Testing WordPress 6 9's new template management 🔗 **Source:** [Testing WordPress 6 9's new template management](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: [wordpress, templates, block-themes] > author: Ryan Welcher > source: YouTube > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU > date created: 2024-11-04 12:00 > > # 🏷️ Title: Testing WordPress 6.9's New Template Management > <!-- deep-read:sections start --> ## 🧰 Action Inbox - [H1] Test template duplication workflow — site editor/templates #wordpress - [H2] Verify template activation/deactivation functionality — 15:30 #testing - [H3] Check template export behavior with Create Block Theme — 35:45 #development ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### 🔗 References - [Help Test WordPress 6.9](https://make.wordpress.org/test/2024/10/help-test-wordpress-6-9/) - [WordPress Developer Blog](https://developer.wordpress.org/) ## 📝 Summary - Testing WordPress 6.9 beta 3 template management features before December 2nd release - New workflow requires duplicating templates before editing, creating active vs created template separation - Template activation system allows multiple versions but only one active per template type - Missing features include template preview and proper theme export integration - Overall functionality appears solid with minor UX considerations needed ## 📖 Main Content WordPress 6.9 introduces significant changes to template management in block themes. The core change shifts from direct template editing to a duplication-first workflow. Previously, clicking a template opened it directly in the editor, with changes saved to the database upon saving. The new system requires explicitly duplicating a theme template first, creating a database entry before editing begins. The system introduces two template categories: "Active Templates" (currently applied to the site) and "Created Templates" (custom versions that can be activated or remain inactive). This allows developers to prepare template variations without immediately applying them to the live site. Template activation follows a one-active-per-type rule, meaning only one template can be active for pages, posts, or other template types at any given time. When activating a new template, the previously active template automatically becomes inactive. Deactivating a custom template automatically falls back to the default theme template. Current limitations include the inability to preview pages with inactive templates and incomplete integration with theme export functionality. The Create Block Theme plugin does not export active custom templates when downloading theme files. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=0) — [H1] WordPress 6.9 Testing Focus - Key idea: Shifting from AI coding streams to WordPress 6.9 beta testing for November - Evidence: "WordPress 6.9 is slated for the 2nd of December, so I figured November is a great time to testing all this out" #### ⏱️ [02:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=150) — [H2] Template Management Changes Overview - Key idea: Templates now have active vs created categories with duplication workflow - Evidence: "You can have multiple versions of the same template... how you manage it is different" #### ⏱️ [06:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=405) — [H2] Direct Editing No Longer Available - Key idea: Clicking templates no longer opens direct editing interface - Evidence: "When you click on a template, you can't edit it anymore... you have to duplicate a theme template first" #### ⏱️ [08:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=495) — [H3] Database-First Template Creation - Key idea: Templates are duplicated to database before editing begins - Evidence: "It's creating the duplicate in the database first... whereas now it's actually creating the duplicate in the database first" #### ⏱️ [11:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=690) — [H2] Template Activation Workflow - Key idea: Templates can be saved without immediate activation - Evidence: "It says, do you want to activate? So I can opt out of activating it right now" #### ⏱️ [13:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=780) — [H3] Preview Limitation Identified - Key idea: Cannot preview pages with inactive templates - Evidence: "Looks like I can't preview the content with the new template... I feel like it would be cool to be able to change the template" #### ⏱️ [15:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=930) — [H2] One-Active-Per-Type Rule - Key idea: Only one template can be active per template type - Evidence: "I can only have one active template per slope... for pages, I can only have one active template" #### ⏱️ [18:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=1125) — [H2] Automatic Fallback Behavior - Key idea: Deactivating custom templates automatically activates fallback - Evidence: "Even if I deactivate a custom page, it'll go back to the fullback, which is cool" #### ⏱️ [25:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=1500) — [H2] Theme Compatibility Checking - Key idea: Templates check theme compatibility before activation - Evidence: "I can't activate it. That's fair. It's not compatible with the theme, so I can't activate" #### ⏱️ [28:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=1710) — [H2] Template Persistence Across Themes - Key idea: Custom templates persist when switching between compatible themes - Evidence: "If I switch between templates, my custom templates are there, which is great" #### ⏱️ [30:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=1815) — [H3] Export