About Page - 6.9

[davidbaumwald]

This ticket will serve as a hub for the discussion, planning, design, and other related work for creating the WordPress 6.9 About page.

Anyone involved in the release is invited to follow this ticket as part of their release-related duties and offer their input.

[sabernhardt]

#64022 was marked as a duplicate.

[ryelle]

My usual schedule notes & reminders:

• The final design (layout/colors) and mostly-final copy should be done by beta 3 (Nov 4)
• Ideally a day or two before then so I can get a draft into beta 3
• Don't need final images until RC3, unless something will need alt text (then need before RC1)
• String freeze starts with RC1, so at that point the content should not be changed

---

@fcoveram, how will the About page and ​microsite/release page be related this release, same as last time where the About page was a subset of content for the microsite?

[fcoveram]

Thanks for the notes @ryelle. And yes, we want to continue the existing practice of subset content.

[parinpanjari]

@davidbaumwald I would like to contribute to the design of the WordPress 6.9 microsite and the About page. Can anyone guide me on where we can create the Figma/wireframe design for these pages? Has anyone already started, or can we start from scratch?

Looking forward to collaborating and contributing!

Thank you!

[fcoveram]

Hey @parinpanjari, for now we're working on the highlight grid's features and visual style (​https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/71818). Feel free to join the conversation. Once we agree on a direction, we will work on the pages you mention.

[parinpanjari]

Hi @fcoveram

Thank you for the update! I’ll join the conversation on the highlight grid’s features and visual style right away. Once we have clarity on that direction, I’ll be happy to start working on the design for the WordPress 6.9 microsite and the About page.

[4thhubbard]

@fcoveram if the content only exists in the figma file, we will need it pulled out so we can have it translated. Is there a content only file for these pages you can share?

[joedolson]

Adding the accessibility focus to ensure that the document gets a check before release.

[ryelle]

@4thhubbard I don't think there is content yet, I haven't seen any updates. Though I do see some content ​in the Figma, is that real?

As for translations, they'll be available though the normal GlotPress translation process. Once the design and content are close enough to final, I'll build the page and commit it, which brings in the strings. That's why this needs to be completely done and in by RC1 (and why I prefer a draft by beta 3).

The ​microsite/release page uses a different process, but similar — once that's built on wordpress.org it's synced for translations.

[4thhubbard]

Thanks @ryelle, my understanding is that those are the drafts as written and design is looking for them to be polished. Since the official content doc doesn't exist how cane we best move this forward?

[fcoveram]

​Here is a Google Doc document with the content found in the ​Figma file, "Breakdown overview" page and "SF Art Direction updates" section. To @ryelle's question, yes, the content there is real and a first draft to see how it looks in the layout. It's open to suggestions indeed.

[fcoveram]

For those who can't access the design in Figma, here is attached the latest design of the page.

[desrosj]

Thanks everyone! I think that the page/microsite/highlights grid is looking great! I reviewed the copy in Google Docs and left some questions and suggestions. I also have a few questions for the images used for each item in the mockup above. I don't feel strongly about any of them:

• Command Palette Everywhere: Could this screenshot be updated to show some features that are newly available through the command palette for 6.9? I haven't followed the feature closely, so it's possible the ones included were added in 6.9.
• Accordion Block: It feels weird to have the Time to read block in there only to have its own dedicated section next. What about putting something more practical in there so a user could relate that to a real world use case like About/Menu or Services/Contact Information?
• Expanded template management: It may not be clear what has been zoomed in on here for some. Is there a wider view that could be used to show multiple active templates and maybe an inactive one?
• Math block & format: This is a great place for a fun Easter egg! Could we show a formula that results in 2025, 6.9, or 22 (WordPress' age).

[parinpanjari]

Hi @fcoveram ,

I've added a few icon suggestions comment in the figma file that need attention to ensure consistency and alignment with the content.

Could you please grant me edit access to the Figma file so I can make these minor updates directly?

If that's not possible, I’m happy to duplicate the design, apply the changes, and share the updated version with you—or I can attach the corrected icons for you to implement.

Let me know what works best. I’d love to contribute and help polish this—thank you!

[Joen]

Math block & format: This is a great place for a fun Easter egg! Could we show a formula that results in 2025, 6.9, or 22 (WordPress' age).

