Why This Addition Matters

The relationships we build within our community often involve private discussions. These conversations may involve sensitive matters, personal experiences, or simply casual exchanges. Regardless of the content, every individual should feel confident that their private communications will remain private unless they grant explicit permission to share them.

Sharing private messages without consent is a breach of trust that can also lead to unintended harm, including emotional distress or misrepresentation. When members of our community feel they cannot trust others in their personal conversations, it undermines the collaborative spirit that is crucial to our collective success.

How This Change Protects the Community

By explicitly addressing the publication of private messages without consent, we are reinforcing an existing unacceptable behavior in our Community Code of Conduct: Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting. Sharing private communications without permission is a clear violation of professional integrity.

This new addition ensures that private messages receive the same level of protection as personal information and that sensitive communications shared in confidence will not be disclosed without prior consent. An important exception to this is when sharing private messages is necessary for reporting incidents or concerns to the Incident Response Team, as part of our commitment to maintaining a safe and respectful environment.

Ultimately, this change encourages honest, constructive engagement across all levels of participation.

Moving Forward Together

The strength of our community lies in the trust we place in one another. By clarifying and reinforcing our expectations, we are taking another step toward maintaining an inclusive, respectful, and safe environment for everyone.This new addition will take effect immediately, and violations will be handled in accordance with our existing enforcement guidelines. Together, we can ensure our community remains a place of collaboration, trust, and mutual respect.

We’ll update this post if any new offers come online, get in touch and we’ll link it.

• Bluehost will cover migration costs, and credit back your existing contract. They offer 24/7 phone support, you can call them at 844-699-3907. Their wp.cloud-powered Cloud hosting starts at $29.99/mo.
• DreamHost is offering free migrations, with plans starting at $16.95/mo.
• Hostinger offers free migration for an unlimited number of websites with a 24/7 dedicated customer success team. Their relevant cloud plans start at $7.99/mo.
• Nexcess has plans starting at $21/mo.
• Pressable will credit back your current WP Engine contract and match their pricing, so if you’re in the middle of a long contract with WP Engine, you don’t need to wait until your renewal time.
• WordPress.com will give you a free year of any plan they offer, and donate 5% of your purchase price to the WordPress Foundation. Their relevant plans start at $25/mo.
• For large-scale enterprise customers, WordPress VIP will cover the cost of migration. Their plans generally start at $2k/mo.

The last decent fork attempt for WordPress was ClassicPress in 2018, over disagreements about Gutenberg being integrated into core.

We’re very proud to announce that Vinny Green, a former WordPress community member, has started his fork, FreeWP. We strongly encourage anyone who disagrees with the direction WordPress is headed in to join up with Vinny and create an amazing fork of WordPress. Viva FreeWP!

If there are other forks of WordPress we should highlight, let us know.

Updates with other fork efforts:

• AspirePress “AspirePress exits [sic] to be a community of individuals focused on helping WordPress become the platform we all aspire for it to be.”
• OpenPress is not a fork, but their name implies they want people to consider it as an alternative to WordPress. They are building on Laravel, using the CC-0 license, and claim to be optimized for AI. Their plugin to export from WordPress is here.

We’re proud to announce that Mary Hubbard (@4thhubbard) has resigned as the Head of TikTok Americas, Governance and Experience, and will be starting as the next Executive Director of www.ads-software.com on October 21^st!

Mary previously worked at Automattic from 2020 to 2023, and was the Chief Product Officer for WordPress.com, so she has deep knowledge of WordPress and expertise across business, product, marketplaces, program management, and governance.

WP Engine needs a trademark license, they don’t have one. I won’t bore you with the story of how WP Engine broke thousands of customer sites yesterday in their haphazard attempt to block our attempts to inform the wider WordPress community regarding their disabling and locking down a WordPress core feature in order to extract profit.

What I will tell you is that, pending their legal claims and litigation against www.ads-software.com, WP Engine no longer has free access to www.ads-software.com’s resources.

WP Engine wants to control your WordPress experience, they need to run their own user login system, update servers, plugin directory, theme directory, pattern directory, block directory, translations, photo directory, job board, meetups, conferences, bug tracker, forums, Slack, Ping-o-matic, and showcase. Their servers can no longer access our servers for free.

