![\"\ud83c\udf89\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f389.png\")
<\/p>\nHi there, <\/p>\n
It\u2019s good to be home again. It was an unusually long break, but I appreciate the series of official bank holidays that morph into long weekends away from the computer. <\/p>\n
And of course, the catch-up is overwhelming. The creativity inside the WordPress community around content creation, development and design is highly energizing. <\/p>\n
And it\u2019s WordPress 7.0 release week! It\u2019s finally here! <\/p>\n
So don\u2019t let me keep you any longer. Enjoy! <\/p>\n
If you want to stop long enough to send me a note<\/a>, I\u2019d be delighted to hear from you.<\/p>\n Yours, WordCamp Europe<\/strong> is coming up fast. It\u2019ll take place Jun 4 to 6, 2026. The schedule just was posted<\/strong><\/a>. If you still are on the fence about getting your ticket. Here are another 49 reasons to head to Krakow. The schedule lists 34 Talks, 3 Panels, 10 Workshops and 2 Keynotes.<\/p>\n For armchair WordCampers, like myself, there will be a livestream. After the WordCamp recordings will be uploaded to YouTube and WordPressTV. <\/p>\n A first selection of what I might watch: <\/p>\n if you rather stay in North America, WordCamp US <\/strong>just opened up the online ticket booth<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019ll take place from August 16 to August 19, 2026, in Phoenix, AZ. The calls for sponsors <\/a>and speakers<\/a> are also available now. The deadline for speaker submissions is next week Friday May 29, 2026. <\/strong><\/p>\n After the decision to remove Real-time Collaboration<\/a> from the release because it needs more time in the oven, so to speak, the release squad was really busy to produced RC 3 \u2013 5 before the final release on Wednesday May 20, 2026. <\/p>\n Read more via the WordPress 7.0 \u201cArmstrong\u201d<\/a> release post. <\/p>\n Justin Nealey<\/strong> product manager at GoDaddy breaks down why WordPress 7.0\u2019s three new APIs matter far more than the headline features<\/a> for plugin developers. The Connectors API means site owners manage their own AI provider keys centrally; WP AI Client gives you a single provider-agnostic call to invoke any model; and the Abilities API turns your plugin into something the site\u2019s AI agent can reach for autonomously. Together, Nealey argues, your plugin stops being a destination users visit and becomes a verb the agent performs.<\/p>\n Ronak Vanpariya<\/strong>, web developer on Gujarat, India digs into why Real-Time Collaboration was pulled from WordPress 7.0<\/strong><\/a> with a five-point technical post-mortem. You\u2019ll learn how RTC had to work across every corner of the Site Editor, how simultaneous edits triggered race conditions corrupting block data, and how the feature\u2019s reliance on persistent server connections would have overwhelmed shared hosting environments. Memory bloat on older devices and recurring block-tree breakage uncovered by fuzz testing sealed the decision. The feature lives on in the Gutenberg plugin.<\/p>\n Mike McAlister<\/strong>, creator of Ollie, released a video walkthrough of WordPress 7.0<\/a> <\/strong>covering the features he sees as most impactful for site builders. He walks through the new AI infrastructure \u2014 WP AI Client and the Connectors API \u2014 content-only pattern editing, customizable mobile menu overlays, block visibility controls for responsive design, per-block custom CSS, visual revisions, the new Icon and Breadcrumbs blocks, an upgraded Font Library screen, and a command palette shortcut. <\/p>\n Immediately after the release of WordPress 7.0, Jeff Paul published the WordPress 7.1 Call for Volunteers<\/a><\/strong>. Work has already started since the firsty 7.0 Beta in February. The first beta for WordPress 7.1 is roughly eight weeks out and scheduled for July 15, 2026, and the final release for August 19, 2026 aimed at the last day of WordCamp US. <\/p>\n In addition to the punted Real-time collaboration feature, I discovered a few tracking issue for WordPress 7.1 already: <\/p>\n First-time release lead Paulo Trentin<\/strong> brought us the latest version for the Gutenberg plugin, 23.2. In his release post What\u2019s new in Gutenberg 23.2? (21 May<\/strong><\/a> he highlighted: You can now style blocks differently for tablets and phones right from Global Styles, so your designs adapt to each screen. Pop-up dialogs slide up from the bottom on mobile, making them easier to tap one-handed, and animations across the editor now share a consistent feel. You\u2019ll also see smoother Content Types management, friendlier Shortcode handling, clearer Revisions diff markers for better accessibility, and steadier real-time collaboration when teammates edit together.