DEV: .AU Over There! Yes, You!

Welcome to DEV, your fortnightly snapshot of what’s evolving across WordPress.
We’ll meet you somewhere between “finished” and “shipping,” with the latest developments, ongoing experiments, and community updates to help you stay in step with a project that never stands still.

Stick around to the end to see the mighty Nimbus and his squirrel.

In today’s edition:

• The “Year of the Meetup” begins, and WordPress wants you doing, not just listening.
• A first look at WordPress 7.0, plus a call for testing before launch.
• G’day, domain wranglers: you can now herd your .com.au and .net.au names in one place. 🪃

Hot Off The Presses: What’s New?

Just like when you’ve pushed a sparkling clean, perfect codebase to production, the house is now read-only mode. No merge requests accepted.

Although, there’s an annoying virus called dust that keeps overriding the read-only restrictions… need to send a ticket about that…

Stop! You need admin privileges to leave that dirty coffee cup in the sink! I’m serious. If I find as much as a candy wrapper on the countertop, I’m gonna lose it.

Kitchen_final_v46.cln would stay spotless if everyone would just STOP EATING THERE!

*ahem*

Anyway. Just like the house will never stay clean, things will never stop changing in WordPress. Keep reading to find out what’s new and what’s coming up next.

The WordPress Team Wants You To Actually Do Stuff At Meetups

TL;DR: Meetups are evolving from chat sessions into “get-your-hands-dirty” workshops. Mary Hubbard’s 2026 goals push for active participation, but organizers warn the current setup might not be ready.

All Hands On Deck

Meetups are the “primary front door” to WordPress, says Juan Hernando, and the team wants anyone walking through it to roll up their sleeves and actually participate.

Juan’s post lays out 2026’s meetup evolution: templates and resources for hands-on, issue-focused sessions, plus updated orientation guides that nudge newcomers toward doing, not just watching.

The timing couldn’t be better: programs like Campus Connect, Credits, and Student Clubs are already bringing in fresh faces.

The Big Picture

This shift didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s directly connected to WordPress Executive Director Mary Hubbard’s big picture goals for 2026.

She calls for meetups to become places of “active participation,” rather than “passive attendance.” As AI tools become more common across the web, she explains, shared learning becomes even more important.

“Meetups are where people can sit side by side,” explains Mary, “learn how these tools actually fit into WordPress workflows, and build confidence together.”

Even Matt Mullenweg is on board, calling 2026 the “Year of the Meetup” on the Do The Woo podcast.

Here’s hoping the front door swings wider, meetups get better than ever, and more folks bring their hands-on skills to the community. 🚪✨

WordPress 7.0 Is Almost Here: And Your Feedback is Needed

Anne McCarthy from Automattic recently shared a look at the features nearly ready for WordPress 7.0. She’s talkin’ more flexible navigation, responsive grid styles, and smoother workflows that make publishing just a bit less fiddly.

Her post gives a sneak peek at what’s coming and shows how the core team is thinking about user experience before the official release.

Planning Ahead

The planning post from the Core team lays out priorities for this major update, including:

• Streamlining the editor and simplifying navigation.
• Adding new blocks and block tools.
• Upgrades to the Notes feature to make it even more powerful.

In other words, this isn’t just bells and whistles, it’s about making site-building cleaner, faster, more flexible, and more collaborative.

Call For Hands-On Testing

Some features still need real-world feedback, which is where you can get involved. The Test team is calling for contributors to try out some experimental AI-powered features, like type-ahead suggestions, comment moderation assistance and AI request logging.

You don’t even need to know how to review code to participate here, they’re looking for high-level answers to questions like:

• Does this feel useful, or confusing?
• Would you use this if it shipped tomorrow?
• What would be the first thing you’d change?

If you’ve got some time to click around, your testing could directly influence WordPress 7.0 before it ships.

👉 Check out the call for testers here

Australians, Rejoice: .com.au and .net.au Transfers Are Here 🦘🪃🐨🏄

Good news for our friends down under: we now support incoming transfers for .com.au and .net.au domains.

If your domains have been living elsewhere and you’ve been eyeing a move, this one’s refreshingly straightforward, no drama, no surprises.

A few things to know before you throw another domain on the barbie (because Aussie domains like to play by their own rules):

• The registrant still needs to meet the same eligibility requirements (ABN, ACN, business name, etc.) as when registering the domain.
• There’s no cost to transfer. Yep, zero dollars.
• The expiry date stays exactly the same.

In short: fewer hoops, no extra cost, and all your domains in one tidy place.

👉 Full details on how it works are in the docs.
👉 To initiate the transfer of your domain, click here.

Mind Bloggling Facts & Stats

• Knock knock, who’s there? 🤖 Robots, apparently. According to the stats from WP Engine, automated traffic now accounts for 51% of all web activity. (Source)
• Bug hunting pays big bucks! Wordfence shelled out $12,402 in bounties during the December 2025 WordPress bug bounty program, with 25 high-threat issues flagged. They received 759 vulnerability reports, which is an increase of 1.7% from the previous month. (Source)
• There’s now 200 episodes spinning on the WP Tavern Jukebox, and Corey Maass celebrates the milestone by sharing his AT tech stack and workflows. (Source)

Blogs & Resources You Shouldn’t Miss

Freshly Pressed is back: a curated, subscribable spotlight of well-written blog posts from the WordPress ecosystem.

If your WordPress page looks like a polar bear in a snowstorm (aka. The White Screen of Death) here’s what to do.

During a home renovation, Kevin Geary gets an annoying reminder of why it’s important to build things with quality.

WordPress-based Noggin promises to be the second-brain note-taking system you’ll still be using in 10 years.

What do using AI for WordPress contributions and being a responsible dog owner have in common? You’re responsible for cleaning up any messes. 💩

What do agency owners propose as the best proposal software? The Admin Bar rounds up the top picks.

Slip-off footwear, clay cups and “Indian Stretchable Time”: If you’re heading to WordCamp Asia, here’s a cultural primer.

Coffee Break Distractions

This is what happens when you let a Trojan Cat through your gates.

When you see the words “Quick question…” pop up on Slack and your life flashes before your eyes.

This is exactly the type of cool side project we love to see.

Speaking of… generative AI now generates infinite side-quests.

Now this? This right here? This is love.

Catscading stylesheets.

A dude who just made a very smart purchase. 🧀

And finally…

Nimbus and his squirrel. 🐿️

Love this mix of nerdery and nonsense? Forward it to your favorite WordPress weirdo. 💗