Author: Leonardus N.

The WordPress team has released the first WordPress 6.2 Beta for testing. The full version is scheduled to come out on March 28, 2023 – it will be the first major WordPress release in 2023, the last one scheduled for the Gutenberg project phase two. It will complete the Site Editor with all the necessary features to enhance the customization experience.

We recommend testing WordPress 6.2 Beta before the final release to familiarize yourself with the new features and ensure everything works as intended.

This blog post will explain how to install WordPress 6.2 Beta and list all the new features for you to check out.

Why You Should Test the Beta Version

Testing a WordPress beta version on a copy of your site lets you identify bugs or compatibility issues before the final release. This ensures plugins, themes, and custom post types on your site will work as intended when the update arrives. It also gives you a first glance at the new features.

And best of all, you can report any issues or bugs or give suggestions by posting on the Alpha/Beta forum or submitting a Trac ticket.

How to Install WordPress 6.2 Beta

It’s best to test a WordPress beta release in a staging environment. This will prevent serious bugs or compatibility issues from impacting your live website.

There are two easy ways to install the beta of WordPress 6.2. The first method involves manually downloading and installing the version from the official WordPress site. However, this can be tricky – you might have to reupload your website content after installing WordPress.

The second method is easier – using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin. If you’ve already got a copy of your WordPress site running, you’ll only need to install the extension. From the plugin settings, choose the Bleeding edge channel and the Beta/RC Only stream. This will allow you to update your site to the WordPress 6.2 beta from the WordPress dashboard’s update section.

WordPress 6.2 New Features

WordPress 6.2 Beta includes new features from nine Gutenberg releases – 14.2 to 15.0. To be precise, there are 292 enhancements and 354 bug fixes for the block editor. In addition, WordPress 6.2 resolves 195 WordPress core tickets.

Let’s not dilly-dally any further and dive into the new features of WordPress 6.2.

Templates and Template Parts Preview

The new Site Editor interface will feature a preview panel for templates and template parts. This feature is also known as Browse Mode – it has been discussed since the development of WordPress 6.1 began.

This feature is accessible through the Site Editor sidebar, which you usually use to switch templates. Click WordPress or your site logo on the top-left corner of the Site Editor, and Browse Mode will open.

You can navigate through the template and template part options via the sidebar. If you click any template, it will appear on the main preview panel – click it to start editing. You can also add a new template easily by clicking the plus (+) icon next to Templates.

This feature provides easy access to viewing the templates you’ve got. That said, there’s still the old Manage all templates panel if you want to work on your templates.

Distraction-Free Mode

The new distraction-free mode eliminates all panels on the screen. This feature is only available in the post and page editor via the Options menu at the top-right corner of the screen.

A clean interface will let you focus on writing and creating content. Even the block toolbar, which may block a portion of the page, won’t appear. That said, you can still use the block inserter to add a new block.

To view the editor’s top bar, hover over the screen’s top section. You can exit the distraction-free mode via the same Options menu or by publishing the content.

New Block Settings Panel Interface

The block settings panel is now split into two – Settings and Styles. You can choose between them using the icons on the settings panel.

This feature reduces the need to scroll down the panel to find certain configurations, especially when you have all the typography and dimensions options displayed on the panel.

Color-Coded Template Parts and Reusable Blocks

Template parts and reusable blocks now have a colored icon in all sections of the Site Editor, including the list view, the settings panel, the block toolbar, and even the editor canvas itself.

This helps identify reusable blocks and template parts more quickly. Recognizing that you’re working with these blocks also prevents unwanted changes to the reusable blocks.

Style Book and Improved Styles Preview

The global styles panel has received a couple of improvements.

First, the editor canvas will zoom out when you open the Browse styles menu. This way, you can better view the page when changing the styles.

The second improvement is the new Style book feature accessible via the global styles panel. It lets you see how the style will look for every site element.

The elements are grouped into five tabs:

• Text. In this section, you can see the style for text-based content, such as headings, paragraphs, quotes, and tables.
• Media. Contains previews of embedded media like images, audio, and videos.
• Design. Shows various design block elements like buttons, groups, and columns.
• Widgets. Shows previews of how widgets like archives, calendars, page lists, and RSS look on your site.
• Theme. Contains the styles for navigation, site logo, and site title blocks.

You can adjust the viewport’s width to see how these elements look on various devices.

Openverse Integration

Openverse is a search engine that helps find media under public copyright. It is part of the WordPress project and is intended to help users find free content for their sites.

In WordPress 6.2, we will see the first integration of Openverse in WordPress core in the media tab on the block inserter panel. Click the Openverse option, and the panel will expand, showing image previews and a search bar for queries. Click on any image, and the Site Editor will import it into the content.

Improved Navigation Block UI

Customizing the navigation block is now easier, thanks to the new user interface of its settings panel. The navigation list view has a separate tab for easier nav item management.

The new UI lets you move and rearrange menu items by dragging and dropping, similar to the list view UI. You can also add new submenus by opening the options menu of each item.

Using the new UI, you can add these elements to the navigation block:

• Page link
• Custom link
• Submenu
• Page list
• Home link
• Site logo
• Site title
• Search block

The addition of the search block is unique, as you can now easily embed a search function in the site navigation instead of placing it in a separate container block.

If you have multiple menus, you can easily switch between them by clicking the three dots icon next to Menu.

