Tracking: A curated list of high-priority extensibility issues and enhancements

[justintadlock]

The following is a curated list of extensibility issues that have mostly been identified through various channels and events by DevRel teams, such as Hallway Hangouts, Developer Hours, the #outreach channel on Slack, and via the @WordPress/outreach group.

This is a tracking issue to help contributors prioritize issues and enhancements based on direct feedback from extenders.

It is not an exhaustive list of every extensibility issue (there's a label for that). Instead these are oft-repeated blockers for adopting the block system and quality-of-life enhancements that folks want to see. The list is broken down into major categories.

Theming

• Add support for synced theme patterns (with overrides) #59272
• Font faces defined in variations aren't loaded in the browser until the variation switch is saved and the page is refreshed #59965
• Style variations should be another layer in the theme.json hierarchy rather than stored in the database #62661
• Standardized way to modify interactive states (:hover, :focus .etc) for blocks #38277
• color-palette-panel - add possibility to "group" colors #47837
• Connect "Section Styling" with "Pattern Overrides"/ "Content Only" locking #62078
• Add a way to identify which .JSON style variation that is in use #43405
• Block variations are missing Global Styles support #47324

Extending and Building Blocks

• Allow to disable settings for specific blocks #38767
• Allow custom settings to be placed in global styles #47990
• Allow/deny block use based on post-type or template context #41062

Extending the Editor

• Plugin sorting via priority property in registerPlugin #16384
• A page attributes panel slot now exists #61768
• Add PluginHeaderToolbar SlotFill to edit-post package. #52261
• Add extensibility to PreviewOptions #50605
• Make the Preview Menu extensible #31984
• Allow extending editor preview in more ways #65005
• Provide ways to extend/customize the Global Styles sidebar #48068
• Block Registration: add SlotFill to extend a block's description #49887

Stabilize experimental block supports

• Stabilize Typography Block Supports Keys for WP 6.7 #63001
• Stabilize border block support keys #64312
• Stabilize the __experimentalDefaultControls block supports property #64314

Developer Experience

• Scaffold for typescript in @wordpress/create-block #39915
• Docs: Add explanations about attributes of each Core Block in the documentation (and in the source code) #64057

[annezazu]

Love this. Thank you for rounding up and summarizing!

[paaljoachim]

Thank you for this tracking issue Justin!
I have one more to the list.
Disable and trash default templates included in the theme one does not want to use.

• Site Editor: add option to disable templates #49640

[gziolo]

I landed today:

• Editor: Add extensibility to PreviewOptions v2 #64644

In effect, we could close some previous attempts:

• Add extensibility to PreviewOptions #50605
• Make the Preview Menu extensible #31984

Although looking at the code in PRs, I figured out that some attempts very more complex as they also tried to integrate more deeply into the editor screen by allowing to replace the visual code editor. We should revisit that later.

[simison]

I elaborated more in a new issue about future possibilities for extending preview menu and the canvas:

• Allow extending editor preview in more ways #65005