What’s Coming in WordPress 6.7: A Preview of New Features and Improvements
WordPress 6.7, scheduled for release on November 12, 2024, introduces exciting features aimed at enhancing usability, performance, and developer capabilities. Here’s an overview of what’s coming in this update:
New Default Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five
The new Twenty Twenty-Five theme is designed with flexibility and internationalization in mind. It supports multiple fonts, color palettes, and provides an array of ready-made patterns that work seamlessly with the Site Editor, making it ideal for a variety of website styles.
Zoom-Out View for Pattern Editing
This innovative zoom-out feature allows users to manipulate entire patterns instead of individual blocks. Users can view, drag, and modify patterns at the template level, offering a more streamlined approach to template customization. A new vertical toolbar supports easy navigation and editing within this mode.
Enhanced Query Loop Block
The Query Loop block receives significant improvements, making it more intuitive by inheriting queries from templates automatically. This simplification makes it easier for users to display dynamic content (e.g., posts or events) without requiring manual setup, addressing one of the block’s previous challenges.
Improved Media Handling
The update introduces HEIC image support, automatically converting HEIC files to JPEG for broader browser compatibility. It also enhances lazy loading for images, improving website performance by only loading images as needed. Additionally, more background image controls will be available at both the block and global levels, offering finer customization options.
Split View in Post Editor
WordPress 6.7 integrates meta boxes into an iframed post editor, offering a split view to display meta boxes alongside the content editor. This feature ensures consistency between the editor and front-end views, providing a smoother content management experience for users working with advanced plugins.
Expanded Design Tools and Block Customization
New block design tools include:
- Shadow support for Group blocks.
- Border, padding, and margin controls for blocks like buttons, images, lists, and social icons.
- Typography tools stabilization, with support for customizing and applying font size presets.
These improvements give users greater control over the look and feel of their websites without requiring coding knowledge.
Developer-Focused APIs
Several new and updated APIs will improve developer workflows:
- Template Registration API: Allows plugins to register templates more efficiently.
- Preview Options API: Extends the Preview dropdown with custom menu items.
- Interactivity API: Refines lazy loading and introduces lightbox functionality for gallery blocks, enhancing interactivityWordPress Developer Resources.
Core Performance and Compatibility Enhancements
WordPress 6.7 focuses on improving speed and compatibility by optimizing code for PHP 8.x. Deprecated PHP code has been removed to ensure smoother performance, and the update introduces various accessibility improvements to enhance usability for all users.
Conclusion
WordPress 6.7 is set to deliver substantial improvements, focusing on usability, design tools, performance, and developer features. With better media handling, new APIs, and more refined block customization options, this release represents a meaningful step forward in empowering both users and developers. Be sure to test the beta version and prepare for the official release to take full advantage of these new features.