TECH
WP_Query Changes in 6.1
Jonathan Harris emphasized in Post Status Slack #development and on Twitter this week that WordPress 6.1 is bringing big changes to WP_Query — changes he's been working on for a long time: caching database queries in WP_Query.
Be advised this may affect any code that requires uncached database queries for something like a migration script. Thanks to XWP for sponsoring Jonathan!
Roger Monti at SEJ has a nice explainer on the massive improvements this will bring to WordPress performance with far fewer queries (in the billions) being run across the web.
Nav Block Changes in 6.1
Also in Post Status Slack, Dave Smith reminded theme developers to “check out how the Navigation Block is changing in WordPress 6.1. Especially in relation to fallbacks.” Learn more from Dave's video on the new Nav Block features. WATCH→
Accessibility-Ready Themes
Another important step in the evolution of the WordPress.org Theme Repository: along with filtering by Block Themes, now you can search for themes tagged “Accessibility Ready.”
Twenty Twenty-Two was the first default theme shipped with WordPress core that meets the WCAG AA level accessibility requirements. Cantan Group has a nice breakdown of its accessibility features and why this matters.
You can learn how to make your themes accessibility ready from the Theme Review Handbook and start with Joe Dolson‘s tips on How To Fix the Six Most Common Accessibility Errors on Your Websites. (WP Tavern Jukebox) A great accessibility concept is to Stop Using Grey Text, as Andrew Somers implores designers. READ→
Design Systems & Agency-Client Co-Creation
Jay Hoffman‘s History of The Web covers the way designers have shifted from designing interfaces to designing systems. ClearLeft is part of the story, and their co-founder, Jeremy Keith, has a new article about it. He discusses why they've shifted from pattern portfolios to front-end style guides to pattern libraries to Fractal. READ→
Cool Tool
Each week we feature one cool tool that can help make your life easier as a WordPress builder.
Adam Zielinski is blowing minds with the debut of Client-side WebAssembly WordPress with no server. (GitHub) On the Make WordPress Core blog, Adam breaks down the technical details and explains some much-needed and exciting use cases for the WordPress community: “The code examples in the WordPress handbook could become runeditable.” (Demo) With an in-browser IDE, new contributors could get started “without setting up a local development environment.” (Demo) It could also “become a primary teaching tool for new developers.” In essence, WP-WASM could play the role of Drupal Pod at Contributor Days, as Amy June Hineline described it on Post Status Excerpt.
Quick Links
- rtCamp keeps improving WP Plugin Compare. Searching the whole WordPress.org plugin repository, you can find and compare up to four plugins by their attributes: author, keyword, number of active installs, review rating, support score, minimum WordPress version, tested WordPress version, and minimum PHP version. TRY→
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MICHELLE FRECHETTE. Have community news to share?