;s what there is, which is already there. This is more of a here&#8217;s what&#8217;s coming, get excited, get involved, yada yada.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:20:29] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> In some ways the feature branch model that I described lends to that, right? Because then it&#8217;s not, here comes this feature and then, oh, actually we left it out of this release, right? It&#8217;s its own thing that&#8217;s being worked on. And then when it&#8217;s released, it&#8217;s released, and it&#8217;s here. But it doesn&#8217;t make it any less, any worse off than other things that are shipping in the release, right? Because it&#8217;s its own thing, and it&#8217;s its own, it has its own criteria to be ready, in a state that we&#8217;re comfortable with shipping it and supporting it forever because of backwards compatibility.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so yeah, I think that what you&#8217;re describing is essentially what I was describing, a little bit more detail. And there&#8217;s of course a lot of nuance there around how often do we do that? We have a lot of parts of the release process that need to be automated before we can even consider that. The different parts of the block editor are, many of it is managed as packages, NPM packages. And so a lot of those are so interconnected, it&#8217;s a little difficult to release just one feature because they&#8217;re all being updated at the same time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so like there&#8217;s some architectural things to think about around that. Like, how do we compartmentalize things better to be able to do that? Make sure we don&#8217;t accidentally include something that&#8217;s not ready but when we intended to include a certain feature. There&#8217;s a lot to unpack there and I don&#8217;t know that we&#8217;ll ever get there just because of the sheer size of the project and how, backwards compatibility, how long we&#8217;ve been around.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I think that training users that auto updates are important to have enabled that are quality, you know, not shipping things that break people&#8217;s sites as much as possible, even though it&#8217;s unavoidable because of how flexible WordPress is.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After 6.9 came out, I was looking into some of the data because I had this gut feeling that 6.9 was being updated to, slower than other releases. And so for a little while I was looking at that. And after about a month, I was like, okay, this is just a hunch. Let me go and actually look at the data around this.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so what I noticed was actually the opposite. When I looked at, I created 5% thresholds for the percentage of total WordPress sites. And when I looked at the data, I realised that for the last 10 releases, let&#8217;s see here. So every major version of the last six to eight releases has passed 35% of all WordPress sites in two days or less. And also every one of these columns as far as percentages is increasing.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so WordPress 6.9 reached the 50% threshold of all WordPress sites in 10 days, and that&#8217;s four days faster than 6.8, which was the next fastest. And currently we&#8217;re approaching 65% threshold of all WordPress sites. And only six other releases have done that so far. All of them are the most recent ones, except for 4.9, which we all know had a waiting period for Gutenberg. And the only release the past 70% was 6.8.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so I&#8217;m interested to see how this trend continues because it&#8217;s showing an acceleration of adoption for each new major version of WordPress. They&#8217;re getting installed faster, by more people. It&#8217;s a sign that we&#8217;re shipping stable software. People are more confident. People are opting into auto updates for major versions. And in general, it&#8217;s just a quality sign that we&#8217;re doing something right here. And so how can we lean into that more?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:23:52] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> Okay, let&#8217;s pivot a little bit. Let&#8217;s sort of bind community, we did touch on this a minute ago, but let&#8217;s spend a little bit of time binding the community to these kind of things because right at the start you mentioned that really the community is the underpinnings of your interest in the WordPress space. The code is obviously tremendously important, but without the community there is no code basically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so we&#8217;ve got these events. We&#8217;re trying to create interest around the WordCamps and the releases at the same time. But just looking back over the last period of time, let&#8217;s go for year, two years, something like that. I don&#8217;t know what your spidey sense is telling you, but my spidey sense is telling me that that community portion, it&#8217;s sort of slowly but surely, it feels like it&#8217;s withering away slightly.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m not really picking up on like this angry mob of people who are stamping their feet and shouting, I don&#8217;t want anything to do with the WordPress community and then disappearing. I mean maybe there&#8217;s a few of those, probably, somewhere. But I don&#8217;t get a sense of that. I just get this sense of sort of, somebody&#8217;s pulled the plug out of a bathtub and it&#8217;s slowly sort of draining away.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attendance down at WordCamps. Meetups struggling to sort of get the numbers that they had several years ago. And so it would feel like at the moment, you would have to be watching the news fairly closely, especially right now. So at the beginning of February, 2026 is when we&#8217;re recording this. There does seem to be a push from the senior leadership to make WordPress Meetups and things like that, a much more central part.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then there&#8217;s this whole broad spectrum of educational initiatives as well going on. So we&#8217;ve got WP Campus Connect, we&#8217;ve got the Credits Program and a whole smorgasbord of other things which is happening.