Guide

PRC Platform 1.13

Release date: August 2026
Previous version: 1.12.11 (Snow Leopard)

PRC Platform 1.13 brings major updates to the tools editors use every day. It also launches our new documentation site, introduces a staff beta of Print Engine, and completes our first FedRAMP readiness pass as we prepare many PRC plugins for possible use by The Federal Reserve. Staff with The Pew Charitable Trusts Office 365 accounts can now use single sign-on to join WordPress.

Highlights

  • New documentation at platform.pewresearch.org/docs
  • Office 365 single sign-on for staff at The Pew Charitable Trusts
  • A staff beta of Print Engine for print previews and PDF creation
  • New security and permission checks for FedRAMP readiness
  • Four new chart types and an optional guided chart setup
  • Email campaign reports inside WordPress
  • Better feedback and scoring tools for quizzes
  • A new default view for finding and filtering content in wp-admin

A new home for platform documentation

Our plugin and platform guides now live at platform.pewresearch.org/docs.

The site includes documentation for Chart Builder, Email Builder, Quiz Builder, Print Engine, and the rest of the platform. Guides are organized for editors, developers, and people who work with our APIs.

This site is built with DocsPress, from Automattic. Documentation continues to live in this repository, and updates are published to the site automatically.

Tracking: PRC-672.

Office 365 single sign-on

Staff with The Pew Charitable Trusts (PCT) Office 365 accounts can now sign in to WordPress with the account they already use for work.

This removes the need for a separate WordPress password and opens WordPress access to more staff across the Center. It also gives staff a more familiar and consistent way to sign in.

Print Engine (PRC-108) makes it easier to create a print-ready version of a report.

Logged-in staff can add /print to the end of a supported post URL. The print view can include a cover page, an About page, a table of contents, and the report body. Editors can also create or refresh a downloadable PDF from the Print Engine sidebar.

Blocks can be hidden from the print version or shown only in print. Charts can use static images in the printed document.

Print Engine is currently available only to logged-in staff on the primary site. Please do not share print-view URLs as a public feature yet.

First FedRAMP readiness pass

This release includes our first FedRAMP readiness pass for plugin permissions (#4058). The work prepares many PRC plugins for possible adoption by The Federal Reserve.

Most editors will not see a visual change. Behind the scenes, settings and automated actions now check that each person has permission to edit or publish the affected content. We also tightened how Power Table styles are saved and how draft charts are published automatically.

These checks may stop an action that was previously allowed too broadly. If a settings save or automatic chart publish fails after the update, confirm that the user can edit and publish the item.

Chart Builder 3.14

Chart Builder 3.14 adds new chart types and a more guided way to create charts. Existing published charts will keep their current appearance.

Optional guided setup

Administrators can turn on a new chart setup under Charts > Settings. It guides authors through four steps:

  1. Choose a chart pattern.
  2. Add data.
  3. Adjust the chart.
  4. Preview the result.

The current chart picker remains the default until an administrator enables the new setup.

New chart types

  • Small Multiples (beta): Compare several related charts in one layout.
  • Waffle: Show proportions with a grid of cells.
  • Beeswarm: Show the distribution of many individual values.
  • Heat Map Table: Use color to show patterns across rows and columns.

Other chart improvements

  • Charts > All Charts now opens the Chart Library, with list, grid, and table views.
  • Scatter and beeswarm charts can size dots from a data column.
  • Authors can combine colors from more than one palette.
  • Tooltips support formatted text and can show all values for the selected point.
  • Very small values can display as values such as <0.1 instead of rounding to zero.
  • Line charts can label or mark only their first and last points.
  • Map data guidance now appears where authors import data into the Power Table.
  • Chart themes can be imported and exported.

Full chart notes: [docs/plugins/prc-chart-builder/release-notes/3_14_0.md](../../plugins/prc-chart-builder/release-notes/3_14_0.md). Tracking: PRC-626.

Email Builder

Email Builder now gives campaign authors more information and better recovery tools inside WordPress.