I'm all for easter eggs, but I'm also such a fan of the beauty of Eulers identity, which explained so simply the relationship between e and pi. We discussed on the Math icon itself a bit about ​what is the character of WordPress, and to me, the choice of that particular formula does precisely that.

[desrosj]

I'm all for easter eggs, but I'm also such a fan of the beauty of Eulers identity, which explained so simply the relationship between e and pi. We discussed on the Math icon itself a bit about ​what is the character of WordPress, and to me, the choice of that particular formula does precisely that.

Thanks, @Joen. That works for me. Thanks for the great explanation.

There's another thing I thought of today looking at the page again. In the copy and headlines, the new notes feature is called "Block notes." The name for this feature was discussed at length, and the decision was to call it simply "Notes." Is there a reason why we're now using "Block notes" in the release copy?

Here is where that decision was shared: ​https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/discussions/72014#discussioncomment-14629639.

[JeffPaul]

Amplifying @desrosj comment above and in parallel to calling out the same concern on the ​6.9 release highlight grid (visual asset) my recommendation would be to refer to it as "Notes" and not "Block Notes" especially in cases where future enhancements could allow for:

• in-line notes (aka text fragments within a paragraph)
• notes on content that spans more than one block
• notes shown on post previews for users without access to edit content (and thus who may have no concept of "blocks" in general)
• notes shown on post front-end views, for logged-in users, as a theoretical farther-future concept (and thus also who may have no concept of "blocks" in general for users below "author" like a custom "reviewer" role)

[fcoveram]

Thank you all for sharing thoughts.

First of all. Yes, the "Block notes" will change to “Notes” and all assets need to reflect that.

To @desrosj

Thanks for commenting on the doc. I will take a look at it now. Regarding the images, here my thoughts:

• I think it’s clearer to show the broad navigation the command palette can reach. With the “everywhere” word in the heading, it indicates that now it can be triggered from any part of the admin.
• You’re right. I will try a few ideas and share them on the grid to keep discussions in context.
• I read ​this announcement that the Expanded template management is not making it. I will remove the feature from all assets.
• +1 to @joen’s comment about embracing Euler’s identity formula.

To @parinpanjari

Thanks for the fine-tuning comments. As I added in the file, we don’t have the accessibility icon in the ​current set, and we’ve been using the one in the designs consistently in, at least, the last three releases.

Feel free to design a new version that follows the ​icon specs. Although I don't think we will have time to implement it accordingly.

[fcoveram]

In addition to the above, sharing one idea for the section headers. Kudos to @markoserb

[fcoveram]

Section headers of the about page 6.9

[ryelle]

Just want to note that we will need flipped versions of these headers for RTL languages.

Also, I'm assuming the (W) 6.9 icons will be a separate image on top of the background, so that we can alt text it ("WordPress 6.9").

[fcoveram]

Great points. I added both the release symbol and headers in LTR and RTL as exportable assets in ​this section inside the file.

Thanks @ryelle

[ryelle]

I see there are a few copy-edits to the content now, it's looking good! I'll need to start building the page to commit before RC1, so can any content work be wrapped by 22:00 UTC?

Also, I see some content changed below the "CTA" section on the doc. Usually we've kept those strings the same release-to-release (one less thing for translators to update). If there's a strong opinion to change them with these copy tweaks let me know, but otherwise I'll focus on just the 6.9-related content.

[fcoveram]

All texts are ready, except for the "Performance" and "Accessibility" sections.

Also, I see some content changed below the "CTA" section on the doc. Usually we've kept those strings the same release-to-release (one less thing for translators to update).

Yes. I reversed the suggestions to the original content and updated the release number mentions.

I requested a ​copy review of the two sections mentioned before 22:00 UTC. If no feedback arrives, we can continue its implementation. I will inform here as soon as possible.

[parinpanjari]

Hi @fcoveram

I have a couple of suggestions regarding the icons:

Icon Suggestion for Release Notes:
Since we are highlighting release notes, I believe the icon should represent documentation. I suggest using either a document icon or a document with pencil icon, which clearly indicates "notes" or "updates."

