Now Available: WordPress 6.1

WordPress 6.1 has been released. In keeping with WordPress version numbering convention, 6.1 is a major release.

WordPress 6.1 will make the life of your content creators much easier. It offers a much improved block editor experience to make content creation both faster and less prone to error, especially when it comes to longer, more complex pages and posts.

Learn more about the highlights of WordPress 6.1.

For more details about this release (including specific changes), please see the announcement post and Field Guide.

Questions?

If you have any questions related to this release, please open a support ticket and we will be happy to assist.

WordPress Multilingual (WPML)

Please be advised that using older versions of either the WPML plugin (< 4.5.12) or the WPML String Translation plugin (< 3.2.3) will result in an incompatibility with WordPress 6.1. Please upgrade to the latest versions to receive the compatibility fixes.

Call for Testing: WordPress 6.1 RC2

The WordPress 6.1 Release Candidate 2 is now available on WordPress VIP. Use the Software Management page to have your non-production sites updated to WordPress 6.1 for testing.

What’s Changing?

WordPress 6.1: Hot Takes for Enterprise Content Creators

Testing this release candidate is the next step in preparing your site for the WordPress 6.1 release slated for November 1st, 2022. WordPress 6.1 makes further improvements for your content creators with the improved functionality of the Gutenberg editor. 

How to test WordPress 6.1

Local Environment

Ensure VIP-CLI is updated:
npm update -g @automattic/vip

Update environment:
vip dev-env update --slug SITENAME

Non-production

Alternatively, you may update a non-production site to WordPress 6.1 RC2 now.

From within the Software Management section of the VIP Dashboard, you can select your non-production environment and change the WordPress version to “6.1-RC2”.

Testing is a vital part of polishing the release during the Release Candidate and a great way to contribute. ✨

Questions?

If you have testing feedback or questions related to this release, please open a support ticket, and we will be happy to assist.

Call for Testing: WordPress 6.1 Beta

WordPress 6.1 Beta is now available. This is the first beta released as part of the 6.1 development cycle and can be deployed to non-production environments in your WordPress VIP dashboard. The current target for the final release is November 1st, 2022.

What is being added or changed?

The WordPress 6.1 release consolidates and expands the customization tools introduced in recent versions. Usability and refinement are the main focus of this release. Here are some highlights:

  • More control over content locking:  It’s now easy to lock non-content child blocks, for example, containers, spacers, columns, etc, to create better guardrails for content creators and maintain design consistency.
  • Improved support for typography across screen sizes:  Fluid typography support means it’s now easy to define text size that can scale and adapt to the screen’s real estate available, so your content looks great on any screen.  Font families will allow headers to remain in one font style and paragraphs in another.
  • Hover states:  Improved support for hover and focus functionality within buttons and objects.
  • Individual block improvements: Several out-of-the-box blocks have been improved with this release
    • Quote Block:  This block now supports block nesting, so you can, for example, easily add images or lists within quotes.
    • Image Block:  This block supports the full range of border controls, including color, style, and width
    • Consistency between blocks:  Options are now more consistent to improve overall design tools.
  • Template Improvements: Improved navigation within Gutenberg to easily browse templates and create new pages or posts using them.  
  • Bug Fixes: Caching improvements, embedded PocketCasts support, Internationalization privacy/accessibility items have been fixed and added.

If you are already using the Block Editor, this release will make that experience even better. If you have held off, the refinements in this release provide even more incentive to make the switch.

How to test?

We recommend updating your local development environments to the 6.1 Beta release via either the Subversion or GitHub repositories.