Improved Pattern Inserter

Block pattern inserter has a new interface to improve the user experience.

Instead of displaying pattern previews and a drop-down menu to select a pattern category, the pattern inserter panel contains the list of pattern categories. When you click on one, the panel will expand to show the previews. This way, you can quickly switch between categories to find a suitable pattern.

You can still open the pattern explorer panel by clicking the Explore all patterns button at the bottom of the panel.

Copy Block Styles and Push Block Styles to Global Settings

Applying block style customizations is now easy, thanks to two new features.

The Copy block style feature lets you copy and paste block styles. This way, you don’t have to manually customize several blocks to get a uniform look.

To do so, select a customized block, click on the three vertical dots to open the options drop-down menu, and select Copy styles. Then, select the target block and choose Paste styles from the same drop-down menu.

Another option is to push the customized block styles to the global settings. Once you’ve customized a block’s styles, open the Advanced section on the block’s settings panel and click Apply globally. Note that this feature is still only available on limited blocks.

Sticky Block Position

WordPress 6.2 has added a new sticky block position to keep a block at the top of the viewport when users scroll down the page. You can use this feature with group, stack, and row blocks.

Currently, this only works on root-level blocks. To implement it, add a new group block at the root level and open the block settings panel. You should see the Position option on the block settings – choose Sticky from the drop-down menu.

Once you set a block as sticky, try scrolling down the Site Editor or use the preview mode to see if it stays at the top of the viewport.

The Position option won’t be available if the block is not root level or nested in a container block. You can check whether a block is at the root level via the editor’s list view.

Beta Label Removal

It’s been over a year since the Site Editor introduction in WordPress 5.9. In the last three WordPress major releases, the Site Editor displayed the Beta label when you navigated to Appearance → Site Editor. The label has been removed from the core, indicating that the Site Editor is more stable than ever for WordPress website creation and customization.

That said, the WordPress team will keep improving the Site Editor and fixing bugs in future WordPress and Gutenberg releases.

What’s Next

The roadmap for WordPress 6.2 has four beta versions planned to roll out by the end of February. This means you have a few weeks to test and report issues to the developers.

Before the release of the final version on March 28, 2023, there will be three Release Candidate versions. These are the more stable pre-release versions, and you can expect to see the final product during this phase.We recommend testing all beta and Release Candidate versions – each will introduce new improvements and bug fixes. Vist the WordPress core project site to see the complete WordPress 6.2 release schedule.

The post WordPress 6.2 Beta: What’s Coming in the Next Major Release appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

It’s a new year, and the WordPress ecosystem is as busy as ever. With new releases and essential tool updates lined up, it’s easy to see why the community is buzzing. 

WordPress January News Roundup

In January, we expected WordPress to reveal its game plan and overall direction for the rest of the year. And we were positively surprised: along with Gutenberg and WooCommerce updates, we now have the timeline for the upcoming major release, too. 

WordPress 6.2 Release Timeline

The WordPress 6.2 release team has announced the final schedule for the WordPress 6.2 update. The first beta will release on February 7, 2023, with the final version planned to launch on March 28, 2023. There will be four beta releases and three release candidates during the release period overall, so there’ll be plenty of time to tweak and test everything.

If you want a sneak peek at the new features in the upcoming release, you can try the beta version in a test environment once it’s released. This way, you’ll get a feel for WordPress 6.2 and know how to align your site accordingly once the update is live. 

Gutenberg Updates

January 2023 saw two new releases of the Gutenberg plugin – Gutenberg 14.9, released on January 4, 2023, and Gutenberg 15.0, released on January 18, 2023.

Here are some of our highlights for the new Gutenberg features:

Apply Globally Button 

Introduced in Gutenberg 14.9, this feature lets users apply any block style customization to global styles. It’s a great time saver for when you want to do bulk updates to your site, whether for a new web design or a seasonal sale.

Paste Styles Option 

Gutenberg 15.0 introduced a new paste style option in the block toolbar’s drop-down menu. This feature lets users copy a block and paste its style into another one. This is especially useful when you don’t want to touch the contents of a particular block but want to update its style. 

Sticky Position Support for Blocks

The new position block support has a sticky option to make the block stick at the top of the page when a visitor scrolls down. It’s a great way to ensure the right content gets the prime real estate on your web pages. 

Typography Support in the Page List Block 

The page list block now has typography support that lets users change the font size, family, and line height. You no longer need to sacrifice your branding or page design with the wrong fonts. 

Although many Gutenberg features are already available in the WordPress core, we still recommend checking out the latest Gutenberg version. It will give you a glimpse of what will arrive with the next major WordPress core update.

WooCommerce 7.3 and the Newly Introduced Product Block

On January 12, 2023, WooCommerce released version 7.3. It contains 162 commits for WooCommerce Core and 115 for WooCommerce Blocks.

The highlight of this update is the new product block that will replace many product-displaying blocks. It’s based on Gutenberg’s query loop block and lets users define the product listing criteria. It’s a great way to highlight your best-sellers or sale items and clear old inventory before a new product line launch. 

This new product block is still undergoing beta testing – the WooCommerce team welcomes any feedback to improve the block. 

Letter From WordPress Executive Director and Big Goals for 2023

Looking for a read on the bigger picture? 

