What’s New in WordPress 6.5 (Features and Screenshots)
As a WordPress expert with over 15 years of experience, I’ve witnessed firsthand the evolution of this powerful platform. Every release brings new features and improvements, and WordPress 6.5 is no exception. This update is particularly exciting, as it brings a host of features and improvements designed to make your website management and content creation even smoother and more efficient.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through the major highlights of WordPress 6.5, providing screenshots and detailed explanations so you can understand how to use these new features to your advantage.
Before we dive in, it’s essential to note that WordPress 6.5 is a major release. If you’re not on managed WordPress hosting, you’ll need to initiate the update manually. To learn how to safely update WordPress, refer to our step-by-step guide.
And remember, always create a complete WordPress backup before performing any update. This way, you can easily restore your site if anything goes wrong.
Introducing the Font Library
One of the most anticipated features in WordPress 6.5 is the official launch of the Font Library. This powerful tool allows users to manage, install, and use fonts directly within the WordPress editor, eliminating the need for separate typography plugins.
To access the Font Library, head to the Site Editor (Appearance » Editor) and navigate to the ‘Styles’ panel. Then, click on ‘Typography’, and you’ll see the fonts currently available with your WordPress theme.
Click the ‘Manage fonts’ button to open the library in a popup. Here, you can upload fonts from your computer or switch to the ‘Install Fonts’ tab to connect to the Google Fonts library. Simply click on the ‘Allow access to Google Fonts’ button, and you can browse through a vast selection of fonts for installation.
Once you’ve chosen a font, it will be downloaded and served directly from your website, not from Google servers, ensuring faster loading times and a smoother user experience. The Font Library is a game-changer for web designers and anyone who wants to create visually appealing and unique websites.
Plugin Dependencies
Have you ever installed a WordPress plugin, only to discover that it requires another plugin to work correctly? This can lead to frustration and confusion. WordPress 6.5 addresses this issue by introducing a built-in plugin dependency feature.
Now, developers can add a ‘Requires Plugins’ entry to the plugin header, specifying the additional plugins that need to be installed and activated for their plugin to function properly. When users install a plugin with dependencies, they will see an error message if those required plugins aren’t already activated.
The Plugins page will clearly list the required plugins, making it easy for users to install and activate them. This ensures a seamless and efficient plugin installation process, preventing compatibility issues and ensuring a smooth user experience.
It’s important to note that the current implementation only supports plugins hosted on WordPress.org. This means third-party or premium plugins hosted elsewhere cannot utilize this feature to manage dependencies. However, it’s a significant step towards improving plugin compatibility and simplifying the WordPress ecosystem.
Block Editor Improvements
The block editor, also known as Gutenberg, is the default WordPress editor used to create and edit your website content. It’s been constantly evolving, and WordPress 6.5 brings several exciting improvements and new features that can save you time and enhance your content creation workflow.
Connect Blocks to Custom Fields
Custom fields in WordPress allow you to add custom metadata to posts and pages. This data can be used to store various information, such as author details, product specifications, or event dates. Developers and advanced WordPress users leverage custom fields in many creative ways.
WordPress 6.5 introduces a new Block Binding API, allowing users to utilize custom fields and other dynamic data as attributes for individual blocks. This powerful feature empowers developers to programmatically display dynamic data within standard core blocks.
Here’s a quick example to illustrate how this works:
- Edit a WordPress post and add two custom fields: “mood” and “weather”.
- In the block editor settings, switch to the code editor view (click the three-dot menu in the top right corner and select ‘Code Editor’).
- In the content area, add the following code to a text field, such as a Paragraph block:
Save your changes and preview your post or page. You’ll now see the meta key values displayed within your block code. This new feature opens up exciting possibilities for creating dynamic and interactive content within the block editor.
Smart Overlay for the Cover Block
The Cover block in WordPress is a versatile tool for creating visually appealing headers and sections. With WordPress 6.5, the Cover block now features a smart overlay enhancement that automatically selects an overlay color based on the image or the color you’ve chosen for the block.
You can easily adjust the overlay opacity to match your design preferences, creating subtle or bold effects. This smart overlay feature enhances the Cover block’s usability and visual appeal, making it a more powerful and versatile tool for creating visually striking layouts.