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So there&#8217;s no question there, really, what I&#8217;m just trying to do is give you the opportunity to bind the two things, the WordPress community and the software, and really just talk about whether you&#8217;ve noticed the same thing as me, where there&#8217;s this slow, withering of the community. And maybe this is a part of just sort of getting it all back together, making events like this a bit more fun and interesting.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:26:02] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> Yeah. I think there&#8217;s a few things there to call out. The first observation I&#8217;ve had over the last year is there&#8217;s a palpable excitement to build with WordPress again. I&#8217;m noticing there&#8217;s a renewed enthusiasm. People, they want to move on from certain things, and they want to get back to building experiences and tools and things on the WordPress platform.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there&#8217;s also, I think we&#8217;re dealing with some, in some ways, a long tail COVID effect, right? There was obviously, you know, a lack of in-person events for a while, and during that time a lot of the people who were keeping Meetups alive and WordCamps alive, they moved on, or burnt out, and chose not to return after. And so there was a break in that pipeline of, usually there&#8217;s a lead doing that and there&#8217;s other people learning under them, and then they move up and take over. And that was totally disrupted and I think that we&#8217;re still trying to rebuild that.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think that it manifests differently in different areas too. So for example, the APAC WordCamp community is very strong and they have lots of WordCamps. But in the United States, there was one WordCamp that wasn&#8217;t WordCamp US last year, I think, Montclair. And I lead the Boston WordPress Meetup and so finding speakers is difficult. Getting people to come out is difficult as well. And I think those are partially just larger societal shifts where it&#8217;s harder to get people to come out to certain things. And we just have different preferences as far as how we consume information or learn.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I&#8217;m still not sure why the difference in the geographical areas, and I think it may have to do more with, APAC is a more emerging market when it comes to WordPress, right? Like their community, especially in certain areas has been growing and is much newer than it is in the US. And so I think that they&#8217;re growing their communities for the first time in many ways, right? But in the US it&#8217;s the second or third or fourth time that we&#8217;re growing those communities or revitalising those communities. And the form that that needs to take, I think is a little different. And I&#8217;m not clear on what the holdup is there.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I do know that a big factor of that is to get new people involved with WordPress and interested in WordPress, and that&#8217;s why some of the priorities that Mary Hubbard published, and one of them in particular is education and awareness and all of those different things that work together in the form of the WP Credits program, mentorship programs. There&#8217;s been the contributor mentorship programs that happen every few quarters in WordPress over the last few years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And we&#8217;ve seen some really great contributors who were mentored in that program, and then the next time the program happened, they mentored, and then they became a team lead, and then they served on release squads. And so we&#8217;ve seen some really great contributed journeys through those paths.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:28:53] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I&#8217;ll just sort of run through with you the kind of things that I&#8217;ve noticed in my part of the world. So I think COVID is an enormous part of it. It upended so many ordinary things in life. So, as an example, you know, people obviously, they ceased going out, and then that pattern of not going out became habituated. People didn&#8217;t go out because that&#8217;s not what you do.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And in the UK we have this institution called the pub, which I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;ve heard of. And it used to be that prior to COVID, the pub was the real centerpiece of many communities. You know, towns, suburbs, what have you. Everybody would coalesce around the pub and that was very important. Since the pandemic, a lot of those institutions, they don&#8217;t really function in that way anymore. You know, there isn&#8217;t the throughput, there isn&#8217;t the footfall and so they go out of business.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the same, I presume is true in the WordPress space. You know, we&#8217;re trying to encourage people to get up, leave their home, spend money on transportation. Obviously there&#8217;s the time cost, the sunk cost of time and what have you as well. It&#8217;s difficult, but it makes me more sanguine that it&#8217;s not just like, it&#8217;s not just a WordPress thing, you know, it&#8217;s the whole of society.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But like you said, I get the feeling that the WordPress community has begun to address it. And the way it&#8217;s being addressed is through these educational initiatives. Trying to get a throughput of younger talent. So get them at the school age, get them at the university age, and then hopefully they will have an interest. They&#8217;ll get a flavor of what it means to be involved in these Meetups and things like that and hopefully take those on.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s a laudable goal. I hope that it has the capacity to transfer. You know, so in a decade&#8217;s time we can look back and say, look what happened. This young blood emerged. I think it&#8217;s yet to be seen. I think certainly in the area, the locale where I am, the United Kingdom, we don&#8217;t see evidence of that yet. Maybe in the US that would also mirror.