"Add new post" wording change/regression?

[sitebolts]

In WordPress 6.8, it appears that the add_new arg for register_post_type is no longer being used on the menu item.

Instead, the add_new_item arg is now being used for both the menu item and page title.

If add_new_item isn't defined, then both locations will default to saying "Add Post", which sounds weirdly nonspecific for custom post types even though they're technically "posts".

We don't see this listed in the changelog, and the register_post_type docs still mention add_new without any kind of mention of deprecation, so we think this might have been an accidental regression?

Is it no longer possible to use a separate wording for the two locations? We'd like to have our menu item say "Add New" and our page title say "Add New Location" rather than have them be the same wording, which was previously possible.

Example code:

$labels =
[
    'add_new' => __('Add New'), //This is no longer being used?
]

$args =
[
    'labels' =>	$labels,
]

[sitebolts]

(Duplicate comment, ignore)

[audrasjb]

Hello, welcome back to WordPress Core Trac,

Yes this is an intended change, see #61219.

This change has been documented in this note: ​https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/25/accessibility-improvements-in-wordpress-6-8/

And also in the Field Guide: ​https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/28/wordpress-6-8-field-guide/#but-wait-there-is-more

[sitebolts]

Thanks for the quick reply. We'll follow up on the #61219 ticket.

[sitebolts]

(Reposting our similar message from the other thread)

Hi all, a few thoughts/questions here:

1. Is it still possible to use separate custom wording on the menu item and page title? For a custom post type like "Location", we'd like to set ​the menu item to "Add New" to keep it short, but then display the full "Add New Location" on ​the editing screen.

Our assumption would be that the add_new arg would set one and the add_new_item arg would set the other, but it appears that the add_new arg is now completely ignored and that the add_new_item arg is instead outputted in both locations, leaving us unable to fully customize the wording.

2. The ​register_post_type documentation still mentions both 'add_new' and 'add_new_item' and appears to suggest using them in roughly the way that we were hoping to use them. Is that documentation no longer correct?

[jorbin]

Moving to the 6.8.1 milestone for near term visibility.

[Presskopp]

There are some more instances of 'new'. I'm not sure if they do fall under the scope of this ticket, anyway, here they are (there may be more):

wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:9801

Visitors cannot add new comments or replies. Existing comments remain visible.

wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:20552
wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:32897

Visitors cannot add new comments or replies.

wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:9797
wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:20548
wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:32893

Visitors can add new comments and replies.

wp-includes/js/dist/edit-site.js:40771

Add new view

wp-includes/js/dist/core-commands.js:163

Add new post

wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-posts-controller.php:2757

Please use %s to add new schema properties.

wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:24534
wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:24535

Add new term

wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:24534
wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:24535

Add new category

wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:24040

Add new Term

wp-includes/js/dist/core-commands.js:150

Add new page

wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js:24040

Add new tag

wp-admin/my-sites.php:81

Add New Site

wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php:2087

Add a new page

wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php:454

Create a New User

wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php:451

Create a New Site

wp-admin/media-new.php:43

Upload New Media

[SergeyBiryukov]

Just listing the related commits and tickets here for reference:

• [56515] / #47125 (WP 6.4)
• [59161] / #60045 (WP 6.7)
• [59784] / #61219 (WP 6.8)

[jorbin]

The mentions of add_new and add_new_item in are a part of the user contributed examples. I think that the docs team manages those, I would suggest consulting with them.

The documentation of the labels in get_post_type_labels is correct and as soon as the parsing is complete, that will be updated. ​I've asked someone to look into it.

I can't find any uses of labels->add_new in core as of now, which makes me feel like it is essentially soft deprecated. I think it should get removed from the documentation (with a comment somewhere so it doesn't get reused for a new purpose) and a new argument should be added for the menu along the lines of add_new_menu_label that can default to add_new_item but allow folks to override it.

[jorbin]

I've created a ticket for the documentation not being updated - ​https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/7964

There is no code that can be considered for 6.8.2, so I'm moving this to 6.8.2 to keep it visible.