Update: since this post was published, WordPress has changed the release date of WordPress 5.0. The official release date for WordPress 5.0 is now November 27, 2018. As you can see there were more issues than expected, since the 5th beta version of WordPress 5.0 has been released on November 16.
Those who follow the Make WordPress Core blog might have seen the announcement: a proposed WordPress 5.0 schedule was shared last week by the core contributor Gary Pendergast. If there’s no last-minute surprise, WordPress 5.0 “Gutenberg” will be officially released on November 19, 2018. Here’s the proposed schedule in details:
- October 19, 2018: WordPress 5.0 Beta 1 will be available for beta testing. At this point, as explained on that page, “no more commits for any new enhancements or feature requests in this release cycle, only bug fixes and inline documentation.”
- October 30, 2018: WordPress 5.0 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) and soft string freeze (the term “string freeze” is used by the core team to mark the end of changes to the strings of an upcoming release)
- November 12, 2018: If needed, an Release Candidate 2 (RC2) could be released. Hard string freeze.
- November 19, 2018: WordPress 5.0 “Gutenberg” should be officially released if no serious issues are discovered with the RC1.
If additional time is needed, the previous dates could change, and WP 5.0 could be released anytime before November 27, 2018. However, if the WordPress team realizes that more additional time is required, then the release of WordPress 5.0 will be pushed back to 2019, and the schedule would change for the following:
- January 8, 2019: Another WordPress 5.0 Release Candidate.
- January 22, 2019: WordPress 5.0 “Gutenberg”.
For more details, you can follow the WordPress 5.0 Development Cycle here.
What about the Gutenberg editor?
A lot of people are worried regarding the new visual editor for WordPress, Gutenberg, which will be merged into WordPress Core with the release of WordPress 5.0.
Indeed, Gutenberg will be a game-changer. The editor uses the power of blocks to enable the creation of all types of content. These blocks will transform how users interact with WordPress by streamlining the editor with modern CSS and HTML coding standards. You can read more about Gutenberg here.
Are you ready for Gutenberg? If you’re not, here’s what you can do.
Try it!
If you haven’t tested it yet, it’s not too late! You can try Gutenberg directly on the WordPress website, no need to create an account. On that page, you can play with the editor, move around the content, etc.
Disable it
If you manage hundreds of WordPress sites for your clients and you’re worried that the new visual editor could disrupt their workflow when publishing new posts, you can also disable Gutenberg, plain and simple. That’s probably the wisest thing to do if you’re not ready. But make sure to disable Gutenberg in advance, before WordPress 5.0 is released!
Learn to use it
You can also learn to use Gutenberg. That’s probably the best thing to do, since Gutenberg is here to stay. In the video below, Tammie Lister, a WordPress core contributor, shows some of the features of the Gutenberg editor. A nice video to watch if you want to get a better idea of what Gutenberg has to offer!