Studio, our free and open source local WordPress development app on MacOS and Windows, is now seamlessly integrated with WordPress.com.
Our new Studio Sync feature provides Studio users with a fast, simple way to:
With Studio Sync, taking your WordPress site from local development to production has never been more streamlined.
Studio Sync makes it simple to publish your local WordPress site with powerful WordPress.com hosting. Here are a few of our favorite use cases:
You can connect any of your WordPress.com sites on a Business plan or higher. Use built-in search to locate your site and quickly see if the site has a staging environment available.
Pull to synchronize your WordPress.com site changes with your local Studio site, or push to deploy your local Studio site changes to your WordPress.com site.
Ready to publish your local Studio site for all the world to see?
Simply click Connect site on the Sync tab, and then you’ll see an option to purchase a new hosting plan for your Studio site at WordPress.com.
You can start taking advantage of this new Studio Sync feature in just a few steps:
We’d love to hear how you think this new Studio Sync feature will speed up your local development work.
As a reminder, Studio is a free, open source tool, so we welcome any and all feedback in GitHub. Explore other Issues and create your own here.
You can also explore the documentation for more tips on using this new Sync feature.
The third release candidate (RC3) for WordPress 6.7 is ready for download and testing!
This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC3 on a test server and site.
Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains crucial to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.7 is the best it can be.
You can test WordPress 6.7 RC3 in four ways:
| Plugin | Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream). |
|---|---|
| Direct Download | Download the RC3 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website. |
| Command Line | Use the following WP-CLI command:wp core update --version=6.7-RC3 |
| WordPress Playground | Use the 6.7 RC3 WordPress Playground instance (available within 35 minutes after the release is ready) to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup. |
The current target for the WordPress 6.7 release is November 12, 2024. Get an overview of the 6.7 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.7-related posts in the coming weeks for further details.
Get a recap of WordPress 6.7’s highlighted features in the Beta 1 announcement. For more technical information related to issues addressed since RC2, you can browse the following links:
WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.
Testing for issues is critical to ensuring WordPress is performant and stable. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.7. For those new to testing, follow this general testing guide for more details on getting set up.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.
From now until the final release of WordPress 6.7 (scheduled for November 12, 2024), the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.
For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.
Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.7 beta releases. With RC3, you’ll want to conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.7.
If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.
Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本? हिन्दी? বাংলা? You can help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages.
RC3 arrives,
Final polish, last bugs fall,
Six point seven calls.
Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: @peterwilsoncc, @joedolson, @sabernhardt.
The second release candidate (RC2) for WordPress 6.7 is ready for download and testing!
This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC2 on a test server and site.
Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains crucial to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.7 is the best it can be.
You can test WordPress 6.7 RC2 in four ways:
| Plugin | Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream). |
|---|---|
| Direct Download | Download the RC2 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website. |
| Command Line | Use the following WP-CLI command:wp core update --version=6.7-RC2 |
| WordPress Playground | Use the 6.7 RC2 WordPress Playground instance (available within 35 minutes after the release is ready) to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup. |
The current target for the WordPress 6.7 release is November 12, 2024. Get an overview of the 6.7 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.7-related posts in the coming weeks for further details.
Get a recap of WordPress 6.7’s highlighted features in the Beta 1 announcement. For more technical information related to issues addressed since RC1, you can browse the following links:
WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.
Testing for issues is critical to ensuring WordPress is performant and stable. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.7. For those new to testing, follow this general testing guide for more details on getting set up.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.
From now until the final release of WordPress 6.7 (scheduled for November 12, 2024), the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.
For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.
Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.7 beta releases. With RC2, you’ll want to conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.7.
If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.
Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本? हिन्दी? বাংলা? You can help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages.
Six point seven’s dawn,
RC2 sweeps bugs away,
Sites stand firm and strong.
Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: @jorbin.
The first release candidate (RC1) for WordPress 6.7 is ready for download and testing!
This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC1 on a test server and site.
Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains crucial to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.7 is the best it can be.
You can test WordPress 6.7 RC1 in four ways:
| Plugin | Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream). |
|---|---|
| Direct Download | Download the RC1 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website. |
| Command Line | Use the following WP-CLI command:wp core update --version=6.7-RC1 |
| WordPress Playground | Use the 6.7 RC1 WordPress Playground instance (available within 35 minutes after the release is ready) to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup. |
The current target for the WordPress 6.7 release is November 12, 2024. Get an overview of the 6.7 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.7-related posts in the coming weeks for further details.
Get a recap of WordPress 6.7’s highlighted features in the Beta 1 announcement. For more technical information related to issues addressed since Beta 3, you can browse the following links:
Want to look deeper into the details and technical notes for this release? These recent posts cover some of the latest updates:
WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.
