Inspired by Grammy-winning jazz musician, Arturo O’Farrill, WordPress 6.0 was released on May 24th.
Though the focus continues to be on Full Site Editing (FSE), there are many other features under the hood that may benefit ESC! Technologies Group’s clients even if FSE is not one of them.
All ESC! Technologies Group clients who subscribe to one of our WordPress Care Plans will be updated to the latest release as soon as testing is complete — there is nothing you need to do at this point.
So what’s new in WordPress 6.0?
Block Editor Improvements
Truth be told, I find the block editor cumbersome to use. It’s very picky where/when you click and how things get moved around and, frustratingly, very often things end up in the wrong place if you don’t place it … just … so. But, if you’ve been using the block editor for your posts (or pages), you’ll find some new features in WordPress 6.0 including the ability to select text across blocks. Finally! The block editor has always felt a bit disjointed to me and the inability to select portions of a post as a whole was always an issue. Now, that should finally be in the past!
If you use styles, you may be interested to hear that WordPress 6.0 allows blocks to contain multiple style variations, so changing the look and feel of your site can be accomplished much quicker than in the past. And, to round things out, the WordPress 6.0 block editor includes the ability to use a featured image in the cover block, better integration of patterns, and…a better list view.
Speed and Accessibility
WordPress 6.0 brings improved speed to the table with this release! You’ll notice some of these performance improvements in page and post-load speed, the execution time of various query types, caching, navigation menus, and more.
WordPress 6.0 also brings more than 50 updates specifically focused on accessibility. To read up on all those updates in areas such as block editor, quick editing, login, and themes, check out the article here: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/20/wordpress-6-0-accessibility-improvements/
Want More Info on 6.0?
To get a general run down of the new features, you’ll want to read the blog post at WordPress.org. However, if you’re a developer and want to dig further into What’s New with WordPress 6.0, you can check out the Field Guide here.
Updating Your Site
If you’re not subscribed to one of ESC! Technologies Group’s WordPress Care Plans, then before upgrading you’ll want to be sure to:
1. Ensure compatibility with and/or Upgrade all your third party plugins
2. Ensure compatibility with your theme and framework and upgrade if necessary
3. Turn off any caching plugins you may have installed
4. Perform a full backup of your site and database
5. Upgrade
6. After the upgrade is complete, re-enable your caching plugins and test your site
Enjoy the new WordPress!