And now, enjoy all the videos, blog posts and podcasts below.<\/p>\n
Yours, WordPress 7.0 Beta2<\/a> <\/strong>is now available for testing. How? Glad you asked. The Test team has compiled a great list in their post Help Test WordPress 7.0<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s the perfect way to learn what\u2019s in the new release and you can help find bugs, that could be squashed before the final release.<\/p>\n Ray Morey<\/strong>, editor of The Repository, has some details in WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 Ships With Connectors UI, Delivering on Mullenweg\u2019s AI Vision<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Ella Van Durpe<\/strong> shares what\u2019s shifting with the iframed post editor in WordPress 7.0<\/strong><\/a>: instead of checking all registered blocks across your plugins, WordPress will now only look at blocks actually inserted in the post. If they\u2019re all Block API version 3 or higher, you get the iframe \u2014 if not, it steps back gracefully. Full enforcement isn\u2019t happening in 7.0, but Gutenberg plugin 22.6<\/em> enforces it for classic themes to gather real-world feedback first.<\/p>\n Release lead Bernie Reiter,<\/strong> published a new version, Gutenberg 22.6 and in his release post What\u2019s new in Gutenberg 22.6? (25 February)<\/strong><\/a> he highlighted:<\/p>\n Jessica Lyschik,<\/strong> senior developer at Greyd, and I had fun recording another Gutenberg Changelog episode. We discussed the main user-facing features coming to WordPress 7.0. As always the episode will arrive at your favorite podcast app over the weekend. <\/p>\n Anne McCarthy<\/strong> shares a candid look at iterating on Notes features in WordPress<\/strong><\/a> that didn\u2019t quite make the 7.0 cut. Built with Claude Code as part of her \u201cLearn AI deeply\u201d efforts, the three PRs in progress cover show\/hide notes on the canvas, filter options (she leans toward \u201cOpen\u201d over \u201cUnresolved\u201d), and compact note display. Questions around a resizable sidebar and UX friction remain open \u2014 your feedback on the PRs is warmly welcomed.<\/p>\n Tom Finley<\/strong> introduces Block Zapper<\/strong><\/a>, a utility block that strips custom colors, spacing, typography, and backgrounds from WordPress block patterns in one click \u2014 so you can actually use them as clean starting points. You get granular control: preserve images and cover backgrounds while clearing everything else. Finley\u2019s one important warning: it\u2019s largely vibe-coded with AI assistance, so sandbox it thoroughly before touching any real project, and move your zapped blocks out before leaving the editor.<\/p>\n This seems to be inline with the Content Only Pattern editing experience<\/strong>, core contributors also try to achieve abstracting away the design aspects of working with patterns for content creators. It\u2019s about to come to WordPress in 7.0 (or 7.1, the jury is still out) It is already available in the Gutenberg plugin 22.6 and this GitHub comment by Ramon Dodd.<\/a> <\/p>\n Carleton University\u2019s Troy Chaplin<\/strong> built the Block Accessibility Checks plugin<\/strong><\/a> to catch what the WordPress block editor won\u2019t \u2014 out-of-order headings, missing image alt text, and other gaps that slip through unexpectedly. Chaplin joined Chris Reynolds, Pantheon, on this week\u2019s YouTube Livestream<\/a> for a walk-through of how the plugin validates your content in real time and flags issues before they reach your readers. A practical tool for anyone serious about making their content genuinely accessible to everyone.<\/p>\n On WP Builds, Nathan Wrigley<\/strong> sits down with Ian Svoboda<\/strong>, a veteran of 10up, GenerateBlocks, and GeneratePress, to unpack the Content Area Block plugin<\/strong><\/a>. Born from a news site needing multiple editable regions per template, the plugin solves WordPress\u2019s single-content-area limitation without meta field workarounds. You\u2019ll hear about the technical hurdles \u2014 duplicating core hooks, navigating unstable APIs \u2014 and why this capability still hasn\u2019t made it into Core.<\/p>\n Rodolfo Melogli<\/strong> is the organizer of the Checkout Summit in April<\/a> and editor of the WooWeekly<\/a> newsletters. In his recent blog post, he discusses WooCommerce Checkout Block adoption<\/a> and explains that most merchants still use the classic Shortcode even after two years of the block being the default option. The main issue is hesitation around plugin compatibility. Although WooCommerce data shows a 27% boost in conversions with the block checkout, the ecosystem has not fully adapted, and merchants are reluctant to risk disrupting their working stores.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever wondered where your custom CSS actually lives \u2014 or should live \u2014 this comprehensive guide on 14 ways to add custom CSS in the WordPress Block Editor<\/strong><\/a> is your new reference. Covering everything from Jon Ang<\/strong>, Human Made, made the case that WordPress in 2026 escapes the complexity tax<\/strong><\/a> that headless and composable stacks imposed on enterprise teams. The Site Editor, combined with Synced Patterns, Block Bindings, and the Interactivity API, now forms a structured visual system that scales alongside enterprise design systems without forcing teams into heavyweight JavaScript frameworks or fragile third-party glue. As Ang put it, it becomes a system interface \u201cwhere visual work is grounded in real content models\u201d.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cKeeping up with Gutenberg \u2013 Index 2026\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong> The previous years are also available: Ryan Welcher<\/strong> released v. 1.0.3 of his VSCode extension WordPress Interactivity API Helper<\/a><\/strong> that adds autocomplete for directive and even detects items in your store. After you install it you can invoke it by \u201cSimply start typing\u00a0 Ryan Welcher <\/strong>also released a new version of Advanced Query Loop 4.4.0<\/strong><\/a> that enhances query speed and reliability. It includes transient caching for AQL instances and a new management control, along with fixes and improvements to caching. The current post ID and type are now included in the context, and the release features expanded unit tests, E2E tests via Playground, and static linting for both PHP and JavaScript.