WordPress 6.3 Beta 2 Released, Ready for Testing – WP Tavern – WP Tavern
Sarah Gooding
WordPress 6.3 hit a major milestone today with the release of Beta 2. The release leads opted to skip Beta 1, which was delayed yesterday after some technical issues with packaging the release, and have moved straight on to Beta 2.
As WordPress 6.3 is set to be the last major release of the Gutenberg project’s Phase 2 focus on customization, it ties up many loose ends related to the Site Editor and usability in general. It rolls in the ten most recent releases of the Gutenberg plugin – versions 15.2 through 16.1.
Major interface enhancements in this release, as outlined by the comprehensive 6.3 testing guide, include the following:
Patterns are also getting a big boost in this release, as reusable blocks have been renamed to “synced patterns.” Pattern creation is now available to users and a new pattern library will be located inside the editor for saving and managing both synced and unsynced patterns. Theme authors now have the capability to register custom patterns to templates, so they appear in the start modal to speed up page building.
WordPress 6.3 will introduce three new blocks, including details, time-to-read, and footnotes, along with many improvements to existing blocks.
This release comes with significant performance updates, most notably the addition of defer and async support to the WP Scripts API and fetchpriority support for images. Support for PHP versions 8.0+ has been improved, along with block template resolution, image lazy loading, and the emoji loader.
In the rare event that the manual update of a theme or plugin fails, auto-rollback is available as of WordPress 6.3.
Beta 2 testers are encouraged to file bug reports on WordPress Trac. During beta testing until the last RC, the WordPress project will also be doubling its monetary reward for any new, unreleased security issues that are uncovered. The vulnerabilities must be found in new code in order to qualify for the doubled reward.
Check out the Beta 2 release post for more information on new features, accessibility improvements, and instructions on how to test. WordPress 6.3 is scheduled for release on August 8, 2023.
I could still use a version of the Query Loop block that allows me to choose:
A specific post
A post category
A specific page
Length of the post or page abstract
Thumbnail photo available in multiple sizes
Also, it would be helpful to have blocks for inner wrappers and outer wrappers.
Why would you need each of these?
For some of them, it seems kind of pointless because the URL query would trigger the template match to a specific post, or for the one post category, it’s definitely the specific template match.
I think you don’t understand the template hierarchy, is what I’m saying.
Is the expectation with FSE blocks (like query loop block) that everyone who uses WordPress now needs to fully understand the template hierarchy? Those concepts used to be neatly abstracted away for theme creators only.
Good point, Phil.
Otto, I thought the full-site editing interface would provide the simplicity to do WYSIWYG design.
And, I understand the template hierarchy. I just think the WordPress UI needs some work to be clear to end users.
If I have to do things programmatically, fine. But if the point is to easily allow front-end design, then the current version isn’t quite there yet.
Prior to all the massive changes for FSE, I simply modified the CSS stylesheet and changed some PHP here and there.
Now, WordPress is in some kind of in-between state of being. In fact, I’ve seen StudioPress (https://www.studiopress.com/) pause on launching any new themes. That’s pretty significant because it’s one of the most well known theme development companies.
WP Engine, owner of StudioPress, was working on FSE Studio but reportedly paused development. I’m not sure that anyone really knows where WordPress is going.
The WP 6.3 beta 2 does not work on Xampp Control panel v3.3.0, compiled on April 6, 2021. This Xampp is a straight out of the box installation, with Php v7.
I tried twice using the zip file, a third time with WP 6.2 and the beta plugin, then did the same at InstaWP, which worked. using the Duplicator plugin I cloned it to my localserver, only to not work again.
The backend and frontend do not match, the FSE nagigation block is a disaster, the template files look fine in the Site Editor, but on the front, some blocks do not render, or do not render correctly, the columns completely lost the width settings for each column, etc, etc…
I can produce a video if needed…
I have had no problems running it on XAMPP, and I have been using it for a long time.
The Time to Read block will come in useful 🙂
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
WordPress Tavern is a website about all things WordPress. We cover news and events, write plugin and theme reviews, and talk about key issues within the WordPress ecosystem…
© All Rights Reserved. Powered by WordPress, hosted by Pressable