The Month in WordPress – February 2024

February saw significant progress towards the upcoming WordPress 6.5 release and final preparations for WordCamp Asia. The results of the annual WordPress survey were released, and discussions began on the next steps for the Data Liberation project. Read on for the latest happenings in the WordPress space.

Get ready for WordCamp Asia

The stage is ready for the first WordPress flagship event of the year in Taipei, Taiwan. WordCamp Asia 2024 will kick off on March 7, promising three days of learning, networking, and inspiration.

This year’s schedule features an extensive lineup of speakers, including guests Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Ben Thompson, Noel Tock, and JU-CHUN KO. To conclude the summit, attendees can engage with WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg in a Q&A session. Find out how to submit your questions.

Can’t make it to Taipei? Watch the event live stream on the WordPress YouTube channel.

Countdown to WordPress 6.5

WordPress 6.5 is on track for its much-anticipated release on March 26. Following last month’s beta releases, the first release candidate (RC1) is now available for testing—marking another milestone in the development cycle.

This major release will add finesse and fine-tuning to how you control your site-building experience, with lots to explore specifically for developers. Get a detailed overview of highlighted features in the Beta 1 announcement.

Stay on top of the latest updates in WordPress development with February’s edition of What’s New for Developers?

New in the Gutenberg plugin

Two new versions of Gutenberg shipped in February:

• Gutenberg 17.7 introduced multiple performance improvements, refinements to the link control UI, and shadow support for more blocks, among other notable highlights.
• Gutenberg 17.8 focused on stability updates. New features included a grid layout variation for the Group block, bulk export of patterns, and the ability to browse and try alternative templates from the editor’s sidebar.

Team updates

• Results of the 2023 annual WordPress survey were announced last month.
• An update on the Data Liberation project informs the next steps of this initiative and how to contribute to current conversations.
• The Community team shared key findings from the 2023 WordPress meetup survey.
• Meet the new cohort of the Contributor Mentorship Program.
• The Photos team posted recommendations for improving alternative texts when submitting images to the Photo Directory.
• Following discussions on the evolution of the Outreach Program, a new outreach group has been created on GitHub. This group will provide expertise and feedback to those seeking additional testing or perspectives on a new feature or solution.
• Core team members introduced the WordPress Core Trac Sustainability Focus, a part of the Sustainability team’s effort to enhance the sustainability of the WordPress codebase.
• A new release of WP-CLI is now available.
• Learn WordPress is regularly updated with new tutorials, online workshops, and more learning resources. Check out what’s new.
• The latest edition of People of WordPress features Sunita Rai, a content marketer and volunteer translator from Nepal.

Requests for feedback and testing

• Your help testing WordPress 6.5 is key to ensuring everything in this release is the best it can be. New to testing? Read this post for more details on getting set up.
• The Training team is discussing how to bring accessibility-first approaches into their content creation and processes. Feedback is open until March 9.
• Version 24.3 of the WordPress mobile app for iOS and Android is ready for testing.

WordPress events

• WordCamp Europe 2024 is looking for photographers.
• The WordPress Kerala Photo Festival wrapped up with great success. The event received over 1,500 images from 163 participants, contributing to the Photo Directory passing the 15,000 photo milestone. Winners were announced in this post.
• Don’t miss these other WordPress events happening soon:
  • Women WordPress Day, Costa Rica, on March 8
  • Switzerland Community Day on March 23
  • WordCamp Torrelodones, Spain, on March 23-24
• Find out more local events or apply to organize one on the Events page.

Have a story we should include in the next issue of The Month in WordPress? Fill out this quick form to let us know.