Limitation Discovery - Key idea: Theme export doesn't include active custom templates - Evidence: "I wonder what will happen if I install create block theme and export all of this. Will it save these template files along with it?" #### ⏱️ [35:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=2145) — [H2] Template Trash Functionality - Key idea: Templates can now be trashed and potentially restored - Evidence: "You can trash templates now... and then I think you can restore them from trash maybe" #### ⏱️ [38:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=2280) — [H1] Overall Assessment Positive - Key idea: Template management functionality appears solid with minor issues - Evidence: "From my perspective, it seems pretty solid. I haven't seen any bugs or major issues" #### ⏱️ [42:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=2550) — [H2] Abilities API REST Support Confirmed - Key idea: WordPress 6.9 includes REST API endpoints for Abilities API - Evidence: "You can enable REST API support for abilities... you can make requests to the WP abilities v1 abilities endpoint" ## 📚 References - [Help Test WordPress 6.9](https://make.wordpress.org/test/2024/10/help-test-wordpress-6-9/) - [WordPress Developer Blog Draft](https://developer.wordpress.org/) - [Abilities API Demo Repository](https://github.com/ryanwelcher) - [WordPress TV](https://wordpress.tv/) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - WordPress 6.9 changes template editing from direct access to a duplication-first workflow where templates must be copied to the database before editing - The new system separates active templates (currently applied) from created templates (custom versions that can be toggled), allowing better template version management - Only one template per type can be active at once, with automatic fallback to defaults when deactivating custom templates, though theme export integration needs improvement ## 📰 Newsletter WordPress 6.9 is bringing exciting changes to template management that will streamline how developers work with block themes! The new system introduces a cleaner separation between active and created templates, making it easier to prepare multiple template versions without affecting your live site. Key improvements include a duplication-first editing workflow, one-click template activation/deactivation, and better template organization. While there are some minor limitations around previewing and theme export, the core functionality appears solid and ready for the December 2nd release. Don't miss the upcoming Developer Hours workshop on November 13th covering these features and the new Abilities API! Resources: [Help Test WordPress 6.9](https://make.wordpress.org/test/2024/10/help-test-wordpress-6-9/), [Developer Docs](https://developer.wordpress.org/), [WordPress TV](https://wordpress.tv/) ## ✅ Action Items #### WordPress - Core: Test template duplication workflow across different themes - Core: Validate template activation/deactivation state management - Core: Review template preview functionality requirements - Design: Consider UX improvements for template duplication messaging - Documentation: Create guides for new template management workflow - Meta: Test theme export behavior with active custom templates #### Community - Contributors: Help test WordPress 6.9 beta 3 template features - Maintainers: Update theme development best practices documentation - Sponsors: Support Developer Hours workshop series covering 6.9 features ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Template duplication workflow will reduce accidental template modifications - Separation of active/created templates will improve developer workflow efficiency - One-active-per-type rule will simplify template state management - Theme export limitations may require additional plugin development ### 📊 Methodology - Manual testing across multiple themes to validate template persistence - Cross-theme compatibility testing for custom template activation - Export/import testing to identify integration gaps with Create Block Theme ### ❓ Questions - Will template preview functionality be added before 6.9 release? - Should theme export include active custom templates by default? - How will this change affect existing block theme development workflows? ### 🔮 Future Research - Integration testing with popular block theme frameworks - Performance impact assessment of template duplication system - User experience studies on template management workflow changes ### 💡 Implications - Practice: Developers need to adjust template editing workflows for duplication-first approach - Education: Documentation and training materials require updates for new template management - Tooling: Theme development tools may need updates to handle active/created template separation ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment Reading level estimate: 8th Grade #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: Screen recordings showing template management interface - Improve: Flowchart diagrams showing template activation states #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: Live narration explaining each step of template workflow - Improve: Audio summary of key template management concepts #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: Clear explanations of technical terms and workflow changes - Improve: Analogies comparing old vs new template management approaches #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: Hands-on demonstration with real WordPress site - Improve: Step-by-step checklist for template testing procedures #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: