We have now an overview of WordPress 6.9, which is targeting December 2nd for release. There are a lot of areas where improvements are planned, some of them are for developers and others will be user facing. Simplified editing and collaborative commenting are two of the more major areas.

WordPress 6.8.2 was released with 35 core bug fixes and 15 Gutenberg fixes.

The WordPress core team announced plans for another major release in 2025. Version 6.9 was originally scheduled for next year but Matt has called for another release in 2025. It is uncertain what will be included, perhaps some projects and improvements that have already been underway? Matt mentioned in an interview that he would like to have the Admin redesign shipped this year.

WordPress 6.8.2 RC 1 is available for testing. It includes 20 fixes for core and 15 for Gutenberg.

There is a proposal to introduce a status of “maintenance mode” for features in WordPress that are only going to get security, bug and compatibility fixes. A bit controversial are items in the list to consider, TinyMCE, the Customizer, and Shortcodes, among others.

If you are still running sites with WordPress 4.1 through 4.6 then take note that security back-ports will no longer be available. Usage of these versions is very low.

In a post on the Automattic website it was confirmed that contributions to the WordPress project will resume.

In this tutorial Misha Rudrastyh does a deep dive into WordPress admin dashboard widgets. He shows how to remove them and create them.

A bug fix release of 6.8.1 is scheduled for April 30. Here are the current tickets being targeted for inclusion.