[wp-forums] Preliminary core issues (and solutions) for WordPress 3.3

[Andrew Nacin]

Hi all —

Letting you know about two potentially nasty issues with WordPress 3.3, and
what you should be recommending in master lists and individual forum
threads.

***

1. JAVASCRIPT ISSUES. The first problem is again JSON-related. (Once
bitten, twice WTF.)

 * The symptom: Barely any JavaScript works in the admin. Meta boxes cannot
be collapsed. Clicking the Screen Options or Help tabs don't do anything.
etc.

 * To confirm: Go to
http://example.com/wp-admin/load-scripts.php?load=jquery. (This page is
accessible logged out.) If it's blank, the bug is confirmed. Please reply
to this thread with a link to wherever this is confirmed, as we're curious
as to how common this is in the wild.

 * The bug: load-scripts.php may call json_encode() without us loading our
compatibility layer. Whoops.

 * The fix: It'll be fixed in WordPress 3.3.1 (timeline still TBD), but for
now, you can use Hotfix 0.8. Hotfix 0.8 will disable script concatenation
and fix the problem.

 * The better fix: Tell these individuals to please figure out why PHP is
compiled to explicitly exclude JSON. I can't even begin to explain how
backwards that is.

***

2. CSS ISSUES. The second problem is related to plugin styles (or theme
styles) bleeding into the admin.

 - The symptom. Something doesn't look right in the admin, typically on the
dashboard, comments screen, or post/page edit screen (post-new or post.php).

 - To confirm: Some CSS file from some plugin or theme is being enqueued
when it shouldn't be. This is visible in the source in the admin.

 - The fix: It'll be fixed in WordPress 3.3.1 (timeline still TBD), but for
now, you can use Hotfix 0.8. Hotfix 0.8 will remove all styles accidentally
enqueued in the admin.

 - The better fix: One of their plugins is guilty of using the wrong hook.
There's a bit of nuance here, but I've posted a summary at
http://wpdevel.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/use-wp_enqueue_scripts-not-wp_print_styles-to-enqueue-scripts-and-styles-for-the-frontend/
.

***

More about Hotfix: Hotfix is a plugin maintained by lead developer Mark
Jaquith and some other core developers including myself. Users should leave
the plugin active (or at least installed) and always updated, in the case
of quick patches for future releases. The current version is 0.7. Mark will
release 0.8 in the morning. The development version is 0.8:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/hotfix/download/.

***

The full list of known, reported, and confirmed issues is at
http://core.trac.wordpress.org/report/4.

Cheers,
Nacin