What's new for developers? (February 2025)

[justintadlock]

This is a rolling discussion for a monthly series that is intended to keep track of the items, PRs, Trac tickets, and Make blog posts that are interesting/important for developers. The goal is to publish a post on the 10th of each month with the previous month's updates.

Everyone is welcome to contribute to this monthly document. If you find something interesting, just create a new reply to this discussion below.

Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dF0vVS8UiB2E3xi5UGAMPpJutpDtRhlYTwSUo0PaAxU/edit?usp=sharing

Notes

@bph and I are not currently wrangling resources for February. I've added us to this ticket to help facilitate onboarding others to take on the monthly roundup.

@marybaum - @troychaplin has shown interest in writing this, but this is often a group effort, particularly when it comes to gathering resources.

Process

Note Taking

Each month, we open this ticket and an associated Google Doc once the previous monthly edition has been published. I took the liberty of creating the ticket and doc for February.

Our process is pretty simple. Typically, @bph and/or I will jump into the Notes tab of the doc whenever there is a new change log for the Gutenberg plugin (as long as the release happens before the 10th). We then search for items that are relevant to extenders (i.e., plugin and theme authors). Basically, things that impact their work. Those get added to their respective sections in the doc.

There is also a list of several other resources that we check. Links for all of those are included under the Notes > Resources section in the doc. And, of course, often people will leave items directly on the GitHub ticket here.

I highly encourage it being a team effort collecting notes. I generally spend on average 1/2 an hour (at most) every week reading and looking for things, but multiple pairs of eyes will always find more things to share.

Writing

The writing and publishing process is pretty much the same as any other article on the Developer Blog. For myself, I like to start writing around the 6th of the month. I generally do this over the course of two days. This could be more or less for others. That's just my personal process.

The goal is to get drafted in time for the two-review process we have. However, with @bph and myself stepping back for a bit, the timing may be different, depending on available reviewers. Just something to keep in mind.

Publishing

We always publish on the 10th of the month. I don't think it's the end of the world if it lands a day or two later, but I like to be consistent for readers.

Featured Images

I put together my featured images in Figma. Feel free to copy the example from here: https://www.figma.com/design/Mq3GKVCsHI7NpKbgeU9H2m/Developer-Blog?node-id=0-1&t=uPWPZMKIAkSZpUfg-1

Make Sticky

Once the new edition is published, make sure that it is sticky so that it appears at the top of the Dev Blog homepage. Then, unstick the previous month.

Other Questions?

There may be something I missed, so feel free to ping me directly here or on Slack. I'm happy to help ensure this is in good hands.

[github-actions]

Heads-up @bph @adamziel @bgrgicak @pbking @mikachan @kathrynwp @jonathanbossenger @alexapeduzzi: To include your project's news for developers, please add the information or a link as a comment to this issue. Deadline 8th of next month

[marybaum]

Thank you! From the first minute this came up I've been aware this was going to be something to get ahead of, so I greatly appreciate your opening the issue. Very glad to see the list of folks you've pinged on the action above!

[marybaum]

@troychaplin care to take this on? I'll do it with you if you like!

[troychaplin]

@troychaplin care to take this on? I'll do it with you if you like!

Happy to collaborate on this with you when I have time. Didn't notice at first but I'm away for a couple days before proposed publishing date but I'm sure we can figure it out.

[marybaum]

Sounds like a plan! I'll move this to to-do with you and me as the writers.

[troychaplin]

@marybaum first draft is ready for review https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dF0vVS8UiB2E3xi5UGAMPpJutpDtRhlYTwSUo0PaAxU/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.fs1z09gf7igl

[troychaplin]

@marybaum changes are made, moved to second review. Do we have anyone who can help out with another review?

[github-actions]

Pre-publishing checklist

• Post Title and subheaders in sentence case
• Are Category or Categories selected?
• Are Tags identifies?
• Is there an explicit Excerpt?
• Are all images files uploaded to the media library
• Do all images have an alt-text?
• For TOC us the Pattern under Developer Blog > Table of contents
• Assign or upload a featured image
• Props added? (See Guidelines)
• add copy for a social post as comment to this issue (example)
  🙌 Publish! 📗

Post-publishing checklist

• add Props for reviews to #props channel in WP Slack (Example) (use Slack handles)
• Add the label "post to social" to the issue
• close the issue with a comment to link to the published post
• close the accompanying discussion with the link to the published post.

[troychaplin]

Social copy:

February is moving along quickly, WordPress 6.7.2 is here and 6.8 is right around the corner. Catch up on all the news and activities around the community from the last few weeks.

[troychaplin]

Published post — https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2025/02/whats-new-for-developers-february-2025/

[jonathanbossenger]

Scheduled for social 14/02