The reason WordPress sites don’t get hacked as much anymore is we work with hosts to block vulnerabilities at the network layer, WP Engine will need to replicate that security research on their own.

Why should www.ads-software.com provide these services to WP Engine for free, given their attacks on us?

WP Engine is free to offer their hacked up, bastardized simulacra of WordPress’s GPL code to their customers, and they can experience WordPress as WP Engine envisions it, with them getting all of the profits and providing all of the services.

If you want to experience WordPress, use any other host in the world besides WP Engine. WP Engine is not WordPress.

In case you haven’t explored the updated Learn WordPress site yet, take a peek at what you’ve been missing in this short and sweet virtual tour:

The reception of the new experience and Learning Pathways courses has been positive, with the average learner rating at 4.5/5 since the site’s relaunch. Here’s what learners have been saying:

The Training team is working hard to add more Learning Pathways to the existing roster, with the Designer and Intermediate Plugin Developer Learning Pathways already in progress. In the meantime, explore the four Learning Pathways at Learn WordPress.

There’s always more to learn.

The www.ads-software.com redesign continues

Learn WordPress is the latest section of www.ads-software.com to receive a design refresh, following other sections like the Showcase and Developer Resources. It brings a unified look and feel that’s modern, visual, and inviting.

Beyond its fresh aesthetic, the new Learn WordPress site prioritizes learners with a revamped user experience consistent with familiar modern learning platforms. It features a new navigation menu, eye-catching thumbnails, and search filters so you can explore and discover content quickly. The clearer and more structured layout helps you easily recognize the resources you need (courses, lessons, Online Workshops) based on your learning preferences.  

Introducing Learning Pathways

This redesign also highlights a new approach to Learn WordPress content, emphasizing what learners engage with the most. The introduction of Learning Pathways lets you grow your WordPress skills progressively. You can start with beginner essentials and then work your way through more advanced concepts at your own speed. This method lets you build a solid understanding as you move through each course. Learning Pathways are geared toward specific learners, like people using WordPress for the first time or those interested in development.

Four Learning Pathways are already launched and ready to explore:

• Beginner WordPress User
• Intermediate WordPress User
• Beginner WordPress Developer 
• Intermediate Theme Developer

You can look forward to more Learning Pathways in the User and Developer tracks soon. Two additional pathways, Designer and Contributor, are also on the roadmap. For more details about Learning Pathways, listen to episode 83 of the WordPress Briefing.

Get a guided tour of all the exciting Learn WordPress changes from the Training team’s very own Jonathan Bossenger, Wes Theron and Kathryn Presner. Sign up for one of their upcoming Online Workshops on Tuesday, August 6 at 14:00 UTC or Thursday, August 8 at 21:00 UTC.

Education for the future of WordPress

What started with the Training team’s effort to understand the needs and expectations of current and future learners became a push to create a dynamic learning experience. This next phase of Learn WordPress is an exciting move toward bringing more people into WordPress, whether new users just getting started or established developers looking to add more skills to their toolbox.

If you want to propose a change or report an issue, please do so in the Learn GitHub repository. If you love WordPress and want to contribute to making Learn WordPress an even greater resource, join the #training Slack channel. Want to make an immediate impact? Share Learn WordPress with someone you know.

Thank you (and props) to all involved

The new Learn WordPress couldn’t have been possible without the effective collaboration of the Training, Design, Marketing, and Meta teams.

@adamwood @agiljulio @arunshenoy99 @bsanevans @burtrw @cnormandigital @devmuhib @digitalchild @dufresnesteven @ervanyuffrizal @faisalahammad @fcoveram @hellosatya @huzaifaalmesbah @indirabiswas27 @ironnysh @itsmhrahman @jinalparekh @joedolson @joen @jominney @keithnoseworthy @kel-dc @lada7042 @laurahartwigdesign @laurlittle @markoserb @mustakim5 @nazmul111 @ndiego @nilovelez @noruzzaman @orangeambition @piyopiyofox @psykro @renyot @rfluethi @rjfrizz @rmartinezduque @ryelle @sakibsnaz @sfougnier @shsajalchowdhury @sierratr @sumitsingh @teuila_mau @webcommsat @webtechpooja??@west7 @zoonini

Say hello to WordPress 6.6 “Dorsey,” named after the legendary American Big Band leader, Tommy Dorsey. Renowned for his smooth-toned trombone and compositions, Dorsey’s music captivated audiences with its emotional depth and vibrant energy.