Suggested icons: ​https://prnt.sc/N7vmvIClti9i

Performance and Accessibility Icons:
I noticed that the performance and accessibility icons are too small compared to the WordPress 6.9 release notes and WordPress 6.9 field guide icons. There also appears to be extra space below the performance and accessibility icons.

Screenshot : ​https://prnt.sc/DLjfU7_iG4KA

Thank you.

[fcoveram]

Thanks @parinpanjari for the suggestions.

I updated the icons to be like in the previous versions. As I said in the Figma comment, we're just updating the text and images of this page. Icons tweaks need to follow the icon guidelines to be part of the set.

The latest version is on the "visual updates" page. The dimmed images and texts in red are pending, but as I mentioned above, the latter will be completed within a few hours from the time I post this comment.

[fcoveram]

The content for "Performance" and "Accessibility" was updated and ready to build @ryelle

Introducing the new content for 6.9's About page, and the new styled headers for the About section.

Header for Credits

Header for Privacy

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63941

I've updated with those suggestions, and I also caught a section that still had the 6.8 text.

With the change to rounded borders on the header image, the hover effect on the about section navigation looks a bit off for the above and get involved links as it introduces a gap below the image

Yeah, that's a good thing to note — I flagged it in the Figma for design.

[ryelle]

In 61204:

Help/About: Update the About page for 6.9.

Introducing the new content for the 6.9 About page. This release also introduce new header images across the About section.

See #63941.
Props desrosj, jeffpaul, 4thhubbard, priethor, annezazu, fcoveram, joedolson, ryelle, peterwilsoncc.

Committed in r61204

[ryelle]

Just noting that I've committed the content & headers, but left two comments on the Figma regarding design. I also grabbed usernames from the google doc for props, but wasn't sure about designers — please let me know who worked on design & if I missed any content folks and we'll get them in the image commit 🙂

This should be good for RC1, but the ticket will stay open until the images are finalized and uploaded.

[jorbin]

In 61208:

Coding Standards: Align equal signs.

Follow-up to [61204].

See #63941.

[westonruter]

Replying to fcoveram:

The content for "Performance" and "Accessibility" was updated and ready to build @ryelle

I just reviewed the Performance copy, and it needs another pass. It seems to be referring to some aspects that didn't make it into this release, while also not referencing the biggest performance improvements which did. I've added an initial suggestion as well as I provided a distilled list of improvements. I added that as a comment on the doc, but I'll also leave here:

• Optimize loading of stylesheets by loading block styles on demand in classic themes, omitting styles for hidden blocks, increasing the inline style limit from 20K to 40K, and inlining minified stylesheets in block themes. (tickets)
• Introduce the template enhancement output buffer. (tickets)
• Improve script loading performance by adding support for fetchpriority, printing script modules in the footer, and optimizing the emoji detection script. (tickets)
• Optimize database queries, caching, UTF-8 processing, and spawning WP Cron. (tickets)

(Obviously this should be further distilled down, but I think it captures the most impactful changes, not including changes from Gutenberg.)

[fcoveram]

Thanks for the progress and thoughts

With the change to rounded borders on the header image, the hover effect on the about section navigation looks a bit off for the above and get involved links as it introduces a gap below the image

Good point. It looks better without the roundness. I commented that on Figma and updated all assets.

Regarding usernames, the other designers working on this are @markoserb, @joen, and @sfougnier

Regarding the copy in Performances section, I updated the paragraph based on @westonruter suggestions. Are we still on time to update that @ryelle?

And lastly. I don’t see the header for the freedoms in the attached images, but I trust the outcome based on the correct look of the other three.

[karmatosed]

Just noting we have a range of people to include @fcoveram from the github issue also designer wise so let’s make sure we pull those through: ​https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/71818. This was around the initial direction but will be only opportunity to props those early peeps.

[fcoveram]

Oh, thanks for noticing it @karmatosed I was thinking of the design work just for the about page. Since the design work is not entirely done yet as more visuals are coming in the following days, I can't provide an entirely accurate list.

[karmatosed]

I don’t to derail @fcoveram but typically we include everyone up to this point that helped with any assets leading to about page, including inspiration which those did in that issue.

[westonruter]

Replying to fcoveram:

Regarding the copy in Performances section, I updated the paragraph based on @westonruter suggestions.

