This is the October 2023 edition of “This Month in WordPress with CodeinWP.†In the biggest bit of news, there was some of the most heated #wpdrama we’ve seen in a long time, with well-known WordPress personalities duking it out on Twitter (or is it “X�) over the WordPress.com plugin directory and WordPress governance in general.
Tag: WordPress News
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WordPress.com Plugin Directory, Patchstack Bad News, ActivityPub 1.0 ðŸ—žï¸ October 2023 WordPress News w/ CodeinWP
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What’s Coming in WordPress 6.4 (Features and Screenshots)
WordPress 6.4 beta was released recently. We have been closely monitoring the development and testing it out.
It will be the third major release of 2023 and will ship with significant new features, bug fixes, and performance improvements.
In this article, we’ll show you what’s coming in WordPress 6.4 with details and screenshots.
Here is a quick overview of changes coming in WordPress 6.4:
- Twenty Twenty-Four Is The New Default Theme
- Manage Fonts Across Your Website with Font Library
- Enlarge Images with Lightbox Popup
- Improved Command Palette
- Block Editor Enhancements
- Block Hooks
- Background Images for Group Block
- Improved Toolbars for Parent / Child Blocks
- The Outline / List View Revamped
- Improved Pattern Management
- Open in New Tab in Link Preview
- Under The Hood Changes
Note: Using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin, you can try out the beta version on your computer or a staging environment. Please keep in mind that some of the features in the beta may not make it into the final release.
Twenty Twenty-Four Is The New Default Theme
It is a WordPress tradition to add a new default theme each year. Usually, it comes with the last release of the year.
WordPress 6.4 will ship with Twenty Twenty-Four, as the new default theme.
Keeping up the design philosophy of the previous default theme (Twenty Twenty-Three), the new theme will feature a minimalist layout out of the box.
However, don’t let its minimalist appearance deceive you. This powerful theme is packed with features.
It is made to work well with the Site Editor and ships with 6 style variations to choose from.
It also includes dozens of WordPress block patterns to use with the site editor or when writing posts and pages.
These patterns include several section patterns that help you quickly add entire sections to your pages or templates.
It also ships with four fonts that you can use when working on your site. This brings us to the next exciting feature expected to be released in 6.4, the Font Library.
Manage Fonts Across Your Website with Font Library
WordPress 6.4 will include the new Font Library feature. This will allow users to manage fonts used in their WordPress theme and across their website.
Users will be able to view the Font Library under the Styles panel in the site editor. They will also be able to add or remove fonts to their website.
Clicking on the Fonts icon on the panel will bring up the Font Library.
From here, you can upload fonts directly from your computer.
Want to use Google Fonts locally? Font Library will allow users to download and install Google Fonts on their WordPress website.
This will connect to Google servers only once to download the font files. After that, fonts will be served from your own servers.
Enlarge Images with Lightbox Popup
Want to open your WordPress images in a lightbox popup?
WordPress 6.4 will allow users to enable lightbox popups for images in their posts and pages.
After adding an image, you can toggle the Expand on Click option under the block settings to open it in a lightbox popup.
This simple image popup will let your users enlarge images without leaving a page.
It is still very basic and in the early stages of development. For instance, for the Gallery block, you’ll have to set it for each individual image instead of the whole gallery.
If you need a better user experience with beautiful image galleries, we recommend using Envira Gallery or NextGen.
These are the best WordPress photo gallery plugins for photographers and portfolio websites with beautiful lightbox popups, animations, slideshows, gallery styles, and more.
Improved Command Palette
WordPress 6.3 came with a new command palette tool, which allowed users to quickly type in commands using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+K.
WordPress 6.4 will come with several improvements to the tool and new keyboard shortcuts. First, there is a subtle design update, which makes elements slightly darker.
Secondly, there are new commands and actions introduced to work with blocks. You can duplicate, transform, delete, or insert blocks from the command palette.
For instance, you can now select multiple blocks and transform them using the command palette.
Block Editor Enhancements
This release primarily focuses on improving and extending existing site and block editor features. The groundwork for phase 3 of the Gutenberg project has begun, which will focus more on collaboration.
WordPress 6.4 will merge several Gutenberg (the project name for the block editor) releases into the core. Each one of them includes several new features and enhancements.
Following are some of the more noticeable enhancements in Block Editor.
Block Hooks
WordPress 6.4 will bring Block Hooks functionality for developers. This would allow plugins to automatically add blocks upon activation.
