It’s a brand new year, and that means that another exciting 12 months of WordPress development lies ahead. As usual, I’m optimistic about the future of our beloved platform.
The landscape is always changing on the web, and I’m sure the next iteration will come with its challenges and opportunities for growth in our field. Contributors at the Developer Blog are already busily working on new content. I expect that there’ll be much to share and learn in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
If you have an interest in contributing more deeply to the next WordPress release, the version 7.0 call for volunteers was just announced. Also, If you missed it, be sure to check out the WordPress 6.9 Release Retrospective. Take the time to fill out the form to share your thoughts before January 15.
For now, let’s focus on the past month, which slowed down just a little with the holidays in the mix. In that time, there was only a single Gutenberg release (version 22.3).
As usual, when testing features mentioned in these What’s new? posts, ensure that you’re running WordPress trunk and the latest version of the Gutenberg plugin (test the latest via Playground).
Table of Contents
Highlights
Responsive Grid block with set columns
You can now use both the Minimum column width and Columns controls simultaneously when using the Grid block variation. The latest PR, which is a part of a larger effort to improve grid layout, also removes the toggle between Auto and Manual modes.
Previously, you had to choose between one option or another: minimum column width allowed responsive columns, but setting a specific column count stayed fixed. With this PR, you can combine the two options to have fully responsive columns while defining the number of columns to show.
Dedicated Font Library admin screen
Since its release, font management has been hidden deep within the Styles UI in the WordPress admin. This has made it harder to navigate than necessary. This has now changed in Gutenberg 22.3. The latest iteration adds a dedicated Appearance Fonts screen in the admin.
The new screen is still being worked on and isn’t in a final state yet. Currently, you can manage installed fonts and upload new ones. However, the Collections tab is missing.
Support for classic themes is already merged in Gutenberg trunk and should ship with Gutenberg 22.4.
Build blocks with PHP
Gutenberg 21.8 introduced the ability to register blocks using PHP only (no JavaScript required). Since then, the feature has been updated. PHP-only registration now fully supports all block metadata. The feature is still currently experimental, but you can test it with this PHP code snippet:
add_action('init', 'pluginslug_register_block_types');
function pluginslug_register_block_types(): void
{
register_block_type('pluginslug/test', [
'title' => __('My Test Block', 'pluginslug'),
'icon' => 'admin-generic',
'category' => 'widgets',
'description' => __('My test block description.', 'pluginslug'),
'keywords' => [ 'test' ],
'supports' => [ 'auto_register' => true ],
'render_callback' => fn() => '<p>Hello, world!</p>'
]);
}Plugins and tools
New Image Cropper package
The new @wordpress/image-cropper package introduces a standardized image-cropping component. Some features include an interactive aspect ratio-based crop area, rotating images, zoom and flip controls, and more.
The feature was initially added with basic Storybook examples, but it’s now implemented directly in the editor, improving how media editing and previews work. Developers maintaining image-based blocks can begin exploring this package to align with the new core cropping flow.
This is a sub-task from a larger ticket to improvements to the WordPress Media Editor in 7.0.
Updated Abilities package
Gutenberg 22.2 added the @wordpress/abilities package, which is a client library that provides a standardized way to discover and execute WordPress capabilities.
Version 22.3 updated the package so that it can operate as a standalone capabilities layer beyond traditional WordPress contexts. It also adds a separate @wordpress/core-abilities package for WordPress server integration. These updates should pave the way for an Abilities API JavaScript client to be included in WordPress 7.0.
Data Views updates
Data Views and Data Forms systems gained several updates aimed at consistency and validation improvements. The updates:
- Add min/max validation for input fields.
- Introduce display formats for number and integer types.
- Standardize padding across components.
- Update operator labels and deprecate
isNotAll. - Add media-specific fields for attachments.
Routing enhancements
Recent routing pull requests move Gutenberg further toward an app-like navigation framework. These updates continue to pave the way for fluid SPA-like behavior across the block and site editors.
- Conditional inspector rendering via
route.inspector(). - Mobile-specific rendering support.
- Native page title management for routes.
- Smooth view transitions between navigations.
Themes
Breadcrumbs block pushes forward
One of the oft-requested blocks looks to be well on its way to shipping with WordPress 7.0. While we’re still months away from release, the block is in a well-rounded state at this point and covers a lot of use cases. Now is a perfect time to begin testing it with your themes.
The latest updates include:
Other block library updates
Some other updates to the block library shipped with Gutenberg 22.3 are:
- Button: Migrated to use text-align block support.
- Comments Pagination Numbers: Added margin and padding spacing controls.
- Accordion Heading: Adds default styles for classic themes, correcting a CSS specificity issue in WordPress 6.9 (this should be backported to a minor release).
Border-style flipping and RTL
A bug with the block library’s common.css file incorrectly flipped explicitly assigned border styles. A new patch ensures that these borders are not flipped for RTL-generated stylesheets.
Navigation overlay experiment
The ability to assign a template part for the Navigation block’s overlay could land in a future version of WordPress. One of the earliest experiments around this idea came from right here on the Developer Blog: An introduction to block-based mega menus. And the idea has since made its way into wider community projects. Now the feature is being explored as part of WordPress itself.
The first version of this feature landed in Gutenberg 22.3, but it is currently flagged as experimental. You can enable it via the Gutenberg Experiments screen in your WordPress admin.
Deprecated Pullquote block? Maybe
The Pullquote block was deprecated in Gutenberg 22.2 in favor of using the Quote block. However, the conversation has since picked up after contributors expressed multiple concerns around accessibility, HTML semantics, and block style variations. The original ticket is still open with the ongoing discussion.
Playground
On Playground, there are three new UI updates:
- A dedicated management dashboard
- An “Unsaved Playground” warning with Save button
- A Quick Access dropdown for common admin pages
A new DevTools browser extension adds a DevTools panel where you can inspect and edit Playground instances directly inside Chrome. This makes it feel much more like developing in a local environment.
Playground can now skip the WordPress installation step when WordPress files already exist, which speeds up reusing existing environments and blueprints.
There is also a standalone Playground block demo page, providing an interactive code editor with live WordPress Playground preview. It supports multi-file editing, JSX transpilation, file tabs, and more.
Resources
Developer Blog
Two new posts were published on the Developer Blog in the past month, teaching more advanced techniques like automated testing and combining multiple APIs. Give them a read if you haven’t already:
- How to add automated unit tests to your WordPress plugin
- Word Switcher: Extending Core Blocks with Interactivity
Props to @psykro and @juanmaguitar for feedback and review on this article and @bph and @fellyph for contributing notes.
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