The button to preview a plugin within the plugin directory is making a comeback, but this time it’s in a very different way.
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Program transcript
Hello, I’m Javier Casares, and you’re listening to WordPress Podcast, bringing the weekly news from the WordPress Community.
You’ll find updates from November 20 to 26, 2023.
After the initial attempt to introduce a button for previewing plugins in the directory, it seems that the functionality has finally arrived in a way that will please most people.
The button and functionality are the same, but there are some changes from the previous attempt.
To start with, the new system is double opt-in, meaning it doesn’t appear by default and requires a process on the developer’s part to activate it.
Even in this activation process, dependencies on other themes or plugins can be included.
The system also allows developers to validate functionality before going live, ensuring there are no serious errors.
Additionally, it includes two major features: most PHP extensions are active, and remote requests to external services are allowed.
But that’s not the only news, as we have Gutenberg 17.1, a version very focused on fixing bugs rather than launching new features, though it does have some.
Starting with improvements in accessibility and the fluidity of writing, with changes in the Media and Text block with state changes, Buttons working like the List one, and the List View allows selecting all the blocks with the keyboard shortcut. Plus, the Quote block allows spacing.
The Core team continues to progress with JavaScript Modules support and the use of Maps within the editor.
This work is in line with improving the use of JavaScript throughout the entire project, not just the editor, even affecting the way scripts are enqueued.
On the Developer Blog, we can find an interesting article about the Command Palette API, which arrived in WordPress 6.3.
The post details how to register commands, manage them from a plugin, and provides several code examples.
The Design team has put forward some proposals.
To start, small visual improvements like fixed table headers, or improvements to the URL modal to simplify them.
The styles of Openverse’s audio components have also been enhanced, and work continues on all the possibilities of the Editor’s dropdown menus.
An interesting change is the process by which, when a page is changed to the home page, if it does not include the latest blog entries, the creation of a new page is proposed so that this functionality is not lost.
The Polyglots team has prepared a next step in the localization of WordPress’s general documentation, in this case with the pilot language, Spanish.
Challenges such as the 14 local editions of the language, the way of communication, formal or informal, or gender identity, are posed with the goal of creating a Style Guide, just like the one that already exists in English.
There are still some technical challenges being addressed to make the translations as easy to work with as possible, seeking tools that serve all teams, all local editions, and are compatible with future changes in WordPress itself.
The Meta team has launched a proposal for the new design and format of the resources for developers.
This change will affect all developer.wordpress.org sites.
The Community team’s Mentorship Program is continuing its progress, closing one cycle to open the next.
Following the results of the latest surveys, the most outstanding aspects for participants have been gaining confidence, learning more about Core, understanding the release of a new version, and getting to know all the WordPress teams in general.
This doesn’t mean there aren’t suggestions for the next ones, like shadowing in a Core ticket contribution process, expanding to other languages, having students try different teams with simple contributions, and better connecting students among themselves.
And the second edition is approaching, with no exact dates yet, but it could be between February and April 2024, around the launch of WordPress 6.5.
This leads to the planning phase ending in December. The call for tutors and students will be made at the end of 2023, student selection could be in early February, along with its announcement, and the program would be around February 19 to March 29, with graduation closing around April 12.
Finally, this podcast is distributed under the EUPL license. For more information and links, please visit WordPress Podcast .org or follow the content, also, in Catalan, Spanish, and French.
Thanks for listening, and until the next episode!
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