The final major WordPress release of 2022 is here, as. WordPress 6.1 released on Tuesday, November 1. What’s new in this version of WordPress?
Twenty Twenty-Three default theme
As is typical for WordPress in their final major release of the year, WordPress 6.1 brings a new default theme. Twenty Twenty-Three is a minimalist theme with ten different style variations and four different fonts. Minimalist themes are par for the course these days, as the past few default themes have been designed to allow maximum flexibility with the WordPress Gutenberg visual editor. This new theme highlights the flexibility the visual editor offers.
Changes to the block editor
WordPress has a team dedicated to furthering improvements to the Gutenberg block editor, and with every major WordPress release, This version is no different, with over 400 new features and 400 additional bug fixes from 10 Gutenberg releases implemented in WordPress 6.1.
Notably, the block editor will now feature the ability to set dimensions on more objects. Paragraphs, columns, tables, and other blocks can now have custom margin and padding settings. You can also define separate border attributes for top, left, right, and bottom borders separately. Image blocks now support border attributes as well.
Additionally, the block editor will now allow you to move list items up and down without editing them. Other minor changes will be observed in the WordPress 6.1 editor as well, like the “Preview” button changing to “View” and the “Status and Visibility” settings under Post Settings now under a tab called “Summary,” along with Permalink and Template options that were previously listed separately.
Expanded theme and template options
The other major change coming to WordPress 6.1 is several new options for website templates. Templates can now be created with the Gutenberg block editor instead of using code. A page or post can now be locked to content-only editing, meaning its blocks, patterns, and templates are locked but the content can be changed, which could be useful if a website utilizes one person to design the site and another to create content. The WordPress team also made a concerted effort to offer more Gutenberg features in classic themes, making the transition to the visual editor easier and making sites utilizing both the Gutenberg and classic editors work better.
As always, this update also includes a number of under-the-hood changes to enhance performance. 19 components should see improved performance in WordPress 6.1. The update also provides a number of important accessibility improvements. For a complete list of changes in WordPress 6.1, visit the WordPress 5.1 Field Guide.
