WordPress 4.7 Release Candidate

The release candidate for WordPress 4.7 is now available.

RC means we think we’re done, but with millions of users and thousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible we’ve missed something. We hope to ship WordPress 4.7 on Tuesday, December 6, but we need your help to get there. If you haven’t tested 4.7 yet, now is the time! To test WordPress 4.7, you can use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

WordPress 4.7 is a jam-packed release, with a number of features focused on getting a theme set up for the first time. Highlights include a new default theme, video headers, custom CSS, customizer edit shortcuts, PDF thumbnail previews, user admin languages, REST API content endpoints, post type templates, and more.

We’ve made quite a few refinements since releasing Beta 4 a week ago, including usability and accessibility enhancements for video headers, media and page template support in starter content, and polishing of how custom CSS can be migrated to and extended by plugins and themes. The REST API endpoints saw a number of bugfixes and notably now have anonymous comment off by default.

Not sure where to start with testing? Try setting up a fresh site on a new installation with Twenty Seventeen (hint: head into customizing your site before touching any pages or widgets) and taking notes on what you enjoyed and what got you stuck. For more details about what’s new in version 4.7, check out the Beta 1, Beta 2, Beta 3, and Beta 4 blog posts.

Think you’ve found a bug? Please post to the Alpha/Beta support forum. If any known issues come up, you’ll be able to find them here.

Developers, please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 4.7 and update your plugin’s Tested up to version in the readme to 4.7. If you find compatibility problems please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release – we work hard to avoid breaking things. An in-depth field guide to developer-focused changes is coming soon on the core development blog.

Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages! And if you haven’t yet done so, now is a great time to take the Annual WordPress Survey and send it on to your friends.

Happy testing! And now for another Rami Abraham haiku break.

Select your language
Then let your users choose theirs
get_user_locale()

Theme authors rejoice
Any option may employ
Selective refresh

Custom header video
Make sure to add_theme_support
Bling above the fold

A new template dawns
A hierarchy member
Post-type templates live

PDF updates
Pack a parade of polish
Prettier previews

Template Post Type: New
Template Post Type: And Useful
Template Post Type: Thing

Let lists live lively
Laud wp_list_sort()
Less laconic lists

WordPress News

WordPress 4.7 Release Candidate

WAI-ARIA 1.1 is a Candidate Recommendation

Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.1 has been published as a Candidate Recommendation and is now undergoing implementation finalization and testing. WAI-ARIA recommends approaches for developers to make widgets, navigation, and behaviors accessible to people with disabilities. WAI-ARIA 1.1 adds features new since WAI-ARIA 1.0 to complete the HTML + ARIA accessibility model and supports additional modules for digital publishing and graphics. The draft implementation report shows the progress of testing. Please send implementation information or comments by 16 December 2016. Read about the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

Publication – W3C News

WAI-ARIA 1.1 is a Candidate Recommendation

Two Candidate Recommendations Published for CSS WG

The CSS Working Group invites implementation of two Candidate Recommendations:

• CSS Grid Layout Module Level 1: This CSS module defines a two-dimensional grid-based layout system, optimized for user interface design. In the grid layout model, the children of a grid container can be positioned into arbitrary slots in a predefined flexible or fixed-size layout grid.


• CSS Values and Units Module Level 3: This CSS module describes the common values and units that CSS properties accept and the syntax used for describing them in CSS property definitions.

Publication – W3C News

Two Candidate Recommendations Published for CSS WG

Secure Contexts published as a Candidate Recommendation

The Web Application Security Working Group has published a Candidate Recommendation of Secure Contexts. This specification defines “secure contexts”, thereby allowing user agent implementers and specification authors to enable certain features only when certain minimum standards of authentication and confidentiality are met.

Publication – W3C News

Secure Contexts published as a Candidate Recommendation

W3C Invites Implementations of 3 Candidate Recommendations

The Web Annotation Working Group has published a Candidate Recommendation for three documents:

• Web Annotation Data Model: This specification describes a structured model and format, in JSON, to enable annotations to be shared and reused across different hardware and software platforms. Common use cases can be modeled in a manner that is simple and convenient, while at the same time enabling more complex requirements, including linking arbitrary content to a particular data point or to segments of timed multimedia resources.


