By: Pankaj Sakariya

August 14, 2019

Exciting News! WordPress Plans to Release 5.2.3 Later This Year

There has been a lot of discussion happening in the devchat in the last month or so. It is all about the timeframes for 5.3 version releasing later this year. On top of this, WordPress is also working on releasing 5.2.3 sooner than 5.3 version. This can be attributed to the fact that there are certain resolved defects that are waiting to be released.

Thanks to the proposal from WordPress, it has been possible for the company to release 5.2.3 sooner than expected while the entire focus of the development world is totally on the release of WordPress 5.3 version.

In the forthcoming sections of this write-up, we have provided some exciting details pertaining to 5.3.2 version which would make it easier for companies to provide WordPress development services by hiring WordPress developer in Melbourne.

We promise after reading this piece of content, you will be in a far better situation to take advantage of this latest update in WordPress and take your WordPress development scope to the next level of success.

Version 5.2.3 will fix quite a few bugs with some minor amendments to the settings page. Let’s look at some of the changes that are going to take effect in this update.

• Enhancement to iCal all-day time format (It works with Apple iCal now);
• Amended the events_list_grouped shortcode not employing formats supplied;
• Got rid of ‘remove from page lists’ options for events/location pages/category;
• Integrated calendar day abbreviations (comes in handy for certain languages, e.g. Welsh, Catalan);
• Shifted events page calendar options to ‘pages’ tag, event list/archives panel;
• Amended attributes bug by employing default value even when custom value inputted (arouse in 5.2.2);
• Integrated search button custom text setting;
• Got rid of duplicate confirm/error notices in bookings admin area (dashboard-side);
• Amended #_LOCATIONPOSTID reflecting location id instead.

Important Considerations (For Some)

The “Show events/category/location page in lists?” options are no longer there. Due to this, quite a few of you may find your Events/Locations/Categories pages reflecting on page lists.

There is a reason due to which WordPress got rid of these options which we are going to discuss right after this sentence. We will also tell you the best way to achieve the same results if you still need these options. So, let’s get started.

1. This option was created by WordPress prior to the days when WP menus existed and themes simply output your pages in the form of menu structure. This way, it became easier for those developers who were not able to code and create their own menu. Back to present, you should be able to make custom page lists by employing the native WP menu builder. Hence, there are not many reasons to employ this option now.
2. There are quite a few settings and options available as it is and many more are on their way. By having one more would have added confusion for the developers.
3. On top of the first pointer, this integrates an additional hook that does different (now avoidable) checks to get rid of these pages from the pages list, irrespective of whether you employ it or not.
4. With the help of less code, it is possible to get the same effect.

To achieve the same effect as earlier follow the information provided below.

Get the Same Effect as Earlier

This is very effortless to recreate, and the big majority now do not require this functionality, we have provided a snippet that will work on any page, post or CPT that you wish to exclude from lists.

/**

* Filters the get_pages functions so it excludes a page

* @param $data

* @return array

*/

 

function my_excluded_pages($pages) {

    $output = array();

    $exclude_pages = array(1,2,3); //the page ids you want to exclude

    foreach( $pages as $page_id => $page ) {

        if( in_array($page->ID, $exclude_pages) ){

            unset($pages[$page_id]);

        }

    }

    return $pages;

}

add_filter ( ‘get_pages’, ‘my_excluded_pages’ );

To get the same effect, paste this code in your theme functions.php file. The next step is to alter line 8 so that 1,2,3 match your page ids. If you wish to find the page id, go to edit that page in your admin dashboard where you will be able to see a post=X in your URL. (Note: Here X is the page ID.)

On top of the items already milestoned for 5.2.3, certain items related to PHP version bump are going to be present in 5.3, backporting certain block editor features and enhancing accessibility and RTL issues. The issues that we have mentioned below are connected to Trac and integrate their summary and connected keywords for fast review. You can get more information pertaining to this PHP version bump by clicking here.