Josepha Haden Chomposy, the executive director of the WordPress project, published the Letter from WordPress Executive Director and Big Picture Goals posts following the 2022 State of the Word presentation by Matt Mulenweg.

In our opinion, the major highlight of these posts is the roadmap for the Gutenberg project. In 2023, the WordPress project expects to end Gutenberg phase two and start exploring phase three. This means we may see collaborative work features coming this year.

In addition to the goals for the content management system, the WordPress project also has community goals to reactivate dormant WordPress communities and provide holistic contributor onboarding.

WordPress Vulnerability News

Not all WordPress news in January is all about updates. There have been two major WordPress vulnerability issues this month:

• SQL injection vulnerabilities on Paid Membership Pro, Easy Digital Downloads, and Survey Maker plugins. At the time of discovery in December 2022, this vulnerability could’ve affected over 150,000 sites.
• Multiple critical vulnerabilities on the LearnPress plugin, including SQL injection and local file inclusion. These vulnerabilities were fixed on December 20, 2022. However, only 31.5% of LearnPress installations already use the latest version, leaving thousands of sites still vulnerable to attacks.

If you use any of these affected plugins, ensure you have updated them to the latest version to keep your site safe.

Wrap-Up

It’s safe to say that 2023 is off to a great start for the WordPress community. On top of new updates, we are also excited to test the beta version of WordPress 6.2, the next major release, in the coming weeks.

One important reminder is to keep our sites updated to avoid any vulnerabilities. Check your WordPress or hPanel dashboard regularly, as they will show you when updates are available. Keep your website safe and cyberattacks at bay.

The post This Month in WordPress: January News Roundup appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

WordPress held the annual State of the Word keynote address on December 15th, 2022. During the event, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg addressed the progress of various WordPress project aspects and provided previews of what’s coming in the future years.

A group of contributors and developers attended State of the Word 2022, and it was also live-streamed with over 30 watch parties and 500 RSVPs across 11 countries.

This article will recap the event and let you know what WordPress has achieved in 2022 and the plans for the project.

State of the Word 2022 Video

In case you missed the live stream event, WordPress uploaded the State of the Word 2022 to its YouTube channel, and you can watch it here:

Four Freedoms of Open Source

Josepha Haden Chomphosy, the executive director of the WordPress project, began the event with the question, “Why WordPress?” She followed it up with a reminder of the four freedoms of open source:

1. To run the program for any purpose.
2. To study how the program works and change it to make it do what you wish.
3. To redistribute copies.
4. To distribute copies of your modified versions to others.

These freedoms, stated in the WordPress Bill of Rights, remove barriers and help secure a free, open, and interconnected web in the future. Josepha then mentioned that Matt Mullenweg taught her that open source is an idea that can change our generation.

2022 WordPress Recap

Matt Mullenweg then took the stage and started the keynote address. Here are the highlights for the 2022 recap.

Gutenberg Editor

As an editor tool for website and mobile application building using the block paradigm, Gutenberg has seen wide adaptation worldwide. Matt believes that Gutenberg will be bigger than WordPress itself.

In 2022, bbPress Forums, which powers WordPress.org forums, has embedded Gutenberg, so now you can add links and images in forums without using HTML-like language. This is done with the Blocks Everywhere plugin that will also be embedded in BuddyPress.

Other applications also have embedded Gutenberg. Here are a few examples:

• EngineAwesome, a Laravel-Based SaaS application.
• Pew Research Center’s Political Typology Quiz. One out of eight quizzes has been converted to blocks in 2022, with more than 1 million people completing it in 2022.
• The web version of Day One, an award-winning journaling app, uses Gutenberg.

The Gutenberg project also concluded the licensing of Gutenberg Mobile. Matt explained that Gutenberg has always been GPL-licensed, but people couldn’t just include Gutenberg in a mobile app due to how mobile apps are distributed.

Mobile Gutenberg now has dual licenses, so you can use it under GPL or MPL (Mozilla Public License) and easily embed it in mobile applications.

WordPress Community Events

Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic in 2020, many community events, such as meetups, have switched to online. In 2022, we saw many online gatherings return to the in-person meetup style.

Matt explained that 500 meetup groups doubled their events in 2022. WordCamps are also increasing in number – from only one WordCamp in 2021 to 22 WordCamps in 2022. So far, 34 WordCamps are already planned for 2023, and the number will most likely increase.

Learn WordPress

WordPress hosts the Learn WordPress website. It contains courses and community workshops for people who want to learn WordPress. In 2022, there were 12,000 people who took one of these courses.

Matt said the course activities were happening almost every week and were moderated or facilitated by volunteers.

Website Redesign

The WordPress.org website was redesigned in 2022, including its homepage and blog areas. The new design follows the jazz design paradigm, and Matt hopes that this “neo-jazz meets software” aesthetic will become a new design language on its own.

Another new addition to the WordPress.org website is the Showcase section, which features famous websites that are powered by WordPress.

Openverse

WordPress acquired Openverse from the Creative Commons organization in 2021 and has since launched it on the WordPress.org website. It’s a search engine that scours the web for Creative Commons-licensed media, such as images and videos.

In 2022, audio media will be introduced into the Openverse, allowing podcasters and music creators to share their works with the world.

Matt continued with the following Openverse stats:

• 22 million images.
• 1.1 million audio files.
• Millions of users per month.
• Over 59 million requests made in the past 30 days.

