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August 30 2023
10 Min Read

WordPress July Roundup: A Month of Progress and Excitement

WordPress, the popular content management system (CMS), recently released the 6.3 beta version in June, and July was the month of testing and fixing. Along with Gutenberg 16.2 and 16.3, various other updates were done to finalize the release candidates.

So, let us shine some light on all the latest WordPress updates, after which version 6.3 was released.

WordPress 6.3 Release Candidates

After the beta version, the WordPress final release candidate (RC) came in two parts. The release date for RC 1 was July 18, 2023, and RC2 on July 25, 2023. After the testing and bug fixing, the final version was released on August 8, 2023.

Now, the RC1 had 120+ updates, and RC2 had 15 updates that led to the final release of the version. Here are some glimpses of fun features that you can try in the WordPress:

Synced Patterns: Reusable Blocks are easily replaceable by Synced Patterns.

Command Palette: You may quickly access essential admin commands with the Command Palette.

Revision History: You can view earlier iterations of the visual style of your website with Style Revisions. The navigation for the site editor has been improved and now includes distraction-free mode and theme preview.

Block Upgrade: Footnotes, Time to Read, Details, and improvements to current blocks.

The WordPress Gutenberg Update

In July, the Lead Architect of Gutenberg, Matias Ventura, uploaded the roadmap of collaboration. Two quality-of-life (QoL) updates were made available by Gutenberg in July 2023: 16.2 on July 12 and 16.3 on July 26. The new features will help make the tool simpler.

Here are some features for the new WordPress update for Gutenberg:

Compact Patterns: There have been updates in the block patterns that maintain consistency over the menus.

Vertical Text Orientation: With this, some specific themes support the vertical alignment text, making it easy to display vertical written languages.

Accessible Functions: Functions, like rename, delete, and duplicate, are now simpler to access.

Focus mode: You can enter the focus mode while working on the patterns that will make you focus on the current block you are working on.

Footnotes block fixes: With the update, there are bug fixes in the footnotes block that you can now add manually.

There are other changes in the Gutenberg update that will improve your experience.

Latest WordPress Updates for Developers

For WordPress developers, July brought a handful of helpful changes intended to simplify your work and advance your plugins.

These are the key points:

There is now a development mode for WordPress. It disables caching, including intrusive theme.json caches. In the future, you might be able to use it with your debugging tools or obtain more specific error messages.
There is a public API for the Command Palette, allowing you to create unique commands for your plugins and themes.
Now that CSS-Grid is supported by the Query Loop and its Post Template block, you may choose the spacing between blocks for posts.
New action and filter hooks, such as bulk_edit_posts, wp_update_user_action, and plugins_list.
Several enhancements to the theme, including a new “description” attribute for style variations and better.

In addition, it is essential to know that after the release of WordPress 6.3, PHP 5 support is dropping, and you will need to work your website on PHP 7.0.0 or newer.

WordPress Security for Plugins

WordPress is a secure software that provides security. However, in July, some plugins compromised the security and had loopholes that led the attackers to invade the website data easily.

Some vulnerabilities were found in plugins that have millions of users. These plugins are All in One SEO, OptinMonster, Rank Math, SEO, and Freemius. Some of the plugins had vulnerabilities like scripting (XSS). These loopholes can make it easy for attackers to get passwords or API data.

However, after getting the information about the same, the developers built new and upgraded features for better security and website protection. Therefore, if you are using such plugins, make sure to update them with the latest versions.

Also, if you are worried that such loopholes are affecting your website, you can check them in the Patchstack database. There is no need to stress about it but update your plugins, and you will be good to go.

Conclusion

So, this was all about updates in WordPress that took place in July. However, technology is constantly changing, and new events are taking place every day. Therefore, stay updated on the features to get the maximum benefit and secure your website from malicious events.

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