WordPress 6.3 For Developers: Features and Benefits in 2023

WordPress 6.3, released on August 8, 2023, brings in lots of exciting new features, substantial improvements, and crucial bug fixes. Developers, in particular, will find the changes beneath the surface to be of great interest.

Alongside, the impending WordPress update, already in the beta testing phase, promises to be a significant release in its own right. If you’re eager to explore what WordPress 6.4 has in store, you can access it right here – WordPress 6.4 Beta 1

Should you have any valuable feedback or suggestions to contribute to the WordPress team’s ongoing efforts, we encourage you to share them here: “WordPress 6.4.” Additionally, you can keep yourself abreast of the latest community comments and updates on that page.

Now, let’s delve back into WordPress 6.3…

Just to give you a quick overview, there are 3 main core areas this update focuses on.

• Block Library – is envisioning a comprehensive system that brings together various elements essential for users, such as blocks, patterns, post types, media, and more. The goal is to seamlessly organize all of these components, creating a fluid experience not only within the editor but also outside of it.
• Admin Design – has set forth several objectives for a contemporary and adaptable WordPress redesign that aims to make the process of building beautiful user experiences a joy.
• Real-time Collaboration – has analyzed the architectural aspects of collaborative features, building upon previous discussions. It provides a high-level overview of how the architecture would function within the post and site editors, emphasizing the potential for real-time collaboration.

WordPress 6.3 Development Cycle

Just to give you a timeline perspective, here’s a brief overview of the development cycle leading to the final release of WordPress 6.3, you can check all the releases here – Releases – WordPress News.

• May 18, 2023: Planning roundup.
• April 14, 2023: Pre-planning post for WordPress 6.3 release schedule.
• March 9, 2023: Alpha – Trunk opened for business.
• June 27, 2023: Beta – 1, marking the beginning of core contributors’ focus on testing and fixing bugs discovered during beta-1 testing, along with the start of writing Dev Notes and the About page.
• June 28, 2023: Beta – 2, with core contributors continuing their testing and bug-fixing efforts from beta-2 testing, along with writing Dev Notes and the About page.
• July 3, 2023: Beta – 3, featuring testing of beta release and bug fixes discovered during beta-3 testing, along with ongoing work on Dev Notes and the About page.
• July 11, 2023: Beta – 4, with beta release testing, bug fixes, and progress on the About page and Dev Notes.
• July 18, 2023: Release Candidate 1, including the publication of the Field Guide with Dev Notes, committing the About page, initiating the drafting of the release post, implementing a hard string freeze, and branching for the release.
• July 25, 2023: Release Candidate 2, with continued updates to the About page images and ongoing work on the release post.
• August 1, 2023: Release Candidate 3, carrying on with updates to the About page images and the release post drafting.
• August 7, 2023: Release Candidate 4, featuring final updates to the About page images and continued progress on the release post, along with a dry run for the release and a 24-hour code freeze.
• August 8, 2023: Final Release – WordPress 6.3 is officially released!

New Elements Added

1. Media Category 

The registerInserterMediaCategory API is for media inserter categories that was added to Gutenberg 16.2. This enables you to add a new sub-tab under Media in the inserter, which you may use for a variety of purposes, such as to add more media kinds or interact with outside services—I’m sure you can come up with more.

For further information, refer to the Block Editor Handbook’s documentation on the API.

2. WordPress Block Pattern Updates

The WordPress 6.3 version is making significant strides in block patterns. Users will now have the ability to create custom patterns within the Site Editor. Reusable blocks have also undergone a name change, and the concept of Synced and Unsynced patterns has been introduced. Here’s a closer look:

In previous WordPress versions, adding a custom pattern was quite a hassle, requiring users to leave the editor, register the pattern in the WordPress directory, or add a PHP file to the installation folder. But things are much simpler now. In WordPress 6.3, the block toolbar menu offers an option for creating patterns. With a simple click on “Create pattern,” enter a name, and voila! You’ve got yourself a custom pattern without ever leaving the site editor. It’s a considerably more user-friendly process.

3. Support for vertical text orientation

Theme.json now supports vertical text orientation, which is new for your themes. Just change the parameters. When you set settings.typography.writingMode to true, a new Text Orientation design tool will appear in the UI’s Paragraph blocks. That may be positioned either vertically or horizontally.

1. Enable Writing Mode in theme.json:

• By default, this setting is disabled.
• In your theme.json file, navigate to settings > typography.
• Add “writingMode”: true.

2. Add Vertical Writing Mode for Paragraphs in theme.json:

• Still in your theme.json file, under styles > blocks, add the following code for the 
• “core/paragraph” block:

"core/paragraph": {

    "typography": {

        "writingMode": "vertical-rl"

    }

}

3. Activate the Theme:

• Activate the theme you’ve made these changes in.

4. Confirm Paragraphs Are Vertical:

• Check that all paragraphs are displayed vertically.

5. Remove Block Style from theme.json:

• Remove the block style you added for “core/paragraph” from your theme.json file.

6. Go to Site Editor > Styles > Blocks > Paragraph > Typography:

• Set the orientation to “vertical.”
• Confirm that the block is displayed vertically.

7. Change Orientation to Horizontal:

• Change the orientation to “horizontal.”
• Confirm that the change is applied.

