The Month in WordPress – February 2022

There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and safety is top of mind for everyone in the WordPress community. If you don’t know where to begin, or how to support your peers, Executive Director Josepha Chomphosy’s advice to the global community is to start small. 

Overall, February has been a busy month for WordPress. To begin with, it was thrilling to see the enthusiasm for the release of WordPress 5.9 Joséphine from January continue last month, and that’s not all. 

We have many exciting updates to share, so keep reading to learn about the latest achievements from the WordPress community.

WordPress 6.0: May 24, 2022 is the proposed release date

• The proposed release schedule for WordPress 6.0, the second major release of 2022, has been published.
• While we’re waiting for 6.0, check out the WordPress 5.9.1 maintenance release which was released on February 22, 2022.

Gutenberg releases: Versions 12.5, 12.6, and 12.7 were released

The Core Team launched three new versions of Gutenberg last month. All come with new features, code quality improvements, and bug fixes.

• Gutenberg 12.7 is available to download. This version improves the Patterns experience, allows you to add border styles to column blocks, and includes other new features.
• Gutenberg 12.6 was launched on February 16, 2022. This release includes a new color panel, updated color controls, a new Post Author Biography block, Read More block, and plenty of other exciting updates!
• Gutenberg 12.5 was released on February 2, 2022. This version allows switching theme styles variations, custom taxonomies filtering, and more.

WordPress News gets a new look

The redesign of WordPress News, which was first announced by Matt Mullenweg, Co-Founder of WordPress, in State of the Word 2021, went live on February 16, 2022.

Team updates: #WP Diversity, a new blog for developers, and more

• The #WPDiversity working group, which is part of the Community Team, hosted an open Zoom meeting with volunteers on February 23, 2022. If you’re interested in contributing, read the recap of the meeting to view available roles. 
• The Core Team shared a proposal to start a blog on developer.wordpress.org to share news and updates relevant to developers. 
• The first Gutenberg Developer Hours session hosted on February 8th by the Core Team was successful. Head over to this page to learn more about the participants’ feedback.
• The Core Team published “Feature Project: Plugin Dependencies,” where they identified the problems with plugin dependencies and suggested potential solutions to improve the plugin experience.
• The WordPress Photo Directory has a new Make team. There is currently an open call for team reps and collaboration is happening at the new #photos channel of the Make WordPress Slack.
• The Polyglots Team shared a proposal for a milestone template for the Polyglots Locale Teams.
• The Community Team published a proposal for refurbishing camera kits.
• The Global Community Sponsors for 2022 have been announced.
• The February 2022 edition of the monthly Meetup Organizer Newsletter has been published.
• The latest edition of People of WordPress highlighting Tonya Mork was published on February 28, 2022. Read Tonya’s story to learn more about how WordPress helped her find herself again after a health crisis. 
• The February 2022 edition of the Polyglots Monthly Newsletter has been published.

Feedback/Testing requests: WordPress iOS 19.3 and Android 19.3

• WordPress for iOS 19.3 beta is available for testing, along with WordPress for Android 19.3

WordCamp Europe 2022 announces steps to ensure a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming event

• WordCamp Europe 2022 announced a plan to ensure more diversity and inclusion in events moving forward.
• The WordPress Foundation published a post on how open source software is good for business.
• In a recent episode of WP Briefing titled “Five Cents on Five for the Future,” Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy talks about future-proofing the WordPress project with the Five for the Future pledge.
• The Training Team is hosting several WordPress Social Learning Meetups in March 2022.
• Don’t miss the following upcoming WordCamps:
  • WordCamp Genève, Switzerland on April 9, 2022 (in person)
  • WordCamp Athens, Greece between April 9 and 10, 2022 (in person)
  • WordCamp Vienna, Austria from April 23 to 24, 2022 (in person)
  • WordCamp Europe in Porto, Portugal from June 2 to 4, 2022 (in person)
  • WordCamp Montclair in New Jersey, USA June 25 (in person)
  • WordCamp US in San Diego, California from September 9 to 11, 2022 (in person)

Have a story that we could include in the next ‘Month in WordPress’ post? Let us know by filling out this form.

The following folks contributed to December 2021’s Month in WordPress: @anjanavasan @harishanker @rmartinezduque @mysweetcate