<\/p>\n Justin Tadlock<\/strong> rounds up what\u2019s new for WordPress developers in May 2026<\/strong><\/a>, with WordPress 7.0 landing on May 20. You\u2019ll find early details on the Content Types experiment for managing custom post types and taxonomies in Core, a new If you are interested in learning more about this, the Content Types tracking issue<\/strong><\/a> outlines the experiment to bring custom taxonomy and post type management into the WordPress editor. The initial focus is on simple use cases \u2014 complex ones stay in plugin territory \u2014 with open tasks including a dedicated creation page, richer fields, a quick-edit versus full-edit distinction, and deeper DataViews integration. It\u2019s a living issue and community input is welcome.<\/p>\n John Blackbourn<\/strong> clarified WordPress\u2019s PHP support stance<\/strong><\/a> in a post that\u2019s worth flagging for developers and hosts. The \u201cbeta\u201d label for PHP 8.x support has been retired and removed retroactively from all WordPress versions. It was discouraging hosts and developers from upgrading. In short: <\/p>\n Jeffrey Paul<\/strong> recaps what\u2019s new in the WordPress AI canonical plugin 1.0.0<\/strong><\/a>, a milestone release landing alongside WordPress 7.0. Two new governance experiments stand out: <\/p>\n Beyond governance, you\u2019ll find comment moderation upgrades with sentiment and toxicity sorting right in the dashboard, AI alt text generation baked into the media editor workflow, and editorial workflow terminology tidied up. Looking ahead to 1.1.0, the team is exploring type-ahead suggestions, focus-aware crop suggestions, an AI Playground, and C2PA content provenance tracking for both text and images.<\/p>\n Rae Morey<\/strong>, editor of The Repository,<\/em> took a deeper dive into this release: WordPress AI Plugin Hits 1.0 Milestone With New Request Logging and Connector Approvals Experiments<\/a><\/p>\n Jay Walsh<\/strong>, Director of Communications at Woo, announced that WooCommerce stores can now sell directly on YouTube<\/strong><\/a> via the Google for WooCommerce extension. You connect your store, tag products from your catalog in videos and Shorts, and they surface as shoppable cards while viewers watch \u2014 and also appear in your Channel Shopping tab. The same Merchant Center product feed that powers Google Shopping and Performance Max campaigns keeps everything in sync automatically, with AI-generated ad creative variations across formats included in version 3.6.<\/p>\n Milind More<\/strong>, Senior WordPress engineer at rtCamp introduces three new connectors for the WordPress AI plugin<\/strong><\/a>: <\/p>\n All three are built on the same PHP AI Client SDK heading into WordPress Core 7.0, so your setup today carries forward without code changes after the upgrade.<\/p>\n Artur Piszek<\/strong> explains how he uses WordPress as a sync backend for Obsidian with PushMD<\/a>.<\/strong> This plugin was created with Adam Zielinski, the maker of Playground. It allows you to treat your WordPress site as a git remote using the REST API. You can Seth Rubenstein<\/strong> at Pew Research Center shared a preview of PRC Block Bits<\/a>, now open-sourced on GitHub. Block Bits solves a specific gap between block bindings and RichText: where bindings replace an entire block\u2019s content with dynamic data, a \u201cbit\u201d lets you embed small dynamic pieces \u2014 an inline icon, a copyright year, live text \u2014 right in the middle of a paragraph or heading. You register bits via a PHP and JS API, choose between a pure-PHP callback or Interactivity API strategy, and an editor toolbar dropdown handles insertion. Built-in bits for icons and copyright ship out of the box.<\/p>\n Damir Tahiri<\/strong> of Rareview has open-sourced the WordPress starter theme<\/strong><\/a> that underpins every one of the agency\u2019s builds. It\u2019s Gutenberg-ready, ships with global style variables, includes a one-command Figma sync, and runs an interactive setup that renames and configures everything automatically. You can grab it on GitHub<\/a> and use it as the foundation for your own projects.