WordPress.com’s parent company, Automattic, has partnered with Out in Tech, the world’s largest community of LGBTQ+ tech leaders and professionals, since 2017. We’re proud to have helped build over 250 websites for nonprofit organizations that support and advocate for LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.
Just in time for Pride Month 2025, a small group of Automatticians, including me, participated in the Out in Tech Digital Corps Hackathon, held in our office in New York City a few weeks ago.
During a Digital Corps Hackathon, groups with 8-10 volunteers spend the day building a full, multilingual website for the nonprofit to which they’re assigned. My group was assigned a youth advocacy group in West Africa.
A few days before the event, we were added to a shared Google Drive and a dedicated Slack channel, giving us a clear picture of what would be needed before we even arrived. We even connected with the organization’s executive director over video early on the day of the Hackathon.
My group consisted of UX designers, illustrators, marketers, digital strategists, copywriters, and expert site builders. Honestly, I felt like I was back in college working feverishly on a class assignment, and I loved every minute of it. The camaraderie, intense collaboration, and our shared sense of mission all contributed to a joyful experience, complete with inside jokes and new friendships.
At the end of the day, each group presented their finished website during the closing showcase, and then we celebrated with snacks and lively conversations. By the time I’d left later that evening, I’d already made a mental note to volunteer for the next Hackathon in September. It’s incredibly meaningful to use our skills to amplify the missions of LGBTQ+ organizations worldwide.
Interested in volunteering or learning more about Out in Tech? Head to their website to find out how you can get involved and attend an event near you.
Over 1,723 attendees from 84 countries gathered at the Messe and Congress Center Basel in Switzerland, and 20,353 more joined online for WordCamp Europe 2025.
I’m personally very excited… There’s so much I want to do. I think there’s a clear pathway to 7.0 and beyond…
Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Cofounder
The flagship WordPress event kicked off in Basel, Switzerland, with a dedicated Contributor Day. It was followed by two days of engaging talks, panels, hands-on workshops, and vibrant community connections. WordPress Cofounder Matt Mullenweg and Executive Director Mary Hubbard joined a diverse lineup of speakers and panelists, sharing insights in the heart of one of Europe’s most charming cities.
Set against the backdrop of Basel’s historic streets and Rhine-side views, the sponsor hall buzzed with activity as companies from across the WordPress ecosystem showcased their latest innovations, offered live demos, and connected with attendees. Each day, participants refueled with a range of local and international cuisine — from Swiss specialties to global favorites — making mealtime a lively space for networking, collaboration, and sparking new ideas.
A Global Gathering in Basel
WordCamp Europe has long been one of the most anticipated WordPress events of the year — a space where community, creativity, and collaboration thrive. This year in Basel, the conference delivered an exciting and diverse program that reached every corner of the WordPress ecosystem.
Here’s what attendees experienced:
Engaging Sessions Across Tracks – Across two full days, the conference featured informative talks, captivating keynotes, and dynamic discussions exploring WordPress and the broader web.
A Global Speaker Lineup – The stage welcomed 52 speakers from 23 countries across five continents, each bringing unique insights and global perspectives.
Wide-Ranging Topics – The schedule included 45 sessions and four hands-on workshops across three tracks, covering:
Accessibility and key policy updates like the European Accessibility Act and the Cyber Resilience Act
The evolving role of Artificial Intelligence in the open web
Cutting-edge web design, development best practices, SEO, and content strategy
Real-world case studies and showcases from across the community
Hands-On Learning Opportunities – Interactive workshops allowed attendees to roll up their sleeves and develop practical skills in a collaborative setting.
A Community Built on Collaboration – Whether developer, designer, content creator, or entrepreneur, every attendee found space to connect, learn, and grow within a vibrant and welcoming community.
Contributor Day
WordCamp Europe began with a vibrant Contributor Day that brought together 640 contributors—including many first-timers—to collaborate, share knowledge, and support the WordPress project. Guided by 33 dedicated table leads, with 21 teams, attendees of all experience levels came together to exchange ideas, solve real challenges, and make meaningful contributions to open source. From accessibility improvements to theme development and translation efforts, every table played a part in moving WordPress forward.