The following relate to the PHP version bump:

• #47160: Backport blocking of plugin updates if required PHP version is not supported [defect] [2nd-opinion] [needs-patch]
• #47699: Remove redundant JSON polyfills for PHP native functionality [enhancement] [has-patch] [has-unit-tests] [needs-dev-note]
• #47797: Provide compatible core update for users not on PHP >= 5.6 [enhancement] [has-patch] [needs-testing]

The following, along with any backported Gutenberg items, relate to improvements in the block editor:

• #45739: Block Editor: $editor_styles bug. [closed] [defect]
• #45935: A URL in do_block_editor_incompatible_meta_box function does not have classic-editor__forget parameter [closed] [defect]
• #47079: Incorrect version for excerpt_allowed_blocks filter [closed] [defect]
• #47216: Block Editor crashes on custom post types without title support [closed] [defect]
• #47489: Emoji are substituted in preformatted blocks [closed] [defect]

The following relate to improvements across the accessibility and RTL focuses:

• #30506: RTL: Hours and minutes fields order reversed in post editing [closed] [defect]
• #46757: Media Trash: The Bulk Media options when in the Trash shouldn’t provide two primary buttons [closed] [defect]
• #46758: Media Trash: Primary button(s) should be on the left [closed] [defect]
• #46899: Ensure that tables generated by the Settings API have no semantics [closed] [defect]
• #46978: Remove title attributes from the Meta widget [closed] [defect]
• #47113: Media views: dismiss notice button is invisible [closed] [defect]
• #47122: Media views: fix unlabelled controls [closed] [defect]
• #47141: Radio and checkbox labels rely on implicit association [closed] [defect]
• #47145: Feature Image dialog does not follow the dialog pattern [closed] [defect]
• #47386: Fix headings hierarchy in the legacy Custom Background and Custom Header pages [closed] [defect]
• #47390: Improve the accessibility of forms elements within some “form-table” forms [closed] [defect]
• #47458: Fix tab sequence order in the Media attachment browser [closed] [defect]
• #47502: Media modal bottom toolbar cuts-off content in Internet Explorer 11 [closed] [defect]
• #47603: My account toggle on admin bar not visible at high zoom levels [closed] [defect]
• #47688: Color hex code in color picker displayed in RTL instead of LTR on RTL install (take 2) [closed] [defect]
• #47693: customizer Color picker should get closed when click on color picker area. [closed] [defect]
• #47758: Font sizes on installation screen are too small [closed] [defect]

While we haven’t historically handled default theme-related changes in a minor release, the following are also potentially viable and related to Block Editor and Accessibility improvements as well:

• #47190: Twenty Seventeen: Native audio and video embeds have no focus state. [closed] [defect]
• #47340: Twenty Nineteen: Revise Latest Posts block styles to support post content options. [closed] [defect]
• #47414: Twenty Seventeen: Button block preview has extra spacing within button [closed] [defect]
• #47543: Twenty Seventeen: buttons don’t change color on hover and focus [closed] [defect]

Proposed timeline

Proposed timeline for this minor release is as follows:

• Bug Scrub: Thursday, August 15, 2019, 10:30 PM GMT+5:30
• Bug Scrub: Tuesday, August 20, 2019, 11:30 PM GMT+5:30
• Release Candidate 1: Thursday, August 22, 2019, 10:30 PM GMT+5:30
• Bug Scrub: Tuesday, August 27, 2019, 10:30 PM GMT+5:30
• Release Candidate 2: Thursday, August 29, 2019, 10:30 PM GMT+5:30
• Final release: Wednesday, September 4, 2019, 10:30 PM GMT+5:30

(Source: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/08/13/5-2-3-release-planning/)

Concluding Thoughts

WordPress developers will have a sigh of relief once WordPress releases 5.2.3 version update. To get the most of your WordPress requirements, avail the services from a reputed WordPress developer in Sydney today!