There’s always whether WordPress includes all the blocks it should by default, which comes with both pros and cons.
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Program transcript
Hello, I’m Alicia Ireland, and you’re listening to WPpodcast, bringing the weekly news from the WordPress Community.
In this episode, you’ll find the information from August 4 to 10, 2025.
In the Gutenberg repository, there’s a proposal to revive and move forward with a series of blocks that have been on the waiting list for some time, such as accordions, tabs, sliders, more complete menus, or even mathematical elements. The idea is to integrate them directly into WordPress core so users don’t always have to rely on external plugins or third-party libraries, making it easier for any theme to take advantage of them without issues. Improving block library management from within the admin panel is also on the table, so users can more clearly and centrally control which blocks are available.
On the plus side, adding these blocks could make the editor more expressive and allow themes to be more interoperable, with more consistent patterns and fewer external dependencies. On the downside, it could risk overloading core with too many elements, increasing maintenance complexity, and raising the question of whether all of these blocks truly deserve to be included by default.
Maintenance releases have been published for all WordPress branches from 4.7 to 6.7. These updates include a version of the root security certificate that improves certificate verification in HTTP requests from the server—a fix that was already included in version 6.8.2 and has now been backported as a courtesy to those still using older versions. If you have background auto-updates enabled, the update process will run automatically without your intervention.
Still, the only officially supported and maintained version remains 6.8.2, while these updates to earlier branches simply maintain a basic level of security.
The AI team discussed the strategy following the launch of the experimental plugin for AI integration. The main goal is to demonstrate the real value of AI-powered features in WordPress, make them accessible to developers without deep AI expertise, and, at the same time, allow more advanced users to add their own providers or models.
From a technical perspective, the focus was on how to integrate these features into the WordPress block editor, enforcing a consistent API and user experience, while also maintaining a variant for the Classic Editor based on the REST API, useful as a demonstration.
Some ideas on the table include:
- Title writing
- Short description generation
- Image text generation
- Image generation
- Content summarization
- Tag generation
The Playground team announced several improvements: OPCache is now enabled by default for faster performance; significant progress has been made in Xdebug support, including an experimental CLI developer tools option and a simulated bridge package.
Version 2 of Blueprints is now in development, with better handling of relative paths and error messages. New CLI options have been added, and error reporting has been optimized. Additionally, PHP 8.3 is now the default version.
The Accessibility team has issued a call for new team representatives and announced progress on the WP A11y Docs project following the start in June of reviewing and expanding WordPress accessibility documentation.
They have created a standalone website called the WP Accessibility Knowledge Base, built with Jekyll and GitHub Pages, which will serve as a central platform for introducing and categorizing content. It currently shows placeholder text, but starting August 11, it will begin receiving real content.
In a second phase, the most relevant information will be migrated to the Developer site under a new Accessibility Handbook section, managed via a GitHub repository.
The Community team continues advancing the WordPress Campus Connect program, which keeps expanding globally. Three events have already been held this year—in Ribera del Duero (Spain), Cartago (Costa Rica), and Cagayan de Oro (Philippines)—promoting digital innovation, website creation, and awarding students with diplomas and opportunities such as attending WordCamp US 2025. Two more events are already planned in Ajmer and San José, with six more in preparation.
New support tools have been launched, including a handbook page to make it easier to issue participation certificates and the creation of the first WordPress student club. A new section has also been added to the WordPress Credits Handbook, designed to promote the involvement of companies and educational institutions in community initiatives.
And finally, this podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons license as a derivative version of the podcast in Spanish; you can find all the links for more information, and the podcast in other languages, at WPpodcast .org.
Thanks for listening, and until the next episode!
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