WordPress 5.8 Beta 2 is now available for testing!
This software is still in development, so it’s not recommended to run this version on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with it.
You can test the WordPress 5.8 Beta 2 in three ways:
- Install/activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (select the
Bleeding edgechannel and theBeta/RC Onlystream) - Direct download the beta version here (zip).
- You can sign up with WordPress hosting package and test WordPress 5.8 Beta 2
The current target for the final release is July 20, 2021. That’s just five weeks away, so your help is vital to ensure that the final release is as good as it can be.
Some Highlights
Since Beta 1, 26 bugs have been fixed. Here is a summary of some of the included changes:
- Block Editor: Remove bundled block patterns and support the patterns directory. (#53246)
- Block Editor: Add a type property to allow Core to identify the source of the editor styles. (#53175)
- Build/Test Tools: Adds some tests for the Quick Draft section in Dashboard. (#52905)
- Build/Test Tools: Replaced
@babel/polyfillwithcore-js/stable. (#52941) - Coding Standards: Further update the code for bulk menu items deletion to better follow WordPress coding standards. (#21603)
- External Libraries: Update Underscore to version 1.13.1. (#45785)
- General: A number of block editor, template mode, and widget screen-related fixes. (#51149)
- Login and Registration: Improve the unknown username error message. (#52915)
- Media: Restore AJAX response data shape in the media library. (#50105)
- Site Health: Display a list of file formats supported by the GD library. (#53022)
- Twemoji: It’s the new one! (#52852)
Gutenberg Highlights
During WordCamp Europe, this past Wednesday Matt and I gathered to discuss the latest developments of Gutenberg and to share a video with some of the current and upcoming highlights. The video is wonderfully narrated by @beafialho and it was a great opportunity to celebrate all the incredible work that contributors are doing around the globe to improve the editing and customization experience of WordPress. For those that weren’t able to attend live it’s now available for watching online.