Let your heart swing, sing, and sway to the deep brass notes of Dorsey’s Big Band sound as you explore the new features and enhancements of WordPress 6.6.

Hello, 6.6!

WordPress 6.6 delivers on the promise of a better web by bringing style, finesse, and a suite of creative possibilities to your site-building experience. This version helps you do more with ease, putting enhanced tools at your fingertips and giving you unprecedented power behind the scenes. You will find more ways to create beautiful, coherent design elements across your site, a new layout for quick page previews in the Site Editor, and the safety of automatic rollbacks for failed plugin auto-updates—among many other highlights.

In addition to the new features, “Dorsey” continues to deliver the performance and accessibility gains you can expect from every WordPress release. Explore what WordPress 6.6 has to offer and get ready to let its features take your sites to new heights.

What’s inside

Add more design options to block themes

Create color or font sets to multiply design combinations across one theme. These sets offer more contained design possibilities, allowing visual variety within the site’s broader styling guidelines.

Simplify your workflow with a new layout for pages in the Site Editor

See all of your pages and a preview of any selected page with the new side-by-side layout in the Site Editor.

Auto-update your plugins with peace of mind

Enjoy the convenience of plugin auto-updates with the safety of rollbacks if anything goes wrong—offering your site a new level of security, enhanced functionality as it becomes available, and almost no time or bandwidth from you to make it happen.

Customize content in synced patterns

Make content changes in each instance of a synced pattern while maintaining a consistent style across them. Set these overrides for Heading, Paragraph, Button, and Image blocks when placed in a synced pattern.

Performance

WordPress 6.6 features important updates like removing redundant WP_Theme_JSON calls, disabling autoload for large options, and eliminating unnecessary polyfill dependencies. Other highlights include lazy-loading post embeds, a new data-wp-on-async directive, and templates in the editor that load approximately 35% faster overall.

Accessibility

This release includes 58 accessibility fixes and enhancements. These focus on foundational aspects of the WordPress experience, particularly the data views component powering the new site editing experience and areas like the Inserter, which provide a key way of interacting with blocks and patterns.

And much more

Visit the feature showcase for a full overview of all the new features and enhancements in WordPress 6.6.

Learn more about WordPress 6.6

Explore Learn WordPress for quick how-to videos, online workshops, and other free resources to level up your WordPress knowledge and skills.

The WordPress 6.6 Field Guide contains detailed technical information and developer notes to help you build with WordPress and get the most out of this release. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Developer Blog for updates, tutorials, and other helpful WordPress content for developers.

For information about installation, file changes, fixes, and other updates, read the 6.6 release notes.

The 6.6 release squad

Every release comes to you from a dedicated team of enthusiastic contributors who help keep things on track and moving smoothly. The team that has led 6.6 is a cross-functional group of contributors who are always ready to champion ideas, remove blockers, and resolve issues.

• Release Lead: Matt Mullenweg
• Release Coordinator: Meher Bala
• Core Tech Lead: Jb Audras
• Editor Tech Leads: Ella van Durpe, Vicente Canales
• Core Triage Leads: Olga Gleckler, Nazmul Hasan Robin
• Editor Triage Leads: Fabian K?gy, Damon Cook 
• Documentation Leads: JuanMa Garrido, Jenny Dupuy, Josep Morán
• Marketing & Communications Lead: Mary Baum
• Test Lead: Anne McCarthy
• Design Lead: Rich Tabor
• Performance Lead: Adam Silverstein

Thank you, contributors

The mission of WordPress is to democratize publishing and embody the freedoms that come with open source. A global and diverse community of people collaborating to strengthen the software supports this effort.

WordPress 6.6 reflects the tireless efforts and passion of more than 630 contributors in at least 51 countries. This release also welcomed over 150 first-time contributors!

