WordPress contributors are onto another round of testing, as 6.3 Beta 3 was released this week. RC 1 is expected on July 18, and a live product demo is anticipated to be broadcast on Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 16:00 UTC. These demos have become a more regular part of the release process and allow viewers to familiarize themselves with important new features and updates coming in the release.
Beta 3 includes approximately 34 updates to the Site Editor since the previous beta release, and more than 40 updates coming from Trac.
A last-minute PR has renamed Library to Patterns in the Site Editor and was cherry-picked to get it included in Beta 3. Automattic-sponsored Gutenberg contributor Aaron Robertshaw cited three reasons for the renaming:
This video from the PR gives a quick overview of the changes testers should see in the Patterns UI as of Beta 3:
Beta 3 introduces a new lock icon to designate theme patterns as unable to be edited or modified. It also adds a sync status details section within the pattern sidebar navigation screen.
There are a significant number of new things being introduced after Beta 1, which seems usual. Major features like the pattern creation and the Patterns section made their debut in Gutenberg 16.1 but had very little testing before being rolled into the upcoming WordPress 6.3 release. This is likely why UI changes are being introduced after Beta 1 has already shipped.
Check out the Beta 3 release post for more information on how to test. A Beta 4 is anticipated the week of July 11, followed by RC 1 on July 18. The general release is scheduled for August 8, 2023.
This content was originally published here.