Testing for issues is critical to ensuring WordPress is performant and stable. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.7. For those new to testing, follow this general testing guide for more details on getting set up.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.
From now until the final release of WordPress 6.7 (scheduled for November 12, 2024), the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.
For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.
Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.7 beta releases. With RC1, you’ll want to conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.7.
If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.
Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本? हिन्दी? বাংলা? You can help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages. This release milestone (RC1) also marks the hard string freeze point of the 6.7 release cycle.
I See An R.C.
You See A Chance For Testing
Six Seven For The Win!
Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: @atachibana, @jorbin.
WordPress 6.7 Beta 3 is now ready for testing!
This beta version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it is recommended you evaluate Beta 3 on a test server and site.
You can test WordPress 6.7 Beta 3 in four ways:
| Plugin | Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream). |
|---|---|
| Direct Download | Download the Beta 3 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website. |
| Command Line | Use the following WP-CLI command:wp core update --version=6.7-beta3 |
| WordPress Playground | Use the 6.7 Beta 3 WordPress Playground instance to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup. |
The current target date for the final release of WordPress 6.7 is November 12, 2024. Get an overview of the 6.7 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.7-related posts in the coming weeks for more information.
Catch up on what’s new in WordPress 6.7: Read the Beta 1 and Beta 2 announcements for details and highlights.
Your help testing the WordPress 6.7 Beta 3 version is key to ensuring everything in the release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.7.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.
Between Beta 1, released on October 1, 2024, and the final Release Candidate (RC) scheduled for November 5, 2024, the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.
WordPress 6.7 Beta 3 contains more than 26 Editor updates and fixes since the Beta 2 release, including 18 tickets for WordPress core.
Each beta cycle focuses on bug fixes; more are on the way with your help through testing. You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 3 using these links:
Code in motion hums,
New features bloom, bugs retreat,
6.7 calls.
Props to @joedolson and @jeffpaul for proofreading and review, and haiku from @colorful-tones.
If you find yourself diving deeper into the topic of WordPress, content management systems, and websites, a term you will quickly stumble upon is “PHP.” You will likely hear how crucial PHP is for the Internet and that it is what’s powering WordPress websites.
However, what exactly is PHP, and why is it so important?
The short answer is that it’s a general-purpose, server-side scripting language. That said, unless you are already knowledgeable in programming and web development, that probably doesn’t make things much clearer.
In order to help you better understand this topic, we’ll cover PHP in detail below. You’ll learn what PHP is, why it matters, and how it relates to WordPress and pretty much everything you do online. We promise you’ll be surprised to hear how much you likely rely on PHP every day.
The original developer of PHP was a Danish-Canadian programmer named Rasmus Lerdorf. He first created the language in the mid 1990s to build tools for his own website; that’s why PHP originally stood for “Personal Home Page.” Today, it stands for the recursive acronym “Hypertext Preprocessor” and development and support has been taken over by the PHP Group.
PHP has some notable features, many of which are applicable to the way WordPress works:
Open Source: The first thing that is important to note is that, like WordPress, PHP is open source. That means it does not belong to any one business entity. It also means that it’s free to download and use for any purpose.
Also like WordPress, PHP is maintained by a number of volunteers around the world. The next major release, 8.4, will be available November 21, 2024.
Finally, both WordPress and PHP are community-funded––while WordPress has the WordPress Foundation, The PHP Foundation’s mission is to “ensure the long-term prosperity of the PHP language.” Automattic is a proud Platinum Sponsor of The PHP Foundation.
Server Side: PHP is a server-side language, which means it executes on the server and not in the user’s browser.
For example, PHP’s most frequent application is for creating HTML documents for websites. Even though there are PHP files on the server, the browser does not receive the PHP code; instead, it receives the finished HTML documents for display. This is different from client-side languages like JavaScript where the processing happens directly in the user’s browser after downloading the JavaScript files.
To make things clearer, server-side languages are a bit like going to a restaurant. You send an order to the kitchen, they prepare the meal, and it arrives at your table ready to eat. Client-side languages, on the other hand, are like meal-delivery services. While they provide you with all the necessary ingredients, you still have to put them together in your own kitchen.
General Purpose: PHP is also a general-purpose programming language. You can use it for command-line scripting, creating desktop applications, and more. However, its primary application is in web development.
Ubiquitous: According to W3Techs, the language is present on 75.7% of all websites. That includes some famous ones, as you will see below.
In addition, it forms the backbone of many content management systems like Drupal, Joomla!, and—the most popular of them all—WordPress.
PHP is one of the biggest open source success stories, as much of the modern Internet depends on it to work.
You might be asking yourself why the usage of PHP is so widespread. There are many good reasons for that, but here are just a few:
One of the main reasons why PHP is so popular for web development is that it seamlessly integrates with various technologies and services commonly used in this area. Examples include HTTP, POP3, IMAP, and more.
