The Test Team helps manage testing and triage across the WordPress ecosystem. They focus on user testing of the editing experience and WordPress dashboard, replicating and documenting bug reports, and supporting a culture of review and triage across the project.
If you’d like to help test Full Site Editing, please join the FSE Outreach Program. You can find current calls for testing for this program here and you can join the fun in #fse-outreach-experiment.
With WordPress 5.8 slated to ship on July 20th, this post seeks to consolidate ways for those in the FSE Outreach Program (anyone can join!) to help test specific features related to the overall full site editing project that will be included in this release. This is meant to bolster, not replace, overall 5.8 testing efforts. Theme.jsonJSON JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML. is explicitly not mentioned here as there’s currently a dedicated testing post for that feature with feedback open until July 14th.
For more information about the outreach program, please review this FAQ for helpful details and check out the latest schedule. To properly join the fun, please head to #fse-outreach-experiment in Make Slack for future testing announcements, helpful posts, and more.
Important note: Anything marked as [Technical] is best for those comfortable with more advanced testing steps.
Please only test on a development siteDevelopment Site You can keep a copy of your live site in a separate environment. Maintaining a development site is a good practice that can let you make any changes and test them without affecting the live/production environment. and not on a production/live site. You can follow these instructions to set up a local installLocal Install A local install of WordPress is a way to create a staging environment by installing a LAMP or LEMP stack on your local computer. or use a tool like this to set up a development site.
Once a development site is set up, please install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester Plugin before setting it to:
If you need more specific steps, here are more detailed instructions you can follow.
The block widgets editor allows you to use blocks in widgets areas and control them further in the CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. with live preview, scheduling, etc. The following items are considered a high priority to test:
For robust testing steps for each of these items, please review this specific call for testing from earlier in the release process. For more information about this new feature, check out this Dev note covering all of the details.
Template editing mode allows you to edit your content’s template with blocks, including some new theme blocks like the Site Title block or Page List block. As a reminder, template editing mode is opt in for Classic Themes and opt out for Block Themes. This means that if you want to test this, you’ll need to use a block theme along with both the Gutenberg plugin and the WordPress Beta Tester Plugin.
The following items are a high priority to test:
For robust testing steps around using and creating templates, please follow these previous calls for testing: create a custom portfolio page and create custom landing pages.
Note: If you use a block theme to test this, you will need to install the Gutenberg plugin alongside it in order for everything to work with WordPress 5.8.
Duotone is a feature that allows you to add colors to your images and enhance your content. It works best with high contrast images, so keep that in mind as you test the following priority items:
For more information about this feature, check out the WordPress news post that covers it in depth.
The Query Loop Block (previously called the Query Block) is a powerful new block that unlocks the ability to easily show off posts from a specific categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging., allowing you to do things like quickly creating a portfolio or a favorite recipe page. Think of it as a more complex and powerful Latest Posts Block! Currently, this new block offers multiple ways for displaying lists of posts and comes with new block patterns that take advantage of its flexibility and creative possibilities.
To help test this, explore the patterns built into the block, try changing the default query 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. settings, placing it inside a columns block, and more. Keep in mind that to create a better user experience, the content within the Query Loop isn’t able to be edited but can be customized (i.e., Post Title text can’t be changed but you can change the color of the Post Title Block).
For robust testing steps around using the query block, please follow this previous call for testing that was focused on the Query Loop block.
If you find any issues, it’s best to share them on the alpha/beta forums, or Trac if you are more technically savvy and comfortable. Please share feedback before the release on July 20, 2021.
