Theme: use the_header_image_tag in core themes

[spacedmonkey]

There are a number of core themes that do not use the the_header_image_tag function. This function was added in WP 4.4 after some of these theme were introduced. Add a backwards compatibility shim to use this function in core themes.

See the following core themes that need to be updated.

​Twenty Eleven
​Twenty Fourteen
​Twenty sixteen
​Twenty Ten
​Twenty Twelve

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/58675

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/58675

[swissspidy]

This looks more like an enhancement to me

[flixos90]

+1 to what @swissspidy says, while this relates to #58680, this is a broader change and goes beyond what I'd consider a critical bug fix - also relates to the fact that this bug was not introduced in trunk but WP 4.4, so not critical.

Given that it touches the core themes with several lines of code changes. I don't feel comfortable committing this so late in the cycle, and furthermore I don't think it's critical enough. I think we should milestone this for 6.4.

cc @desrosj in case you have some guidance when to make such changes

[spacedmonkey]

Punting to WordPress 6.4. I agree that that this is an enhancement over a bug. I have pushed @flixos90 to add this ticket to the dev note. Header image not working with this new functionality ( and even older functionality like async decoding ), might be a little confusing. The dev note should include instructions on how to retrofit your theme to support these features and use this ticket / PR as an example.

Marking this as early, myself as the owner and changing to WP 6.4.

Keeping this as part of the performance focus, as adding source sets, decoding async and fetch priority to header images, is a performance win.

[hellofromTonya]

I don't think this scope of work must be bound to only the early phase of the 6.4 alpha cycle, meaning if it doesn't get done during this early phase then it gets punted. Work here can happen at anytime during Alpha, i.e up to the Beta 1.

[spacedmonkey]

Assigning to @flixos90 for review.

@felixarntz Go catches. Feedback actioned!

[spacedmonkey]

In 56583:

Bundled Theme: Implement the_header_image_tag function for enhanced compatibility for older core themes.

The the_header_image_tag function was introduced in WordPress 4.4 as part of [35594]. It is used in all themes created post WordPress 4.4 that supported header images. The function get_header_image_tag continues to get updated with new image features, like lazy loading, async decoding and fetch priority. To ensure our core themes maintain compatibility and benefit from these enhancements, a backward compatibility shim has been applied, integrating the the_header_image_tag function into the following core themes:

• Twenty Ten
• Twenty Eleven
• Twenty Twelve
• Twenty Fourteen
• Twenty Sixteen

This change ensures future compatibility and modern image features are applied for header images to these older themes.

Props spacedmonkey, flixos90, mukesh27.
Fixes #58675.

Closed https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/56583

Comitted https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/56583

[webcommsat]

All tickets marked as needs dev note, in the milestone are being rechecked for the documentation tracker to check for inclusion. Thank you for labelling this. If there is a link to a draft, this can be added to the 6.4 documentation tracker. It is helpful to know if a dev note is intended to be a single post, part of a multi post and/or if it needed for mention in the Field Guide.

From the comments above, https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/58675#comment:18 seems to summarize the ticket.

@spacedmonkey , I appreciate you have many dev notes in hand, and it is always a pleasure to read through your dev notes. Thank you in advance.

[spacedmonkey]

@webcommsat I have run out time to work on anymore dev notes. So sad, I will not find time to work on this.

I would recommmend, using the commit message. I would add it this ​dev note.

[webcommsat]

Thank you Jonny. I have added the commit message at comment 18 to the dev note draft. We are waiting for the performance team first review, and will turn around the second review, so we can get this published.

[flixos90]

@webcommsat @spacedmonkey I actually think this ticket doesn't need a dev note. Here's why:

• This is a change to the default themes, so it's not a core change that would need to be documented for plugin or theme developers.
• The relevant core change was made in 6.3 and was already documented in a dev note: ​https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/07/13/image-performance-enhancements-in-wordpress-6-3/#:~:text=Rendering%20a%20custom%20header%20image%20in%20your%20theme

So I would suggest to remove needs-dev-note from here.