Photos uploaded to the WordPress photo directory will also be available in the Openverse.

Three Major Updates

WordPress launched three major updates in 2022 with new design tools to customize a website’s entire front-end. What’s more, users no longer need to know as much PHP and CSS as before.

Matt highlighted the top three aspects that shipped with the updates in 2022:

• Block themes. WordPress themes are moving from a bundle of PHP and CSS to blocks, allowing users to create themes or customize websites in the Gutenberg Editor without dealing with code.
• Styles and style variations. Themes are usually a collection of colors, fonts, and spacing that people can customize with the Gutenberg Editor. The styles and the variations thereof provide alternatives to these components with the same underlying structure.
• Twenty Twenty-Three theme. Unlike its predecessors, the Twenty-Twenty-Three default theme comes as a black canvas, with ten style variations designed by WordPress community contributors.

Gutenberg Phase Two Wrap-Up

WordPress introduced Gutenberg four years ago, and the project is divided into four phases:

1. Easier Editing. Replacing the post and page editor with the Gutenberg block tools. Already available in WordPress, with ongoing improvements.
2. Customization. Using the Gutenberg design tools to customize headers and footers and create an entire website with blocks. This phase includes full site editing, block patterns, block directory, and block-based themes.
3. Collaboration. A more intuitive way to collaborate during WordPress core content creation.
4. Multilingual. Core implementation for multilingual sites

We are in phase two of Gutenberg with the latest WordPress 6.1 release. At this point, creating a theme from a blank canvas is possible just by using the Gutenberg editor on the front-end. The upcoming WordPress 6.2, expected to arrive on March 2023, will mark its end.

This is possible using the Create Block Theme plugin that allows importing Google Fonts into the theme and serving them locally from the site. Matt said that with this system, we could have “one theme, one pattern, infinite permutations,” implying the endless customization possibilities with block-based editing.

A Record Number of Release Contributors

A record number of 1,399 contributors made all the updates and new features possible. Check out the following contribution stats:

• 652 first-time contributors.
• 204 contributors participated in all 2022 releases.
• 424 contributors from 2021 returned in 2022.
• 322 contributors who took a break in 2021 returned in 2022.

Matt also introduced and recognized four new core committers in 2022 – Bernie Reiter, Marius Jensen, Adam Zielinski, and George Mamadashvili.

Plugin and Theme Taxonomy

Starting in December 2022, WordPress is launching a new taxonomy for the plugin and theme directory. With over 50,000 plugins and 10,000 themes, the new taxonomy should help users understand what kind of plugin or theme they’re getting. The new taxonomy also allows the creators to self-identify what kind of project their extensions are.

The feature is still a work in progress, but Matt mentioned four taxonomies:

• Solo or single-player. Solo developers develop extensions under this category for themselves but also release them for others.
• Community. These extensions belong to a community of developers with a lead dev stewarding the development. These extensions are then shared in the directory and passed to others. Community extensions also invite contributors to get involved in the WordPress community.
• Canonical plugins. The WordPress project considers a portion of community plugins important to the ecosystem. These plugins receive support from the core WordPress developers.
• Commercial. These extensions often have commercial support and are developed by companies. They also offer upsells, such as pro versions of the plugins.

What’s Coming In 2023

In addition to addressing the 2022 WordPress project progress, Matt also presented some plans for 2023.

WordPress 20th Anniversary

WordPress will turn 20 in May 2023. Matt mentioned that few software projects make it to such an age and that WordPress shares the same birthyear as Creative Commons.

There will be celebrations for the anniversary – you can follow the updates on the WordPress 20th anniversary website.

WordPress Community Summit

WordPress Community Summit is an event where top contributors gather. After a six-year hiatus, the WordPress Community Summit will come back in 2023 and coincide with WordCamp US 2023.

Gutenberg Phase Three

Gutenberg phase three will start after the WordPress 6.2 release. The next generation of Gutenberg and WordPress will have a real-time collaboration feature that allows multiple people to work together on a post, page, or website. Matt explained that it would feel similar to working with Google Docs, where everyone can see what others are doing on the interface.

This feature will also allow people to invite others to collaborate in WordPress to edit posts, pages, or themes together. This way, users won’t need to use external tools like Google Docs, plus they’ll be able to benefit from using blocks in their collaborative workflow.

Post revisions will also receive a revamped interface during phase three, allowing people to edit revisions or check the post or page history.

Lastly, WordPress will improve the media library with the Openverse integration. This will allow people to download media from the Openverse directly via the WordPress media library, improving the editorial workflow.

WordPress Playground

Adam Zielinski developed a new sandbox called Playground. Normally, you need a web host or a local web server to use WordPress. The WordPress Playground, however, will work on web browsers using WebAssembly.

The sandbox is handy for testing themes or plugins or just trying a new design with the editor. The Playground already shows potential for the future. For example, you can use it as a staging environment to download and clone your WordPress site into your browser, make some edits, and then deploy the changes on your live website.

WordPress playground is still experimental and in active development, but you can visit the Playground page to test it or even participate in the project.

Conclusion

WordPress has progressed a lot in 2022, including core updates like broader Gutenberg integration and community changes like the reactivation of many worldwide events. The introduction of Full Site Editing, now known as Site Editor, is one of the biggest WordPress changes in 2022, and it has changed how people build websites with this content management system.

