Krupal Lakhia has unveiled the roadmap for WordPress 6.8 scheduled to be released on April 15, 2025, providing us a glimpse into all the new features and changes set to arrive with the first major release of this year.
WordPress 6.8 is expected to have fewer new features with the focus being on bug fixes and polishing the existing feature set. Also, this will be the first major WordPress release after Automattic slashed its WordPress contribution hours by over 98%.
Upcoming Changes in WordPress 6.8
Design enhancements
Tammie Lister, the design lead for WordPress 6.8 already mentioned that the the design priority will be on refinement and resolving issues, “the design focus will be on polish and fix, clearing ‘needs design feedback‘ issues.”
Since WordPress 6.8 is set to include 11 versions of Gutenberg releases from Gutenberg 19.4- 20.4, we can expect the style book feature by default for classic themes that support it and the patterns section to be moved to the style book for classic themes.
A new button to reset color controls will also be introduced to quickly undo any changes made. Other user improvements include a new section styles switch button in the block toolbar in zoom-out mode, the font picker drop-down menu which now shows a preview of the font family, and new success notices for image editing.
Here’s a quick comparison of the font family preview menu in WordPress 6.7 and the updated one set to roll out with WordPress 6.8. You can see the difference in how the preview is shown.
Other enhancements include border support for post comments link, border and spacing support for post template, and many more.
Speculative loading to be integrated into the core
WordPress 6.8 aims to incorporate speculative loading into the core thereby utilizing the Speculation Rules API. The benefit of this as stated is “ This feature utilizes the Speculation Rules API to prefetch URLs dynamically based on user interaction, aiming to improve performance metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).” Community feedback is requested on this integration.
As of now, the users can make use of this feature via the Speculative Loading plugin.
Query loop refinements
The query loop continues its run of enhancements. The set of improvements includes filter by year, improvements to block spacing, and more.
Data Views enhancements
Data Views has seen various additions besides the ongoing enhancements. The few additions set to arrive with WordPress 6.8 are support for combined fields layout, quick edit: add template field, and a new confirm delete dialog box.
Now the other planned enhancements are focused on the layout of the grid, list and table, badge components, and so on.
Zoom out improvements
Zoom out mode is expected to receive UX improvements with regard to dragging patterns, pattern inserter, and more. Those interested can track this GitHub issue for more information.
API updates
We can expect improvements to the Blocks API, HTML API, and Interactivity API (currently not on track for this release as per the post).
Security optimizations
WordPress 6.8 is set to transition to using crypt for password hashing, finally bringing a resolution to a Trac ticket that proposed this 13 years ago. We can expect a detailed post on this change in the coming months.
Performance and accessibility improvements
The performance side of WordPress 6.8 will be focused on improving the loading times, better cache generation in the WP_Query class, and several performance improvements for the block editor with regard to the navigation block, stylebook resizing, and so on. We can also expect a host of accessibility improvements too.
Now the roadmap has clearly stated that “ what’s shared here is being actively pursued, but doesn’t necessarily mean each will make it into the final release of WordPress 6.8.” We’ll need to wait until WordPress 6.8 is officially released to know for sure.