{"id":11972,"date":"2022-01-05T19:03:59","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T19:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/?p=11972"},"modified":"2022-01-05T19:03:59","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T19:03:59","slug":"the-month-in-wordpress-december-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2022\/01\/the-month-in-wordpress-december-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"The Month in WordPress &#8211; December 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>December was a busy month for the WordPress community. In the<a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2021\/12\/episode-22-a-carol-of-thanks\/\"> latest episode of the WP Briefing podcast<\/a>, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shares a carol of thanks and shows her gratitude to all the people who make the WordPress project a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>(&#8230;) I know that we have gotten so much done together in the last few years. And I am equally sure that we\u2019re going to get so much done in the years to come. And so thank you all so much for your continued work with WordPress and the way that you just bring your best at all times.<\/p><cite>Josepha Haden, Executive Director of the WordPress project<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>We said goodbye to 2021 with the annual State of the Word, along with the release of WordPress 5.9 Beta 4, among many other exciting updates. Read on to learn more about the latest community achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"wordpress-5-9-the-first-release-candidate-just-landed\">WordPress 5.9: The first release candidate just landed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Following the<a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2021\/12\/wordpress-5-9-beta-3\/\"> Beta 3<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2021\/12\/wordpress-5-9-beta-4\/\"> Beta 4<\/a> releases in December, the first <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2022\/01\/wordpress-5-9-rc-1\/\">release candidate for WordPress 5.9<\/a> is now out and available for testing.<\/li><li>With less than three weeks to go until the final release, this version continues the work from last year and marks the hard<a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/polyglots\/handbook\/glossary\/#hard-freeze\"> string freeze point<\/a> of the 5.9 release schedule.<\/li><li>Follow the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/tag\/5-9+dev-notes\/\">5.9 developer notes<\/a> to learn more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2022\/01\/04\/miscellaneous-core-changes-in-wordpress-5-9\/\">changes<\/a> and updates coming with this release.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>Are you interested in contributing to WordPress core?<\/strong> Join the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.slack.com\/archives\/C02RQBWTW\">#core<\/a> channel, follow the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/\">Core Team blog<\/a>, and check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/handbook\/\">team handbook<\/a>. Also, don&#8217;t miss the Core Team\u2019s weekly developer chat on Wednesdays at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeanddate.com\/worldclock\/fixedtime.html?hour=20&amp;min=00&amp;sec=0\">8 PM<\/a> UTC.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"gutenberg-releases-versions-12-1-and-12-2-are-here\">Gutenberg releases: Versions 12.1 and 12.2 are here<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Core Team launched two new versions of Gutenberg last month. Both come with new features, code quality improvements, and bug fixes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2021\/12\/08\/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-1-8-december\/\">Gutenberg 12.1<\/a> marks the return of the template List View and includes several Navigation block enhancements, new global styles features, an improved developer experience for block themes, and more.<\/li><li>The<a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2021\/12\/22\/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12-2-22-december\/\"> Gutenberg 12.2<\/a> release focuses on user experience improvements and brings the block styles preview to the Widgets Editor, among other new features.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>Want to get involved in developing Gutenberg?<\/strong> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/\">the Core Team blog<\/a>, contribute to Gutenberg on <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/WordPress\/gutenberg\/\">GitHub<\/a>, and join the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.slack.com\/archives\/C02QB2JS7\">#core-editor<\/a> channel in the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/chat\/\">Make WordPress Slack<\/a>. Follow the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/tag\/gutenberg-new\/\">#gutenberg-new<\/a> tag for details on the latest updates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"highlights-from-state-of-the-word-2021\">Highlights from State of the Word 2021<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2021\/12\/highlights-from-state-of-the-word-2021\/\">State of the Word 2021<\/a>, the annual keynote address delivered by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, was livestreamed from New York City on December 14, 2021. The event gathered WordPress enthusiasts at 29 watch parties around the world.