Clear cause-and-effect relationships in template activation - Improve: Decision tree for choosing between active and created templates #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: Community testing collaboration and feedback sharing - Improve: Structured peer review process for template testing #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: Individual testing scenarios and self-directed exploration - Improve: Personal reflection prompts on template workflow preferences #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: Organic discovery of template behavior through experimentation - Improve: Pattern recognition exercises for template state management ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: Video includes descriptive narration of interface actions - Improve: Structured headings for template management concepts #### Keyboard navigation - Present: Testing demonstrates mouse-based interactions - Improve: Validation of keyboard accessibility for new template interfaces #### Contrast and readability - Present: Clear visual distinction between active and created templates - Improve: Documentation with high contrast examples #### Media and captions - Present: Live narration throughout video content - Improve: Accurate captions and transcript formatting ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: English-focused content with global WordPress community relevance - Improve: Multi-language testing considerations for international users #### Inclusive language - Present: Technical terms explained clearly without assumptions - Improve: Beginner-friendly explanations alongside advanced concepts #### Neurodiversity support - Present: Step-by-step demonstration with clear structure - Improve: Consistent heading hierarchy and predictable content flow #### Representation - Present: Individual developer perspective on WordPress features - Improve: Multiple viewpoints on template management workflows ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Deductive strength: Template behavior follows clear rules consistently demonstrated - Inductive strength: Testing multiple scenarios to validate general principles - Causal reasoning: Clear cause-effect relationships between actions and template states #### Fallacies - None identified: Testing methodology follows logical progression #### Tone of voice - Overall tone: Conversational and exploratory, appropriate for live testing session ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - No concerning patterns detected - straightforward technical testing content ## 🎯 Conclusion WordPress 6.9's new template management system represents a significant improvement in block theme development workflow. The duplication-first approach and active/created template separation provide better version control and reduce accidental modifications. While minor limitations exist around previewing and theme export, the core functionality is solid and ready for production use. Developers should prepare for workflow adjustments and take advantage of testing opportunities before the December release. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix ### 📚 Literature Split Pad ### [H1] Template management workflow fundamentally changes in WordPress 6.9 > [!quote] Testing WordPress 6.9's New Template Management by Ryan Welcher via YouTube. Published 2024-11-04. Accessed 2024-11-04. > "You have to duplicate a theme template first... it's creating the duplicate in the database first." Represents shift from direct editing to duplication-first approach with database persistence. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=495#H1) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_template_workflow ### [H2] One-active-per-type rule simplifies template state management > [!quote] Testing WordPress 6.9's New Template Management > "I can only have one active template per slope... for pages, I can only have one active template." Eliminates template conflicts while maintaining template version flexibility. [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU?t=930#H2) #xref ID:rw_template_activation --- ### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad (Zettel Candidates) #### [Z1] Template duplication prevents accidental modifications - Scope: WordPress 6.9 block theme development - Pointer: 08:15 timestamp - Links: [[Template-Management]] [[WordPress-6.9]] #### [Z2] Export integration gaps need addressing - Scope: Theme development workflow with Create Block Theme - Pointer: <!-- deep-read:sections end --> ## 📺 Video ![](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU) --- # 📄 Full Transcript *Auto-generated from YouTube captions · timestamps roughly every 30 seconds · [watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9CRljTVLU)* **[01:15]** All righty. Um, I've been having some weirdness with various services today and it looks like the LinkedIn post is just not working. So, I might have to leave that tab open, which is kind of annoying. Um, today I'm taking a break, or should I say for the rest of November, I'm taking a break from AI coding. Um, I wouldn't say I'm taking a break from AI coding. I'm taking a break from streaming about **[01:47]** AI coding because WordPress 6.9 is currently beta 3, I want to say where are we? 4th of November. Yeah, it's beta 3 today actually. Um sometime later today, beta 3 will come out. And **[02:17]** so now is a great time to start testing WordPress. Um start testing all the functionality that's coming to the next version. And so that's what I'm going to be doing for the rest of November. Um, WordPress 6.9 is