The latest release of Gutenberg, version 15.8, has brought some exciting features that were included in the tentative WordPress 6.3 roadmap. One of the most notable additions is the Pages menu in the Site Editor, which brings users closer to a more unified content editing experience. Clicking on Pages will load the ten most recently updated pages with a link to “Manage All Pages” at the bottom of the list. Users can quickly jump into editing content by selecting a page.
However, it is important to note that the interface also includes a reminder about the nature of pages in WordPress: “Pages are static and are not listed by date. Pages do not use tags or categories.” It remains to be seen how page editing in the Site Editor is received, whether it is too confusing for users to understand what they are editing, or whether the baseline expectation is that content can be edited anywhere.
Another exciting addition to Gutenberg 15.8 is revisions for design changes, which have landed with a basic UI inside the Global Styles panel. It shows a timeline of saved changes along with who made the change, so users can easily revert back to previous design changes. This creates an extra cushion or safety net for those who are designing their own sites and should provide a greater level of user confidence when making design changes.
Version 15.8 also introduces theme previews for block themes, a feature that has been sorely missing for early adopters of block themes. This is made possible by a new theme_preview parameter, which allows the user to see what the site would look like if a different theme was active.
In addition to these major updates, there are a few other noticeable changes in this release. The Post Featured Image now has a new design for Replace and Remove buttons, while the Details block has become more intuitive with summary and innerBlocks content. The List View now allows dragging to all levels of the block hierarchy.
Overall, Gutenberg 15.8 is a significant update that brings some much-needed features to the WordPress content editing experience. Users can now enjoy a more unified editing experience with the addition of the Pages menu in the Site Editor, while revisions for design changes and theme previews for block themes provide greater flexibility and confidence when making changes to their sites. For more information on all the enhancements and bug fixes in this release, check out the full changelog.
