ACF Chat Fridays are open office hours with the ACF team and users, featuring live discussions of all things ACF and answering your questions on getting the most out of your fields.
The primary focus of the conversation during the March 31 session focused on the release of ACF 6.1. Other topics included upcoming changes to ACF’s documentation and tutorials, especially regarding ACF Blocks, and user questions ranging from whether ACF is becoming more of a “non-dev” tool (spoiler: no) and whether ACF 6.1 includes JSON sync for custom post types (spoiler: yes).
Co-hosted by Iain Poulson, Liam Gladdy, Matt Shaw, and Damon Cook.
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Final Round of Plugin Madness
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6.1 Features and Live Q&A
You really have to catch a live session for the full ACF Chat Fridays experience, but we understand that you may not be able to make it to every session. Catch up on the latest session with the video below, or head to the summary to catch the highlights.
Session Summary
The latest session kicked off with a statement from Iain Poulson regarding the release of ACF 6.1, saying the release was “very close.” That statement turned out to be 100% accurate, with the official release of 6.1 taking place on Monday, April 3.
This is likely the most highly anticipated release in years. While 6.1 includes a number of enhancements and new features, such as a better way to choose field types and improved test practices, most of the hype surrounding the release has focused on the ability to register custom post types and taxonomies directly in ACF.
This is the first feature in a very long time that doesn’t really have anything to do with fields. Nor do we intend to do many more. Instead, we have a ton of improvements planned for custom fields. Our future releases will double down on what made ACF great in the first place: highly customizable custom fields.
This release focused on custom post type and taxonomy registration for two reasons. One, it’s been one of our most requested features for years. Two, adding this ability means ACF now has all the data modeling features you need to turn WordPress into a true content management system. Rather than having to use code or another plugin, you can use ACF and simplify your workflows a little bit more.
This session also discussed improvements coming to the documentation on ACF Blocks, as well as asking users to let us know where more documentation is needed or existing documentation is unclear. Expect to see major improvements to ACF’s documentation throughout the year, and make sure to let us know where we can make further improvements.
The next session of ACF Chat Fridays is scheduled for April 14, 2023, at 3pm GMT.
Q&A
Every ACF Chat Friday gives you the opportunity to ask the ACF team questions about technical challenges and the best way to achieve a specific objective. We’ve included just a few of the questions and answers below. Minor edits have been made for clarity and style.
Q: Does the 6.1 release have some kind of JSON sync/registration for CPTs? If not, is this planned for later?
A: Yes! This is part of the 6.1 release.
Q: Is ACF generally heading more in a non-dev direction?
A: ACF is a developer’s tool and always will be. We’ve recently added some improvements and features that make it easier for non-devs to use, but we are first and foremost a developer-focused plugin.
There are many ways to WordPress, and ACF supports them all. We understand that highly-technical devs may not want some of the new features, which is why we’ve made it possible to turn them off. For example, if you’re happy with your current workflow and don’t want to register custom post types in ACF, you can disable that feature. The same applies to current and future UI enhancements.
Q: What’s coming up next after ACF 6.1?
A: It’s a bit early to say for sure what will be in the next release, but one of our near-future ideas revolves around improving the content editing experience, so developers can give their content editors the best possible experience. Also on the horizon are some improvements to ACF Blocks, to bring their appearance closer in line with native WordPress blocks.
We’ll be able to share more as we get closer to our next major release. For now, though, the best way to influence what’s in that release is to make sure you attend ACF Chat Fridays.
Resources & Links
We share relevant resources during the call. We’ll sum them up here and try to provide a bit of context:
Cast Your Vote for ACF in the Championship Round of Torque’s Plugin Madness
Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays
Join us on April 14th for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. This session will take place at 3pm GMT.
What do you think we should cover in upcoming sessions? Let us know what you’d like to see on Twitter.
Sign up for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here:
https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/
The list of upcoming sessions is below.
- April 14, 2023
- April 28, 2023
- May 12, 2023
- May 26, 2023
Tag or DM us on Twitter to let us know you’ll be there. Suggest new topics, let us know what you’d like to see, and send us feedback with #ACFChatFridays on Twitter.
About the Author
Mike is the Senior Editor of Delicious Brains. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, he has an extensive background in business-to-business communications and marketing. His hobbies include reading, writing, and wrangling his four children.