slated for the 2nd of December, so I figured November is a great time to testing all this out. Um, so that's what I'm going to be. Uh, there is this help test WordPress 6.9 post that if you're watching this on YouTube, I will link to in the description. **[02:50]** Um, and so I'm going to pick a bunch of things in here and check them out and see how they work. Um, I'm going to focus probably mostly on the developer updates. Um, some of them I've been pretty involved in. Some of them I have no idea what's coming. Um, so I'm going to just dive in and just see what's going on there and what what the situation is. Um, I also helped write this post and I want **[03:22]** to make sure that all the information in there is present and correct, if you will. So, that's kind of what I'm paying. LinkedIn is still freaking out. close. LinkedIn just seems to be taking forever today. So, um, all right. Let me set up a **[03:54]** new site. Can I sit I can. That's cool. That's a cool feature of studio being able to set up beta. That's very cool. Give it a custom domain. And let's go. **[04:30]** [cough] So I think what going to look into today is this data views and data form stuff. Um, no. What I'm going to do today is something I've been wanting to test for a while now properly and this is the **[05:00]** expanded template management. So, this is not specifically a developer change. Um, basically the way the templates are managed in WordPress. Oh, look, there's something. the way the templates are being managed in WordPress is changing. Um, I haven't really looked at this much since I created this post about a month ago. So, I kind of want to see where it is now. Um, we kind of spend a bit of time testing it. **[05:32]** So, let's pop into my admin here. Let's get First mention I got a couple of themes installed. **[06:04]** So essentially what you can do now is you can have multiple versions of the same template. Um well you always could do that but how you manage it is different. So, for example, if this is the page single page template, um, think what I'm going to do here is add image to this just to give it a bit more. **[06:35]** No, I want I want the page page. So, let's add a featured image. Think somewhere **[07:08]** don't think I have I'm Uh so **[07:52]** this person is That's kind of cool. **[08:23]** Wonder how big this is. **[09:03]** All right, that's done. Crap. **[09:37]** Okay, let's take that. All right, there's a featured image. So now what I want to do is I want to take the So first of all you have what are now known as active templates and then you have created templates. So created templates are templates that you create in the site editor and they're usually based on the theme templates. You can also activate or deactivate templates, which also means you can take a theme template **[10:09]** and you can duplicate it to a creator template, but not make it active. So, you can make changes to it and then it's not applied to the thing yet. I'm interested to see how you if you can preview that. You should be able to, but I'm going to do that with the page template. So, that's probably this one. Um, let's confirm that. So, let's view the sample page. **[10:44]** That's something else that I think is new to 6.9. Um, but that's the sample page. There's the featured image images on top. Um, hey Cameron, how you doing? Uh, did you watch the cricket this weekend, dude? [laughter] watching watching the final at the Women's World Cup T20 250 whatever cup was pretty pretty dang exciting even though they kicked our butts. [laughter] [snorts] Um, **[11:15]** if I remember correctly, you play cricket. So assuming you're interested. Um, okay. Where are we? didn't watch the final emotion master. Good lad. Um, **[11:47]** all right. What am I doing? Oh, yes. I What did I want to do? I wanted to Ah, fair enough. What is the one downside of living in Australia in these games? Yes. So, what I want to do is I want to start editing the pages template. Just make sure this is the page template. This **[12:17]** and it's using slug pages. Yeah. Okay. So, that is that. So, first things first, when you click on a template, you can't edit it anymore. Um, so previously before WordPress 6.9, when you clicked on a template, you'd be able to go right into editing it. And what that would then do is it would load up a template markup in the editor. You would **[12:49]** make your changes, you would hit save and those changes will get saved to the database. So the way it works now is you can duplicate a theme template first. Well, you have to duplicate a theme template first. And what that means is it creates the duplicate version of your um of your theme template in the database first. So it's a little bit of a **[13:19]** mind shift into the functionality of it. Um I don't know previously whether it actually stored the the markup in the table first before you could edit it, but in my mind I always assumed it just loaded in the editor and then when I saved it it saved to the database whereas now it's actually creating the duplicate in the database first. Um and what that then does is if I go over to create a templates now there's my custom pages template. It's currently inactive. It's compatible with 2025. So, it's essentially a child template of 2025. **[13:52]** And now I can click on this here and then I can go in and I can edit this this template. So, that's just a little bit of a shift in the in the mind of how how templates work going forward. What I'm going to do is I'm just going to put the title [clears throat] above, excuse me, above the um my throat, above the featured image. And