One of its main advantages is that it is highly compatible with HTML, the main language used to create and display websites. In fact, it’s possible to use PHP code in HTML files and vice versa.
<div class="about__section is-feature has-subtle-background-color"> <div class="column"> <h2><?php _e( 'Shape the future of the web with WordPress' ); ?></h2> <p><?php _e( 'Finding the area that aligns with your skills and interests is the first step toward meaningful contribution. With more than 20 Make WordPress teams working on different parts of the open source WordPress project, there’s a place for everyone, no matter what your skill set is.' ); ?></p> <p><a href="<?php echo esc_url( __( 'https://make.wordpress.org/contribute/' ) ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Find your team →' ); ?></a></p> </div> </div>
Above you can see how both languages appear in the same file. The PHP markup is delineated by opening and closing brackets (<?php and ?>) so that the server knows where it ends and begins. However, the PHP code itself is inside an HTML <p> element. The _e function is a WordPress function used for localization, which allows for easy translations across the WordPress software.
The main benefit of this is that using PHP allows web developers to display dynamic content in otherwise static web pages. For example, PHP is able to pull content directly from databases, making it great for templating. You can create a fixed layout for all web pages but then display different content depending on the page a user is on.
This is vastly different from pure HTML, where the content needs to be hard-coded in the page file in order for the browser to show it. PHP, on the other hand, can add it on the fly as needed. That’s one of the main benefits of this programming language—the ability to dynamically combine and display content from different sources and of different kinds according to what the user requests.
As a WordPress user, PHP is especially important. The programming language forms the basis of much of what WordPress can do. It’s what allows you to create, edit, and delete pages, posts, media, and other content. That’s why you see that a lot of files that end in .php when you look in the directory of any WordPress installation.
It’s also why, when installing WordPress on a server, the system requirements insist that PHP be present. In recent years JavaScript has been playing a bigger and bigger role in the WordPress ecosystem, mainly because of the adoption of the Gutenberg editor. That said, PHP is still the main workhorse in the background.
What are some of WordPress’ main tasks powered by PHP? Before the advent of block themes, WordPress themes were all written mostly in PHP, especially page template files. In fact, if you look at the template hierarchy, you can see that WordPress has PHP files for pretty much all pages and theme components.
Why? So we have the ability to create a single layout for one type of content and then dynamically display what’s saved in the database for a particular piece of content.
That way, if you have 300 pages of the same kind on your site, you don’t need a file for each as you would on a pure HTML website. Instead, you just need one single page template file; PHP can then populate each individual page with its specific content.
PHP also makes it easy to compartmentalize different parts of your theme. For example, it’s very common to not have the markup for a footer in each file. Instead you can create a separate footer.php file and call it into your templates where needed. That way, if you want to modify the footer layout, you only have to make changes in a singular place—the footer.php file.
The same is true for plugins, aka collections of PHP files that contain the necessary markup for adding extra functionality to your WordPress site. When you activate a plugin, it gets added to the rest of your website code and can provide the functionality you are looking for.
All of the above is only made possible by the flexibility that PHP offers. Besides the benefits we have discussed before, this is the main reason why WordPress relies on PHP to the extent that it does; PHP offers a ton of flexible functionality specifically for web development. PHP’s capabilities in content management, working with databases, and its modularity all make it a perfect candidate for powering the most popular website builder there is.
This also means that if you know PHP, it opens up a lot more possibilities to modify your WordPress website. You can write custom plugins, make changes to (non-block) themes and page templates, introduce functionality to functions.php, and so much more. So, if you want to improve your WordPress skill set, learning PHP is not a bad place to start.
Besides WordPress, you might actually be unaware how much of your general everyday online interactions are enabled by PHP. There are a number of very well-known websites that use PHP to run and many common processes that the programming language performs online:
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless other examples of well-known web staples that exist in part because of PHP.
Up until this point, we’ve mostly talked about PHP in the context of creating and outputting HTML markup; however, the programming language is involved in a lot more that you probably take advantage of on a daily basis:
If you’re an everyday WordPress user or non-developer, you probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how much of your online experience is possible thanks to the humble PHP. However, the more you dive into this topic, the more you’ll realize how much you rely on it.
Who knew an open source solution was at the heart of what makes the World Wide Web tick? From the largest content management system in the world to well-known web entities, so much of what we take for granted exists because of it.
There are good reasons why it’s so widespread; from its powerful capabilities over its wide support system to ongoing development and support, there is a lot that speaks for PHP as the go-to solution for web projects.
Since it’s also beginner friendly, learning some PHP skills is definitely a good place to start if you want to dive deeper into the technical aspects of WordPress and web development.
Login