Thanh NguyenJeroen RottyThanh NguyenRoan de VriesThanh NguyenNilo VelezThanh NguyenLevente András TóthJeroen RottyLevente András TóthSebastián Echeverri JaramilloThanh NguyenNilo Velez
Contributor Day at WordCamp Europe 2025 brought together a mix of first-time and returning contributors across a wide range of teams, from Core and Accessibility to Polyglots, Training, and Community. Attendees tackled everything from onboarding and ticket triage to translating strings, improving documentation, and enhancing tools and workflows. Development-focused teams explored performance and testing improvements and worked through live coding exercises. Meanwhile, accessibility testers, support volunteers, and photo moderators contributed to efforts that directly impact users around the world.
In parallel, teams like Marketing, Meta, Hosting, and Sustainability focused on future-facing initiatives—from promoting WordPress through the Showcase and social media campaigns to refining infrastructure, increasing accessibility, and preparing for long-term project growth. Whether contributing to plugins, themes, documentation, or new contributor experiences, participants reinforced the values that power the WordPress project: collaboration, inclusivity, and openness. The day served as a reminder that WordPress is not just software—it’s a community built by and for everyone.
Tomorrow Starts with WordPress
The first full day of WordCamp Europe 2025 brought the community together to celebrate the power of open source collaboration and innovation. Opening remarks from both global and local event leads reflected on the journey of WordCamp Europe—from its beginnings in 2013 in Leiden, Netherlands, to the vibrant event in Basel today. This full-circle moment underscored the growth of the WordPress community, united by a shared commitment to an open web.
The day launched into an inspiring program with the keynote session, WordPress Without Borders – The Fight for Digital Freedom, delivered by Noel Tock. Drawing from his experiences—including time on the frontlines in Ukraine—Tock illustrated how open source supports global resilience and serves as a digital human right. His message called on contributors to see their work as part of something greater, offering a compelling and forward-looking vision to energize and unify the WordPress community.
From there, the program unfolded across multiple tracks—each one sparking new conversations and insights. One standout session highlighted social entrepreneurship in Bulgaria, where WordPress is helping grassroots organizations drive change in education, journalism, and social justice. Petya Raykovska shared how nonprofits like Teenovator and the Bulgarian Fund for Women are using WordPress to amplify their work and strengthen their communities.
Designers and developers explored ways to improve workflows and collaboration. In Bridging Design and Development, attendees learned how Figma Design Systems can connect design and development through shared structures mapped to block themes. Real-world examples, like the Novus Media Newspaper Design System, demonstrated how scalable, consistent design can power multi-brand platforms.
Workshops played a key role throughout the day, including the interactive Block Developer Cookbook: WCEU 2025 Edition, where attendees worked through community-voted code recipes featuring the latest WordPress APIs. Sessions also dove into emerging technologies, such as Automating WordPress Setup with Modern AI Tools, which showcased how WP-CLI, scripting, and AI can accelerate project setup and reduce repetitive tasks.
Photo by Marc Wieland
Day Two of WordCamp Europe 2025 opened with a focus on the evolving role of the WordPress community in a rapidly changing digital world. Sessions explored how contributors—from local meetup organizers to global advocates—play a vital part in shaping WordPress’s future. Talks on inclusivity, such as Over the Rainbow, encouraged attendees to consider how individual actions can help build a more welcoming, representative open source ecosystem. Throughout the morning, the spirit of collaboration and shared purpose remained front and center.
As the day progressed, attention turned to the tools and technologies pushing WordPress forward. From sessions on scaling multilingual sites and managing observability to hands-on workshops, developers explored new ways to streamline workflows and enhance performance. Highlights included WordPress Gems for Devs, which introduced the Interactivity API through live coding, and Client-side Web AI Agents, a look at cutting-edge browser-based AI that unlocks new possibilities for web experiences. These talks reflected the platform’s growing capacity to adapt to emerging trends while staying true to its open foundations.
