WPML’s Plan for WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg

WPML team is preparing an update with many new features, complete compatibility with WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg. This update will be ready before WordPress 5.0 is out, but probably very close to the WP 5 release date.

Update Dev/2018 – WPML With Gutenberg Support Is Available

An update for WPML with full support for Gutenberg is already released. See WPML 4.1 announcement post.

WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg

Gutenberg, the new editor for WordPress, is coming to WP 5.0. There have already been a lot of suggestions, opinions and feedback about Gutenberg, but I prefer to focus on what we’re preparing for Gutenberg.

Gutenberg is starting as an “editor”, but is morphing into a page builder and soon a complete “site builder”. This means that people will start writing content AND designing using Gutenberg.

In order to translate conveniently, we created a mechanism that extracts the texts from Gutenberg designs. When you create content with Gutenberg and translate it with WPML, you’ll only need to translate the texts – not recreate the entire design for every language.

See Dario’s video for how it will work:

Other Major Features in WPML 4.1

Besides compatibility with Gutenberg, WPML 4.1 will include a list of other major improvements:

• A new translation editor (a major upgrade to our Advanced Translation Editor)
• Much improved Translation Management with simpler UI and faster response
• A streamlined process for setting up WPML’s Translation Management
• And more…

We’ll describe each of these when we’re ready with a public version of WPML 4.1.

WPML 4.1 Schedule

This release of WPML is bound to WordPress 5.0’s schedule. We had hoped to have it out already, but WordPress 5.0 is still undergoing significant development. Every week we make our “develop” version of WPML work with the current WordPress “beta”. However, new breaking changes in WP 5.0 (and mainly in Gutenberg) require additional changes from our side.

If we release WPML 4.1 now, it will be compatible with the current development snapshot of WordPress, but will have compatibility problems with the next betas, release candidates and the final WP 5.0 release.

We hope that by the time WordPress 5.0 goes into RC, these changes will slow down and we can offer a version of WPML that you can try.

Our current aim is for a nice beta of WPML 4.1 by the end of next week. If WP 5.0 continues to change, this date will move out as well.

How to Deal With WordPress 5.0 on Production Sites

If you’re creating new sites, you should install the “latest and greatest” version of WordPress, which will be 5.0. However, if you are updating existing sites, we warmly recommend that you do this update with caution. WordPress 5.0 comes with very significant changes. Even if you’re not planning to use Gutenberg right away, the amount of new PHP and Javascript in WP 5.0 means that something can break somewhere.

We recommend that you get a solid confirmation from your theme and all the plugins that you’re using that they’re fully tested with WP 5.0, including when editing with Gutenberg. The fact that every plugin works with the new WordPress is not enough. Changes in plugins may mean compatibility issues between plugins.

Before you update WordPress on your production sites, you should create a staging/development copy of the site and try WP 5.0 on it. Give it a good shake on the WordPress admin and on all front-end pages. Then, update your production sites.

It’s a Hassle, But It’s Time

I have to add my personal 2 cents here. Gutenberg has been a very controversial subject, inviting criticism from all directions. As a company, we’d be happier if the roadmap to including Gutenberg into WordPress would be different. I hope and believe that the WordPress project and ecosystem will easily stand this little tremor. In the long run, I think that many understand the importance of moving WordPress into modern technologies and uniting the editing experience.

No matter what effort it takes from us, WPML will always be ready ahead of time for any WordPress release. It’s more challenging for WordPress 5.0, but this is not a problem.

Feedback? Questions?

Ask in the comments and we’ll get back to you.