As we’re approaching the end of phase two of the Gutenberg project, we can expect another major milestone in 2023 – the introduction of real-time collaboration in WordPress. The new feature will improve our editorial workflow, making WordPress a better platform for creating content.

The post State of the Word 2022: What WordPress Has Achieved and What’s in Store for the Future appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

It’s hard to have a website without any content, written or otherwise. If you’re using WordPress as your content management system, you’re probably familiar with the post drafting and publishing process. However, solely relying on the Gutenberg editor to create your content isn’t always ideal, especially if you need to collaborate with others or include […]

Read More…

The post How to Move Content from Google Docs to WordPress: 4 Quick Methods appeared first on Hostinger Tutorials.

WooCommerce has released the latest version, 7.1. It contains 185 commits for WooCommerce Core and 162 for WooCommerce Blocks.

The latest version has several enhancements to help new users start their stores and cart block improvements that help maximize conversions. Moreover, it contains an update to the High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) feature.

Let’s see the key features introduced with WooCommerce 7.1.

Product Screen Tour

WooCommerce 7.1 adds a product screen guided tour to help new users create their first product. It includes eight guided tasks, like how to add product names, descriptions, images, and tags.

If you want to try the new product screen guided tour, navigate to WooCommerce -> Home, choose Add products, and then Start with a template. Select any template that suits you and click Go.

You can skip the guide by clicking the cross icon at the top-right corner of the guide box. There’s also the Enable guided mode option if you want to reenable the guide from step one.

Cross-Sells on Cart Block

Cart block in WooCommerce 7.1 has a new cross-sells feature that lets store owners link certain products as cross-sells and link to them from the customer’s cart. This can encourage shoppers to buy more items.

For example, you can add Polo and Long Sleeve Tee as cross-sells for the product Cap. When a shopper adds a Cap to their cart, they will see Polo and Long Sleeve Tee as product recommendations, complete with the Add to cart button. 

To add cross-sell recommendations to a product, go to the Products page and choose one. Select Linked products within the Product data section and add the cross-sell products in the Cross-sells field.

Block Patterns

WooCommerce 7.1 includes 12 new block patterns for the header and footer. With them, you’ll be able to easily construct eCommerce-specific header and footer template parts, especially when using a block-based WordPress theme.

The new patterns consist of three header and three footer designs, all available in light and dark versions:

• Large footer
• Simple footer
• Footer with two menus
• Essential header
• Large header
• Minimal header

To see these WooCommerce patterns, open the block inserter panel of the WordPress Site Editor and select Explore from the Patterns tab. Select the WooCommerce option in the sidebar, and you’ll see all available patterns added by the plugin.

High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) Update

The WooCommerce team has been working on the new High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) feature, previously known as the Custom Order Tables project. This new version finally introduces HPOS as an experimental addition, making important progress in improving WooCommerce scalability and reliability.

The feature is disabled by default. If you want to enable it, navigate to WooCommerce -> Settings on your WordPress admin panel, open the Advanced tab, and select Features. Check the High-Performance order storage (COT) option under Experimental features.

Because HPOS is still an experimental feature, there may be compatibility issues with other plugins.

Updating the WooCommerce Plugin

Updating plugins is straightforward. However, since your store may contain hundreds of products and continuous online transactions, you must ensure that the update won’t cause an issue on your website.

That’s why we strongly recommend using a staging environment to test the new WooCommerce version. What’s more, back up your WordPress site regularly to ensure its data is safe in case of any errors during the update process. 

The post WooCommerce 7.1: Key Features appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

The WordPress core team released the first update just a few weeks after launching WordPress 6.1. You may wonder why there have been two updates in such a short time interval.

It’s simple – WordPress 6.1.1 is a maintenance release that fixes 29 core and 21 block editor bugs, making a more comprehensive update than some of the recent minor WordPress releases. 

Let’s take a look at what improvements WordPress 6.1.1 brings to the table.

Core Bug Fixes

The 29 WordPress core bug fixes cover various aspects of the content management system (CMS), including the site editor, themes, and installation. You can find the complete list of fixes and improvements in this WordPress Core Trac query. In this section, we’ll highlight three of the most important core improvements.

Fatal Error When Updating to WordPress 6.1

When updating WordPress 6.1, users could run into a fatal error if the website had an older version of the Gutenberg plugin installed and activated. This was due to incompatibility with Gutenberg plugin versions lower than 14.1.

The error prevented site owners from accessing both the front-end and back-end of a site. The only solution involved manually deleting or updating Gutenberg via FTP or the hosting’s file manager.

The WordPress core team has fixed the bug by adding a function to the update-core.php file that force-deactivates the Gutenberg plugin if it’s older than version 14.1.

Although 6.1.1 solves the issue, we strongly recommend updating all plugins to the latest version if you haven’t done so already.

.maintenance File Remains After Plugin Updates

Whenever you update WordPress, the system creates a .maintenance file to put your site into maintenance mode. After the system completes the update, it should delete the file automatically, allowing the site to work again.

In some cases, however, the .maintenance file would remain after users completed plugin updates in WordPress 6.1. This caused the website to get stuck in maintenance mode, and the only way to fix it was to remove the file manually via FTP or a file manager.

The developers have reverted the related Filesystem components to the previous state to fix this issue. Now, users should be able to update plugins in WordPress 6.1.1 without becoming stuck in maintenance mode.

