It hasn’t been long since WordPress 4.8 “Evans” and the new Gutenberg editor were both released last June, but people are already excited for the next major release. Although no official date has been set yet, Matt Mullenweg soon after published a couple of posts talking about what’s in store for the next major milestones, including version 4.9.
Thanks to those published articles, along with buzz from other corners of the web, we’ve pieced together a better picture of the exciting things to expect for the next release.
Course Correction
As he also happens to be lead of core releases this 2017, Matt mentioned earlier in January that the focuses for the year would be on three key areas: the REST API, the Editor, and the Customizer.
- The REST API allows WordPress data to be sent and received in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format, enabling developers to “create, read and update WordPress content from client-side JavaScript or from external applications, even those written in languages beyond PHP.”
- The Editor is where users enter content to publish on posts, pages, and other content types.
- The Customizer is a unified interface that lets users live-preview any settings they’d like to apply to their site, from site information, to appearance and layout, to widgets and menus.
However, since all eyes are on Gutenberg, which presents a major shift in the way users enter content by being able to insert rich content “blocks”, he explained why a “course correction” via the 4.8 release was necessary, and why focuses had to change a bit in order to refine and develop the new editor further.
“Right now the vast majority of effort is going into the new editing experience, and the progress has been great, but because we’re going to use the new editor as the basis for our new customization experience it means that the leads for the customization focus have to wait for Gutenberg to get a bit further along before we can build on that foundation.”
The good news is, this gave Weston Ruter and Mel Choyce, who are the focus leads on the Customizer, a chance to explore other areas to improve that weren’t necessarily dependent on Guternberg development. As a result, we got new widgets for media and rich text in the 4.8 version release—new things that will help users still customize their site more easily.
Matt also mentioned why the newly-released editor won’t show up in the WordPress core for quite a while:
“I’d like to give Gutenberg some extra gestation time as a plugin, ideally getting it to 100k active sites over the next month or two, before we merge.”
He adds that getting Guternberg into version 5.0 would be a “nice-to-have” but ultimately not the reason that its integration has been pushed back.
For those yet unfamiliar with the Gutenberg editor, it’s currently available in the WordPress Plugins repository for download. Since it’s still in beta, however, using it on a production website is definitely not recommended.
“The editor will endeavour to create a new page and post building experience that makes writing rich posts effortless, and has “blocks” to make it easy what today might take shortcodes, custom HTML, or “mystery meat” embed discovery.”
A User-Focused 4.9
Back to what’s in store for 4.9: Matt talked about the release being used-focused just like 4.8, centering around “editing code and managing plugins and themes, doing v2s and polishing some features we brought into WP last year.”
Besides that, here are a few more features that could be coming to 4.9:
“Page on Front” experience
Mel Choyce details how contributors would like to improve the Reading Settings experience and are targeting a 4.9 release, with several concepts presented. This wp-admin screen defines the content displayed on a the homepage, whether it’s the latest posts or a static page, and it’s proven to be a bit confusing to several users.
Actions and Filters in JavaScript
Jesper van Engelen (@jesperengelen) on Twitter reports that support for actions and filters in JavaScript has been marked for a 4.9 milestone.
https://twitter.com/jesperengelen/status/887666599947325441
Customizer Changesets, Responsive TinyMCE toolbar, Gallery widget
WPTavern details additional Editor- and Customizer-focused features slated for version 4.9, including:
- Adding a UI for Customizer Changesets and scheduling Changesets: Changesets allow WordPress to save different sessions of Customizer settings, so these features will make switching or rolling back configurations much easier.
- Making the TinyMCE toolbar mobile-optimized: TinyMCE toolbar is the toolbar used in the Visual Editor, so making a much-used feature inside the WordPress admin more optimized is a welcome addition.
- Integrating the Gallery widget: the Gallery widget will contain multiple uploaded images displayed in any widget area, so it offers more flexibility for utilizing the Gallery feature in WP.
What are you most excited about for WordPress 4.9?
Before WP hits the big 5-0, which of the upcoming new features and changes are you most excited about in 4.9?
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I would love to be able to schedule changes to an existing post. Scheduling a change would be especially awesome!
These new features benefit a small number of users, so maybe they’re rolling this out first in the Customiser to ensure Editor rollout in a future version goes smoothly. Who knows, fingers crossed!
I hope so too, Zesty. And I think the framework for “changesets” is being built so that it can (somewhat) easily be ported to other types of content. I’m looking forward to the day.