The afternoon brought a blend of practical guidance and inspiring stories across tracks. A case study on accessibility from Switzerland showed how thoughtful design can benefit all users, while a session on brand-building for women entrepreneurs highlighted the creative and economic opportunities WordPress enables. With topics spanning content strategy, business growth, regulatory readiness, and more, the second day of WCEU 2025 affirmed the strength of the WordPress ecosystem—not only as a technology platform, but as a global movement fueled by people, purpose, and possibility.
Fireside Chat
As the final day drew to a close, Matt and Mary shared some thoughts on EU regulation (Open Web Alliance), AI, and the introduction of the WordPress AI team, and then answered questions from the audience.
Closing
A heartfelt thank you to the dedicated organizers who brought WordCamp Europe 2025 to life in Basel, the speakers who shared their insights, the attendees who joined us in person, and those who followed along from afar. We hope you leave with fresh ideas, meaningful connections, and renewed energy to help shape the future of the open web.
Be sure to mark your calendars for the final major WordPress events in 2025: WordCamp US (Portland, Oregon, USA). Then join us in Kraków, Poland for WordCamp Europe 2026! Also, if you want to get involved with WCEU, the call for organisers is already open for 2026.
You did the work, earned the tassel, and crossed the stage. Now what?
Whether you’re job-hunting, applying to grad school, or figuring out next steps, now’s the time to build something that sets you apart: a personal website. It’s your digital home base for showcasing your skills, experience, and what makes you you.
Show potential employers, collaborators, or admissions teams what you bring to the table with a site that grows with you. We’re giving graduates 25% off a new website for a limited time.
Chances are, your future employer or admissions officer will Google you. Do you know what they’ll find?
Whether you’re a job seeker, grad school applicant, freelancer, or creator, a personal website allows you to proactively manage and curate your online presence. It serves as a centralized platform to present a professional image to potential employers or academic institutions, and tailor how you present your skills and experience for each opportunity.
Your future, your website, your rules
Whatever you’re working on next, WordPress.com helps you share it with the world.
From portfolios to blogs to passion projects, here are just a few ways grads are putting WordPress.com to work:
Build a digital resume: Create a standout online resume that goes beyond a PDF. Share your story, showcase your work, and prove why you’re the right choice.
Showcase class projects and portfolios: Bring your best work together in one place. Whether you’re designing, writing, coding, or researching, your portfolio deserves more than a shared Google Drive link.
Start a blog or newsletter: Turn your interests into opportunities. Whether you’re into travel, tech, or hot takes, a blog or newsletter helps you build credibility, showcase your expertise, and grow a following that sets you apart.
Promote your research or passion projects: Working on a passion project or your next big idea? Your site can help you share it, fund it, and grow your audience. Add donation buttons, sell digital content, and build momentum with every visitor.
Teach what you know: Use tools like Sensei LMS to create and sell online courses, whether you’re helping underclassmen get ahead or teaching your niche to a wider audience.
Document your school experience: From first-year memories to final exams, preserve your college story in your own words and photos. Your friends can follow along and leave comments, too.
A little graduation gift from us
Every grad deserves a personal site, so we have a graduation gift just for you.
New graduates (K-12, college, and graduate) can snag 25% off an annual Personal, Premium, or Business WordPress.com plan today through June 16.
Plus, with the purchase of your discounted annual hosting plan, your first year of a custom domain is on us. This means you can build your brand-new site with a domain (like yourgroovydomain.com) that reflects your personal brand, perfect for resumes, portfolios, and more.
This offer’s only here for a limited time, so don’t wait around. You’ve already done the hard part (hello, diploma), and now’s your chance to launch your site and show the world what’s next. Future you will thank you.
When you build a website on WordPress.com, hosting, performance, and security are all handled for you, so you can focus on presenting yourself in a true-to-you way.
Not only that, all WordPress.com sites are built with the most popular website builder in the world (WordPress), and the drag-and-drop editor, stylish themes, and custom domains help you build a site that aligns with your ambitions.
This free course walks you through every step of the website-building process. You’ll learn how to:
Find and activate a theme.
Build a homepage and add content using blocks and patterns.
Create additional pages for your site.
Customize your header and footer.
Style your site for a cohesive look and feel.
Edit templates for structural changes.
Launch your site for the world to see.
