Forem: Muzammil Hussain

WordPress 6.9 Is Sneaking In a Feature That’s Way More Useful Than It Sounds

Muzammil Hussain — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 07:43:18 +0000

I’ve been playing with the WordPress 6.9 betas lately, mostly out of curiosity (and a bit of avoidance of actual work), and somehow the feature that stood out the most wasn’t any of the “big” ones.

It was Notes.

Yeah, Notes.

Sounds tiny. Sounds boring. Sounds like something you scribble on a sticky note and lose under your keyboard.

But inside the block editor, Notes actually feel like the missing mini-tool we’ve all been faking with comments, Slack screenshots, random emojis, “TODO” blocks, and whatever else we come up with when we need to leave instructions for clients or teammates.

Instead of writing stuff like:

“hey, reminder to change this later”

“please don’t delete this, it breaks something, idk why”

…you just drop a note right on the block, and anyone who edits the page later automatically sees it. No digging around. No mystery warnings. No shared doc nobody reads.

The fun part is: Notes help both sides — site owners and devs.

Clients can leave reminders for writers. Writers can nudge designers. Developers can leave quick “don’t touch this” messages without writing a massive Slack essay at midnight.

If you’ve ever managed a WP site with multiple cooks in the kitchen, this is actually a pretty big quality-of-life upgrade.

I wrote a small breakdown of the feature, including how to enable Notes for custom post types (easy, surprisingly). If you work with WordPress regularly, it’s worth a look.

👉 *A simple look at the new * Notes feature in WordPress 6.9

If you’ve tried Notes already, curious whether you think it’ll be actually useful long-term or become one of those features everyone forgets after week one.

WordPress 6.9 is landing this Christmas and one new feature is way bigger than it sounds

Muzammil Hussain — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 09:04:39 +0000

WordPress has a habit of sneaking in features that look small on paper but quietly change the whole vibe of how we build things.

WordPress 6.9 is doing exactly that this December, and the star of the show is something called the Abilities API.

If you work with WordPress, even occasionally, this one is worth understanding.

So what is this Abilities API thing

Let me put it simply.

WordPress finally said:
"Enough with hidden functions, mystery AJAX handlers and every plugin doing things its own way."

The Abilities API gives plugins and themes a clean place to declare:

what they can do
what input they expect
what output they return
who is allowed to run the action

and what code should actually run

No more guessing.
No more digging through plugin files to figure out where something lives.

You register an ability once, and WordPress automatically exposes it through a structured REST endpoint.

No custom endpoints.
No boilerplate.
No spaghetti.

That alone is a breath of fresh air.

Why it matters more than you might think

Here is where it gets interesting.

Once abilities are registered, your site becomes something new:
discoverable.

Scripts can find your plugin’s actions.
Front end tools can call them.
Automation can understand them.
Future AI tools can use them without scraping or guessing.

This makes WordPress much more predictable for developers and much more flexible for the people who depend on your work.

For developers: this changes how you architect plugins

If you build plugins or custom client integrations, this is one of those moments where you rethink your structure.

Instead of:

scattered utility functions
random admin-ajax callbacks
custom REST routes every time

you can simply register abilities with proper metadata and call them anywhere.

PHP.
Node.
React.
CLI.
Workflow tools.
Take your pick.

It feels cleaner.
It feels modern.

And honestly, it makes WordPress development fun again.

For site owners: upgrades get safer and workflows get smarter

Most site owners never think about how plugins expose their features, but they definitely notice when something breaks.

The Abilities API gives plugin authors a standard shape to follow, which usually means fewer conflicts, fewer surprises and smoother updates.

As WordPress pushes toward more automation, this foundation matters a lot.

If you want the full deep dive

I wrote a longer article that breaks everything down, including examples, real use cases, the new Notes feature and how you can prepare your site or codebase for WordPress 6.9.

It’s here if you want to explore: 👉 WordPress 6.9 Ability API in depth

The Hybrid Thinking

Muzammil Hussain — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 02:46:47 +0000

New era, new thinking. Modernize rather than being afraid. Embrace the change.

The world of programming has entered a new chapter where AI no longer feels like competition but collaboration.
AI can code, refactor, and optimize faster than ever, but it still cannot replace human creativity, empathy, and intent.

In this short reflection, I explore how hybrid developers, those who merge logic with creative reasoning and work alongside AI, are shaping the next evolution of software.

👉 Read the full article here: Man with Machine: The Hybrid Future of Coding

What do you think? Can AI ever replace the human touch in coding?

Better Responsive Navigation for Modern WordPress Block Themes

Muzammil Hussain — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 15:12:01 +0000

When working with modern WordPress block themes, flexibility and performance feel amazing — until you hit that one tricky part: responsive navigation.

While developing a high-performance client site, I discovered that block-based menus struggle with deeply nested submenus and responsive behavior. Instead of compromising UX or loading another heavy plugin, I built something better:

👉 OCM (Off-Canvas Multi-Level Menu) — a small, modular jQuery plugin that:

Keeps markup clean & lightweight
Supports unlimited nested levels
Works seamlessly with block themes
Adds ARIA roles, focus trapping & overlay support

Scores high on performance and accessibility

If you’ve ever fought with WordPress navigation inside a block theme, this one’s worth a look. I share all the details — from problem to solution — and the exact code I used.

Read the full breakdown:
Better Responsive Navigation for New WordPress Block Themes

👋 Hey DEV community! I'm a Full Stack Developer from Lahore 🇵🇰 with 12+ years in PHP, JS, and WordPress. Currently exploring Python & ML. Excited to share my experiences and learn from you all! 🚀

Muzammil Hussain — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 15:05:30 +0000