v1.9.0 – Dec 11, 2017

• Introducing reusable global blocks. (Stored in a wp_blocks post type.)
• Add ability to lock down the editor when using templates so edits can happen but blocks can&;t be removed, moved, nor added.
  
• Handle and upgrade deprecated blocks. This allows to migrate attributes without invalidating blocks and an important part of the block API.
• Drag and drop upload support to gallery block.
• Extensibility:
  • Expose packages/hooks public API under wp.hooks.
  • Introduces withFilters higher-order component to make component filtering easier.
  • Introduces getWrapperDisplayName helper function to make debugging React tree easier.
  • Introduces compose function to unify composing higher-order components.
  • Exposes hook for Block component.

Other changes

• Updated demo post with a nicer presentation for people to test with.
• Added automated RTL support.
• Convert unknown shortcodes to Shortcode block when pasting.
• Avoid splitting blocks during rich text pasting.
• Disable block selection when resizing image.
• Prefetch meta-boxes and don&;t reload them on save.
• Support for all admin color schemes.
  
• Close sidebar when resizing from non mobile breakpoints to mobile sizes.
• Apply content autop disabling filter before do_blocks. Also fixes case where server-side rendered blocks produce extraneous whitespace in output.
• Use cite element instead of footer for quote and pull-quote source markup.
  
• Respect recency order when displaying Recent blocks.
• Update the behavior of notices reducer to respect ID as a unique identifier, removing duplicate entries.
  
• Improve quote to paragraph transformations. Fixes cases where quote would be split into two.
  
• Use two flex rows instead of one wrapped row in Url modal for cleaner and more consistent display.
• Avoid restricting endpoints to /wp/v2 in withApiData.
• Remove duplicated and simplify inserter between blocks styles.
• Remove unnecessary padding on top of editor when fixed toolbar is off.
• Avoid intercepting rendering of removed meta boxes.
• Replace redux-responsive with a simpler custom alternative, fixing a bug with IE11.
• Fix issues with bullet-point positioning affecting block display.
• Fix meta attributes selector not returning the correct value if edited.
• Fix inconsistent animation on settings button.
• Fix style issues on Custom HTML block&x27;s toolbar.
• Fix broken styles in "edit as HTML" mode.
• Fix image block description when no image is set.
• Fix horizontal overflow for selects with long names in sidebar.
• Fix case where link modal closes upon typing into UrlInput when toolbar is docked to the paragraph.
• Fix webpack config issue on Node 6.
• Fix issue with vertical arrow keys leaking to horizontal menu when toolbar is fixed to block.
• Fix keyboard trap in the form token component and improve accessibility.
• Fix React warning when saving reusable blocks.
• Fix issue with horizontal arrow key closing link dialog in fixed toolbar mode.
• Fix image resize handlers in RTL mode.
• Prevent "Add New" dropdown from overriding other plugin functionality.
• Split Sass variables file into multiple files.
• Updated blue links for better contrast.
• Resolve notice when template variable is not set.
  
• Added unit tests for row panel, color panel (snapshot), and warning components.
• Add unit tests for editor actions (with further cleanup).
• Added snapshots tests for BlockControls.
• Added documentation for Editable component.
• Avoid caching vendor directory in Travis.
• Add document on snapshot testing.
• Add node and npm version check before build gets started.
• Update cypress and use the newly introduced Cypress.platform functionality.
• Improve composer.json setup.
• Improve testing overview document.

Originally posted at make.wordpress.org here.