Performance Improvements

WordPress 6.1.1 contains solutions to performance issues raised on two Trac tickets.

The first one is related to the wp_get_theme function. This function creates an instance of the WP_Theme class. However, doing so consumes resources, and in many cases, the class is not necessary as only one class property is required.

WordPress 6.1.1 replaces the function wp_get_theme()->get_stylesheet(); with get_stylesheet(); to improve performance and reduce CPU usage.

Another improvement targets get_default_block_editor_settings(), which contains the wp_max_upload_size() function. The system only uses this function if a user can upload files. It still takes up a lot of resources, especially on large sites or multisite environments.

Therefore, the developers have added a condition to wp_max_upload_size() so that it’s only called if the user can upload_files, saving resources and cutting down on load times.

Block Editor Updates

As the block editor is now an integral part of the WordPress core, every WordPress release usually incorporates a few of its updates. WordPress 6.1.1 is no exception, with over 20 block editor bug fixes merged with the WP core. Here are some of the highlighted improvements. 

Apply Borders and Padding for the Table Block

There used to be a table block inconsistency between the site editor and the front-end of the site – when a user added a table block, it would have a border on the site editor that wouldn’t appear on the front-end.

A Gutenberg pull request has solved this issue by applying the table border to the front-end by default. Also, you’ll be able to see any site editor table border customizations on the front-end. The border has a default padding of 0.5 em for all table cells.

Restore Paragraph Inserter

WordPress 6.1 removed the block inserter for empty paragraph blocks. As it turns out, many people rely on that piece of UI to add other blocks, so WordPress 6.1.1 has restored it.

That said, you can add another block to replace the empty paragraph block by typing /, followed by the block’s name. For example, if you want to add an image block instead of that empty paragraph block, type /image, and you’ll see the image block option.

Font Size Constraints for Fluid Typography 

Fluid typography is a new feature in WordPress 6.1 that automatically adjusts the font size depending on the viewport. Users can enable fluid typography and define the minimum and maximum font sizes in the theme.json file.

However, this feature lacks a font size constraint, and there’s no minimum font size. This way, users or theme developers may define the wrong value for the minimum font size in the theme.json file by mistake and damage readability.

WordPress 6.1.1 adds the font size constraints of 14 px or 0.875 rem or 0.875 em. Because of this, the text on the front-end won’t get too small even if the minimum font size in the theme.json file is defined to be lower.

Update Your WordPress Now

WordPress 6.1.1 brings a number of bug fixes. Some of them are related to fatal errors, so we highly recommend updating your WordPress website as soon as possible to prevent such bugs.

There are several methods of updating WordPress: you can do it from the WordPress dashboard, via hPanel, or using WP-CLI. Hostinger Tutorials features a comprehensive guide on how to update WordPress in case you need help.

However, if you’ve enabled automatic updates for minor releases using hPanel’s auto-installer, your WordPress site should be updated automatically.

The post WordPress 6.1.1 Maintenance Release appeared first on Hostinger Blog.

2022’s third major release of WordPress, version 6.1 ”Misha”, is finally here. It introduces over 400 core enhancements and bug fixes and various backport changes from Gutenberg to the core software.

As this version is still a part of the Gutenberg project phase two, it features many block editor improvements, including backports from over 10 Gutenberg releases after WordPress 6.0. On top of that, it comes with the new Twenty Twenty-Three default theme.

Let’s discuss the new updates for WordPress 6.1.

New Twenty Twenty-Three Default Theme

Following the Twenty Twenty-Two block theme released with WordPress 5.9, 6.1 introduces a new default block theme called Twenty Twenty-Three.

It comes with eleven theme styles from the get-go, allowing you to easily switch the color scheme and typography via the global styles switcher feature. Even if you don’t want to use pre-defined theme styles, the wide variety of options is a great starting point for customization.

Another improvement in Twenty Twenty-Three is the typography. Not only do you get more font family options, but they are available across all eleven styles. This allows more freedom to mix and match the typography between styles.

Block Editor Improvements

With over 10 Gutenberg releases merged into the WordPress 6.1 core, we can see plenty of block editor improvements in the new version. Let’s discuss the most significant updates featured with the WordPress 6.1 block editor.

Improved Template Options

6.1 comes with two new template options – Page and Single Item: Post. The new version also streamlines the template creation process by automatically adding relevant patterns, so you no longer have to start from scratch.

For example, when you add the Single Item: Post template, it will start with block patterns that include post content, the comments query loop, and template parts such as the header and footer. From that point, you can start customizing the layout or design.

Another improvement is that you can choose to add the template to all items or a specific one. For example, when adding an author template, you’ll be prompted to choose whether the template will apply to all authors or just one.

As such, you can create tailored templates for Author, Category, and Single Item: Post.

In addition, there’s now the Custom template option allowing you to create a new template for any post or page. It will feature a pattern similar to the post template, but you can reconstruct it to suit whatever type of content.

Improved Block Locking

Block locking is a neat feature that ensures your content blocks won’t be accidentally deleted or moved. However, locking a nested block can take a lot of time as you have to lock all individual blocks one by one.

WordPress 6.1 introduces a new improvement to this system, allowing you to apply block locking to all elements inside a group block. This option will appear on the block locking pop-up when you want to lock a group block. You’ll see the Apply to all blocks inside toggle switch.