• Web Annotation Vocabulary: specifies the set of RDF classes, predicates and named entities that are used by the Web Annotation Data Model. It also lists recommended terms from other ontologies that are used in the model, and provides the JSON-LD Context and profile definitions needed to use the Web Annotation JSON serialization in a Linked Data context.


• Web Annotation Protocol: This document describes the transport mechanisms for creating and managing annotations in a method that is consistent with the Web Architecture and REST best practices.

This is a re-publication, without substantial change, of the Candidate Recommendation published on the 5th of July for the Data Model and Vocabulary, and on the 12th of July for the Protocol. The only significant change (beyond some minor editorial clarifications and changes) is that the respective exit criteria for the Candidate Recommendation phase is now documented in the publications themselves.

Candidate Recommendation means that the Working Group considers the technical design to be complete, and is seeking implementation feedbacks on the documents. There is a separate document how to use them and report on implementation results. The group is keen to get comments and implementation experiences on these specifications, either as issues on the Group’s GitHub repository or by posting to public-annotation@w3.org.

The group expects to satisfy the implementation goals (i.e., at least two, independent implementation for each of the test cases) by September 30, 2016.

Publication – W3C News

W3C Invites Implementations of 3 Candidate Recommendations

Two W3C Candidate Recommendations published for Social Web

The Social Web Working Group invites implementation of two Candidate Recommendations:

• Activity Streams 2.0: This specification details a model for representing potential and completed activities using the JSON format. It is the goal of this specification to provide a JSON-based syntax that is sufficient to express metadata about activities in a rich, human-friendly but machine-processable and extensible manner. This can include constructing natural-language descriptions or visual representations about the activity, associating actionable information with various types of objects, communicating or recording activity logs, or delegation of potential actions to other applications.


• Activity Vocabulary: The Activity Streams 2.0 Vocabulary defines a set of abstract classes and properties that describe past, present and future Activities. This document defines the Activity vocabulary and its properties.




Publication – W3C News



Two W3C Candidate Recommendations published for Social Web

WordPress 4.6 Release Candidate

The release candidate for WordPress 4.6 is now available.

We’ve made a few refinements since releasing Beta 4 a week ago. RC means we think we’re done, but with millions of users and thousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible we’ve missed something. We hope to ship WordPress 4.6 on Tuesday, August 16, but we need your help to get there.

If you haven’t tested 4.6 yet, now is the time!

Think you’ve found a bug? Please post to the Alpha/Beta support forum. If any known issues come up, you’ll be able to find them here.

To test WordPress 4.6, you can use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

For more information about what’s new in version 4.6, check out the Beta 1, Beta 2, Beta 3, and Beta 4 blog posts.

Developers, please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 4.6 and update your plugin’s Tested up to version in the readme to 4.6. If you find compatibility problems please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release – we never want to break things.

Be sure to read the in-depth field guide, a post with all the developer-focused changes that take place under the hood.

Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!

Happy testing!

Der Sommer ist da,
Zeit für ein neues Release.
Bald ist es soweit.

WordPress News

WordPress 4.6 Release Candidate

Two W3C Candidate Recommendations published for Web Annotation

The Web Annotation Working Group has published a Candidate Recommendation for two documents:

• Web Annotation Data Model: This specification describes a structured model and format, in JSON, to enable annotations to be shared and reused across different hardware and software platforms. Common use cases can be modeled in a manner that is simple and convenient, while at the same time enabling more complex requirements, including linking arbitrary content to a particular data point or to segments of timed multimedia resources.


• Web Annotation Vocabulary: This specifies the set of RDF classes, predicates and named entities that are used by the Web Annotation Data Model. It also lists recommended terms from other ontologies that are used in the model, and provides the JSON-LD Context and profile definitions needed to use the Web Annotation JSON serialization in a Linked Data context.

Candidate Recommendation means that the Working Group considers the technical design to be complete, and is seeking implementation feedback on the documents. There is a separate document on how to use them and report on implementation results. The group is keen to get comments and implementation experiences on these specifications, either as issues on the Group’s GitHub repository or by posting to public-annotation@w3.org.