<\/p>\n \u201cKeeping up with Gutenberg \u2013 Index 2025\u201d<\/a> <\/strong> The previous years are also available: On the WordPress Developer blog, R\u00f3bert M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros<\/strong> shows you how to get started writing WordPress E2E tests with Playwright<\/a>,<\/strong> using a book review site built on Block Bindings as the test subject. You\u2019ll set up Also on the WordPress Developer Blog, Felix Arntz<\/strong>, Senior Software Engineer at Vercel, walks you through building a provider-agnostic image generation plugin<\/strong><\/a> using WordPress 7.0\u2019s built-in AI Client. You\u2019ll see how a single S\u00e9rgio Santos,<\/strong> Lead Engineer at 10up\/Fueled, diagnoses three specific bugs you hit when using RichText outside a block<\/a> \u2014 in Eric Karkovack<\/strong> walks you through using my.WordPress.net as a safe AI sandbox<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 no production site at risk. You install WordPress in your browser in two steps, add the AI Assistant app from the apps menu, connect it to Anthropic, OpenAI, or a local Ollama model, and start prompting. It\u2019s a low-stakes way to explore what AI can do inside WordPress before committing it to a live environment, though API costs from OpenAI or Anthropic still apply.<\/p>\n Fresh from last week\u2019s WordCamp Portugal: <\/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>\n\n
Developing Gutenberg and WordPress <\/h2>\n
WordPress 7.0 \u201cArmstrong\u201d <\/h3>\n
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\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nIn other WordPress Core news: <\/h3>\n
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@wordpress\/dataviews<\/code> to the new Design System primitives and extending DataForm to PHP-only blocks.<\/li>\n
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\n@wordpress\/grid<\/code> package for building grid-based editor UIs, revisions support extended to templates and patterns, and a wave of block fixes covering the Tabs block, Image alignment, Search block styling, and Global Styles rendering. <\/p>\n![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gutenbergtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/custom-taxonomies.webp?resize=652%2C350&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n![\"\ud83c\udf99\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f399.png\")
The latest episode is Gutenberg Changelog #130 \u2013 WordPress 7.0, Gutenberg 22.9 and 23.0, WordCamp Europe, Block Themes and More<\/a> with Tammie Lister<\/strong>, Chief Product Officer at Convesio <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gutenbergtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-25-at-15.01.45.png?resize=652%2C185&ssl=1\")
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Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners<\/h2>\n
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\ngit clone<\/code> your blog as plain .md<\/code> files. Write in Obsidian and push updates to sync. This setup turns your site into a repository without needing an external service. It is also compatible with the upcoming Guidelines\/Artifacts system in WordPress Core, which lets you store private notes and configurations there too.<\/p>\n
\nTheme Development for Full Site Editing and Blocks<\/h2>\n
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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\n\n\n\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>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBuilding Blocks and Tools for the Block editor.<\/h2>\n
wp-env<\/code> and Playwright, write your first test against the admin dashboard, then progress to inserting block variations, verifying patterns with aria snapshots, and testing front-end output by creating posts via the REST API. <\/p>\n
\nwp_ai_client_prompt()<\/code> call handles provider routing, how support checks gate your UI gracefully when no image-capable provider is configured, and how the REST API and Media Library integration come together. The full source code is on GitHub at wptrainingteam\/ai-client-imagegen.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nInspectorControls<\/code> or a Modal<\/code>. The format toolbar fills route to the wrong slot, the inline toolbar is opt-in via inlineToolbar<\/code>, and isSelected<\/code> never turns true outside a block context. Each problem gets a targeted fix, and the pattern has since been packaged as a reusable component in 10up Block Components.<\/p>\n
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Gutenberg Times provides daily build for testing and review.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\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\")
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Don\u2019t hesitate to send them via email<\/a> or<\/em>
send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph<\/em>.<\/p>\n
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send them to changelog@gutenbergtimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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