WordPress 6.2 Maintenance Releases
WordPress 6.2 was released in March 2023. There has subsequently been two maintenance releases: WordPress 6.2.1 – May 16th, 2023; and WordPress 6.2.2 – May 20th, 2023.
WordPress 6.3
This version was launched on August 8th, 2023. See the WordPress 6.3 Release Post. For more technical information see the WordPress 6.3 Field Guide.
We were (certainly I was) led to believe that 6.2 would see the end of phase 2 of the Gutenberg project. Wrong. It appears that 6.3 is the official end of phase 2! .. although I am not sure that I fully believe them, but then I am just a cynical sort of chap.
A flurry of changes have appeared in 6.3, including:
- the ability to do more work on block themes from within the site editor, e.g. add / maintain pages rather than having to jump between the site editor and the WordPress dashboard
- pattern management. You can now have your own searchable pattern library. Note that reusable blocks are now called “synced patterns”
- the introduction of the command palette, essentially a search mechanism to allow you to quickly jump to other parts of WordPress
- the ability to preview a new block theme, including making some customisations, before you actually commit to the theme
- various new design controls which allow further fine-tuning of blocks
- new blocks include: the ability to have footnotes; and hide / display detailed information
As with recent releases, work has continued in the areas of performance and accessibility.
What Next?
While work will inevitably continue on refining the functionality and user experience that have been developed thus far, phase three of the Gutenberg project will finally get started. This is Collaboration, and a useful introduction on the subject was been penned by Matias Ventura back in March 2023.
He has followed it with three more detailed articles on particular aspects, viz. Workflows, Revisions, and the Media Library.
BK .. This and That 