Content-Only Editing

WordPress 6.1 supports content-only editing for group, cover, and column blocks using the templateLock attribute. This lets you lock the content layout while writing, uploading images, or in any other way editing the content.

Patterns allow practical use of content-only editing. If a pattern uses a group block to contain several blocks, add the templateLock attribute to the pattern’s code and set it to contentOnly.

With that pattern active on the block editor, the design tools will be removed from the sidebar panel. Instead, you will see a list of the content blocks in the group. The toolbar will also contain no block-moving tools after selecting a block. With the feature active, you can freely edit the actual content.

You can temporarily disable content-only editing by clicking Modify on the group block’s toolbar. When disabled, you can access all design and layout tools for the group block and its components. Click Done on the group block’s toolbar to enable content-only editing again.

Updated Quote and List Blocks

Quote and list blocks can now contain inner blocks for more content flexibility.

The block inserter is now available in the quote block. You can use it to add any block in the quoted content by clicking the add block (+) icon or typing / in the quote block line.

For example, you can use this improvement to add a heading block before writing the text below or to incorporate an image in the quote block.

Multiple blocks inside the quote block allow you to easily rearrange the inner content. Use the block moving tools in the block toolbar to move a block up or down.

The list block now treats the items as individual blocks, resulting in a nested block structure. This allows for a more streamlined workflow as you can rearrange or remove list items more easily.

The improved list block uses a nested structure and treats the list items as individual blocks. The advantage is that you can rearrange or remove list items easily. The nested structure can also be seen from the block list view for easier bulk actions.

Featured Image in Cover Block Placeholder

The previous major WordPress release introduced featured image support to the cover block. However, users had to add an image and then replace it with the featured image using a button on the toolbar, resulting in an awkward workflow.

WordPress 6.1 comes with the option to use the featured image when you add a cover block. This way, you can set up the cover block easier and faster.

Design Tools Consistency

Starting with WordPress 6.1, we’ll see improvements in design tools consistency for more customization using the block editor without custom CSS. This will allow users to find certain tools for a specific block easier.

In 6.1, over 50 blocks have typography and color tools, over 40 have dimension tools, and 30 have all three. You can find a complete list of the design tools available for each block in the WordPress 6.1 Dev Notes.

Dimensions Settings Presets

WordPress 6.1 adds a slider with seven presets for dimensions settings, such as block spacing and margin. This allows users to set a value quickly and apply the same value for other blocks easily.

That said, there’s still a button to switch back to the old custom pixel field if you want to include custom values.

Updated Preview Button

The block editor’s Preview button is now labeled View, but it still functions similarly. It lets you choose between the editor’s desktop, tablet, and mobile views and open the preview in a new tab.

The only significant difference is the new View site option in the site editor, which will open your site in a new tab. In the previous WordPress version, you had to manually type your URL in a new tab or go back to the dashboard to visit your site.

Template Parts in Block Inserter

Template parts are now available in the block inserter. This makes it easier to create or customize new templates as you can insert them in a few clicks. 

Moreover, with the existing options to create template parts from existing blocks, this feature can open more possibilities to utilize custom template elements. 

New Preference Option

A new Always open list view option is available in the block editor preferences. To access it, click the Options button at the top-right corner of the editor and select Preferences.

By enabling this option, the list view will be opened by default when you open the block editor.

Updated Editor Details

New metrics have been added to the editor Details menu. Now you can see the Time to read information along with the word and character counts. This way, you can better estimate how long the content you’re writing will be and the time it will take to read it.

Post Summary Update

The Status & visibility section of the post editor is now called Summary. The post’s permalink and template settings are now within this section.

Theme Improvements

WordPress 6.1 brings a lot of enhancements to theme customization, including the improved global styles panel and custom starter patterns. Let’s overview all the theme improvements in the latest version.

Improved Global Styles

There are some new additions to the global styles interface.

The first one is the headings element that you can configure in the typography and color sections. In the previous version, headings followed the global text style, but in WordPress 6.1, you can make headings use different typography and colors throughout the website. This improves the workflow, as you no longer need to customize the heading blocks individually.

The Buttons element is now also available in the typography and color. Similar to the headings element, you can now set different typography and colors for the button’s text and background.

The next are the layout global styles. In the previous version, you could only change padding settings. WordPress 6.1 significantly improved on this by adding content area width and block spacing controls. The padding and block spacing controls also feature a slider with presets to simplify customization.

Starter Patterns for All Post Types

Theme authors and users can set up starter patterns for all post types to provide pattern options when creating a new post. 

This requires adding the patterns’ PHP files into the theme’s patterns folder. Such files contain code snippets that specify the pattern’s title and post type, followed by the pattern’s code.

Note that the new Twenty Twenty-Three theme already has the patterns folder by default. You may have to create the folder if you use another block theme.

For example, we can add a travel blog pattern from the WordPress pattern directory. First, we must create a PHP file called blog.php with the following code:

<?php
 /**
  * Title: Travel Blog
  * Slug: twentytwentythree/travel-blog
  * Block Types: core/post-content
  * Post Types: post
  * Categories: featured, text
  */
?>

You can change the title and categories to your liking. The next step involves copying and pasting the pattern from the pattern directory into the file using the Copy Pattern button. 

