Black Friday and Cyber Monday Special Sale! Get Up to 50% Discount on All Plan

X

WordPress 6.1 is Knocking the Door – New Features and Functionalities

  • Home
  • Wordpress
  • WordPress 6.1 is Knocking the Door – New Features and Functionalities
wordpress-6.1

You may be wondering what’s next after WordPress 6.0 was released this spring. WordPress 6.1 has a lot to look forward to, especially if you’ve loved the updates in the past few releases.

The details of 6.1 are still unknown since it is still in development. Luckily, we know what to expect based on updates from the WordPress core team.

The goal of this post is to provide you with information about when WordPress 6.1 is expected to be released, what will be the focus, and how you can prepare your website.

What’s the Release Date of WordPress 6.1?

The WordPress core development team has released a preliminary WordPress 6.1 roadmap. It covers key areas of work that will be addressed prior to the official release of 6.1 on June 12, 2022. The WordPress Core team is anticipated to release the update on November 1, 2022.

WordPress 6.1 and Its Features and Functionalities

A number of new features have been introduced in WordPress 5.9 and 6.0, which will be improved and expanded in WordPress 6.1. Two new features added in WordPress 5.9 and 6.0 are visual editing and site-wide editing. For more information on WordPress 6.0 and full site editing, see our guide.

Following is a list of things to look forward to in 6.1:

Twenty Twenty-Three – The New Default Theme

With the last release of the year, WordPress will ship a brand new default theme called Twenty Twenty-Three.

twenty-twenty-three-theme-with-wordpress-6.1

This minimalist block theme has full editing capabilities and features a minimalist style.

Inside the Site Editor, users will have the option of choosing from ten style variations of this theme.

twentytwentythree-theme-styles-min

A total of four fonts will be included, each with its own style. When you write posts and pages, you can also choose these fonts.

twentytwentythree-theme-typography

Overall, Twenty Twenty-Three’s site editor provides an attractive canvas for creating websites using its design tools.

Improvements in Block Editor

It is the block editor that most WordPress users use for writing and editing posts and pages.

WordPress’s editor constantly improves with each new release. Gutenberg (the code name for the block editor project) released 13.1 and 14.1, which will be included in WordPress 6.1.

This Gutenberg release focused primarily on ensuring that different blocks had consistent design tools.

The block editor has undergone some noticeable changes. Let’s dig.

Blocks with More Dimensions

The new version of WordPress 6.1 will introduce dimensions to a number of blocks, such as paragraphs, lists, columns, and tables.

dimensions

This will give users more control over design and layout by setting padding and margins for more blocks.

Moreover, it will provide users with a visual representation of changing padding or margins for a block.

visualize-dimensions

Enhancements to Border Options

A new WordPress 6.1 feature allows users to border more blocks. The borders can also be adjusted separately on the top, right, bottom, and left.

advanced-border-controls

Previously, you could only select the border radius for the image block, but now you can also add actual borders.

image-border

Featured Image Adding Options in Cover Block

Many of our users ask about the differences between featured images and cover blocks in WordPress. The cover block was frequently used as the featured image on users’ sites.

With WordPress 6.1, users can select a featured image for their cover block. Once the feature image has been set, it will display inside the cover.

featuredimage-coverblock

Users will be able to display featured images wherever they want by using a cover.

N.B: In some themes, if you do not use the featured image correctly, it appears twice.

With Inner Blocks, Quote and List Blocks can be Created

Are you ever wishing you could move an item up or down in a bulleted list without making an edit?

In WordPress 6.1, inner blocks will be introduced for Lists and Quotes.

A list block, for example, will have blocks for each item. As a result, you would be able to move them up and down without editing them.

movelistitems

Likewise, quote and cite blocks can be styled differently when used in the Quote block.

quote-block

Improvements to the Navigation Block

In WordPress 6.1, the improved navigation block makes it easy to create an editable menu from the block settings.

navigation-menu-wordpress-6.1

Users will also be able to use design tools to style submenus differently from the parent menu item.

submenu-colors

Improved Editor Design

In the Editor screen design, many new things are coming with WordPress 6.1. With this, the user will get the best experience on the block editor screen. Some of these improvements are below-

The preview button was replaced with the View

In WordPress 6.1, the preview button is exchanged with View.

viewbutton

In Site Editor on WordPress 6.1, a link to view the site in a new tab is being added in the View button dropdown.

viewsite

The former Status & Visibility Panel is now converted into the Summary

Under the Post settings, you’ll now get Summary instead of Status & Visibility.

summarypanel

Permalink and Template options have got a new place

Both Permalink and Template Options are now available under the Post settings’ Summary panel.

missing-panels

You just need to click on the Summary panel to access the permalink changing and template choosing options.

moveditems

Information Panel has Undergone massive changes

Before WordPress 6.1, there was no option for how much time it would take to finish the content. From now on, you’ll get this time to read information along with other features in the information popover.

information-panel

Changes in Preferences Options

The two new options have been included in the WordPress 6.1 preferences panel.

One is “Always open list view”, and by enabling this, you can display list view while editing posts.

new-preferences-options

Another one is “Show button text labels.” Once you enable this option, text will be visible instead of icons in buttons.

buttons-labels

Using Template Parts with Quick Search Option

Quick searching and using template parts is a breeze with WordPress 6.1.

For example, if the theme you’re using has more than one header template part, you can quickly search and apply using this option.

replace-template-part

To do so, you need to click on the template part options and select Replace Header.

You’ll then get a modal popup with all the template parts in it. You can use any of them with a single click.

selecttemplatepart

WordPress 6.1: On-going Improvements

  • Template parts are usable for Classic themes now. (Explore More)
  • Easy and dynamic font size adjusting with fluid typography. (Explore More)
  • Post types with their very own starter patterns. (Explore More)
  • Filters to hook into theme.json data. (Explore More)

To sum up, the WordPress 6.1 block editor comes with more than 350 enhancements and 350 bug fixes. Plus, 250+ tickets for the core.

Wrapping Up

That’s it! Are you excited about WordPress 6.1? We hope you’ve got a details overview of what’s coming in WordPress 6.1 (features and functionalities).

After finishing the post, let us know which features are more exciting for you and what you expect with future WordPress releases! Where? The comment section is below.

Still have questions?

Just fill out the contact form to get a free consultation from our expert. We would be happy to help.
ThemeLooks YouTube Facebook Linkedin Twitter

  • 928 Views
  • Comments are closed