If time is of the essence, you can also use our new AI website builder to help you get your site up and running in just minutes.
Your future is calling, answer with a website
Take control of your future and own your online presence with a personal website. Show what you’ve done and be ready for whatever comes next: job interviews, applications, or unexpected opportunities.
With WordPress.com, we take care of hosting, performance, and security for your site, so you can tell your story the way you want it to be told.
Fine print: Graduating students with valid institutional email addresses (K-12, college, and graduate) qualify for this promotion. The discount ends June 16, 2025, and is valid for 25% off one full year of a Personal, Premium, or Business WordPress.com hosting plan. Only for annual plans and new purchases.
Did you know that the first Asians to enter what we now know as the United States were Filipino sailors on Spanish galleon ships who arrived in central California in 1587?
As a proud Filipino-American who only arrived here as part of the wave of Asian immigration to the U.S. in the ‘70s and ‘80s, I’m thrilled to showcase some of my favorite Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) creators and bloggers who have made WordPress.com their home.
Food, glorious food
Millions of us make up the global Asian diaspora in nearly every country in the world, hailing from one or more of the 48 Asian countries. We may come from unique cultures, but there’s one thing that binds us all together: our deep and abiding love of food.
Check out these mouth-watering food blogs, complete with step-by-step recipes and, of course, plenty of colorful photos to inspire you to break out your favorite wok or kawali.
Although this blog hasn’t been updated in a while, with literally hundreds of recipes in the archive, you’ll never run out of dishes to try. Inspired by his years learning traditional cooking techniques from his mother, the author, a San Francisco-based Filipino-American, weaves personal stories into each meticulously developed recipe.
An eclectic mix of book reviews, poetry, recipes, and personal essays, this site is a whimsical journey through the writer’s culinary and reading adventures.
Pop culture
These sites dive into the vibrant, ever-evolving world of AAPI pop culture, amplifying voices, dissecting trends, and celebrating representation.
The dazzling mosaic of pop culture-infused images in the header of this site lifts my mood every time I visit. Although it’s not specifically positioned as an Asian-American pop culture site, a quick perusal of its posts makes clear its creative roots in our community.
Yes, this blog is written by and for students at New York University, but it’s really for anyone who shares their passion for AAPI representation in pop culture, especially among Gen Alpha.
Add to your TBR
I think just about every other site publishes “to be read” listicles of AAPI authors and books in May. Let’s give it up to those creators and bloggers who focus their reviews on our community’s literary output year-round.
Thirty-something Taiwanese-American blogger Shenwei shines a spotlight on YA, adult fiction, and middle-grade books through an “Asian-Americanist lens.” She doesn’t just provide quick summaries; she also includes author interviews and curated playlists for select books.
There is a specific subgroup of book lovers who love books about books. And bookstores. I’m a card-carrying member of this special subgroup, and when I saw this particular post show up on my Reader feed, I knew I’d found a kindred spirit. She’s a voracious reader, and I love her joyful and authentic voice.
Stories that stay with you
When identity spans countries, cultures, and histories, stories like these delve deeply into questions of culture, family, and what it means to find one’s place in the world.
This blog powerfully documents the singular experiences and challenges of transracial adoptions. The writer, herself one of 80,000 adoptees from China who now live in the US, is a professional social worker, prolific author, and speaker on the topic.
I’m always looking for more blog recommendations about the AAPI experience, so please share your favorites in the comments!
Meta descriptions might not appear on the frontend of your site for your readers to see, but they play a significant role behind the scenes. These short blurbs can influence whether someone clicks through from search or scrolls right on past.
In this post, we’ll break down what meta descriptions are, why they matter, and how to write descriptions that actually get clicks.
A meta description is a line of text in web pages that summarizes their contents. Have you ever seen the summaries underneath the blue links on search results pages? Those are meta descriptions. Here is an example direct from Google:
Unsurprisingly, Google knows how to write a solid meta description.
Meta descriptions may also appear in link previews on social media posts, text messages, and chat apps. When written as HTML, they are wrapped in a <meta> tag within the <head> section of your page.