Named after hooks used in WordPress core, block hooks will enable plugin developers to interact with the block editor and extend blocks without touching them.
For instance, a membership plugin can now add a login button in the navigation menu.
The block panel will show you which blocks are added by plugins and you will be able to turn them off/on.
Background Images for Group Block
Grouping blocks is the easiest way to create different sections of a layout in the post or full site editor.
Previously, users were only able to select background and text colors for the entire group block. WordPress 6.4 will also allow you to set a background image.
Improved Toolbars for Parent / Child Blocks
When working with blocks that have child blocks, the toolbar kept moving and changing as you moved around blocks.
This didn’t produce an ideal user experience for blocks like Navigation, List, and Quote.
WordPress 6.4 will now automatically attach the child toolbar to the parent and create a consistent user experience as you move around the inner blocks.
The Outline / List View Revamped
The List view shows you a quick outline of your page or post layout in site/block editor.
WordPress 6.4 will improve the list view by adding some cool new features.
First, you can now rename Group blocks in the list view. This would help you identify what each group block does and will make your layouts more readable.
It will also show previews for images and gallery blocks.
This is immensely helpful and makes the outline view a much more useful tool than ever before. Previously it just said ‘Image ‘and you had to click to select the block and view which image is there.
Improved Pattern Management
In the previous WordPress release, Reusable Blocks were merged into Patterns, and a new pattern management screen was added to the site editor.
WordPress 6.4 will come with improvements to the pattern management in site editor.
You will now be able to add pattern categories when creating a new pattern.
The Pattern creation modal will look the same across WordPress.
Inside the Site Editor, the Patterns tab will now show your patterns organized in categories.
Open in New Tab in Link Preview
In the previous WordPress release, the link preview control (the popup that appears when you add a link in WordPress) moved the option to ‘Open in new tab’ under the Advanced toggle.
This meant that users were required a few extra clicks to open a link in a new tab.
Based on user feedback a new checkbox is added in the link preview modal allowing users to easily open a link in a new tab.
Under The Hood Changes
WordPress 6.4 also includes several changes intended for developers. Here are some of the most significant under-the-hood changes.
- TEMPLATEPATH and STYLESHEETPATH constants are deprecated. (#18298)
- Framework to add revisions for post meta in WordPress. (#20564)
- Theme developers can configure their own default min and max viewport widths for calculating fluid font sizes. (#59048)
- A block hook field is added to block types. (#59346)
We hope this article helped you discover what’s new in WordPress 6.4 and which new features to try out. We are particularly excited about all the changes to the site editor.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post What’s Coming in WordPress 6.4 (Features and Screenshots) first appeared on WPBeginner.
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Otter Blocks 2.4: Where AI Meets Content Creation Excellence!
Otter Blocks Version 2.4 is here to revolutionize your content creation journey. In this post, we’re going to unveil the incredible features that make Otter Blocks 2.4 a game-changer. These include new AI-powered options in the free version, and additional upgrades like webhook integration (and more) in the Pro version.
The post Otter Blocks 2.4: Where AI Meets Content Creation Excellence! appeared first on Themeisle Blog.
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Experience the Magic of Neve 3.7 Sighisoara: What’s New and Exciting!
We’re absolutely thrilled to introduce you to something special – Neve 3.7 ‘Sighisoara.’ This release takes its name and inspiration from the enchanting town of Sighisoara in Romania, a place known for its timeless beauty and rich heritage. Join us as we take you on a tour of what’s new in Neve 3.7 ‘Sighisoara’ and show you how it can enhance your website-building journey.
The post Experience the Magic of Neve 3.7 Sighisoara: What’s New and Exciting! appeared first on Themeisle Blog.
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Jadro Joins the CodeinWP Family!
We’re excited to announce that Jadro, a Full Site Editing WordPress theme found it’s new home here on CodeinWP. -
Relive WordCamp US, WordPress 6.3 Out, Twenty Twenty-Four Time? ðŸ—žï¸ September 2023 WordPress News w/ CodeinWP
We are back with another roundup of all the latest WordPress news and gossip from the past month. Whereas the previous few months had been relatively quiet, the last month had two big happenings – the release of WordPress 6.3 in early August and WordCamp US 2023 in late August. -
What’s New in WordPress 6.3 (Features and Screenshots)
WordPress 6.3 has been released as the second major WordPress release of 2023.
This new WordPress version has several significant updates, new features, enhancements, and bug fixes that make WordPress even more powerful and useful.
