The new WordPress 6.7 is scheduled for its release on November 12th, 2024. A new default WordPress theme – Twenty Twenty-Five, Zoom Out feature as well as the new APIs and improvements is what we’re going to discuss in this article.
If you want to start exploring the new features right now, install the WordPress Beta Tester plugin and select the bleeding-edge nightly release.
Table of Contents
New Twenty Twenty-Five Default Theme
Every year WordPress releases a new default theme, this year it’s a Twenty Twenty-Five block theme. This theme definitely has a unique look and it is mostly suitable for personal blogs, photo blogs, and bloggers in general.
The Twenty Twenty-Five theme is focused on minimal design elements and simple grid layouts. It’s a great example that sometimes less is more and you don’t need fancy elements to be able to engage with visitors.
It comes with a variety of new block patterns helping you to speed up your website creation process.
For me, this theme looks much cleaner and better than the previous ones like Twenty Twenty-Three or Twenty Twenty-One.
Query Loop Block Enhancements
Query Loop Block is by far one of the most powerful blocks in WordPress. It brings the dynamic nature of WordPress into your hands.
In WordPress 6.7 the Query loop block automatically detects context and inherits content from the template. Some controls like Items Per Page, Offset, and Max Page to Show have been relocated to the sidebar panel instead of the toolbar. This makes sense, to be honest, I was confused as to why they put it in the toolbar in the first place.
Overall UI has been improved and that’s great for users.
Zoom Out for Easier Work With Patterns
The new Zoom Out feature is great if you want to preview your page and add new patterns. Something similar to design tools like Figma or Photoshop 🙂 I think it is a great new addition to the block interface, but we’ll see if users find it useful.
Upon clicking the Zoom Out icon the patterns panel automatically opens and stays open even when you add patterns.
Media Improvements
HEIC or High Efficiency Image Container is a file format used to store digital images and image sequences.
In WordPress 6.7 you can now upload HEIC files directly from your iPhone, iPad, or any other Apple device. The HEIC format will be then automatically converted to JPEG.
To find out if the format is supported on your website, navigate to Tools » Site Health and switch to the Info tab. Scroll down, click Media Handling, and search for the ImageMagick supported file formats. If you see the HEIC your server supports it and you are good to go.
Additionally, Background Image control now opens in modal improving overall user experience. In WordPress 6.7 background images can be added globally to any block.
Automatic sizing for lazy-loaded images: This enhancement aims to boost image loading speed across WordPress by integrating smart size detection for images that load as users scroll.
Design Improvements
- Border support has been added to the following blocks: Categories, Column, Comment Template, Gallery, Heading, Media Text, Paragraph, Post Comments Form, Post Date, Post Excerpt, Post Terms, Post Title, Quote, Site Tagline, Site Title, Social Links, and Term Description.
- Color support has been added to the following blocks: Buttons, Latest comments, List Item
- Buttons now support border, color, and padding options.
- Column: now supports border-radius settings.
- Group: now includes shadow controls.
- Image: new margin block controls and you can now drag multiple images on the image block
- Post Content: new background image and padding controls
- Quote: now supports spacing, background image, and minimum height
- Search: now supports margin settings.
- Verse block: now supports background image and minimum height.
Font Size Presets and Fluid Typography
WordPress 6.7 release adds a new Font Size Presets feature allowing you to manage your font sizes, enable fluid typography, and create custom presets.
Fluid typography allows text to scale dynamically between minimum and maximum sizes as the screen size changes, creating a more seamless reading experience across devices.
New API and API Enhancements
WordPress 6.7 will introduce a fresh Template Registration API that simplifies the process of registering templates and template parts for plugins.
Interactivity API brings some performance improvements adding code splitting and lazy loading of interactive code blocks.
Block Bindings were initially introduced in 6.5 allowing to bind dynamic data to block attributes. WordPress 6.7 adds a new UI allowing users to connect attributes.
Template Registration API
The new API aims to provide developers with a smoother extension experience that aligns with user expectations when working with templates and template parts.
This adds a new function wp_register_block_template() as well as a WP_Block_Templates_Registry class. Learn more about Template Registration API.
Data Views updated UI
The Data Views feature that was officially launched in 6.5 now allows you to sort your data bringing overall UI improvements.
In WordPress 6.7 you’ll be able to toggle visibility of the specific elements like author and description.
Other improvements in WordPress 6.7
- Improved PHP 8.x support
- 500 enhancements and over 200 bug fixes
- Removed some obsolete scripts, like wp-polyfill and regenerator-runtime.
Overall, the WordPress 6.7 update introduces lots of UI and UX improvements, which means that WordPress is moving in the right direction.
The introduction of the new default theme, Twenty Twenty-Five, alongside features like the Zoom Out View for site editing and media file improvements, underscores a commitment to modern design and functionality.
Furthermore, advancements such as the new Template Registration API, the Preview Options API, and the Interactivity API will empower developers to create more dynamic and visually appealing websites.
The enhancements to the Query Loop Block and the inclusion of Font Size Presets and fluid typography will facilitate greater creativity in content design. The refined data views bring additional filters allowing you to hide elements and sort data easily.
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