  • The new Engagement panel shows opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, and the links readers clicked.
  • The Email Library can sort sent campaigns by open rate and click rate.
  • If a Mailchimp draft is missing or was deleted, authors can unlink it and create a new draft from the WordPress post.
  • New blocks can show the latest newsletter or a list of newsletter campaigns on the website.
  • Email rendering now handles list bullets, button colors, group widths, and story-item settings more consistently.
  • The former Newsletter Settings panel is now called Email Settings.

Unlinking a Mailchimp campaign only removes the connection in WordPress. It does not delete the campaign in Mailchimp.

Quiz Builder

Scored quizzes now have more ways to teach participants as they move through a quiz.

  • Live feedback can tell participants if an answer is correct and then lock that answer.
  • Answers can be marked Correct, Incorrect, or Not sure.
  • Authors can customize the result labels shown after a participant answers.
  • Score ranges can show different result messages.
  • A new Progress Circles style shows progress one question at a time.
  • Quizzes > All Quizzes has a new list view with useful quiz details.

Large quizzes should also feel more responsive in the editor. Group creation and quiz results are more reliable when Firebase is unavailable or slow.

New content lists in wp-admin

Posts, pages, charts, quizzes, forms, datasets, and emails now share a more consistent and modern list view.

Editors can:

  • Save personal filter sets and use them again later.
  • Filter posts by parent or child relationships.
  • See child posts indented beneath their parent.
  • Show and sort by the content ID.
  • Filter by taxonomy fields.

The classic WordPress list is still available. Open the command palette with Ctrl/Cmd+K and choose Switch to classic {type} table. You can also add ?classic=1 to the list URL. Use the classic view for Quick Edit, bulk actions, screen options, or Empty Trash.

More consistent settings pages

Settings pages for Analytics, Email Builder, Spoken Article, Social Builder, Trending News, Markdown for Agents, Chart Builder, and other plugins now share the same WordPress layout and notification system.

The settings themselves have not changed. They should simply look and behave more consistently.

The Trending News Agent now shows a thinking status while it prepares a Slack reply. Slack Workflows can also mention TNA directly.

We removed the older analysis path, so all requests now use the same workflow.

Also in this release

  • Religious Projections work continues in the background, this release adds a locator globe, timeline controls, more destination links, and new sentence blocks.
  • Publish Workflows adds a Watched Posts block and clearer lists of who is working on content.
  • The block library adds a carousel slideshow, vertical tabs, and placeholder text for subtitles.
  • Datasets show a clearer message when a download is unavailable.
  • Social Builder uses the post title when creating a package and can use the previous response when revising copy.
  • User surveys now record click-through and close totals.
  • Advanced SEO and taxonomy controls are shown only to users with the required permission.
  • Publication filters now live in the main ElasticPress plugin.
  • Production email setup now loads the BIMI certificate from 1Password.
  • This release also includes fixes for Apple News previews, collection listings, print layout, reading scores, dataset downloads, report materials, and table-of-contents errors.
  • Gutenberg is updated to version 23.6.

Before you start

  • The new Chart Builder setup is optional and must be enabled under Charts > Settings.
  • Small Multiples is still in beta.
  • Print Engine is a staff beta on the primary site.
  • PCT staff can use their Office 365 account to sign in to WordPress.
  • Existing charts do not change when site-wide chart defaults change. Palette updates can affect charts that use that palette.
  • Use the classic WordPress list when you need Quick Edit or bulk actions.
  • Bookmark platform.pewresearch.org/docs for current platform guides.

Learn more

  • Docs site: platform.pewresearch.org/docs
  • Changelog: docs/release-notes/1.13/changelog.md
  • Chart Builder 3.14: docs/plugins/prc-chart-builder/release-notes/3_14_0.md
  • Print Engine: docs/plugins/prc-print-engine/
  • Linear release: PRC Platform v1.13.0
  • Compare: origin/release/1.12...origin/release/1.13 (baseline v1.12.11)
  • Previous release notes: docs/release-notes/1.12/1-12-announce.md

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