<\/li><li>Matt shared his thoughts on the progress of the WordPress project and made announcements regarding its future in 2022. The presentation was followed by a Question and Answer session.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>If you missed the event\u2019s livestream, you could watch the <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.tv\/2021\/12\/15\/matt-mullenweg-2021-state-of-the-word\/\"><strong>State of the Word recording<\/strong><\/a><strong> and the <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.tv\/2021\/12\/15\/matt-mullenweg-state-of-the-word-2021-qa\/\"><strong>Q&amp;A session<\/strong><\/a><strong> on WordPress.tv.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"team-updates-2022-major-release-timings-new-team-rep-announcements-and-more\">Team updates: 2022 major release timings, new team rep announcements, and more<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Core Team opened a discussion on <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2021\/12\/17\/discussion-2022-major-release-timing\/\">the release dates for 2022<\/a> and the possibility of having four major WordPress releases this year.<\/li><li>The following teams announced their team representatives for 2022: <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/themes\/2021\/12\/03\/introducing-new-themes-team-representatives\/\">Themes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/support\/2021\/12\/agenda-for-the-december-9-support-meeting\/\">Support<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/polyglots\/2021\/11\/08\/call-for-polyglots-team-representatives\/#comment-293358\">Polyglots<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/community\/2022\/01\/03\/announcement-team-representatives-for-2022\/\">Community<\/a>.<\/li><li>In 2021, 2572 people contributed to WordPress source code using Trac, including 305 first-timers. Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2021\/12\/29\/a-year-in-core-2021\/\">A Year in Core \u2013 2021<\/a> for more interesting stats on WordPress Core contributions.<\/li><li>The Diverse Speaker Training Group (#WPDiversity) shared its accomplishments from last year in this<a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/community\/2021\/12\/14\/diverse-speaker-training-group-wpdiversity-2021-year-end-report\/\"> 2021 year-end report<\/a>.<\/li><li>The Training Team<a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/training\/2021\/12\/07\/december-2021-team-sprint\/\"> planned a sprint<\/a> to audit and revisit the Learn WordPress content for the WordPress 5.9 release.<\/li><li>The Design Team summarized some of the key changes behind the<a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/design\/2021\/12\/17\/redesign-of-openverse\/\"> Openverse redesign<\/a>.<\/li><li>The December 2021 editions of the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/polyglots\/2021\/12\/20\/polyglots-monthly-newsletter-december-2021\/\">Polyglots Monthly Newsletter<\/a> and the<a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/community\/2021\/12\/14\/meetup-organizer-newsletter-december-2021\/\"> Meetup Organizer Newsletter<\/a> are out.<\/li><li>The latest edition of<a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2021\/12\/people-of-wordpress-collins-agbonghama\/\"> <\/a>People of WordPress features <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2021\/12\/people-of-wordpress-collins-agbonghama\/\">Collins Agbonghama<\/a> from Nigeria.<\/li><li>The Core Team <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2022\/01\/05\/proposal-changes-to-javascript-coding-standards-for-full-prettier-compatibility\/\">announced a proposal<\/a> to change the JavaScript coding standards for complete Prettier compatibility.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>Are you looking for some 5.9 resources to share with your local community? <\/strong>Check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/community\/2021\/12\/10\/wordpress-5-9-talking-points\/\">WordPress 5.9 Talking Points for Meetup Organizers<\/a> post.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"feedback-testing-requests-contribute-by-testing-or-translating-wordpress-5-9\">Feedback\/Testing requests: Contribute by testing or translating WordPress 5.9<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Your feedback on WordPress 5.9 release candidates is still needed and appreciated! If you haven\u2019t tried this version yet, you can find instructions on testing 5.9 features <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/2021\/11\/30\/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features\/\">in this post<\/a>.<\/li><li>Do you speak a language other than English? The Polyglots Team announced that <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/polyglots\/2021\/12\/16\/wordpress-5-9-ready-to-be-translated\/\">WordPress 5.9 is also ready to be translated<\/a>.<\/li><li>Version 18.9 of WordPress for<a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/mobile\/2021\/12\/14\/call-for-testing-wordpress-for-android-18-9\/\"> Android<\/a> is available for testing.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/2021\/11\/30\/help-test-wordpress-5-9-features\/\"><strong>Share your feedback<\/strong><\/a><strong> on WordPress 5.9.