WordPress 6.7 will be the third major release of 2024 and is scheduled to be released on November 12, 2024. As with the previous releases, the release cycle is the same: Beta versions are followed by the Release Candidate.
Beta 1 was released on Oct 1, 2024, and we finally have an opportunity to explore all the new features and changes that are expected to arrive soon. A few focus areas for the upcoming WordPress 6.7 release are a new default theme, various API improvements, enhancements to design tools, and more.
Expected Features and Changes in WordPress 6.7
A new default theme – Twenty Twenty-Five
WordPress 6.7 will include a new default theme called Twenty Twenty-Five. The theme will come with new patterns, styles, and fonts. Carolina Nymark and Juanfra Aldasoro are leading the development. The Figma file is open to everyone and the development can be tracked on the Twenty Twenty-Five GitHub repository.
Editor updates
New font size presets
This version will include font size preset controls within the “Typography” settings in the “Styles” interface.
This will allow users to customize the default theme font size and also define custom ones.
Enhancements to data views
With regard to data views, we now have an improved “view option”, which allows us to define the preview size and so on.
Another minor improvement includes the option to hide/show filters.
Another new change in WordPress 6.7 for data views involves the option to change the column order in table views.
Zoom out mode
Another new feature in WordPress 6.7 is the new zoom-out mode. This will elevate the editing experience and be really useful when working with patterns.
New background menu
The “Styles” section now has a new background option that allows users to define a background image for the website.
Block updates
Heading block
The heading block will get a new border control option with the release of WordPress 6.7.
Gallery block
The gallery block also gets a border block support, allowing users to further customize it.
Image block
The image block has received a new margin control, which will offer users more freedom in terms of design.
Latest comments block
A new change in WordPress 6.7 regarding the latest comments block is the addition of color support. This includes support for text, background, and links.
List item block
This block also receives a new color support feature, which allows users to highlight the elements in the list further.
Social links block
The social links block now has border control options, which ensure that the users can further highlight their social media links for maximum visibility.
Group block
A new shadow support control has been added to the group block.
The query loop block is also set to receive a few enhancements with WordPress 6.7. More blocks have received various design tool updates and this ensures that users have more control and flexibility over their site’s layout.
Media improvements
Several new media enhancements are also ready to ship with WordPress 6 .7 such as HEIC support, auto sizes for lazy-loaded images, updated background image support to use a modal, added support for background attachments (fixed backgrounds), and allowing block-level background images in global styles.
Beta 1 performance benchmark reports
Mukesh Panchal on Slack shared the beta 1 performance benchmark reports from his tests. He ran the tests by comparing WordPress 6.7 beta against WordPress 6.6.2, with Twenty Twenty-One and Twenty Twenty-Four, with object caching enabled and disabled.
His test reports reveal, “With object caching disabled, Classic themes (TT1) show a 3% regression (0.35ms slower) in wp-before-template measurements; LCP remains relatively stable. Block themes (TT4) show a 6% regression in TTFB (6ms slower) and a 8% regression (8 ms slower) for wp-total measurements. LCP shows a 4.5% regression (7ms). Running the tests with object caching enabled shows slightly reduced regressions.”
He has also shared the links to the test runs via GitHub:
- For Classic and Block theme with caching disabled.
- For Classic and Block theme with caching enabled.
Miscellaneous changes
New APIs and improvements
WordPress 6.7 will introduce a new Preview Options API (this will allow users to extend the Preview dropdown menu in the post/page editor.) and Template Registration API (this will allow plugins to register templates and template parts effortlessly.).
Besides these two new APIS, other APIs such as Interactivity API, Block Bindings API, and HTML API will receive further enhancements.
Improve support for PHP 8.x
The team will also work to improve support for PHP 8.x, which will be achieved by removing code pertaining to older PHP versions that are now unsupported.
Wrapping Up
As is the case with all releases, we cannot confirm that all these new features and changes will arrive with WordPress 6.7 as of now. If any conflict is found during the testing stages, the features may be punted to the next release. We are just a month away from the release of WordPress 6.7 now.