This post adds one more important testing suggestion to last week’s notes about the release of WordPress 4.9 – MediaElement.
MediaElement has been upgraded to 4.2.6, which includes many bug fixes as well as an improved UI and a number of enhancements. You can read more details about the change at Make WordPress Core.
If you take advantage of MediaElement within your theme we highly recommend testing your existing code with the changes in question. This is particularly relevant if you are using the WordPress.com VIP platform, as the update is due to be made imminently.
When will these changes be deployed?
WordPress.com VIP: We will be deploying incremental updates leading up to the public release of WordPress 4.9 with the bulk of the enhancements being pushed out from this week onwards. This specific change is due at 13:00 UTC on November 3, 2017.
VIP Go: The entire WordPress 4.9 release, including the MediaElement change, will be deployed to all Go sites on November 14, 2017.
Please note that the deployment dates are subject to change if critical issues are discovered during testing or the public release is delayed. We’ll post updates to the Lobby if the dates do change.
What do I need to do?
We highly recommend updating your local development environments to the beta release using the Beta Tester plugin or updating it to track trunk (i.e. bleeding edge) via either the Subversion or GitHub repos. (If you’re using VVV, one of the default sites will already be tracking trunk. For Chassis users, you can switch your install to switch over to a separate checkout.)
For sites on VIP Go, you can have your Go-hosted development sites switched to trunk as well. If this is something that interests you, please reach out and we can set it up for you.
What if I find Issues?
If you have testing feedback or questions related to this release, please open a support ticket with details and we will be happy to help.
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