WordPress 6.6

For more information on this release, watch the videos at the end of this post and read the WordPress 6.6 announcement.

New WordPress Version 6.6 – Dorsey

Let’s go through some of the most significant changes to WordPress with version 6.6:

Enhanced Design Options

Color Palettes & Font Sets

Theme authors can now create unlimited color and font sets for more detailed design customization within block themes. This allows for greater visual variety while maintaining cohesive styling.

Improved Site Editor

Quick Page Previews

The Site Editor now includes a side-by-side layout for viewing and editing pages, streamlining the workflow.

Plugin Auto-Update Rollbacks

Security & Reliability

Automatic rollbacks for failed plugin updates ensure site stability and security, reducing potential downtime.

Synced Pattern Overrides

Customizable Content

Users can modify content in synced patterns, ensuring consistent styling across headings, paragraphs, buttons, and images.

Additional Improvements

In addition to the above features, WordPRess 6.6 offers the following improvements and “under the hood” enhancements aimed at developers and designers. These include::

Negative Margins

Flexible Design

Users can input negative values in margin controls, enabling creative overlapping designs across all blocks that support margins.

Refined Publishing Flow

Streamlined Process

A redesigned publishing flow highlights key information and includes a standardized inspector for essential editing details.

Modern Pattern Management

Classic Themes

Classic themes now benefit from the patterns experience available in the Site Editor, offering more advanced and modern pattern management options.

Block Groups Styling

Pre-Packaged Styles

Theme authors can offer pre-packaged styling options for block groups, enhancing design consistency and flexibility.

Custom Shadows

Shadow Control

Users can create and edit shadows directly in the Styles section of the Site Editor, providing precise control over shadow effects.

New Grid Block

Flexible Layouts

The new grid block allows for displaying blocks in a grid with adjustable row and column spans, featuring both auto and manual controls.

Aspect Ratio Presets

Customizable Ratios

Users can set aspect ratio presets for Image, Featured Image, and Cover blocks, enhancing design flexibility.

Custom Fields in Connected Blocks

Editable Custom Fields

Custom fields can be created and edited in connected blocks using the block bindings API, facilitating easier content management.

Editing Shortcuts

Time-Saving

New keyboard shortcuts (command+G for Mac or ctrl+G for Windows) streamline grouping selected blocks and indenting list items.

Unified Extensibility APIs

Extension Integration

Extensions can now be integrated across editors with slots available under the wp.editor global variable.

Performance Enhancements

Efficiency Upgrades

Key updates include removing redundant WP_Theme_JSON calls, disabling autoload for large options, and eliminating unnecessary polyfill dependencies. Additionally, post embeds now lazy load, and template loading time in the editor has been reduced by 40%.

Accessibility Improvements

User-Friendly Updates

Over 55 accessibility fixes enhance the WordPress experience, focusing on the data views component and the Inserter tool, which are crucial for interacting with blocks and patterns.