<meta name="description" content="INSERT YOUR META DESCRIPTION HERE" />
You can also see the meta description on any web page by right-clicking and selecting View Page Source. Here is an example from the entertainment website Polygon:
Meta descriptions are closely related to title tags, which appear as the actual blue links in search results. Together, they tell search engines and users what your site’s pages (from your homepage to individual blog posts and pages) are about.
How do meta descriptions impact SEO?
Unlike title tags, meta descriptions do not directly influence search engine rankings. However, they do affect how your pages appear in search results and tell users why they should click.
Think of your meta description as a brief pitch—it won’t directly boost your content rankings, but it can help it win the click. Paired with a strong title tag, it’s your best chance to stand out in a crowded search result.
What happens if pages are missing meta descriptions?
If a page is missing a meta description, the short answer is that nothing bad is likely to happen. But the long answer is a bit more nuanced. Meta descriptions can influence click-through rates, so leaving them out means missing an opportunity to shape how your content appears in search results.
If the meta description tag is missing, then Google will use other text from the page to generate its own snippet. Some people prefer to let Google handle meta descriptions instead of writing one manually. In fact, former Googler Matt Cutts once said he doesn’t include meta descriptions on all of his blog posts:
So should you leave meta descriptions blank? Google’s own AI says that it may be risky:
Leaving meta descriptions blank can result in inaccurate page descriptions and, therefore, less search traffic.
Do meta descriptions need to be unique?
Duplicative meta descriptions are confusing for search engines and unhelpful for users, so the meta descriptions across your website should all be unique.
If your site or blog has many posts and pages that are missing meta descriptions, writing unique meta descriptions for each one could take a long time. In this instance, we recommend following Matt Cutts’ timeless advice from the video we shared earlier in this post:
Include meta descriptions on your most important pages.
Make sure your meta descriptions are unique.
Leave the rest of your meta descriptions blank.
Once you’ve done that, make it a habit to include meta descriptions on new pages and posts. This is a compromise between time-consuming manual effort and setting yourself up for future success.
How long should meta descriptions be?
The traditional advice is that meta descriptions should be 150 characters or less. This will ensure search engines don’t cut them off. However, this isn’t the whole story.
Google measures meta description length in pixels rather than characters. Depending on the specific letters, words, and numbers in your meta description, the total maximum length may be more or less than 150 characters.
Sometimes Google will overwrite the meta description you wrote and use text from the page itself to create a new meta description. Generally, Google will do this if your meta description is too short, or if it thinks it can create an alternative that’s more useful for the reader.
In these instances, the meta description that users see may be more than 300 characters. This makes it difficult to confidently say how long they should be.
So what should you do? As a best practice, stick with the 150-character guideline (but be aware that this isn’t a firm rule).
Using tools to preview your meta descriptions
It’s nice to actually see how meta descriptions will appear in search results before you publish a page. Fortunately, there are plenty of free tools you can use to preview them. Here are a few:
Free tools can help you preview title tags and meta descriptions before you publish them.
Some simple (and overlooked) tips for writing meta descriptions
Ready to get serious about writing meta tags? They aren’t difficult to write, but there are some tips and general best practices you can follow to make sure you get them right.
Keep your title tag in mind
Search engine users will see your meta descriptions underneath your title tags. Keep this in mind when writing them, and ensure they read well together and accurately represent your content.
If you’ve never heard the term “search intent,” it means understanding what a user is trying to do when they search for a specific keyword. There are a few different types of search intent:
Navigational intent means the user is looking for a specific website or page.
Informational intent applies when someone seeks an answer to a question or wants to learn more about a topic.
Commercial intent involves researching products or services before making a decision.
Transactional intent indicates the user is ready to buy a product or service.
When writing meta descriptions, ask yourself what someone looking for that specific page is trying to do, and promise them that the page will provide precisely what they are looking for.
Keep voice search in mind
When crafting meta descriptions, remember voice search and visitors who use screen readers.
Try reading your meta description out loud to see how it sounds. If something sounds clunky or awkward, consider rewriting it to ensure that it’s accessible to all.
Leverage emotional sentiment
Writing a meta description is like writing any other copy or content on your site.
Since emotional language drives action, here are 801 power words that can help make your meta description copy more motivating.
