Now we are a little late to the party with this one, but Wordpress version 6.6 is here! Let's check out some of the new features. The most notable improvements are seen in the Block and site editor elements of the platform.
Getting ready
It is important to remember with all major updates, before you decide to take the plunge, please make sure you take a backup of your site with one of the many Wordpress backup plugins available just in case something on your site does not play well with the new features!
1 - Better data views in style editor
These views are now way friendlier and easy to use. The editing process is now much more streamlined allowing users to create cohesive visually pleasing layouts. These new views now feature better organisation capabilities to make management much more efficient.
2- Section styles
Another improvement for the visual editor, section specific styling is now on Wordpress! This as the name suggests, allows for users to style page sections individually allowing for much more granular design and control. It is also useful as it removes the need for third party plugins to provide this or other custom CSS block features. One less plugin is always a positive!
3- Rollback auto-updates upon error event
This is one we have been waiting for for a very long time, the auto rollback feature will allow Wordpress to automatically revert to a previous stable version if a plugin update causes some kind of fatal error, ensuring your site won't be left with the dreaded critical error message showing to your visitors until you can fix the issue. A massive win for the community. Upon testing, the rollback process is pretty much seamless, giving ultimate peace of mind.
4- The new grid block
Wordpress has provided a means of creating grid layouts for a very long time now, but these often proved to be limited and could often break when viewed on a mobile, not the best user experience. The new Grid lock feature allows for any block types to be placed inside a Grid offering much better control over the page layout.
5 - Better pattern management for classic themes
This feature allows for better organisation and management of classic themes making it easier to customise patterns allowing for improved consistency across the site. The enhancements streamline the process for both existing and creating new pattern designs.
Notable mentions
- New keyboard shortcuts for quick block grouping
- Negative margins
- React 19 / JSX transform support
- Internationalisation improvements for better translation
- Default font size options for theme developers
- Custom post types can opt out of autosaving
- Improved lazy loading of embedded items
Wrapping up
That is it for this week, we hope you found this article useful in getting to know the new features of Wordpress, as ever it is recommended to upgrade to the new version as soon as possible for the sake of security, but if you are experiencing issues, then please reach out to us and we can get to the bottom of it!
Bye for now :)