Core Editor Improvement: Robust Revisions in the Site Editor

These “CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Editor Improvement…” posts (labeled with the #core-editor-improvement tagtag A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses tags to store a single snapshot of a version (3.6, 3.6.1, etc.), the common convention of tags in version control systems. (Not to be confused with post tags.)) are a series dedicated to highlighting various new features, improvements, and more from Core Editor related projects. 

RevisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. are an integral part of the creation experience, providing a safety net and a way to see where you’ve been to know where to go next. It’s so important that there’s a dedicated area of focus for phase 3 efforts dedicated to the broader area of work! While lots of work lies ahead, WordPress 6.5 is slated to include some impactful changes and new features to current revision functionality in the Site Editor. 

If you want to try out what’s shared below for yourself, head over to the post on Early Opportunities to Test WordPress 6.5 where you can quickly spin up your own test site to experience it for yourself and give feedback. Everything shared below is available as of GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ 17.4 and planned for inclusion in WordPress 6.5.

Let’s look at a before and after 

To help bring these changes to life, below is a video showcasing what’s written below. The “before” site is using WordPress 6.4.2 and the “after” site is using WordPress 6.4.2 with Gutenberg 17.5.1 installed. These test sites were pulled from Early Opportunities to Test WordPress 6.5 so anyone is welcome to explore:

Read a short summary of styling changes thanks to a new design

Alongside a new design showing more granular information, like a more granular timestamp, a short summary of changes made in each revision is now available. Combined, this greatly simplifies understanding what’s in each revision rather than relying on spotting visual changes. 

View all style revisions thanks to pagination

Rather than showing just the last 100 revisions, all revisions are now available thanks to pagination. This both works around a technical limitation of 100 results per REST response and helps make navigating between revisions much easier than scrolling endlessly in the sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.. 

Toggle on the Style Book to get a different angle

In the same way you might be used to using the Style Book when making changes to your site in the Site Editor, you can now do the same when looking at different revisions to see changes that might not otherwise be visible on the current template. Just as when you use the Style Book normally, you can toggle it on and off as you’d like. 

Rely on full revisions for everything 

While the undo and redo buttons have a role to play, having access to full revision history allows for a much greater understanding of changes, their impact, and actions one can take. While this was mentioned in a previous post, revisions for templates and template parts are finally slated for inclusion in Core for WordPress 6.5. This means out of the box folks can browse changes to templates, template parts, and styles providing a nice safety net. 

#core-editor, #core-editor-improvement, #gutenberg, #site-editor