WordPress 6.4 Beta 1 was released today, marking an important milestone in the development of the popular content management system. Led by an underrepresented gender release squad, this release includes the last five releases of the Gutenberg plugin, along with the upcoming 16.7 release and 190 tickets for core.
If you have been following Gutenberg development, you may already be familiar with many of the features and improvements included in WordPress 6.4. Some of the notable highlights of this release are:
Font Management: With the new font management feature, users can now manage a font library independent of their active theme. Additionally, Font Face support has been added for server-side @font-face style generation and printing.
Block Hooks: Developers can now take advantage of block hooks to automatically insert blocks into content relative to another block. This feature provides more flexibility and control over block placement.
Lightbox for Images: Core support for lightbox functionality has been added for image blocks. This allows users to display images in a pop-up window, providing a better viewing experience.
Expanded Design Tools: WordPress 6.4 introduces several design tool enhancements, including background images for Group blocks, aspect ratios for image placeholders, and alignment settings for synced patterns. These additions give users more options for customizing their website’s design.
Command Palette Updates: The command palette has received several updates in terms of design and functionality. The improved design makes it easier to use, while new commands and better consistency across existing commands enhance the overall user experience.
List View Enhancements: Usability improvements have been made to the list view, making it more convenient to work with Group blocks. Users can now rename Group blocks, view media previews for Gallery and Image blocks, and duplicate blocks with a keyboard shortcut.
New Twenty Twenty-Four Default Theme: WordPress 6.4 will ship with a new default theme called Twenty Twenty-Four. This multipurpose block theme comes with a collection of templates and patterns that cater to a wide variety of use cases. You can preview the theme at 2024.wordpress.net.
In addition to these features, WordPress 6.4 will also include various accessibility and performance improvements. These enhancements will benefit users of both Block and Classic Themes, improving workflows and speeding up website performance.
To ensure a smooth release, a detailed testing guide has been made available. This guide covers all the key features of WordPress 6.4 and provides video demos for each feature. Users are encouraged to test the beta version and provide feedback to help identify any issues or bugs.
Looking ahead, Beta 2 is expected to be released on October 3. The final release of WordPress 6.4 is scheduled for November 7, making it the third major release of 2023. With its array of new features and improvements, WordPress 6.4 promises to enhance the user experience and provide more flexibility for website customization.
In conclusion, WordPress 6.4 Beta 1 brings a host of exciting features and improvements to the popular content management system. From font management and block hooks to design tool enhancements and a new default theme, this release offers something for everyone. Users are encouraged to test the beta version and provide feedback to help make WordPress 6.4 the best it can be. Stay tuned for Beta 2 and the final release on November 7!