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"apply-to-speak-or-host-a-workshop-at-wordcamp-europe-2022\">Apply to speak or host a workshop at WordCamp Europe 2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>WordCamp US 2022 is currently looking for<a href=\"https:\/\/us.wordcamp.org\/2022\/are-you-ready-to-be-a-2022-organizer\/\"> organizers<\/a>.<\/li><li>The WordPress community celebrated its first in-person WordCamp after 21 months in<a href=\"https:\/\/sevilla.wordcamp.org\/2021\/\"> Sevilla (Spain)<\/a> on December 11-12, 2021.<a href=\"https:\/\/taiwan.wordcamp.org\/2021\/\"> WordCamp Taiwan<\/a> was held online the same weekend.<\/li><li>The Test Team organized the Hallway Hangout titled <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/2021\/12\/21\/hallway-hangout-lets-talk-about-wordpress-6-0\/\">Let\u2019s talk about WordPress 6.0<\/a> on December 21, 2021. The team also shared a wrap-up of the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/2021\/12\/16\/fse-program-site-editing-safari-summary\/\">Site Editing Safari<\/a> as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/handbook\/full-site-editing-outreach-experiment\/\">FSE Outreach Program<\/a>.<\/li><li>The Training Team hosted several WordPress Social Learning Meetups last month, and there will be many more in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/wordpress-social-learning\/events\/\">January 2022<\/a>.<\/li><li>Last year the WordPress Foundation made significant progress in its mission to educate the public about open source software. Learn more about it in this <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpressfoundation.org\/news\/2021\/looking-back-at-2021\/\">2021 recap<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t miss the following upcoming WordCamps: <a href=\"https:\/\/birmingham.wordcamp.org\/2022\/\">WordCamp Birmingham, Alabama 2022<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/vienna.wordcamp.org\/2022\/\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/geneve.wordcamp.org\/2022\/\">WordCamp Gen\u00e8ve 2022<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/vienna.wordcamp.org\/2022\/\">, WordCamp Vienna 2022<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2022\/\">WordCamp Europe 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><strong>The<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2022\/call-for-sponsors\/\"><strong> Call For Sponsors<\/strong><\/a><strong> and <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2022\/call-for-speakers\/\"><strong>Call For Speakers<\/strong><\/a><strong> for WordCamp Europe 2022 are open! <\/strong>Read <a href=\"https:\/\/europe.wordcamp.org\/2022\/a-sneak-peek-at-wceu2022\/\">this post<\/a> to learn more about the Organizing Team&#8217;s plans for the first in-person WordCamp Europe in three years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Have a story that we could include in the next \u2018Month in WordPress\u2019 post? Let us know by filling out <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/community\/month-in-wordpress-submissions\/\"><strong><em>this form<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The following folks contributed to December 2021\u2019s Month in WordPress: <a href='https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/anjanavasan\/' class='mention'><span class='mentions-prefix'>@<\/span>anjanavasan<\/a>, <a href='https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/harishanker\/' class='mention'><span class='mentions-prefix'>@<\/span>harishanker<\/a> <a href='https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/lmurillom\/' class='mention'><span class='mentions-prefix'>@<\/span>lmurillom<\/a>  <a href='https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/meher\/' class='mention'><span class='mentions-prefix'>@<\/span>meher<\/a> <a href='https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/nalininonstopnewsuk\/' class='mention'><span class='mentions-prefix'>@<\/span>nalininonstopnewsuk<\/a> <a href='https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/webcommsat\/' class='mention'><span class='mentions-prefix'>@<\/span>webcommsat<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December was a busy month for the WordPress community. In the latest episode of the WP Briefing podcast, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy shares a carol of thanks and shows her gratitude to all the people who make the WordPress project a success. (&#8230;) I know that we have gotten so much done together [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15289967,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[375],"class_list":["post-11972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-month-in-wordpress","tag-month-in-wordpress","mentions-anjanavasan","mentions-harishanker","mentions-lmurillom","mentions-meher","mentions-nalininonstopnewsuk","mentions-webcommsat"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pZhYe-376","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15289967"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11972"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11986,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11972\/revisions\/11986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}