now I'm going to save this template. So this is now saved it. And it says, do **[14:24]** you want to activate? So I can opt out of activating it right now. Go back to my template list. And you'll see in my active templates, the original pages template is still there. In my created templates, my custom pages are still inactive. Um, but now what I can do is I should be able to preview this. Um, so if I go to a sample page for example **[14:55]** and I want to see what this page looks like with the new template, I should be able to say change template. Uh, actually don't know if this works. I thought it might. Doesn't look like it will work. So, it looks like I can't I can't can't um preview the content with the new template. **[15:28]** Wonder if it's supposed to be able to do that. Let's go here. If I Looks like I need to activate it first before I can. I'm guessing it's not something that was **[16:02]** considered. I feel like it would be cool to be able to change the template now on the page and see what the page looks like. I'm not sure if it's worth noting on the original issue. I didn't make not **[16:38]** a goal to preage. This is certainly something that can come as an iteration later on. I don't think it needs to be logged. It's not like a blocker. Um, do wish there was a way that I could preview this content. **[17:19]** Just refresh this page. So that's saved. Patient patient. That's probably an active difference. **[18:00]** Okay. I thought that was there. It's not. That's fine. Um, so let's activate that template. >> What is cool is I can duplicate this. I can make like second custom pages um with a different layout entirely. So, let's kind of do that. Let's move let's remove the title. **[18:37]** Now I've got like couple of custom templates. Um, so now if I activate this one, I want to see. Okay, we'll start by activating that one. Let's go and view sample page. Okay. So, there's template, featured image, >> no title. Cool. >> I want to see what happens if I activate this one. Does it make the other one inactive? Yes, it deactivates custom **[19:09]** pages as well. Um, so there it is. That's our original page. And then if I go back to 2025, that's inactive. I activate this. Now, it should go back to that image name. Okay, that seems to work as expected. Now I want to have some fun here because **[19:40]** apparently if I activate this one the music was in line that switches to inactive, right? Let's go make sure. Okay, if I now deactivate this one, it should go back to the default, which it has. See here, it automatically activates the **[20:11]** fallback. Okay, that's cool. So, even if I deactivate a custom page, it'll go back to the fullback, which is cool. Um, so now what happens if I activate that and I activate that? That one becomes inactive. That becomes an active. Okay, that is what I want. **[20:44]** Cool. [clears throat] Now I want to see if I can. So, I can only apply active templates and it looks like I can only have one active template per slope. So, in other words, for pages, I can only have one active template. That's fine. I guess. Um, **[21:15]** I wonder if I can. So, what I want to be able to do now is with the creator templates, I want to edit this active when used business. So, let's see if I can go into custom pages, activate that, and then go and edit this one. And how do I set this to be active when used. Can I do **[21:47]** doesn't look like it? [cough and clears throat] **[22:44]** How do I set post types for **[23:29]** So if I want a specific template, how do I change the template type? That's what I want to be able to do. How do I change Can't see that anyway. **[24:28]** How to change the template type of created. Okay, that one I'm going to have to figure out. Because right now the type is custom, but I want it to be the same type status. **[24:59]** Oh, that is a custom temp. How do How does this active when used? That's probably because it's set up as a custom template against the post. So, how do I set the post up? That's what I want to do. How do I set the post type? Uh, how do I set post type? I wonder if there's something in the styles. **[26:01]** Oh no. Oh, that's interesting. So, I'm guessing because it's duplicate, it retains the same the same type. Ah, that's interesting. I didn't see that coming. Okay. So that means if I go to sample page, I should now be able to select from custom pages or page title copy. Okay. **[26:31]** All right. Okay. So I can't have page no title copy my default one my theme one and my created one active or available at the same time. Um, but I can create custom customs duplicate. Okay. What's I wonder what happens if I add a template. Where does that go? **[27:03]** So, I want to add a template for pages. All pages. Okay, choose a pattern. I don't want my phone just beeping. So, just see what **[27:49]** Um, actually, let me add a page. Let's just grab **[28:29]** Something special. **[29:17]** Okay. Um, yeah, that's fine. Title. Let's just make the title right sake of feature image. There we go. Um, okay. So, that was a custom. So, now in my creator templates, there's **[29:49]** my new pages template. Okay. So, it's just called it pages. I can obviously rename it here. Okay. So, that also worked kind of how I expected it to. So, now I want to see what happens when I switch these. So, the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to go to the dashboard. Go to the activated theme **[30:20]** and I want to see what happens in templates. Active templates create templates. I still have all my templates. Does give me a little warning to say my templates are only