‘beta testing’ Videos

  • How to Test the Upcoming WordPress Release Candidate (RC)

    Speaker: Sumit Singh

    March 25, 2026 — I am going to share to test WordPress 7.0 in a safe, non-production environment, such as a staging site or WordPress Playground. Testing on a live site is strongly discouraged due to potential instability.

    How to Install WordPress 7.0 for Testing

    Once your testing environment is ready, you can install the WordPress 7.0 Beta or Release Candidate (RC) version using one of the following methods:

    1. Using the WordPress Beta Tester Plugin (Easiest)
    Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on your test site.
    Navigate to Tools → Beta Testing.
    Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream, then click Save Changes.
    Go to Dashboard → Updates and install the latest WordPress 7.0 version.
    2. Via Direct Download
    Download the WordPress 7.0 zip file from the official WordPress.org announcements.
    Install it manually on your test environment.
    3. Using WP-CLI (Advanced)

    Run the following command in your terminal:

    wp core update –version=7.0-RC1
    Replace RC1 with the latest available beta or release candidate version.

  • Help test WordPress – developer edition

    Speaker: Jonathan Bossenger

    February 24, 2023 — WordPress 6.2 is scheduled to be released on March 28, 2023, with the first Release Candidate (RC) to be available to test on March 7, 2023.

    Testing an upcoming release is a great way to make sure your themes and plugins will work with the newest release, while also making sure you keep up to date with upcoming features.

    In this session, you’ll learn how to use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin to test a new WordPress release, and where to find information to test the new features. We’ll also cover how to log an issue in the WordPress release ticketing system, should you come across a bug.

    Presentation Slides »

  • Drew Jaynes: Trying Out Tomorrow’s WordPress Today

    WordCamp Portland 2015Speaker: Drew Jaynes

    November 22, 2015 — This talk encompasses the idea that each of us can be empowered to use and improve WordPress through beta testing of upcoming releases. The 4.4 release is set to hit Beta 1 just three days before WCPDX, which makes this talk a unique opportunity to educate WordCampers on the value of beta testing, and even to interactively participate in testing the next version of WordPress during the talk. I’ll cover my personal journey and lessons learned in dogfooding WordPress for a living, as well as ways anyone (yes, anyone) can get started testing with little to no barrier to entry.

    Presentation Slides »