# WordPress 5.3 "Kirk" is here!

*Published:* 2019-11-13
*Author:* Sudeep Bhattacharya

> WordPress 5.3 marks the 18th consecutive major WordPress release with contribution from rtCampers.

![5.3-kirk-photo-1](https://rtcamp.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/12/5.3-kirk-photo-1.jpg?resize=720%2C416&quality=100&strip=all)[WordPress 5.3 “Kirk”](https://wordpress.org/news/2019/11/kirk/) was released today. Following the tradition, 5.3 is named after musician [Rahsaan Roland Kirk](https://open.spotify.com/artist/7De2eIqeHTw091YeAkkYXV).

**This release improves the block editor** with more features with regards to design freedoms, additional layout options and style variations to allow designers to get more control over the look of a site.

This release also introduces the **Twenty Twenty theme** which gives editors options to create a customized layout of the web page and integrating it with the block editor.

 ![block-improvement](https://i0.wp.com/n8e0ka87m9.gdcdn.us/jm2t25feb9/1060080908_thumb_1.jpg?quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1)

 ![flexibilty](https://i0.wp.com/n8e0ka87m9.gdcdn.us/g6na60p8g7/1060080873_thumb_1.jpg?quality=100&strip=all&ssl=1)

Check out [the WP 5.3 release post](https://wordpress.org/news/2019/11/kirk/) for the full changelog.

A total of 645 contributors made their efforts count towards this release. Our thanks and congratulations go out to all those who contributed in any way.

A special shoutout to rtCampersThrijith Thankachan, Vishal Kakadiya, Imran Sayed, Chandra Patel, Dharmin Shah, Abhijit Rakas, and Sudhir Yadav who have all contributed to this release. With this, rtCampers have been listed as contributors in [18 consecutive major WordPress releases](https://rtcamp.com/wordpress-contributions/).

As a tradition at rtCamp, we celebrate these major WordPress releases by cutting a celebratory cake followed by a photo session of the contributors. But for 5.3, all the contributors were working remotely so we celebrated with an *e-cake*.

![cake-vector](https://rtcamp.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/12/cake-vector.png?resize=400%2C390&quality=100&strip=all)

On the positive side, we consider this as a step forward towards becoming a full-remote organization.

**Link:** [WordPress 5.3 release post](https://wordpress.org/news/2019/11/kirk/)

### Categories and Taxonomies

#### Categories
[News](https://rtcamp.com/blog/category/news.md), [Releases](https://rtcamp.com/blog/category/release.md)

#### Tags
[Release](https://rtcamp.com/blog/tag/release.md), [WordPress Core Contribution](https://rtcamp.com/blog/tag/wordpress-core-contribution.md), [WordPress](https://rtcamp.com/blog/tag/wordpress.md), [News & Events](https://rtcamp.com/blog/tag/news-events.md)

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