<\/p>\n JuanMa Garrido<\/strong> walks you through the new In his post on The Repository, WordPress Faces an Event Horizon, Not a Sunset<\/a><\/strong>, Matt Cromwell<\/strong>, founder of Roots & Fruits, pushes back on the \u201cWordPress is dying\u201d narrative, reframing what looks like decline as an event horizon \u2014 a boundary where old rules break and new, denser ones form. AI, he argues, actually favors WordPress\u2019s open, structured architecture. Flat plugin sales signal market maturity, not collapse. Educational pipelines are creating new builders. The real question isn\u2019t whether WordPress survives, but whether its community will design for the physics ahead.<\/p>\n In this WordPress AI experiments roundup<\/strong><\/a>, Jonathan Bossenger<\/strong> dives into community-submitted projects, starting with the WP AI Client Mistral provider, where he clones the repo, gets the AI SDK running, and generates a \u201cWordPress haiku\u201d post \u2014 though the model returns Markdown rather than block markup. He then tests a Claude-to-WordPress MCP integration plugin, successfully publishing a post directly from Claude, uses MCP Tracker to monitor requests, and briefly explores Ability Scout, which surfaces potential abilities from code.<\/p>\n Rich Tabor<\/strong> walks you through the new WP AI Client landing in WordPress 7.0<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 a provider-agnostic layer for calling Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and other AI models from both PHP and JavaScript, without plugins shipping their own API wrappers or credential pages. Configure once, use everywhere. His companion WP AI Content Kit<\/em><\/a> demonstrates auto-generating alt text and post excerpts using structured JSON responses. WordPress 7.0 is due April 9, coinciding with WordCamp Asia. <\/p>\n Glen Davies <\/strong>at Automattic introduces new Skills and a Claude Cowork plugin<\/strong><\/a> that turns a conversation with Claude into a fully built block theme, deployed locally via WordPress Studio \u2014 no technical skills required. Describe your site, pick from design options, and Claude builds it. Setup takes about ten minutes and currently requires macOS. These tools are early and evolving fast, but the team wanted to ship them now rather than wait.<\/p>\n Need a plugin .zip from Gutenberg\u2019s master branch?<\/a><\/strong> Now also available via WordPress Playground<\/a>. There is no need for a test site locally or on a server. Have you been using it? Email me <\/a>with your experience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Questions? Suggestions? Ideas? <\/em> For questions to be answered on the Gutenberg Changelog<\/a>, ![\"\ud83d\udc95\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f495.png\")
Birgit<\/em><\/p>\nDeveloping Gutenberg and WordPress<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n\n
\n![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gutenbergtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-27-at-12.47.56.png?resize=652%2C185&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n
\n![\"\ud83c\udf99\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f399.png\")
The latest episode is Gutenberg Changelog #126 \u2013 Gutenberg Releases 22.3, 22.4, 22.5 and WordPress 7.0<\/a> with special guest Carolina Nymark<\/strong>, author at fullsiteediting.com and long time contributor. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gutenbergtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-13-at-12.32.32.png?resize=652%2C184&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nPlugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\nTheme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks<\/h2>\n
theme.json<\/code> structured properties and CSS variables to per-block Additional CSS, Block Style Variations, and wp_enqueue_style()<\/code>, you\u2019ll find a decision guide to match each method to your role, whether you\u2019re a site builder, designer, or theme developer.<\/p>\n
\n
A chronological list of the WordPress Make Blog posts from various teams involved in Gutenberg development: Design, Theme Review Team, Core Editor, Core JS, Core CSS, Test, and Meta team from Jan. 2024 on. Updated by yours truly.\u2002<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/strong>2020<\/a> | 2021<\/a><\/strong> | 2022<\/a><\/strong> | 2023<\/a><\/strong> | 2024<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBuilding Blocks and Tools for the Block editor.<\/h2>\n
data-<\/code>\u00a0in any HTML attribute position within PHP or HTML files\u201d. <\/p>\n![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gutenbergtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/interactivityAPI-VSCode-extension-1024x500.jpg?resize=652%2C318&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n
\n
\nassertEqualHTML()<\/code> assertion introduced in WordPress 6.9<\/strong><\/a>, available on WP_UnitTestCase<\/code>. If fragile PHPUnit tests that break over attribute ordering or style whitespace are your nemesis, this is your fix. It compares HTML semantically \u2014 not literally \u2014 so your tests only fail when markup is genuinely different. Covers block render callbacks, HTML API transformations, Interactivity API directives, and tips for migrating away from assertSame()<\/code>. <\/p>\nAI and WordPress <\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gutenbergtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2025-11-15-at-12.06.44.png?resize=196%2C45&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Don\u2019t hesitate to send them via email<\/a> or<\/em>
send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\n
send them to changelog@gutenbergtimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n