Their collaboration delivered more than 1,900 enhancements and fixes, ensuring a stable release for all—a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress open source community.

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Perez Carreno · Art Smith · Artemio Morales · Arthur Chu · Artur Piszek · Arun Sharma · Arunas Liuiza · Ashesh Magar · Asiqur Rahman · Asish Chandra Mohon · Aslam Doctor · asmittle · Aurooba Ahmed · Ayesh Karunaratne · Béryl de La Grandière · Balu B · bangank36 · Bart Kalisz · Beatriz Fialho · Beau Lebens · Ben Dwyer · Ben Keith · Ben Ritner - Kadence WP · Benjamin Denis · Benjamin Gosset · Benjamin Pick · Benjamin Zekavica · benjpw · bernhard-reiter · Birgit Pauli-Haack · bissy · Bjarne Oldrup · Blackbam · Blockify · blogography · bnewboldbsky · bnjunge · Brad Jorsch · Brennan Goewert · Brian Alexander · Brian Coords · Brian Gardner · Brian Gosnell · Brian Haas · Bridget Willard · bridgetwes · Brooke · Bruno Freiberger Garcia · Bruno Tritsch · burnuser · Caleb Burks · Candy · Carlos Bravo · Carlos G. P. · Carolina Nymark · cbirdsong · Chad Chadbourne · Charlie Merland · Chloe Bringmann · Chouby · Chris Reynolds · chrisdotdotdot · Christoph Daum · Christopher · Ciprian · Clark · Colin Stewart · ColinD · colle · Colleen (Ohia) Thompson · comecaramelos · Constantine Vasilyev · CookiesForDevo · Corey McKrill a11n · Courtney Robertson · Craig Francis · crazytonyli · Cullen Whitmore · Curdin Krummenacher · cyrus11 · Dale du Preez · Damon Cook · Damon Cook · Dan Soschin · Dan Sullivan · Dani Guardiola · Daniel Richards · darerodz · Darren Ethier (nerrad) · Darshit Rajyaguru · dav4 · Dave Page · David · David A. Kennedy · David Ballarin Prunera · David Baumwald · David Biňovec · David Bowman · David Calhoun · David Herrera · David Jensen · David Levine · David Rozando · David Smith · davideferre · De'Yonté W. · Dean Sas · DEBARGHYA BANERJEE · Deep Patel · Deepak Vijayan · Denis ?oljom · Dennis Snell · Derek Blank · Derek Smart · designsimply · Devin Curtis · Dharmesh Patel · Dhrumil Kumbhani · Dhruval Shah · Dhruvang21 · dhruvkb · DiedeExterkate · diegosomar · Dilip Bheda · Dion Hulse · DJ · DjZoNe · dmpinder · Dominik Schilling · Drew Jaynes · drrxbracho · Earle Davies · Elena Brescacin · Ella van?Durpe · Emily Clarke · Emmanuel Hesry · Enej Bajgori? · Eneko Garrido · enodekciw · Enrico Battocchi · Enrico Sorcinelli · Eric-Oliver Mächler · Erik · erikiva · Estela Rueda · evanltd · Fabian K?gy · Fabian Todt · Faisal Alvi · Fanly · Farhan Ahmed · Felix Arntz · Firoz Sabaliya · Flavia Bernárdez Rodríguez · Florian TIAR · Franz Josef Kaiser · fushar · Gabor Lippert · Gajendra Singh · Gal Baras · Gale Wallace · Garth Mortensen · Gary Jones · George Mamadashvili · George Stephanis · Gerardo Pacheco · gierand · Glen Davies · Glenn Ansley · Grant M. Kinney · Greg Zió?kowski · Guido Scialfa · Héctor Prieto · hakre · hanneslsm · Hans-Gerd Gerhards · Harit Panchal · Harsh Gajipara · Haz · heinvv · HelgaTheViking · Hinnerk Altenburg · Hit Bhalodia · Hitendra Chopda · humanify · huubl · Huzaifa Al Mesbah · iamthomasbishop · Ian Belanger · ignatiusjeroe · Imran · inwerpsel · Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) · Isabel Brison · IT Path Solutions · Ivan Ottinger · Jaap Weijland · Jack Stevens · jaclync · Jacob Smith · James Koster · James Rosado · James Wesley Goedert · Jamie Speller · Jan Boddez · Jansen Tolle · janthiel · Jarda Snajdr · Jarek Mazurczak · jarekmorawski · Jaroslav "Dero" Polakovic · Jason Adams · Jason Crist · Jason Johnston · Jason LeMahieu (MadtownLems) · Javier Casares · jayanthparthsarathy · jbinda · jdekhtiar · Jean-Baptiste Audras · Jeff Chi · Jeff Ong · Jeffrey Paul · Jeffro · jeflopo · Jenny Dupuy · Jeremy Felt · Jeremy Herve · Jeremy Pry · Jerry Jones · Jesús Amieiro · Jess · Jessica Lyschik · jhned · Jigar Bhanushali · Jigar Panchal · Jip Moors · JiveDig · Joe Dolson · Joe McGill · Joen Asmussen · Johannes Jülg · John Blackbourn · John Espiritu · John Godley · John Hooks · John James Jacoby · Jon Surrell · jon092 · Jonathan · Jonathan Bossenger · Jonathan Desrosiers · Joni Erkkilä · Jonny Harris · jordesign · Jorge Costa · Jos Klever · Jose Varghese · Josep Morán · Joseph Scott · Joshua Goode · Jossnaz · Juan Aldasoro · JuanMa Garrido · jules · Julie Moynat · Juliette Reinders Folmer · Julio Potier · Justin Tadlock · justnorris · Jyolsna J E · K. 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J. · mariushosting · Mark Howells-Mead · Mark Jaquith · Mark Szymanski · Mark Uraine · Martijn van der Klis · Mary Baum · Mat Lipe · Mathieu Viet · Matias Benedetto · Matias Ventura · Matt Cromwell · Matt Medeiros · Matt Mullenweg · Matt Sherman · Matteo Enna · mattraines · maurodf · Md Abul Bashar · Md Sahadat Husain · Md Tofajjal Hossen · MD.NESAR MRIDHA · Meet Makadia · Meet Mehta · megane9988 · Meher Bala · Michael James Ilett · michaelwp85 · Michal Czaplinski · Miguel Fonseca · miguelsansegundo · Mihai Joldis · Miikka · Mikael Korpela · Mike Henderson · Mike McAlister · Mikey Binns · Minal Diwan · Miriam Schwab · Mitchell Austin · miya · mkismy · Mobarak Ali · Mohit Dadhich · Monzur Alam · Morais Junior · mrwweb · Muhibul Haque · mujuonly · Mukesh Panchal · Mumtahina Faguni · munyagu · Musannif Zahir · Mustaque Ahmed · myhro · mykolashlyakhtun · Mykyta Synelnikov · Nadir Seghir a11n · Naeem Haque · Namith Jawahar · Narendra Sishodiya · Naresh Bheda · Nate Gay · Nazmul Hasan Robin · Nazmul Hosen · nboot8 · nendeb · neotrope · Nick Diego · nicmare · Nico · Nicolas Tatarchenko · Nicole Furlan · Nicole Paschen Caylor · nicomollet · nidhidhandhukiya · Niels Lange · Nihar Ranjan Das · Nik Tsekouras · Nilambar Sharma · Nilo Velez · Nirav Sherasiya · Nithin John · Nithin SreeRaj · nkeller15 · Noruzzaman · nosilver4u · obliviousharmony · okat · Old account · Olga Gleckler · Oliver Campion · Oliver Schmid · OllieJones · Omar Alshaker · omerkurd · Paal Joachim Romdahl · Pablo Honey · Pacicio · Pamela Ribeiro · Paolo L. Scala · papijo · Pascal Birchler · Patricia BT · Patrick Lumumba · Paul Bearne · Paul Biron · Paul de Wouters · Paul Kevan · Paul Wilde · Paulo Trentin · Pavan Patil · pavelevap · Pedro Mendonça · peiche · Per Søderlind · perryrylance · Peter Rubin · Peter Wilson · petitphp · petralian · Phi Phan · Pieterjan Deneys · Pinar · Pitam Dey · pkuliga · Pooja N Muchandikar · pooja9712 · Povilas Staškus · ppolo99 · Praful Patel · Pranit Dugad · Prasad Karmalkar · Prashant Baldha · Pratik Londhe · Prem Tiwari · Presskopp · printsachen1 · Priyanshii Vijayvargiya · Prottoy Sarkar Argho · QuietNoise · Rachel Baker · Rafael Gallani · Rafa? 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More than 60 locales have translated 90 percent or more of WordPress 6.6 into their language. Community translators are working hard to ensure more translations are on their way. Thank you to everyone who helps make WordPress available in 200 languages.

