- \n
- Tumblr\u2019s big WP migration dreams are turning out as disappointing as the ball pit at Dashcon.<\/li>\n
- WordPress 6.8.2 RC1 is live: let the bug-stomping commence.<\/li>\n
- We casually flex on eeeeeeverything we\u2019ve shipped in 2025. NBD.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Hot Off The Presses: What\u2019s New?<\/h2>\n
\n![\"Humorous](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/pride-versioning-humorous-software-versioning-explained.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
Is this \u201cshameantic versioning\u201d not how everyone numbers their releases?<\/p>\n
Those digits at the end are definitely the \u201chaha ooops\u2026\u201d numbers, right?<\/p>\n
As long as your version number doesn\u2019t start looking like an IP address, you\u2019re still good.<\/p>\n
Anyway, welcome to DEV! We\u2019re on edition #25 of this newsletter now but if we were counting shame fixes, whew, God only knows. \ud83d\ude05<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s dive into what\u2019s new in WordPress!<\/p>\n
Tumblr\u2019s Migration to WordPress? It\u2019s Complicated.<\/h2>\n
Remember way back in the innocent days of September 2024, when we reported on the plan<\/a> to pack up Tumblr\u2019s Jensen Ackles thirst-GIFs, musings on children\u2019s hospital designs<\/a> and dark academia moodboards and move them all over the WordPress?<\/p>\n
Well, not so fast.<\/p>\n
According to Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, Tumblr\u2019s migration is now on hold indefinitely. So much for the Shackleton-inspired \u201chazardous journey<\/a>\u201d filled with \u201cconstant danger,\u201d huh?<\/p>\n
The reason? A mix of shifting priorities and, let\u2019s be real, the sheer complexity of moving a 16-year-old social blogging platform into a modern CMS without breaking a million blogs run by dedicated tumblrinas & tumblringos.<\/p>\n
The news dropped on The Verge\u2019s Decoder<\/em> podcast<\/a>, where Mullenweg explained that the team had originally hoped to port Tumblr to WordPress, opening up the possibility of a fediverse-friendly rebuild using the ActivityPub plugin on WordPress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still want to do it,\u201d Mullenweg says. \u201cBut right now, we\u2019re not working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, Tumblr will stay Tumblr for now, and won\u2019t be joining the fediverse anytime soon \u2014 unless, as Mullenweg says, \u201cthere was a big push to implement fediverse,\u201d in which case, \u201cwe would just do it on the Tumblr code base.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, Tumblr\u2019s die-hard cohort of \u201cnever gonna give you up\u201d users will carry on nerding out with their niche communities anyway.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Read the full Verge Article here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Plus, a few classics to remind us why we love Tumblr:<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- A spectacular tribute to the power of hats.<\/a><\/li>\n
- A delightfully unhinged post about tea.<\/a><\/li>\n
- The tale of Stinky Bastard Man.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
WordPress 6.8.2 RC1: Ready for Testing!<\/h2>\n
While there are rumours floating around that we might get WordPress 6.9 later this year, right now 6.8.2 has officially reached Release Candidate Status<\/a>.<\/p>\n
This is a maintenance release and it\u2019s here to do the unglamorous work of squashing bugs, tweaking styles and making things run just a little better. If all goes well, the final release is scheduled to land July 15, 2025<\/strong>. Until then, the Core team is calling for devs to help test, validate fixes, and make sure nothing breaks right before launch.<\/p>\n
In total, it features:<\/p>\n
- \n
- 20 fixes for issues throughout Core<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- 15 cherry-picked bug fixes for the Block Editor<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
No flashy new features here, just good ol\u2019 fashioned quality-of-life polishing to keep things running smoothly.<\/p>\n
Why does this matter? Because even the most elegant block editor can trip over an unexpected issue, and these updates are the kind of quiet, behind-the-scenes fixes that keep everything humming (and your client emails blissfully empty).<\/p>\n
Want to help test?<\/p>\n
- \n
- Use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin<\/a> (set it to \u201cPoint Release\u201d channel)<\/li>\n
- Or download the release candidate directly here \u2192<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Mid-Year Geeky Dopamine Boost: What We\u2019ve Been Cooking in 2025<\/h2>\n
Can you believe 2025 is already HALF OVER!? It feels like just yesterday we were all singing Auld Lang Syne while sloshing champagne down our cummerbunds, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
Now the days are getting shorter, Q1 & Q2 are a distant memory and we\u2019re looking back on all the bug squishes and big-time UI upgrades we\u2019ve shipped in the first half of this year.<\/p>\n
Spoiler alert \u2014 it\u2019s a lot<\/em>. <\/p>\n
From our Half Yearly RoundUp post<\/a>, here\u2019s just a taste:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The Hub had a glow-up<\/strong>, now it\u2019s sleeker, faster and better than ever at making managing your sites actually enjoyable.<\/li>\n
- Major plugin updates have dropped<\/strong>, like security boosts for Forminator, bulk actions for Broken Link Checker and Session Protection for Defender.<\/li>\n
