Add blog post about plans for 2026

Author: vadz

_blog/2025-12-15-planning-ahead.md

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+---
+title: "Planning Ahead"
+date: 2025-12-15
+comments: true
+tags: roadmap
+---
+
+It's common to recapitulate the past year as it ends, but let's do something
+different and, instead of looking back at the record 6 releases we made in
+2025 (it helps to introduce some bugs in them, so as to require making bug fix
+releases soon after, but they still count), let's see what is coming in 2026.
+
+First of all, we are going to release 3.3.2 relatively soon, maybe in January
+but hopefully not later than February. This release will bring a few new
+features that are already implemented in master (and are eagerly awaiting being
+tested, so if you're interested in using them, please consider checking them
+out even before this release):
+
+- There is the new [wxStyledTextCtrlMiniMap][] class, which implements a small
+  map, showing a scaled-down overview of the document being edited in the main
+  `wxStyledTextCtrl` and automatically synchronized with it. It is very simple
+  to use, as it's usually enough to just create it, see the updated `stc`
+  sample for an example showing it, so there is not much to say about it, but
+  it should be appreciated by the users. Thanks to [GIANTS Software][] for the
+  grant which allowed us to develop this feature!
+
+- Another new UI feature is the support for minimizing panes in wxAUI into
+  taskbar-like docking bars. This is, again, very simple to use from the
+  application point of view, as it's enough to just call [MinimizeButton]()
+  function of `wxAuiPaneInfo` class when creating the pane to enable it and
+  everything else is handled automatically by wxAUI. However there are some
+  customization options available already and we will probably add more of them
+  before final 3.3.2 release, so please let us know what else would you like to
+  be able to change.
+
+- And the final relatively important recently implemented feature has nothing
+  to do with the UI: it's the possibility to choose between GLX and EGL-based
+  implementations of `wxGLCanvas` in wxGTK. Previously this choice had to be
+  done at compile-time, meaning that applications were forced to use EGL, even
+  when using X11 GTK backend, where using GLX would be possible. Now it is
+  possible to call [PreferGLX][] function to do it in this case.
+
+- Of course, there were many other improvements and bug fixes since 3.3.1, in
+  particular it is worth mentioning that all the third party libraries bundled
+  with wxWidgets have been updated to their latest versions (thanks Maarten!),
+  many bugs were fixed when using RTL writing direction (thanks Ali!), a few
+  more classes were implemented in wxiOS (thanks Robert!) and `wxStaticText`
+  has finally learnt how to wrap its contents automatically.
+
+[wxStyledTextCtrlMiniMap]: https://docs.wxwidgets.org/latest/classwx_styled_text_ctrl_mini_map.html
+[GIANTS Software]: https://giants-software.com/
+[MinimizeButton]: https://docs.wxwidgets.org/latest/classwx_aui_pane_info.html#a99aee8968a56af51780f78bcc4752cc8
+[PreferGLX]: https://docs.wxwidgets.org/latest/classwx_g_l_canvas.html#a9ee74808371cb6d2b98767cb5fbedd21
+
+
+After 3.3.2 we will start thinking about making 3.4.0 release, which will be
+the first stable release with [dark mode][] support for Windows. Right now it
+looks like we may not even need a 3.3.3 before it, as no other major changes
+are currently planned, but this may, of course, change depending on the
+feedback we get after 3.3.2 release.
+
+[dark mode]: https://wxwidgets.org/blog/2024/10/hello-darkness/
+
+One thing that we unfortunately almost surely still won't have in 3.4.0 is GTK
+4 support in wxGTK. This is something that will become more and more necessary
+with time passing, of course, but upgrading from GTK 3 to GTK 4 is a major
+endeavour and we're still looking for volunteers and/or grants to make it
+happen. But surely if we wait for long enough, we'll just be able to ask an LLM
+to write wxGTK4 for us, right?
+
+Let me close this forecast for 2026 on this optimistic note. Happy holidays and
+let's all hope for a better next year, and not just for wxWidgets!