WooCommerce 10.4: a faster mini cart and a lazier REST API
WooCommerce 10.4 makes the Interactivity API mini cart the default, lazy-loads two REST namespaces, and takes HPOS caching out of experimental. Here is what to test before you update.
Tag: Block Styles
Extending core blocks with the Interactivity API
A client wanted the cycling word effect from a SaaS homepage. A custom block would have meant migrating their existing headings, so I extended the paragraph block instead using the Format API, WP_HTML_Tag_Processor and the Interactivity API.
WordPress 6.9 and the heading CSS specificity fix
WordPress 6.9 is at RC3 with a launch set for December 2nd. The heading specificity fix, the Post Editor iframe and the new DataViews all change what a custom theme has to do.
WordPress 6.9 release management: when to update
The December 10 dev chat pushed 6.9.1 planning into the new year, which says something about how 6.9 is holding up. Here is how I stage a major core update for client sites, and why the Gutenberg 22.2 labels matter.
Gutenberg 22.3 gives fonts their own settings page
Gutenberg 22.3 pulls font management out of the Global Styles panels and into its own Fonts page, makes the core Grid block responsive when columns are set, and stops the image cropper from losing your aspect ratio.
Speeding up WordPress without breaking your block CSS
A 15k-product WooCommerce store had red LCP scores and broken layouts after stacking speed plugins. What actually helped: enqueueing block styles properly, plus the Safari LCP support and Compression Dictionaries work from the core performance chat.
WordPress holiday plugins without wrecking your load times
A WooCommerce shop doing 500 orders a day broke at 2 AM under a stack of decoration plugins and a 14-second LCP. Which holiday plugins are worth keeping, and how to limit where their scripts load.
WordPress 6.9 broke classic theme CSS and site email
A 6.9 update stripped the styling off a client’s product grids and stopped their order emails. Notes on ticket #64354, the PHPMailer bug and the adjacent post infinite loop, plus the plugins that bridge the gap until 6.9.1.
WordPress 6.9 features I’m actually going to use
Hard-coded breadcrumbs wrecked a client site, which is a decent argument for using the core block instead. The parts of 6.9 I plan to use: breadcrumbs, the Abilities API and theme.json pseudo-classes.
What the WordPress 6.9 update changes for developers
Notes puts editorial comments on the editor canvas, the Abilities API replaces scattered capability checks for automated workflows, and classic themes finally load block styles on demand.