Last but not least, thanks to the volunteers who contribute to the support forums by answering questions from WordPress users worldwide.

Get involved

Participation in WordPress goes far beyond coding, and learning more and getting involved is easy. Discover the teams that come together to Make WordPress and use this interactive tool to help you decide which is right for you.

6.6 haiku

Six-point-six is here.
Make it all gorgeous; keep it
On brand, and relax.

How fast a web page loads, how quickly a page reacts when you click a button, or how smoothly it scrolls can all significantly impact the end-user experience. A more performant site can lead to higher reader engagement and more conversions. Thankfully, over the past few years, the WordPress project has made major performance improvements across the board for the core platform, plugins, and themes.

Many enhancements are available out of the box, with no configuration required. They improve the website frontend’s performance—the part visitors see—and various parts of the administrative experience, such as the editor.

Here’s a partial list of performance upgrades from the past year:

• WordPress 6.3 brought several enhancements to image loading. This resulted in an improvement of up to 21% in loading time for any WordPress page with a hero image.
• WordPress 6.5 launched with a more efficient translation engine. In benchmark testing, it improved WordPress response time by 23% for all localized WordPress sites. More than 55% of all WordPress sites worldwide use a language other than US English and would benefit from this enhancement.
• WordPress 6.5 also included several performance optimizations for the Block Editor, leading to 5x faster typing processing and 2x faster load times when creating or editing content in the site and post editors.

In addition to the Core enhancements listed above, the WordPress project continues to work on several efforts that indirectly benefit the ecosystem’s performance.

For instance, WordPress Core leverages automated tooling for continuously monitoring its performance, covering every product update. This helps measure new features’ performance improvements and enables contributors to detect potential performance problems during the development of a new feature or release so any issues can be proactively addressed long before end users are affected. A project is currently underway to make the same tooling used by WordPress Core developers available to plugin and theme authors as well.

Additionally, the new WordPress plugin checker allows checking any plugin for performance best practices, among other requirements and recommendations. The plugin checker should lead to more performance awareness in plugin authors and, eventually, faster plugins. If you develop plugins, consider integrating this tool into your development and testing workflow.

Last but not least, WordPress 6.5 introduced the Interactivity API, which is a technical foundation that facilitates more performant user interactions. This new infrastructure drastically simplifies the implementation of interactive website features and can even centrally control certain aspects of performance, keeping multiple independent plugins operating efficiently.

These performance updates result from a collaborative effort from all corners of the community, including the WordPress Performance Team. This team, founded in 2021, underscores the WordPress project’s commitment to performance. And the results are substantial: Compared to a year ago, 8% more WordPress sites deliver good load time performance at scale—significantly better than the overall web’s 5.5% load time improvement. The web is getting more performant, and WordPress is leading the way.

WordPress contributors are determined to continue this trend by working on further performance iterations. Whether you’re a WordPress end user, administrator, site builder, or developer, you can contribute to this effort. Anyone can test the performance features before being released in Core through individual feature plugins. Each feature can be tested via the Performance Lab plugin, so please try them! Testing features early helps the team assess their impact and collect valuable feedback.

Are you eager for more WordPress performance news and updates? Then check out the 2024 performance roadmap. Thanks to the entire community for your hard work. Not only does it ensure WordPress’ continued improvement and growth, but it benefits the entire open web.

Thank you to @annezazu @clarkeemily @tweetythierry @swissspidy @westonruter @adamsilverstein @joemcgill for content review and @provenself @dansoschin for editorial review.