Just a few days ago, the WordPress 6.0 (Beta) version arrived. On May 24th, 2022, WordPress came up with its second big release for 2022. To fulfill the expectations and requirements of the users, WordPress always brings new features and fixes with the versions. The same goes for WordPress 6.0 as well. So, what’s new in WordPress 6.0? Don’t get too cocky, keep reading this article and find out.
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WordPress Version 6.0: Features and Changes in the New Major Release
Yes, everyone has more or fewer expectations when there is a major release of a product. Since WordPress has collaborated with the Gutenberg editor, people found major changes in editing. Writing blogs or editing pages has changed as the classic editor has gone.
So, will the new version be able to come up with something to compensate for this? Well, let’s hope for the best. We will break down a list of new features so that you can judge whether the new version will be good, bad, or neutral for you.
1) Improvement in Overall Website Editing
WordPress is not only bound to just editing blogs and pages. In fact, it is gradually offering new updates for full website editing. Soon, you will be able to customize an entire website without using any page builder tool like Elementor.
The Gutenberg block editor that comes with WordPress will do the job of customizing the entire website. We guess Gutenberg and WordPress are collaborating with each other to grab the market and remove any competitors.
Also, you can make changes to your theme with visual editing. Blocks can make potential differences in the look of your website.
| Please Note – |
| To edit your theme with the latest WordPress version, you must use a block-enabled theme. |
2) Comfort in Switching Theme Styles
WordPress 6.0 brings a quick option to switch themes. Now, you don’t need to activate or deactivate your current theme in order to switch styles. With just one click, your WordPress version 6.0 allows you to switch theme styles. You will see a button at the top right corner of the theme. Just press the button for browsing style tabs. It will present the available styles in your theme. Perhaps, this will create an option for the theme developers to add various style presets to their themes.
3) Improvements in Blocks
The blocks are now more improved in the new WordPress version. On top of that, the existing blocks have been updated.
Let’s take a look at the new blocks
- Avatar
There is a new Avatar block that shows the profile picture of the author and you can add a short description of the author. So, there are Gutenberg blocks that allow you to create the author box. As a result, you don’t have to use a third-party plugin to show an author box at the end of any post or page.
Aside from the author, this Avatar block can also be used to insert a user’s profile picture.
- Post Author Biography
We already discussed this feature in the previous block, which was ‘Avatar’. The “Post Author Biography” blocks work with the ‘Avatar’ block for creating outstanding author biographies.
- Read More
Yes, we know. Many of you have been expecting for a long time for WordPress to bring built-in read more buttons. Now, there are dedicated blocks to add a read more button inside any page or post. Without using any page builder or a third-party tool, you can apply different background colors, text, and borders to make “Read More” or any button more prominent.
- Comments
WordPress 6.0 brings new blocks in town for comments. These are referred to as comment query loop blocks. This type of block is a collection of numerous sub-blocks. These sub-blocks can include the commenter name, the avatar of the commenter, contents of the comment, links, and many more.
A good thing is you can edit each sub-block individually. This is how you can create a comment section that stands out.
- No results in Query Loop
This is another major improvement of the new WordPress version. No Results block can be inserted into Query Loop blocks to show “No Results”. This is only applicable if the selected Query Loop block doesn’t contain any value.
4) Easy Text Selection
It was very hard to select text across multiple blocks. People ended up selecting the entire text of the blocks. Now in WordPress 6.0, you can select particular portions of text inside multiple blocks. This is like a bug fix for WordPress.
5) WordPress 6.0 Updates for the Developers
How can WordPress not think about developers? There are always certain improvements in code or accessibility in every WordPress version. WordPress 6.0 also opens many fields for developers to explore. Some of these updates are –
- Blocks won’t appear on the widgets screen for a new API.
- Manage local fonts efficiently through theme.json or PHP with the help of Webfonts API.
- The get_the_author_link can be made pluggable.
- The sticky post query has been improved.
6) WordPress 6.0 Updates in Accessibility
In order to make WordPress more user-friendly, each version improves usability. This is how WordPress remains the most accessible Content Management System or CMS in the world.
And the new WordPress 6.0 has brought tons of accessibility improvements. Above all, user experience is the top priority for WordPress. Here are some of the mentionable accessibility improvements –
- If you haven’t provided any ALT text, WordPress will automatically select the post title as the ALT text for the featured image.
- You can set a placeholder to read the description of a block.
- You can set placeholder elements for better tabbing in blocks.
- There are announcements while using the block search.
- Screen Readers on small screens will now be able to read the text labels of the Admin bar.
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7) Miscellaneous Block Improvement
- Border for Columns Block
A border can be added and edited around any column block.
- Gallery Images Space
The space between 2 images can be adjusted inside an image gallery.
- Shortcut for Internal Links
Adding two square brackets will enable inserting links to any page or post. The links will be suggested according to the title of the post or page.
- Multiple Block Selection with List View
In the list view, you can select multiple adjacent blocks. In order to do this, you need to press the following keys –
SHIFT+Click or Shift+Up+Down
Then, you can move the blocks up and down according to your preference. You can also perform other actions at this point.
8) The Release Schedule of WordPress 6.0
The table below shows the schedule for the release of the various steps of the new WordPress version.
| April 5, 2022 | Live-streamed walkthrough |
| April 12, 2022 | Beta 1 |
| April 19, 2022 | Beta 2 |
| April 26, 2022 | Beta 3 |
| May 3, 2022 | Release candidate 1 |
| May 10, 2022 | Release candidate 2 |
| May 17, 2022 | Release candidate 3 |
| May 23, 2022 | Dry run for WordPress 6.0 release and 24-hour code freeze |
| May 24, 2022 | Release WordPress 6.0 |
Bottom Line
Hope, we were able to provide a glimpse on what’s new in WordPress 6.0. The newer version has come up with 1000 changes and improvements. Hopefully, it would make editing with the Gutenberg editor more feasible. If this continues, people will begin to forget the revolutionary classic editor and enjoy editing with the Gutenberg editor more.
Our suggestion is – it is always better to work with the latest version of anything. Think about your iOS or Android version. Would you prefer not to use the latest version? So, you should do the same for WordPress. You may find it hard to cope at the beginning. But you will like it better once you are used to the new version.