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But from everything that I&#8217;ve learned and the people that I&#8217;ve talked to for this podcast and events in Asia and places like that, that seems to be a really different picture. There seems to be a real thirst for solutions like WordPress. Because there&#8217;s a direct kind of career path there. You know, you can pick up a free piece of open source software, crack open a laptop and get going and start to sell your services far and wide. And so again, there&#8217;s no question there, just observations that I hope these initiatives bear fruit. But it&#8217;ll be interesting to see. Only time will tell.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:31:16] <strong>Jonathan Desrosiers:</strong> I think at the root of what we&#8217;re dealing with is that people are motivated by what they see as valuable, right? If they&#8217;re not going out to events, so they&#8217;re not engaging with the community, they don&#8217;t recognise or feel that it&#8217;s valuable to them in some way. And so we&#8217;re having to reprove why communities are valuable, why open source is valuable, why you should care.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then the other aspect of it is, you know, overall project sustainability. We can&#8217;t just keep getting older. We need to have a balance of new, younger people that get involved as well.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so one way to lean into getting younger is obviously, like you said, to approach people at schooling age, right? Or university, and teach them about open source. Show them how to contribute, how to be a part of a community, and why it&#8217;s valuable. But we have to be really careful because we need to be prepared to, I&#8217;ve written in the past that we need to be prepared to activate these contributors, right?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So it&#8217;s one thing to make them aware of this, but it&#8217;s another thing to make sure they&#8217;re properly supported and we give them pathways to grow. We give them clear criteria to be successful, clear projects to work on, so they understand what they&#8217;re doing and what they&#8217;re trying to accomplish.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And I think that this is one thing that is also a benefit of having the releases coincide with these major events because new people are getting together already, so why not use that opportunity?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the goals that every table lead and every organiser of a Contributor Day has is to ensure as many contributors see, realise their work over the finish line. And so on the Core team that&#8217;s a patch that someone tests gets committed, or a patch someone writes gets committed to WordPress, right? How can we make that more valuable, where it&#8217;s not just ending when they leave Contributor Day?</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so I&#8217;ve been thinking about all the different logistics and helping to coordinate with the WordCamp Asia team and the 7.0 release team to make sure we&#8217;re prepared for that final day. And one of the things I&#8217;ve been thinking about is the release process itself. One of the best, lowest friction ways to get involved with WordPress in the actual release process. And you don&#8217;t need any experience contributing to really take part in it. And that&#8217;s when we get to a point where we say, okay, here&#8217;s the zip file of what we think we&#8217;re going to ship, go test it.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so people will take it, and they install it on their server and they say which version of PHP they&#8217;re using, and how they installed it and what they did and, you know, it worked. And the majority of that though is just looking for problems. And when problems don&#8217;t come up, we just don&#8217;t do anything with all the information that people are dropping, right? And there might be 50 people at a major release. We call them parties, but at the release parties that are dropping information. And again, if there&#8217;s no red flags, that information just largely goes away.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, how can we rethink that and make that effort more meaningful, and also create a pathway for them to continue contributing in some way past that moment? And having everybody in person is a great way to have pilot programs for different approaches, because there can be someone that briefs a set of contributors on what we&#8217;re going to try this time, here&#8217;s what we want to do, give us feedback on how you felt it went. Everybody that&#8217;s involved in the squad and doing the release can say, oh yeah, that actually was really helpful and better than what we do before.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And these newer individuals that are learning also have fresh perspective. And so having them participate in these, I guess I&#8217;ll call them experiments of such, but just these processes and things that we are considering, it helps get that fresh opinion and perspective on why things are working and why things aren&#8217;t and helps us just improve.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[00:35:04] <strong>Nathan Wrigley:</strong> I&#8217;ve got three children and they&#8217;re all of a certain age now, they&#8217;re certainly no longer small. You know, they&#8217;re basically adults. And it&#8217;s really fascinating looking at the kind of things that engage them. I think they&#8217;ve just grown up in a different era. The diet of the kind of things that excite them is very different to the kind of things that excited somebody of my generation, just because, you know, they&#8217;ve had the whole world in their pocket ever since they were born.</p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And having that dialogue with the next generation, and trying to figure out what it is that they want and that they desire. And even things like open source. So when, I was already an adult be