- Premium Hosting<\/strong> is now in whatever the opposite of Mercury in Retrograde<\/em> is \u2014 as in it\u2019s working BETTER than ever.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You know, it might sound cheesy, but we genuinely love building tools that help you run your WordPress business like the super-smart-and-amazing nerd you are.<\/p>\n
All sorts of cool folks use our products and services to build things that make the world a more interesting place \u2014 and that will never get old for us.<\/p>\n
So, here\u2019s to the endless pursuit of smart upgrades, cleaner UI and dev-friendly features that support your craziest and most ambitious projects. We can\u2019t wait to see what the rest of this year will bring! \ud83e\udd42<\/p>\n
Read the full update \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n
Mind Bloggling Facts & Stats<\/h2>\n
- \n
- The State of Devs 2025 survey found that 18% of developer respondents were women or non-binary. That might sound small, but it\u2019s triple<\/em> what previous surveys reported (hovering around 6%). Progress is slow, but real. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- Also from the same survey: 23% of devs said their favorite TV show is Severance<\/em>. The work is mysterious and important, indeed. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- In some good ol\u2019 fashioned WordPress spring cleaning, the team archived 20 GitHub repos, 11 plugins, and 30 Slack channels that were gathering dust. Shoutout to Jonathan Desrosiers for wielding the digital broom with style. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- 150 high school students in Cartago, Costa Rica joined WordPress Campus Connect on July 4th. Back in our day, we learned WordPress via digging through the 14th page of forum posts about mysterious phpMyAdmin errors. These kids don\u2019t know how good they have it. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- WooCommerce got 140+ accessibility upgrades over the past year, including proper form labels, better color contrast, and keyboard nav improvements. High five! (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- According to the 2024 Advanced Custom Fields survey, 71% of folks use ACF on ALL of their WordPress sites, with FTP the most common deployment method by far. Spill your ACF workflow secrets via the 2025 survey<\/a>.(Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Blogs & Resources You Shouldn\u2019t Miss<\/h2>\n
How H\u00e9ctor de Prada went from 20 to 70 attendees in Le\u00f3n<\/a>, proving meetups aren\u2019t just awkward ice-breakers \u2014 they\u2019re community oxygen.<\/p>\n
Felix Arntz has been contributing to WordPress core for an impressive 10 years! He shares the 10 most valuable lessons he\u2019s learned in that decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n
If you need to create a LOT of WordPress pages at once, like hundreds<\/em>, Karol Krol has the quickest method<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Want your hero image to sliiiide in on scroll without JavaScript? This guide shows you the CSS-only way, baby!<\/a><\/p>\n
DIY your own WCAG contrast checker tool<\/a> \u2014 because accessibility isn\u2019t just a box to tick, it\u2019s how you build something that actually works<\/em> for everyone.<\/p>\n
Eric Karkovack calls AI bots \u201cmafia thugs\u201d<\/a> \u2014 who show up uninvited, eat your server\u2019s lunch, and leave you to clean up the mess.<\/p>\n
Tired of AI crawlers leeching your bandwidth? Charge them a toll. This article explains how<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Coffee Break Distractions<\/h2>\n
With duct tape and temp fixes, your legacy lives on forever<\/a>. Immortal, unmaintainable, and someone else\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n
TFW you\u2019re looking at a theme that promises to work for EVERY type of website<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Flags, feelings and fierce composition. The winners of the LGBTQ+Press 2025 \u201cShare Your Pride\u201d photo contest<\/a> are absolutely serving<\/em>.<\/p>\n
AI-generated hiking routes<\/a> sound cool until they send you off a cliff or into a bear\u2019s den. \ud83d\ude33<\/p>\n
Your brain needs a 90-minute sesh, not a 25-minute snack. Here\u2019s why devs are ditching Pomodoro<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy should I hire a dev if I can just copy and paste code from Stack Overflow<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n
The WayBack Machine archive is projected to hit one trillion<\/em> pages soon<\/a>. Yes, including your old blog where you used Comic Sans and thought drop shadows were cutting edge. Congrats, you\u2019re part of internet history.<\/p>\n
And finally\u2026<\/p>\n
- Also from the same survey: 23% of devs said their favorite TV show is Severance<\/em>. The work is mysterious and important, indeed. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- Major plugin updates have dropped<\/strong>, like security boosts for Forminator, bulk actions for Broken Link Checker and Session Protection for Defender.<\/li>\n
- Or download the release candidate directly here \u2192<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- 15 cherry-picked bug fixes for the Block Editor<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- A delightfully unhinged post about tea.<\/a><\/li>\n
- A spectacular tribute to the power of hats.<\/a><\/li>\n
- Read the full Verge Article here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n