Drop Shadow Effect
The drop shadow effect adds depth and prominence to elements in your website layout. WordPress 6.5 introduces the drop shadow effect to the Image, Column(s), and Buttons blocks, enabling you to create a more visually engaging and dynamic website.
You can choose from several different drop shadow styles to match your design aesthetic, creating a sophisticated and polished look for your website. The drop shadow feature is a simple yet powerful addition to the block editor, providing another tool for enhancing the visual appeal of your content.
Block Settings in List View
The list view in the block editor provides an overview of your content layout, especially useful for long articles, landing pages, and complex page layouts. Previously, you had to click on the three-dot menu next to an item to access its settings in list view. WordPress 6.5 simplifies this process, allowing you to right-click on a block to access its settings directly within the list view.
This streamlined workflow makes it easier to manage and adjust block settings without navigating away from the list view, improving your content editing efficiency.
Rename Blocks in List View
WordPress 6.5 also allows you to rename any block directly in the list view. This handy feature improves the organization and clarity of your content layout, allowing you to easily identify and manage different sections of your content. By renaming blocks, you can create a more intuitive and understandable content structure.
Improved Link Control Adds NoFollow Checkbox
The link control (the insert link popup) has received a significant overhaul in WordPress 6.5, enhancing its usability and functionality. Now, it highlights your blog and front pages with distinct icons, making it easier to identify these important pages.
Once you’ve added a link, clicking on it reveals a more comprehensive context menu. From here, you can easily view the link’s destination, edit the link, unlink it, or copy the link with a single click.
The improved link control now includes a “NoFollow” checkbox, providing a direct option to add the “rel=nofollow” attribute to your links. This is a valuable feature for SEO purposes, allowing you to control how your website links out to other websites. However, it’s essential to understand the nuances of “nofollow” and use it strategically for optimal SEO results.
While the new link control is a step in the right direction, it still requires multiple clicks to access certain options like opening a link in a new window or adding the “nofollow” attribute. To simplify this process, consider using a plugin like All in One SEO for WordPress, which provides a more streamlined and comprehensive link control panel.
Refreshed Preferences Panel
WordPress 6.5 comes with a refreshed Preferences panel in the block editor. Click on the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of the screen and select ‘Preferences’ to access it. The panel now includes Appearance and Accessibility sections, along with a more organized categorization of previous sections.
The improved Preferences panel makes it easier to customize your block editor settings and personalize your content creation experience. You can quickly access the settings you need and adjust them to suit your workflow.
Site Editor Changes
The Full Site Editor, a powerful tool for making global changes to your website, is only available in block themes with full site editor support. Older themes that don’t support the site editor are now known as classic themes. WordPress 6.5 introduces several improvements to the Site Editor, enhancing its functionality and usability.
New Data Views
WordPress 6.5 presents a more efficient way to view your pages, block patterns, and templates within the Site Editor. You can now switch between Grid view, which displays large previews of your items, and Table view, which provides a more detailed tabular representation of your content.
The ability to sort items in different orders and view them in different formats makes it easier to navigate and manage your website content within the Site Editor interface.
Improved Style Revisions
Style revisions, introduced in WordPress 6.3, allow users to track and undo style changes to their websites effortlessly, just like post revisions. However, previous versions only displayed a timeline of revisions, requiring you to browse through them to identify specific changes.
WordPress 6.5 enhances style revisions by providing a detailed description of the changes made for each revision. This makes it much easier to understand what was modified and revert to previous versions with confidence. You can now seamlessly browse through different revisions and easily switch to a specific revision by clicking the ‘Apply’ button.
Additionally, you’ll see the changes that have been made but not yet saved, giving you a clear overview of the current state of your website’s styles and allowing you to fine-tune them with greater precision.
New Interactivity API
WordPress 6.5 introduces the Interactivity API, a framework that empowers developers to create modern front-end interfaces without requiring complete page reloads. This allows for more dynamic and responsive user experiences, making your website feel faster and more engaging.
Imagine reading comments on a blog and having new comments pop up in real time as you write your own reply. Or consider a live search feature that doesn’t slow down your website. The Interactivity API allows developers to create these kinds of interactive elements and more.
The team behind the project has created a demo website to showcase the capabilities of the Interactivity API. This is a game-changer for developers, allowing them to create modern and dynamic web experiences for users.
