What’s Coming within the Next Version

The wheels are in motion for WordPress 6.4 – the beta version is obtainable for testing, and the complete release is about for November 7. This update introduces significant enhancements by integrating Gutenberg versions 16.2 to 16.7 into the WordPress core.

In this text, we’ll highlight an important changes in WordPress 6.4 and guide you on methods to test it before the ultimate release.  

Recent Features and Enhancements

Although WordPress 6.4 merged fewer Gutenberg versions than past major releases, it still comes with many improvements for the block editor.

Recent Default Theme

Twenty Twenty-4 breaks away from traditional blog-centric themes because it matches businesses, agencies, and portfolios perfectly. This theme’s versatility is obvious in its pattern collection, introducing categories like portfolio, team, banner, and testimonial.

The default homepage now mirrors an organization website landing page, showcasing a business description, the services offered, and a subscription CTA. We also appreciate the abundance of placeholder text, making it easier for brand new users to kick-start their content creation.

Overall, this theme offers more flexibility, making it an excellent place to begin for brand new WordPress users.

Custom Pattern Categories

In WordPress 6.4, the pattern creation feature from version 6.3 is enhanced with custom pattern categories. Because of this, you may now neatly categorize your custom patterns beyond the default “my pattern”. 

When you create a WordPress pattern, whether synced or not, you can see the category field to register the custom pattern category. Users can assign the pattern to multiple categories, too.

List View

The list view has some revamps for a greater user experience. 

Previously, users were struggling to seek out the block they were on the lookout for. To resolve this problem, container blocks like group, stack, and row blocks can now be renamed. 

You possibly can accomplish that directly within the list view by clicking the ellipsis icon and choosing rename. When you group content in custom-named container blocks, navigating to the specified section within the list view becomes much simpler. 

Moreover, gallery and image blocks now feature thumbnail previews. While subtler than the renaming feature, it still eases the navigation within the list view, especially for image-rich content.

Open in Recent Tab Toggle within the Link Preview

Once you add a hyperlink to a text, you may set it to open in a brand new tab. Nevertheless, you’ll need to open the link editing interface and open the advanced settings, which is a hassle for such a straightforward thing.

In WordPress 6.4, an Open in recent tab toggle option is obtainable within the link preview, enabling you to alter the settings quickly.

Fixed Toolbar for Navigation, List, and Quote Blocks

In WordPress 6.4, an improved toolbar for navigation, list, and quote blocks improves your workflow further. 

These blocks have built-in child blocks by default. When working with the inner content, the toolbar now stays attached to the parent block position. Thus, the toolbar won’t obstruct the content inside these blocks.

Unfortunately, this feature continues to be limited to those three blocks, meaning it won’t work on other nested blocks like columns, buttons, and group blocks. 

Image Block Improvements

The image block in WordPress 6.4 includes a facet ratio tool inside its placeholder. Set the specified aspect ratio before uploading the image, and the placeholder will adjust, previewing the space the image will occupy. 

Moreover, the image block introduces a lightbox feature. This lets users magnify images in an overlay as a substitute of a brand new tab or page, enhancing the viewing experience. To activate it, enable the Expand on Click toggle within the image block’s settings.

Background Image Support for Container Block

In WordPress 6.4, the background image support for group, stack, and row blocks permits you to add a custom background image.

To accomplish that, navigate to the styles tab on the block’s settings panel, and also you’ll find the Background section to upload or select a picture from the media library.

Because of this, you don’t need to create content with a background image using the duvet block anymore. As container blocks offer more content layout options, this implies more design possibilities to your website.

Note that there’s no approach to adjust the opacity or reposition the image. Subsequently, you need to make sure the image has the fitting design before uploading it because the background.

Before WordPress 6.4, the native pagination block was reloading the page when moving to a different one, leading to a slower browsing experience. To enhance this, the query loop pagination will now switch pages without reloading the entire page.

One other improvement to the block is the customizable page navigation. Now, you may define the variety of pages, allowing your visitors to browse faster.

More Commands for the Command Palette

Command Palette was a brand new addition in WordPress 6.3, and recent commands have been added ever since. In WordPress 6.4, the next recent block-centric commands are accessible:

• Group
• Ungroup
• Duplicate
• Remove
• Add before
• Add after
• Transform (can have all transformation options for any given block)

As well as, WordPress contributors have added some more contextual commands that apply in various places of editors:

• Open List View (within the Site Editor)
• Exit code editor
• Hide breadcrumbs
• Show breadcrumbs
• Enable pre-publish checklist 
• Disable pre-publish checklist
• Preview in a brand new tab

The right way to Test WordPress 6.4

WordPress 6.4 is about for release on November 7, 2023, but you may test the beta version before it to try the brand new features or check the compatibility along with your website. The very best practice is to establish a test environment or a staging site to do it safely.

When you’re ready, install the WordPress Beta Tester plugin, select the Bleeding Edge channel and the Beta/RC Only stream from the plugin’s settings panel. You’ll then give you the option to update the test site to the WordPress 6.4 development version. Good luck!