Include calls to action
Meta descriptions are essentially ads for web pages. They should motivate the reader to click through to your site (instead of a different search result). If you’ve never written a call-to-action before, start with this guide from Barefoot Writer.
Updating meta descriptions on WordPress websites
All of the advice we’ve shared so far applies no matter which CMS or website builder you choose. But this is the WordPress.com blog; if you’re here, you probably want to know how to implement better meta descriptions on your own WordPress site.
Here are a few options for updating your meta descriptions:
If you take anything away from this article, it should be this: meta descriptions may be short, but they can influence how often your pages appear and get clicked in search results.
This minor release includes fixes for 15 bugs throughout Core and the Block Editor addressing issues affecting multiple areas of WordPress including the block editor, multisite, and REST API. For a full list of bug fixes, please refer to the release candidate announcement.
WordPress 6.8.1 is a short-cycle maintenance release. More maintenance releases will be made available throughout 2025.
If you have sites that support automatic background updates, the update process will begin automatically.
WordPress 6.8.1 would not have been possible without the contributions of the following people. Their asynchronous coordination to deliver maintenance fixes into a stable release is a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress community.
As I said, we’re dropping all the human blocks. Community guidelines, directory guidelines, and such will need to be followed going forward, but whatever blocks were in place before are now cleared. It may take a few days, but any pre-existing blocks are considered bugs to be fixed.
Each WordPress release celebrates an artist who has left an indelible mark on music. WordPress 6.8, code-named “Cecil,” honors the legendary pianist and jazz pioneer Cecil Taylor.
Classically trained yet relentlessly unconventional, Taylor reimagined the piano as a percussive instrument—layering tone clusters, polyphony, and rhythm into a sound both chaotic and precise. His music defied expectation, finding form in disorder and harmony in dissonance.
That same spirit drives WordPress 6.8. Embrace its bold new features with the same curiosity and experimentation that defined Cecil’s sound.
Welcome to WordPress 6.8!
WordPress 6.8 polishes and refines the tools that you use every day, making your site faster, more secure, and easier to manage. The Style Book now has a structured layout and works with Classic themes, giving you more control over global styles. Speculative loading speeds up navigation by preloading links before users navigate to them, bcrypt hashing strengthens password security automatically, and database optimizations improve performance.
The Style Book gets a cleaner look—and a few new tricks.
The Style Book has a new, structured layout and clearer labels, to make it even easier to edit colors, typography—almost all your site styles—in one place.
Plus, now you can see it in Classic themes that have editor-styles or a theme.json file. Find the Style Book under Appearance > Design and use it to preview your theme’s evolution, as you edit CSS or make changes in the Customizer.
Editor improvements
Easier ways to see your options in Data Views, and you can exclude sticky posts from the Query Loop. Plus, you’ll find lots of little improvements in the editor that smooth your way through everything you build.
Near-instant page loads, thanks to Speculative Loading
In WordPress 6.8, pages load faster than ever. When you or your user hovers over or clicks a link, WordPress may preload the next page, for a smoother, near-instant experience. The system balances speed and efficiency, and you can control how it works, with a plugin or your own code. This feature only works in modern browsers—older ones will simply ignore it without any impact.
Stronger password security with bcrypt
Now passwords are harder to crack with bcrypt hashing, which takes a lot more computing power to break. This strengthens overall security, as do other encryption improvements across WordPress. You don’t need to do anything—everything updates automatically.
Accessibility improvements
100+ accessibility fixes and enhancements touch a broad spectrum of the WordPress experience. This release includes fixes to every bundled theme, improvements to the navigation menu management, the customizer, and simplified labeling. The Block Editor has over 70 improvements to blocks, DataViews, and to its overall user experience.
Performance updates
WordPress 6.8 packs a wide range of performance fixes and enhancements to speed up everything from editing to browsing. Beyond speculative loading, WordPress 6.8 pays special attention to the block editor, block type registration, and query caching. Plus, imagine never waiting longer than 50 milliseconds—for any interaction. In WordPress 6.8, the Interactivity API takes a first step toward that goal.
And much more
For a comprehensive overview of all the new features and enhancements in WordPress 6.8, please visit the feature-showcase website.