I'm sure this is being tracked, but I just wanted to call out that the Performance copy still needs to be updated: ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/c04c1fd1c8b45910b8d4b282054dd42bdad3c9a7/src/wp-admin/about.php#L141

This adds the correct string for performance changes, updates the header images to not have rounded corners, and updates the release badge to use the stylized 6.9 icon.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63941

@westonruter I'm looking at the About page performance string and I wonder if it could be updated for flow. What do you think of the following?

WordPress 6.9 includes a broad set of performance enhancements. A better LCP metric is achieved through improved loading of conditional and inlined stylesheets, script loading with fetchpriority support, and core optimizations. Editor advances include fixes for layout shifts caused by the Video block and faster loading of the terms selector.

@ryelle that works for me! I would add one additional word: put "other" before "core optimizations". They are all core optimizations in the end.

Or "additional core optimizations"

Sounds good, "additional" just fits to match line-length with Accessibility.

Just waiting a bit longer to see if there is ​any more feedback about the way to mark this up for translations.

[ryelle]

In 61257:

Help/About: Update About page header images and performance content.

This adds the correct string for performance changes, updates the header images to not have rounded corners, and updates the release badge to use the stylized 6.9 icon.

Props ryelle, peterwilsoncc, westonruter.
See #63941.

Committed in r61257

[ryelle]

dev-feedback added for backporting [61257] to the 6.9 branch.

[wildworks]

Regarding ​this line, there seem to be some concerns about accessibility when using the title attribute on the abbr element. See: #46980

I think either of the following would probably be better:

<p><?php printf(	/* translators: %s: LCP abbreviation. */	__( 'WordPress 6.9 includes a broad set of performance enhancements. A better %s (Largest Contentful Paint) metric is achieved through improved loading of conditional and inlined stylesheets, script loading with fetchpriority support, and additional core optimizations. Editor advances include fixes for layout shifts caused by the Video block and faster loading of the terms selector.' ),	'<abbr>LCP</abbr>' ); ?></p> 

or:

<p><?php _e( 'WordPress 6.9 includes a broad set of performance enhancements. A better <abbr>LCP</abbr> (Largest Contentful Paint) metric is achieved through improved loading of conditional and inlined stylesheets, script loading with fetchpriority support, and additional core optimizations. Editor advances include fixes for layout shifts caused by the Video block and faster loading of the terms selector.' ); ?></p> 

I'm not sure which approach is best, but the former approach (using abbreviations as placeholders) seems to be generally preferred.

​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/5a9dcbca75e99de22ed8aeaa46103ed72d5cb42b/src/wp-includes/customize/class-wp-customize-date-time-control.php#L273-L277

​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/496df56a416eba0c9cb7f5a91007c926dcd29dd1/src/wp-admin/options-general.php#L390-L392

The title support on abbr elements is not consistent or accessible, so abbreviations should be spelled out inline in text. This update switches out the title for inline text. Note that I did not pull the HTML out of the string so that the entire thing would be in context, and I don't know if "LCP" is translated in other languages.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63941

[peterwilsoncc]

In 61258:

Help/About: Spell out abbreviation in About page text.

Removes the title attribute from the abbr element in favour of inline text LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) to improve accessibility of the phrase as the title attribute is often unavailable to assistive technology users.

Props wildworks, ryelle.
See #63941.

[peterwilsoncc]

@wildworks Good catch, thank you! I've committed the PR Kelly put together to fix the issue.

Are you able to take a look at [61257,61258] with a view to backporting.

[wildworks]

Are you able to take a look at [61257,61258] with a view to backporting.

Approved ✅

Merged r61258 / ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/commit/4198141ea6b0e00a8643df1026b13833f05c0c25

[peterwilsoncc]

In 61259:

Help/About: Update About page header images and performance content.

This adds the correct string for performance changes, updates the header images to not have rounded corners, and updates the release badge to use the stylized 6.9 icon.

Backport includes the fast follow to spell out abbreviation in About page text.

Reviewed by wildworks.
Merges [61257,61258] to the 6.9 branch.

Props ryelle, peterwilsoncc, westonruter, wildworks.
See #63941.

[fcoveram]

Thank you all for the improvements.