compatible. It looks like my theme goodie is broken here. Wonder if this is because it's 2024. I'm not sure. Oh, there it worked. Maybe it's just **[30:52]** All right. So, now what happens if I activate this template? It should still work. It should give me an error because I'm seeing that the head is missing, for example. But it should still be able to do something. So, let's activate it. Oh, I can't activate it. That's fair. It's not compatible with the theme, so I can't activate. That's fair. **[31:23]** I have no issues with that. Interesting. Okay. I uh I think that all works pretty well. Um, you can see there's template parts missing, which is why I can't activate theme template, which is cool. Still saves it though, so at least it's still there. So, if I switch between **[31:54]** templates, my custom templates are there, which is great. Um, I wonder what will happen if I install create block theme and export all of this. Will it save these template files along with it? Should it? Shouldn't it does it matter? Um, maybe that's not Maybe that's not great blocks themes problem to deal with. I don't know. **[32:24]** Certainly is interesting, but it works. Works pretty well. Um, so that is the template management coming to WordPress 6.9. If you haven't seen that in action, I recommend checking it out. From my perspective, it seems pretty solid. I haven't seen any bugs or major issues. Um, that I feel like is not a problem **[32:56]** anymore. Only piece of feedback I have is it would be nice to be able to preview a page with a new and active template so I can see what it would look like. But that is like a future iteration to be honest. Um, so yeah, I I I think I'm pretty happy with all that. I think the only thing that people are going to struggle with when they first use it is this concept of clicking here and it tells you you're about to duplicate a bunch of it. Um, **[33:29]** that's going to be something we're going to need to maybe get the word out about. Um, so yeah. All right. Let us go back to the help test. Let me go back and activate. **[34:01]** I wonder if these these templates will get saved for export. So, let's have a look here. Download your theme with updates, templates, and starts. I'm going to click on that and stick it in another site. **[34:34]** Let's go to studio. No, go away. Delete this so that I can install this version. See what happens **[35:04]** this Let's get some clearance. thing. **[35:35]** I thought I deleted that. Oh, I know what the problem is. This is studio being annoying. I need to log this. Whenever you make file changes on the local file system studio freight desperately need **[36:15]** Okay, let's see. Have battle themes. Interesting. It appears they did not. Let's have a look at the actual code. **[37:09]** So custom. So when exporting that's where it gets interesting. Download your theme with updated templates and size. Should it export those? Possibly **[38:14]** There's a followup tracking issue linked to all this. All **[38:53]** right. **[39:24]** Okay. So, here's a question. What happens? Okay. What happens? Okay. Now, my brain is working. What happens if I create active create? Um, I'm going to sneeze. **[40:06]** I thought I was going to sneeze and then I yawned. [laughter] Um, okay. 24. Uh, what happens if I create a theme, activate it, and then export? Does the activated theme get exported? So, let's figure that out. So, let's first delete this 2025 thing that I added. Find it. Let's delete that. **[40:37]** Go away. Okay. So, that's that over there. Don't need sample images anymore. This is testing. Perfect. This is the appearance themes 25. Okay, good editor templates. Okay, so those are all my active templates. These are my creative temp creative templates. **[41:10]** So let's delete that one. Oh, that's the other thing. You can trash templates now. Um, and then I think you can restore them from trash maybe. I don't know actually. Let's trash this one. Let's call this custom pages, but it's called creative **[41:42]** pages. So, we know what it's called. Okay. So, this is currently inactive. This is the wide view with the thing on the right. Um, it's fine. Okay. So, let's activate this template. Oh, you can you can review you can view revisions as well. Um, **[42:14]** Let's go back here. So, let's activate create pages. Okay. So, that's created. So, if I now go to the sample page, I'll see everything. Yeah. Big image title on the right. Perfect. What happens now? **[42:44]** If I go into the site editor and I export this don't know why the export is broken. **[43:35]** Let's just delete that trans. Okay. Then let's go to here. **[44:07]** What will this install? It does not bring over the active template and I don't know whether it should. So I'm going to add that as an issue. **[44:48]** Can I just open up one of these just as a backup bug report bug report feature request release blank issue general help I'm going to make it a bug For now I'm going to say **[45:18]** activation say exporting current theme does not export the active Then I'm going to say I am not sure if this is considered a bug or a future release. **[45:51]** So logging it anyway to future when exporting a theme. filter using the export option. Any active templates **[46:22]** exported are not exported only the original template files. **[47:23]** So to this duplicate templates activate the created **[49:07]** Are you All **[49:38]** right, here's a question. Our pages are still the same. Now, I don't know if it should do the **[50:09]** songs. **[51:13]** >> [snorts] **[51:51]** >> Huh? Looks like Elliot's already locked. This **[52:30]** so cancelling that. Okay, I guess I already logged it. I'm going to what I'm going to do is I'm going to add this as a subsue here. **[53:20]** Okay. So, looks like I'm not the only one who feels that way. So, I'm going to get that block the issue. All good. Um, hey Justin, just read your bug report. Um, um, not quite sure of your question there. Are you asking me, sorry, I didn't see **[53:50]** that earlier. I don't know how long ago that was. Are you asking if um, you can use abilities in 6.9? because if if that's the case then the answer is yes. Um, I just want to check **[54:21]** I I I I'm not sure which blog article you're meaning, the one on my personal blog or the one I'm working for working working on for the core developer blog, but this is the one that I'm working on for the core developer blog, uh, which you're welcome to read before it gets published Um, I'm just going to open it up so I can find the track. Can't spell track. **[54:56]** Here we go. Uh, so this is the track ticket. paste this in the chat. But you will see from the track tickets and let me find the right PR. Yeah. Oh, it's listed here. Anyway, so all of these functions, registering abilities, uh getting abilities, being able to execute an ability, um as **[55:27]** well as the abilities rest API endpoints are all part of WordPress 6.9. Um, I am planning on doing a live stream. So, he says more Okay, Justin says more like using this as a more streamlined way for a securation rather than that. Oh, I see what you're saying. Well, essentially abilities, you can enable abilities to be um you can enable REST API support for abilities. So, what that means, let **[55:58]** me quickly find the documentation here. Um, short answer, yes. Long answer, when you register an ability, um, you have this meta argument inside of the arguments array. That's the wrong one. Some categories. Where is it? There we go. You have this meta argument. Inside the meta argument, **[56:29]** you can enable show and rest as either true or false. If you set it to true, then by default, you can use the built-in REST API endpoints for abilities. Uh, so there you go. Show and rest true or false. And then you can make requests to the WP abilities v1 abilities endpoint um and include your abilities ID in the endpoint and execute your ability. So for example, let's say your abilities name is I don't **[56:59]** know ID is like Bob one. You can make a request to the wrong place. Um here we go. So my plug-in site info run for example and it will then execute that ability. So short answer to your question yes. Um longer answer you just need to know what the structure is. Um I am actually as I say in this uh core blog that I'm publishing to the WordPress developer blog. It includes an example of how I'm doing that. Um so if **[57:32]** you want to read it early, you can review the post here if you want to wait for a couple of weeks and read it on the developer blog. Um but I also want to mention and I meant to publish this before the live stream but I never got around to it. My colleague Juanma and I are busy preparing a couple of online workshops um around some of the developer features coming to WordPress 6.9. Um we call them developer hours. So it's all focused on developer things and we're going to be doing our first one next week, Thursday **[58:04]** the 13th. Um and one of the things we're going to be talking about in that workshop on the 13th is the abilities API. So if you want to see that in action, you can join the workshop. Uh if you can't join the workshop, you can watch the recording um in a couple of days on WordPress TV. Um so yes, in your in your question, that is the way to do it. Um lots of content coming out. If you want to see if you want to see it live sort of now, um I built I built an **[58:34]** abilities API demo um which essentially registers a bunch of abilities um and then has the JavaScript functionality to view them on the front end, but then you can also you can also make requests to um to the rest API inputs. So that's probably what we're going to showcase is something like that. will show you what the rest end points are and how to access them and that kind of thing, but you can check out that code there about how that all works. Um, yeah, cool. Uh, yeah, if you can make it, it'll be great. It's going to be in I think it's we're having it at I **[59:07]** think 12:00 p.m. UTC or something like that. Um, sort of APAC EU friendly time zones. Uh, if you can't make that live, then you can just watch the recording and we'll cover cover how it works. Uh but yes, essentially with abilities, if you enable them, they will by default be available on REST API endpoints without having to um extend it manually yourself with custom endpoints, which is one of the things I love about abilities. Um you just enable them, turn them, create them, turn them on, and you're good to **[59:37]** go. So yes, cool. Thank you for the question. Um all right, folks. I am going to call it an end here. I'm quite happy with the testing of the template stuff. I'm quite happy with where we are there. Um, so I will continue testing WordPress 6.9 in the next few weeks, uh, for the rest of November at least. So, I mean, we've got how many weeks to go? One, two, three, four more weeks. So, I'll probably do some abilities API testing next week or maybe the week after. Um, and then I'll dive into some of the other things. Thank you all for watching **[60:08]** and for joining. If you're watching this on YouTube, do let me know what you thought what you thought of the stream. Um, and I'll see you next week. Bye.