The Month in WordPress – March 2022


We hope that you and your beloved ones are staying safe during these difficult times. If you’re looking for a way to support the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, you can refer to this episode of WP Briefing. There you will find a list of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that can help.

In parallel to the work the community is doing in preparation for the next major release, WordPress 6.0, March has seen the launch of some exciting projects and proposals. Read on to find out more about the latest updates and how to get involved.


The Pattern Directory is open for public submissions

View of the Pattern Directory page at WordPress.org.

The WordPress Pattern Creator is live! This new tool allows anyone with a WordPress.org user account to build, edit and submit their best block patterns to the Pattern Directory.

If you’ve used patterns in WordPress, you’ll know that they make it easy to add unique layouts to your website. These include galleries, testimonials, pricing tables, and more. Opening the directory to public submissions enables any WordPress user to enjoy a wider variety of patterns to use on their sites.

WordPress 6.0 Walkthrough scheduled for April 5, 2022

A few updates to the WordPress 6.0 planning were published last month. In case you missed them, today (April 5) at 15:00 UTC there is a live and interactive WordPress 6.0 walkthrough hosted by contributors of the release squad.

The event will take place via Zoom and include a discussion on the new features, potential blockers, and a Q&A session with the community. Attendance is open to anyone who wants to know more about what’s coming in WordPress 6.0.

Gutenberg releases: Versions 12.8 and 12.9 are here

Versions 12.8 and 12.9 of the Gutenberg plugin were released last month. With them, some new exciting features and updates.

  • Gutenberg 12.8 includes a new Webfonts API, iterative UX enhancements, and bug fixes to increase the editor’s stability.
  • Gutenberg 12.9 introduces the new block locking UI and support for spacing between Gallery images. Also, many other improvements to give you more control over what is editable and presented to users.

Team updates: Team Reps for the Photo Directory team, community proposals, and more

Testing requests: WebP feature, template for author pages

  • The Performance Team published a proposal to integrate the WebP image format by default into WordPress core. Your feedback on this feature is appreciated.
  • Version 19.6 of WordPress for iOS is available for testing.

The first flagship WordCamp Asia is looking for organizers


Have a story that we could include in the next ‘Month in WordPress’ post? Let us know by filling out this form.

The following folks contributed to this Month in WordPress: @rmartinezduque, @mysweetcate, @anjanavasan.


Get the Latest Updates

WP Briefing — The WordPress Podcast

Join Josepha Haden and Matt Mullenweg to learn about where WordPress is going and how you can get involved.