Learn WordPress is a free resource for new and experienced WordPress users. Learn is stocked with how-to videos on using various features in WordPress, interactive workshops for exploring topics in-depth, and lesson plans for diving deep into specific areas of WordPress.
Read the WordPress 6.8 Release Notes for information on installation, enhancements, fixed issues, release contributors, learning resources, and the list of file changes.
Explore the WordPress 6.8 Field Guide. Learn about the changes in this release with detailed developer notes to help you build with WordPress.
The 6.8 release squad
Every release comes to you from a dedicated team of enthusiastic contributors who help keep things on track and moving smoothly. The team that has led 6.8 is a cross-functional group of contributors who are always ready to champion ideas, remove blockers, and resolve issues.
WordPress 6.8 reflects the tireless efforts and passion of more than 900 contributors in more than 60 countries all over the world. This release also welcomed over 250 first-time contributors!
Their collaboration delivered more than 320 enhancements and fixes, ensuring a stable release for all—a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress open source community.
More than 60 locales have fully translated WordPress 6.8 into their language making this one of the most translated releases ever on day one. Community translators are working hard to ensure more translations are on their way. Thank you to everyone who helps make WordPress available in 200 languages.
Last but not least, thanks to the volunteers who contribute to the support forums by answering questions from WordPress users worldwide.
Get involved
Participation in WordPress goes far beyond coding. And learning more and getting involved is easy. Discover the teams that come together to Make WordPress and use this interactive tool to help you decide which is right for you.
WordCamp Europe 2025 will be held in gorgeous Basel, Switzerland, from June 5 to 7. It will bring together open source enthusiasts, developers, and WordPress professionals from across the region—and the world!
This year’s event offers fresh perspectives, engaging conversations, and countless opportunities to connect with the WordPress community, agencies, and innovators over three action-packed days of learning, networking, and collaboration.
The main conference, which will be held on June 6th and 7th, will feature a lineup of notable keynote sessions, including diverse sessions on business strategy and building innovative modern features, open-source advocacy, accessibility, and more. For those looking to sharpen their skills, presentations will dive deep into topics like SEO for WordPress, performance optimization, speed-builds, and leveraging AI.
Q&A Fireside Chat
You can join Mary Hubbard, the WordPress Executive Director, and Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of the WordPress project on June 7th to discuss WordPress and its community, followed by an in-person Q&A session here in Basel.
Explore Basel
Basel, the third-largest city in Switzerland, is filled with historical buildings, a cathedral, museums, and hidden gems! You can get around Basel and experience it yourself using your BaselCard, which allows you to hop on and off all public transportation without a worry. A walk down Basel’s river Rhine could be the perfect evening during your visit to WordCamp Europe!
You can also help us spread the word about WordCamp Europe this year! Post about your attendance using our ready-made texts or we also encourage you to use your own voice – you know your community best.
And as always, be part of the conversation! Whether you’re attending in-person in Basel or following along online, share your experiences using the tags #WCEU and #WordPress on all social media networks!
The third release candidate (“RC3”) for WordPress 6.8 is ready for download and testing!
This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC3 on a test server and site.
Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains crucial to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.8 is the best it can be.
You can test WordPress 6.8 RC3 in four ways:
Plugin
Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).
Direct Download
Download the RC3 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.
Command Line
Use the following WP-CLI command: wp core update --version=6.8-RC3
WordPress Playground
Use the 6.8 RC3 WordPress Playground instance (available within 35 minutes after the release is ready) to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup.
Get a recap of WordPress 6.8’s highlighted features in the Beta 1 announcement. For more technical information related to issues addressed since RC2, you can browse the following links:
WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community that collaborates and contributes to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.
Get involved in testing
Testing for issues is critical to ensuring WordPress is performant and stable. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.8. For those new to testing, follow this general testing guide for more details on getting set up.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users. For more details on developer-related changes in 6.8, please review the WordPress 6.8 Field Guide.
Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.8 beta releases. With RC3, you’ll want to conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.8.
If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.
Tickets are limited—secure yours today!
Plan Your WordCamp Europe Experience See the 