Under the Hood Changes in WordPress 6.5
WordPress 6.5 also includes a multitude of behind-the-scenes improvements, addressing performance issues, fixing bugs, and providing developers with more flexibility and control. Here are some of the key under-the-hood changes:
- Performance improvements: The Block and Site Editors load twice as fast, and the input time is four times faster compared to WordPress 6.4. This results in a smoother and more responsive user experience for both editors.
- Improved translation loading: WordPress 6.5 introduces an enhanced library for loading translations, making them load much faster. This benefits users who use multilingual websites, as it ensures faster loading times for translated content.
- Classic theme support: Classic themes can now add support for appearance tools, providing developers with more flexibility in customizing the appearance of classic themes. This allows for a more unified experience for users who are still using classic themes.
- Block API enhancements: The Block API now recognizes the viewScriptModule field in block.json metadata. This provides developers with more control over block functionality and makes it easier to create custom blocks.
- Block Hooks updates: WordPress 6.5 updates Block Hooks to make them more versatile and includes some frequently requested new features. This expands the capabilities of Block Hooks, allowing developers to create more robust and interactive blocks.
- HTML API updates: The HTML API receives significant updates, including improvements to the Tag Processor. The Tag Processor can now scan every token in an HTML document, supporting more of the HTML specification than in previous versions. This enhances the HTML API’s capabilities and makes it more robust for parsing and manipulating HTML content.
These under-the-hood improvements contribute to a more efficient, stable, and secure WordPress platform, providing a better experience for both users and developers.
Conclusion
WordPress 6.5 marks a significant milestone in the platform’s ongoing evolution, bringing a wealth of new features and improvements designed to enhance your website management and content creation experience. From the official launch of the Font Library to the expanded capabilities of the block editor and site editor, this update provides numerous tools and functionalities that can help you create more engaging and visually appealing websites.
As you explore these new features, remember to always backup your website before updating to ensure a smooth transition. If you encounter any issues, refer to the comprehensive documentation and support resources available on the WordPress website.
Stay informed about the latest WordPress updates and advancements by following our blog and subscribing to our YouTube channel for insightful tutorials and news.
If you’re interested in learning more about tech news, feel free to visit my website: www.naveedahmed.me.
FAQs
What are the most significant new features in WordPress 6.5?
The most significant new features in WordPress 6.5 include the Font Library, the Plugin Dependencies feature, the Block Binding API for connecting blocks to custom fields, and the Interactivity API for creating dynamic front-end interfaces.
How do I access the Font Library in WordPress 6.5?
You can access the Font Library by going to the Site Editor (Appearance » Editor), navigating to the ‘Styles’ panel, clicking on ‘Typography’, and then clicking the ‘Manage fonts’ button.
What are plugin dependencies, and how do they work in WordPress 6.5?
Plugin dependencies refer to situations where a plugin requires another plugin to be installed and activated to function correctly. In WordPress 6.5, developers can specify these dependencies in the plugin header, and users will be notified if the required plugins are not activated.
How does the Block Binding API work in WordPress 6.5?
The Block Binding API allows users to utilize custom fields and other dynamic data as attributes for individual blocks. Developers can use this API to display dynamic data within standard core blocks, creating more interactive and dynamic content.
What is the Interactivity API in WordPress 6.5, and how does it work?
The Interactivity API is a framework that empowers developers to create modern front-end interfaces that don’t require complete page reloads, allowing for more dynamic and interactive user experiences.
Does WordPress 6.5 include any performance improvements?
Yes, WordPress 6.5 includes significant performance improvements, with the Block and Site Editors loading twice as fast and input times being four times faster than in WordPress 6.4. The translation loading library has also been improved for faster performance on multilingual websites.
How can I safely update my WordPress website to version 6.5?
To safely update your WordPress website, follow our step-by-step guide on updating WordPress. Remember to always create a complete backup before performing any update.
What are some of the under-the-hood changes in WordPress 6.5?
Under-the-hood changes in WordPress 6.5 include performance improvements, enhanced translation loading, classic theme support, updates to the Block API and Block Hooks, and significant updates to the HTML API, including the Tag Processor.
Is the Full Site Editor available in all WordPress themes?
The Full Site Editor is only available in block themes with full site editor support. Older themes that don’t support the site editor are known as classic themes.
What are some of the improvements to the Site Editor in WordPress 6.5?
The Site Editor in WordPress 6.5 features new data views (Grid view and Table view), improved style revisions, and a more streamlined interface for managing website content.