The group expects to satisfy the implementation goals (i.e., at least two, independent implementation for each of the test cases) by September 30, 2016.

Publication – W3C News

Two W3C Candidate Recommendations published for Web Annotation

WordPress 4.5 Release Candidate

The release candidate for WordPress 4.5 is now available.

We’ve made 49 changes since releasing Beta 4 a week ago. RC means we think we’re done, but with millions of users and thousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible we’ve missed something. We hope to ship WordPress 4.5 on Tuesday, April 12, but we need your help to get there.

If you haven’t tested 4.5 yet, now is the time!

Think you’ve found a bug? Please post to the Alpha/Beta support forum. If any known issues come up, you’ll be able to find them here.

To test WordPress 4.5, you can use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

For more information about what’s new in version 4.5, check out the Beta 1, Beta 2, Beta 3, and Beta 4 blog posts.

Developers, please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 4.5 and update your plugin’s Tested up to version in the readme to 4.5 before next week. If you find compatibility problems, we never want to break things, so please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release.

Be sure to follow along the core development blog, where we’ll continue to post notes for developers for 4.5.

Free as in Freedom
It is WordPress 4.5
Also free as in beer

WordPress News

WordPress 4.5 Release Candidate

Google’s Candidate Cards Being Tested For Businesses?

A local business has been spotted using the equivalent of Candidate Cards to add content directly into Google’s search results. The post Google’s Candidate Cards Being Tested For Businesses? appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Google’s Candidate Cards Being Tested For Businesses?

SearchCap: Google Presidential Candidate Cards, Valentine’s Day Searches & Locksmith Woes

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. The post SearchCap: Google Presidential Candidate Cards, Valentine’s Day Searches & Locksmith Woes appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

SearchCap: Google Presidential Candidate Cards, Valentine’s Day Searches & Locksmith Woes

WordPress 4.4 Release Candidate

The release candidate for WordPress 4.4 is now available.

RC means we think we’re done, but with millions of users and thousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible we’ve missed something. We hope to ship WordPress 4.4 on Tuesday, December 8, but we need your help to get there.

If you haven’t tested 4.4 yet, now is the time!

Think you’ve found a bug? Please post to the Alpha/Beta support forum. If any known issues come up, you’ll be able to find them here.

To test WordPress 4.4 RC1, you can use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

For more information about what’s new in version 4.4, check out the Beta blog post.

Developers, please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 4.4 and update your plugin’s Tested up to version in the readme to 4.4 before next week. If you find compatibility problems, we never want to break things, so please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release.

Be sure to follow along the core development blog, where we’ll continue to post notes for developers for 4.4.

Tickets are all closed
Help test the latest changes
New WordPress for All

WordPress News

WordPress 4.4 Release Candidate

WordPress 4.3 Release Candidate

The release candidate for WordPress 4.3 is now available.

We’ve made more than 100 changes since releasing Beta 4 a week ago. RC means we think we’re done, but with millions of users and thousands of plugins and themes, it’s possible we’ve missed something. We hope to ship WordPress 4.3 on Tuesday, August 18, but we need your help to get there.

If you haven’t tested 4.3 yet, now is the time!

Think you’ve found a bug? Please post to the Alpha/Beta support forum. If any known issues come up, you’ll be able to find them here.

To test WordPress 4.3 RC1, you can use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin or you can download the release candidate here (zip).

For more information about what’s new in version 4.3, check out the Beta 1, Beta 2, Beta 3, and Beta 4 blog posts.

Developers, please test your plugins and themes against WordPress 4.3 and update your plugin’s Tested up to version in the readme to 4.3 before next week. If you find compatibility problems, we never want to break things, so please be sure to post to the support forums so we can figure those out before the final release.

Be sure to follow along the core development blog, where we’ll continue to post notes for developers for 4.3.

Drei Monate Arbeit
Endlich das Ziel vor Augen
Bald hab ich Urlaub!

WordPress News

WordPress 4.3 Release Candidate