Paste the pattern on the blog.php file. Once done, the PHP file will look like this:

Save the file and open your WordPress admin panel. To confirm that the pattern has been registered, navigate to Posts -> Add New to create a new post. You should see a pop-up with a selection of the registered patterns.

You can add as many starter patterns as you want. To add more, create another PHP file for the pattern and repeat the steps. 

Fluid Typography

WordPress 6.1 introduces fluid typography support via the theme.json file. It enhances responsiveness as the text size will automatically adjust based on the user’s viewport.

To change the fluid typography settings in the theme.json file, include the fluid parameter in the settings.typography.fluid section. If you’re using an older block theme, it may have fluid typography disabled by default, but you can add the fluid parameter and set its value to true.

{
	"version": 2,
	"settings": {
		"typography": {
			"fluid": true,
		}
	}
}

You can also disable fluid typography simply by setting the fluid value to false.

{
	"version": 2,
	"settings": {
		"typography": {
			"fluid": false,
		}
	}
}

You can configure the size for fluid typography in the settings.typography.fontSizes section of the file. Here, you can set the minimum and maximum values for each font size and disable fluid typography for specific font sizes. 

For example, you can set the fluid typography size for the Normal font size by setting the fluid parameter value to true and specifying the minimum and maximum values. Then, disable fluid typography for the Large font size by setting a false value for the fluid parameter.

You can configure the text size for fluid typography in the settings.typography.fontSizes section.

{
	"version": 2,
	"settings": {
		"typography": {
			"fluid": true,
			"fontSizes": [
				{
					"name": "Normal",
					"size": "1.125rem",
					"fluid": {
						"min": "1rem",
						"max": "1.5rem"
					},
					"slug": "normal"
				},
				{
					"name": "Large",
					"size": "2rem",
					"fluid": false,
					"slug": "large"
				}
			]
		}
	}
}

Block-Based Template Part Support for Classic Themes

WordPress 6.1 also introduces the block-based template part support feature that expands classic theme usability with the block editor.

Enabling this feature takes two steps. First, you must add template part support by adding the following function to the theme’s functions.php file:

function add_block_template_part_support() {
    add_theme_support( 'block-template-parts' );
}

add_action( 'after_setup_theme', 'add_block_template_part_support' );

You’ll see the Template Parts option in the dashboard’s Appearance menu.

However, you’ll find no template parts options in the editor – you’ll have to add them manually by creating an HTML file in the parts folder within the theme’s root directory.

For example, we’ll add a footer template part to the Twenty Twenty-One theme. Start by creating an HTML file with the path of /public_html/wp-content/themes/twentytwentyone/parts/footer.html.

Paste the the following code snippet into the file:

<!-- wp:group {"layout":{"inherit":true}} -->
<div class="wp-block-group">
	<!-- wp:group {"style":{"spacing":{"padding":{"top":"80px","bottom":"30px"}}}} -->
	<div class="wp-block-group" style="padding-top:80px;padding-bottom:30px">
		<!-- wp:paragraph {"align":"center"} -->
		<p class="has-text-align-center">Proudly Powered by <a href="https://wordpress.org" rel="nofollow">WordPress</a></p>
		<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
	</div>
	<!-- /wp:group -->
</div>
<!-- /wp:group -->

Go back to the WordPress dashboard and navigate to Appearance -> Template Parts. You should see the footer template part is now available, and you can start editing it using the block editor.

You can add more HTML files in the parts folder to register more block-based template parts for the theme.

Block Theme Filters

Following the update to the WordPress theme repository, which features a new Block Themes filter, the WordPress dashboard has received a similar update.

When you navigate to Appearance -> Themes -> Add New, you can see the Block Themes filter.

How to Update to WordPress 6.1

Updating to WordPress 6.1 should only take a few minutes, and there are a few ways to do it easily. We recommend creating a backup and testing the new version in a staging environment before proceeding with the update on your main site.

This way, you’ll be sure that the new version works perfectly with your website’s content, themes, and plugins. 

Once you’re ready to proceed, choose one of the following ways to update WordPress:

• WordPress dashboard – go to the update page by navigating to Dashboard -> Updates or clicking the Please update now button on the top banner. Once you’re in the update page, click Update to version 6.1.
• hPanel – navigate to WordPress -> Dashboard and click Update to 6.1 on the WordPress version section in the bottom right corner. Note that this method is only possible for users of Hostinger’s WordPress, Shared, and Cloud hosting plans.
• Manual update – download the WordPress 6.1 files from WordPress.org. Extract the .zip file and delete the wp-content folder and wp-config-sample.php file. Then, use an FTP client or a file manager to overwrite the WordPress core files and folders, excluding the wp-content folder and wp-config-sample.php file.
• WordPress command-line interface (WP-CLI) – use SSH to access your website’s public_html root directory and run the wp core update command to perform the update.

Conclusion

WordPress 6.1 adds more enhancements to the block editor to simplify the workflow and introduce additional customization, such as an improved global styles panel and block locking features. The new version also comes with a new default theme and more options available in the theme.json file.

Update your site to WordPress 6.1 if you haven’t done so already. This way, you’ll benefit from the new features and protect yourself from potential vulnerabilities. Remember to back up your site and use a staging environment to test the latest version beforehand.

The post WordPress 6.1: What’s New in the New Major Release appeared first on Hostinger Blog.