What’s New in the WordPress 6.6 Update?

WordPress 6.6, “Dorsey,” released on July 16, 2024. Did you miss it? The latest version of the world’s most popular CMS includes exciting new features and improvements that enhance the user experience and site management.

Fun Fact: Tommy Dorsey was a popular American jazz musician until his death in 1951. His band recorded many hits, including “I’ll Remember April,” and “The Sentimental Journey.”

What’s New in WordPress 6.6?

WordPress 6.6 includes 299 Core Track tickets, 392 enhancements, 462 bug fixes, and more than 50 accessibility improvements — specifically for the Block Editor (the artist formerly known as Gutenberg).

There are two highlights for us in 6.6. First, the new rollback option for automatic plugin updates. This gives you more control, flexibility and security. You can simply roll back to the previous version if something goes wrong during an update. Potential downtime is minimized, and website security is improved.

The second highlight of 6.6 is the Block Bindings API. With this, you can create and customize bespoke block patterns. The API allows you to change block structures and styles in a synchronized way, ensuring a consistent look across your entire website. The Block Bindings API will make your workflows a lot easier!

You don’t have time to read through all of the improvements? No worries. We rounded them up into the four important ones:

• Block Editor Features
• Site Editor Features
• Performance Improvements, and 
• Accessibility Improvements

New Features in the Block Editor

The editor area has undergone several improvements. Among other things, there are now more design options for block themes.

Color palettes and fonts: Block theme authors can now create unlimited custom color or font sets. (Thank the internet gods!) This offers more specific design options within the same theme. This means more comprehensive design options allowing for customization without changing the overall design. Does this mean you can go native and ditch page builders? It’s a real possibility.

Quick preview for pages: Simplify your workflow with the new customized page layout. You can see all your pages and a preview of a selected page before you edit it via a split layout in the website editor. Who doesn’t love a WYSIWYG editor? This was always the intent for Gutenberg circa 2017 and now it’s coming to life.

Other useful WordPress 6.6 changes to the Block Editor include:

• New keyboard shortcuts:
  • Group selected blocks: Ctrl + G (Windows) or Cmd + G (Mac)
  • Indent/outdent list items: Tab / Shift + Tab
• The Group block now supports simple grid layouts with a new “Grid” variant, allowing for flexible grid layouts that adapt to available space.
• The Command Palette, previously available in the Site Editor, is now accessible in the Block Editor. It provides quick access to various tools and views.
• The “Post” or “Page” tab in the Settings sidebar has been redesigned for better clarity.

New Features in the Site Editor

The new layout in the site editor allows you to display the pages and their previews side by side, which makes the workflow much easier. Version 6.6 also makes it much easier to customize the content in the synchronised patterns. We hear you clapping.

Synchronized patterns can now be overridden without breaking the connection to the original. This allows you to customize specific content in each instance of a synchronised template while maintaining a consistent style across all instances. Currently, you can set overrides for heading, paragraph, button, and image blocks.

New views for “Pages” and “Templates”

As part of Gutenberg Phase 3, new data views have been created that are already activated for the Pages and Templates sections.

Gutenberg Phase 3 moves the editorial workflow entirely to WordPress by enabling Google Docs-style collaborative editing in the Gutenberg site editor.

“Template Parts” are now at the top of “Templates”

A small yet significant change that has been long awaited is the new sorting in the Templates section. The template components, such as Header and Footer, are now positioned at the very top. This straightforward adjustment greatly reduces the amount of scrolling required when accessing these elements. 

Note: The page and template changes affect the Site Editor and are only relevant if you have activated a block theme like Twenty Twenty-Four.

Performance Improvements

WordPress 6.6 offers important performance updates such as the elimination of redundant WP_Theme_JSON calls, the deactivation of autoload for large options and the elimination of unnecessary polyfill dependencies. 

Other improvements include lazy loading of post-embeds, a new data-wp-on-async directive and templates in the editor that load around 35 per cent faster.

WordPress 6.6 offers substantial database performance improvements, too. These advancements result in faster page load times and more efficient data retrieval, ultimately improving the overall user experience.

There have also been significant improvements to asset management. The new version optimizes script and style loading, minification, and third-party script handling. These enhancements result in faster page load times and better overall site performance. We love speed!

Finally, WordPress 6.6 includes enhanced caching mechanisms. This includes improvements to object caching, page caching, and better integration with popular caching plugins. These caching improvements lead to faster response times and reduced server load, providing a smoother user experience.

Accessibility Improvements

WordPress 6.6 contains over 50 accessibility fixes and improvements – specifics of these improvements we don’t know.

What we do know is the updates focus on fundamental aspects, particularly the data views that support the new website editing. They also address areas such as the inserter, which provides an important way to interact with blocks and templates with keyboard shortcuts.

If you’re new to the importance of accessibility in your websites, then check out the W3C website for an intro. An accessible website is a useful website – frontend or backend.

“When websites and web tools are properly designed and coded, people with disabilities can use them. However, currently, many sites and tools are developed with accessibility barriers that make them difficult or impossible for some people to use.”

CDP Communications

Rocket.net Contribution to WordPress Updates

Did you know that several Rocket.net employees continue to contribute to the WordPress community including the latest release as an official Five for the Future partner?

WordPress 6.6 Wrap Up

The updates in WordPress 6.6 aim to provide a more intuitive, efficient, and customizable experience for both users and developers. The focus on refining existing features and introducing new design capabilities demonstrates WordPress’s commitment to evolving with user needs and technological advancements. Keeping WordPress open source is central to this evolution.

Upgrading to WordPress 6.6

Are you planning to update your site to WordPress 6.6?

It’s recommended to back up your website before upgrading to WordPress 6.6. Once you have a backup, you can follow the standard WordPress upgrade process to update your site to the latest version.

Using PHP 8.1 or 8.2 in conjunction with WordPress 6.6 is recommended. However, to be on the safe side, you should first perform a PHP compatibility test with your WordPress installation. 

The updates in WordPress 6.6 aim to provide users with more design flexibility, improved editing capabilities, and better performance.

“The regular WordPress updates are another reminder of the importance of keeping WordPress open source. Customization, community-driven development, and enhanced security through public code access ensure the world’s most popular CMS remains that way.”

Rocket.net – Why Keeping WordPress Open Source is Important for Agencies and Clients

Choose The Future of WordPress Hosting!

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