WordPress 5.8.1 Release Candidate 1 Now Available for Testing!

A quick update, WordPress 5.8.1 Release Candidate 1 is now available and you can start testing right away! The new update includes a total of 61 enhancements and fixes.

WordPress 5.8.1 Release Candidate 1 brings enhancements regarding the block editor and bug fixes on the core.

To test WordPress 5.8.1 Release Candidate 1, you can use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want to select the “point release” channels and the “Nightlies” stream) or you can also directly download the release candidate here (zip). You can also use WP-CLI to test: wp core update –version=5.8.1-RC1

WordPress 5.8.1 Release Candidate 1 Updates:

1. #52818 – Ordering metaboxes broken in WP 5.7
2. #53556 – Add a new template-editing tag to the Theme API
3. #53562 – Widgets Editor in Customizer doesn’t load with E2E tests + 0ms Animations
4. #53609 – Responsive widget block embeds not showing in the customizer
5. #53616 – Registered block styles should only be rendered when the block exists on a page
6. #53641 – Can not configure image widget (and others) in widget accessability mode
7. #53654 – Menus: Hide bulk-select options when no menus exist
8. #53667 – Support wp_editor_set_quality for both loaded and saved mime_types
9. #53668 – Generated images for one file can be overwritten by another with the same name when mapping mime types for generated images
10. #53679 – The media library looks broken on mobile
11. #53680 – Correct inline documentation about IMAGETYPE_WEBP and IMG_WEBP
12. #53696 – wp_add_iframed_editor_assets_html() not checking for block editor
13. #53697 – Possible Regression – Border settings not displaying for Button Block
14. #53702 – Four css files removed between 5.7.x and 5.8 were not included in $_old_files
15. #53713 – Bounce underscore.js version in script-loader
16. #53714 – Bounce jquery.form.js version in script-loader
17. #53715 – Bounce hoverIntent.js version in script-loader
18. #53716 – The “/” missing at the end of image tag
19. #53719 – grunt clean:css does not clean the css/dist folder
20. #53738 – Broken loop in WP_Theme_JSON_Resolver
21. #53752 – Twenty Ten: Block patterns file causes error in child themes
22. #53757 – Widget editor calls get_block_categories() with incorrect arg type
23. #53762 – Replace the remaining references to wp.editor with wp.oldEditor
24. #53769 – Bundled themes: block-patterns.php file should use get_template_directory_uri instead of get_stylesheet_directory_uri
25. #53773 – /wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php file line 3006 is creating divide by zero error
26. #53777 – Bump bundled theme versions for
27. #53799 – Remove version-controlled files check from Test Old Branches workflow
28. #53803 – Customizer: Radio button on background image position selector visible on focus
29. #53820 – Build doesn’t support Docker Compose V2
30. #53827 – Increase number of media items displayed when clicking button to “Load More”
31. #53830 – Default filters try to create nonce during installation before options table exists
32. #53833 – ‘Replace image’ Media Modal is missing select fields under filter media due to css issues
33. #53877 – Menus: Selected display locations for new menus aren’t saved
34. #53898 – Duplicated 404 templates in the TemplatePanel
35. #53922 – Docblock in get_block_editor_settings function
36. #53932 – Media grid view doesn’t show all media elements
37. #53936 – Output of serialize_block_attributes does not match equivalent Gutenberg function
38. #53955 – Fix and improve the docs for the image_editor_output_format filter
39. #54030 – Pressing esc in Widgets Editor closes panel in customizer
40. #54036 – PclZip throwing errors on PHP 8 – previously merged patch is incomplete
41. #54052 – Block editor package updates for 5.8.1
42. PR33384 – Fix API docs for data reference guides
43. PR33381 – Docs: use markdown headings instead of links for API declarations
44. PR33498 – Docs: Run Prettier after updating API in documentation
45. PR33549 – Use tabs instead of spaces in block transform doc example
46. PR30617 – Fix metabox reordering
47. PR32083 – Block editor: move layout styles to document head (instead of rendering inline)
48. PR33814 – Widgets: Allow HTML tags in description
49. PR33457 – Editor: Set ‘hide_empty’ for the most used terms query
50. PR33482 – Update widget editor help links to point to the new support article
51. PR33621 – Fixed that the block is selected instead of the title when using the select all shortcut.
52. PR33699 – Writing flow: select all: remove early return for post title
53. PR33618 – Call onChangeSectionExpanded conditionally
54. PR33679 – FontSizePicker: Use number values when the initial value is a number
55. PR33739 – Fix justification for button block when selected
56. PR33771 – Add error boundaries to widget screens
57. PR33802 – Fix insertion point in Widgets editors
58. PR34280 – Default batch processor: Respect the batch endpoint’s maxItems
59. PR34314 – Fix button block focus trap after a URL has been added
60. PR34076 – Text for dropdown fields within legacy widgets in the Customizer is off centered
61. PR32935 – Add a SearchControl component and reuse across the UI(class change in tests)

Check out the original release post here.

Make sure you test this RC. If you think you’ve found a bug, please post to the Alpha/Beta support forum to help make the release of WordPress 5.8.1 as smooth as possible.

The official WordPress 5.8.1 will release on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, as per the schedule. The 5.8.1 release will depend on the issues after the RC1 release.