8. Access Orientation Setting from Block Settings Sidebar:

• Select a paragraph block in the Site Editor.
• Look for the orientation setting in the block settings sidebar, specifically in the typography panel.
• It should not be displayed by default but should be available from the three-dot menu.
• Confirm that both options work in the editor and on the front end.

9. Change Site Language to RTL

• Change the site language to use a right-to-left (RTL) language.
• Repeat step 8.
• Confirm that both options work and that the text is facing the correct direction.

Here is a video tutorial – Orientation.mp4

Improvements 

1. Site Editor navigation In the WordPress 6.3 update, site navigation has undergone significant improvements. In previous versions, navigation was limited to templates and template parts within the site editor, while other controls were scattered across various menus. However, in the latest WordPress release, a unified Navigation, Styles, Pages, Templates, and Patterns navigator has been introduced within the Site Editor (accessible through “Appearance > Editor“), with Template Parts now seamlessly integrated under “Patterns.”

2. Search Icon

A notable enhancement is the addition of a search icon in the top-right corner of the new site navigation. This empowers users to swiftly locate items by name, encompassing templates, pages, patterns, and styles.

In summary, these innovative additions serve to streamline the entire site editing process, enhancing efficiency and user-friendliness throughout website operation.

Before: 

After:

2. Command Palette

A brand-new feature in WordPress 6.3, the Command Palette, sits at the top of the Site Editor. It provides quick navigation and access to templates, patterns, blocks, pages, and posts within the Site Editor. You can access it through a shortcut command: CTRL + K. 

Designed as a quick search and command execution tool, WordPress 6.3 also introduces a Command Palette API, allowing developers to register their own commands and seamlessly integrate them with the palette.

3. Image Performance Enhancement for Improved WordPress LCP Score

The latest WordPress version includes multiple enhancements aimed at optimizing image load time performance for displayed images. This plays a crucial role in improving the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric, which, in turn, positively impacts your WordPress site’s SEO score.

The “fetchpriority” attribute instructs the browser to prioritize images containing the largest content element in a viewport. WordPress 6.3 automatically sets the value of the fetchpriority attribute to “high” for such images, resulting in a general LCP performance improvement of 5-10%. Additionally, this version further improves the handling of lazy-loading via the loading attribute.

New Blocks WordPress 6.3 introduces a couple of new blocks:

• Footnotes:

Easily add footnotes to your posts using the Footnote block. To utilize this block, select a text, click on the three dots (⋮), and choose Footnotes. This feature is particularly handy for citations.

• Details:

Another new addition is the Details block, which functions as an accordion. It hides content under a title or headline and expands when clicked. You can place any WordPress block beneath the Details block, allowing you to create clean and minimalist visual designs.

WordPress 6.3 Introducing the “Development Mode”

The concept of development mode makes its debut in the WordPress 6.3 version update. It essentially defines the type of development tasks a website is intended for. To configure the development mode, a new constant, WP_DEVELOPMENT_MODE, has been introduced. The available values for this constant include:

• Core: For WordPress core development.
• Plugin: To develop WordPress plugins.
• Theme: To develop WordPress themes.
• All: When the website is used to modify all aspects.
• An empty string signifies that no specific development mode is enabled for this site.

As a newly added feature, the development mode is currently limited to a few use cases in WordPress core, primarily related to theme.json caching.

A Host of Additional Features:

Beyond the major updates mentioned above, WordPress 6.3 is loaded with many other new features aimed at making your life easier and your website faster. Regardless of the type of website you operate, WordPress 6.3 has something to offer. Here are some key features you can anticipate:

• Aspect ratio controls for Image Blocks.
• Simplified “Edit Site” redirection to the current template.
• Style Revision feature for revising and restoring changes made in the Site Editor styles.
• Improved padding and margin control using sliders.

Block Library Updates

In the block library enhancements, there are notable updates:

• Preformatted: The Preformatted block now includes support for spacing, enhancing its formatting options.
• Social Links: The Social Links block introduces a new Threads social icon, expanding the available social networking options.
• Verse: In the Verse block, pressing the Enter key will now create a line break, enhancing the block’s functionality.
• Captions: While technically considered an element rather than a block, captions are now configurable in terms of their color and typography through the Styles interface.

Bug Fixes

A series of bug fixes have been implemented in both Gutenberg and WordPress, aimed at improving your user experience:

1. You can now style nested elements for blocks in theme.json. Previously, this functionality was available but was hindered by a bug that prevented the styles from being generated on the front end.
2. On the site’s homepage, the Home link block now correctly displays the “.current-menu-item” class. This behavior aligns with how other links function, providing a consistent user experience.
3. A new and improved logic for caching results in wp_theme_has_theme_json() now takes into consideration that a site can switch themes. This enhances the handling of theme.json files and their compatibility with changing themes.

Wrapping It Up

In a nutshell, WordPress 6.3 is a major release for a developer with new features and improvements to the WordPress platform. Key highlights include enhanced user-friendly navigation, pattern updates, the Command Palette, Development Mode, Distraction-Free Mode, and Site Editor Enhancements.

These features are designed to make WordPress more accessible for users and developers while also boosting performance. You can get a taste of these changes by installing the WordPress Beta Tester plugin or downloading the latest version from WordPress.org. Remember to back up your website before performing any CMS updates.