In this article, we’ll show what’s new in WordPress 6.3 and which features you should try after the update.
Note: WordPress 6.3 is a major release, and unless you are on a managed WordPress hosting service, you’ll need to manually initiate the update. Follow our guide on how to safely update WordPress for instructions.
Important: Don’t forget to create a complete WordPress backup before the update.
That being said, here is a breakdown of what’s new in WordPress 6.3
- New Site Editor Navigation
- Improved Pattern Management
- Edit Pages in The Site Editor
- Manage Navigation Menus in The Site Editor
- Easily Switch Theme Styles in The Site Editor
- Preview Themes in The Site Editor
- Style Revisions to Easily Undo Changes
- Introducing the New Command Palette Tool
- Two New Blocks in The Block Editor
- Better Padding and Margin Tools
- Select Aspect Ratio for Your Images
- Improved Top Toolbar
- Cover Block with Layout and Color Options
- Link Control Enhancement in WordPress 6.3
- Under The Hood Changes
New Site Editor Navigation
WordPress 6.3 introduces a more polished navigation experience for the site editor.
The left column will now show Navigation, Styles, Pages, Templates, and Patterns. Users can easily locate the section they want to edit from here.
The new navigation interface includes a search button at the top. Clicking on it will bring the new command palette (more on this later).
You’ll also notice that Template Parts are not among the main navigation items. That’s because they are moved under the Patterns.
Improved Pattern Management
WordPress 6.3 now includes an improved pattern management experience in the Site Editor. Starting with the Site Editor navigation, which now has Patterns as one of the main navigation items.
Clicking on Patterns shows synced and unsynced patterns along with template parts.
Reusable blocks are now called Synced Patterns. You can find your reusable blocks under the My Patterns tab. These can be used across your website, and changing them affects all places where the pattern is used.
Unsynced patterns are those that can be used anywhere, and changing them doesn’t affect the original pattern.
You can also click on the Add (+) button to create a new pattern or template part.
At the bottom of the navigation column, you will find links to manage all your patterns and template parts.
Edit Pages in The Site Editor
A lot of folks coming from other web platforms may want to add or edit a page when editing their website.
WordPress 6.3 makes creating and editing pages directly from the site editor easy.
Simply click on the Pages menu in the Editor navigation, and it will show you a list of your pages.
You can click on a page to start editing it or click on the add (+) button to create a new page draft.
Manage Navigation Menus in The Site Editor
WordPress 6.3 also introduces a new way to manage navigation menus inside the Site Editor.
Previously, users had to add a navigation block and then edit it. Now users can create, edit, and manage menus by clicking on the Navigation tab in the site editor.
This will show you all the navigation menus you have created on your website.
To edit a menu, click to open it in the site editor.
First, you will see the menu items as a list in the navigation column. If you just want to rearrange them, you can move the menu items up and down.
To edit a menu, click the edit button or the editor canvas and start editing the menu in the site editor.
Easily Switch Theme Styles in The Site Editor
Earlier, theme styles were tucked away under the Styles panel inside the site editor. This made them a little less noticeable for beginners.
Now users can see the styles in the site editor navigation itself. This way, they can start with the style they prefer and immediately start editing it to their liking.
Preview Themes in The Site Editor
Before, users were able to preview WordPress themes using Theme Customizer. This allowed users to preview a theme without activating it on their website.
WordPress 6.3 will allow you to preview block themes inside the site editor. Go to the Appearance page in the admin area and click the Live Preview button below a block theme.
This will open the theme in the site editor with a live preview of how your content would appear in the new theme.
You can also edit the theme, try different styles, use your own colors, and make any changes before actually choosing the theme. However, to save those changes, you’ll need to activate the theme.
Note: Classic themes without site editor support will still show the live preview using the old theme customizer.
Style Revisions to Easily Undo Changes
WordPress saves multiple revisions of your content while you work on it. This allows you to easily undo changes to your posts and pages.
Similarly, WordPress 6.3 now allows you to see revisions for your styles and easily undo any changes.
Simply select a style or block that you want to edit in the Styles panel. Click on the ‘Revisions’ button and then select ‘Revision history’.
This will show you the changes you have made to that particular style or block. You can move between different revisions to see how an item looked at that time.
To undo changes, simply click on the Apply button, and WordPress will restore that revision.
Introducing the New Command Palette Tool
Keyboard shortcuts help you become more productive by quickly doing things without taking your fingers away from the keyboard.
WordPress comes with a bunch of keyboard shortcuts already, but with WordPress 6.3, it now has a command palette tool too.
To give it a go, simply edit a WordPress post or page or open the site editor. Once you are in the editor, press the CTRL+K or Command+K keys on your keyboard.
It will show a search popup where you can find keyboard shortcuts to toggle panels, create new posts or pages, navigate to the site editor, and more.
The command palette tool also has an API that allows third-party developers to add their own commands to the tool.
Two New Blocks in The Block Editor
The block editor in WordPress 6.3 ships with two brand-new blocks that you can use.
Footnotes Block
Footnotes are the easiest way to provide references to resources at the bottom of your article. However, WordPress users had to create them manually or use separate plugins to add footnotes.
Now, with WordPress 6.3, you can just use the Footnotes block. Simply select the ‘Footnote’ option using the three-dot menu in the toolbar.
The Details Block
Details block allows you to hide content requiring users to click on an item to reveal the hidden content.
Simply add the Details block and provide the content you want users to see. Below that, you can provide content that will be revealed when users click on the visible content.
You can add any kind of block to be hidden, including paragraphs, images, media, blocks added by plugins, and more.
You can also add multiple detail boxes together to create a FAQ section, trivia questions, info panels, and more.
Better Padding and Margin Tools
Previously, when users unlinked padding and margin tools, they took up a lot of space.
The new padding and margin tools now take up much less space and are more user-friendly.
Select Aspect Ratio for Your Images
WordPress 6.3 allows users to select the aspect ratio to display an image. Instead of resizing and cropping an image, users can now choose an aspect ratio that looks good across devices.
Improved Top Toolbar
WordPress shows a toolbar over the block you are working on in the post editor.
It also has the option to move the toolbar to the top for a cleaner editing experience.
However, the top toolbar appeared just below the toolbar on the top.
It took up more space and didn’t look great.
WordPress 6.3 now includes an improved toolbar on the top panel for easier and quicker access.
Cover Block with Layout and Color Options
The Cover block also has also received a facelift in WordPress 6.3.
Just like the Group block, users can now choose the Layout for the Cover block.
It also includes more design options in the block settings panel.
You can also use Duotone filters with a Cover block like the Image block.
Link Control Enhancement in WordPress 6.3
Link control is the tool used by the block editor to add links. WordPress 6.3 comes with improved Link control settings.
For instance, you can now create a page directly from the link control popup.
WordPress 6.3 has also moved the toggle to open a link in a new tab or window.
It is now located under the Advanced settings when adding a link.
Under The Hood Changes
WordPress 6.3 also includes several changes intended for developers. Here are some of the most significant under-the-hood changes.
- Image performance enhancements to improve page load speeds and resolve some of the common core web vital issues such as rendering of the LCP and prioritizing images in users’ viewport. (Details)
- Improved emoji loader to reduce the time spent on loading the emoji script. (#58472)
- Defer and async support added to the WP Scripts API. (#12009)
- Fetch priority support was added for images. (#58235)
- Skipping lazy loading for images outside the loop in classic themes. (#58211)
- Attempt rollback for failed plugin and theme updates. (#51857)
- Merge get_posts() and get_pages(). (#12821)
We hope this article helped you discover what’s new in WordPress 6.3 and which new features to try out. We are particularly excited about all the changes to the site editor and performance improvements.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post What’s New in WordPress 6.3 (Features and Screenshots) first appeared on WPBeginner.
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WordCamp Europe Statistics: A Decade in Numbers (Infographic)
This post is a celebration of WordCamp Europe’s growth, as seen through the eyes of seasoned attendees (that’s us!). Join us as we delve into the data, uncovering what makes WordCamp Europe an essential stop in the WordPress calendar. -
WordPress 6.3, WordCamp Dhaka Cancelled, Plugin Vulnerabilities ðŸ—žï¸ August 2023 WordPress News w/ CodeinWP
This is the August 2023 edition of “This Month in WordPress with CodeinWP.†First off, we got a look at the betas and release candidates for WordPress 6.3, so you should have a good idea of what the next major release will look like when it lands in August. -
Community vs Commercial Plugins: What’s the Difference?
Recently, WordPress announced a change to the way it categorizes plugins. So now, when you browse them in the directory, you’ll see that tools are sorted between community vs commercial plugins. However, you might not know the difference between these two groups. In this post we’re going to break it down for you. We’ll explain the reasons for the divide and discuss its impact on developers.
The post Community vs Commercial Plugins: What’s the Difference? appeared first on Themeisle Blog.