{"id":42630,"date":"2023-12-06T07:00:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T15:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhblog.dream.press\/blog\/?p=42630"},"modified":"2025-05-21T20:27:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T03:27:06","slug":"wordpress-6-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-dev.dreamhost.com\/blog\/wordpress-6-5\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress 6.5 is in the Works: Here\u2019s What We Know So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The digital landscape is ever-changing, with web development at its forefront. WordPress, the titan of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/glossary\/web-design\/content-management-system-cms\/\">content management systems<\/a>, has always managed to keep its users on the edge of their seats with its triannual updates. The upcoming WordPress 6.5 release, slated for March 2024, is no exception. This version will \u2014 no doubt \u2014 promise a slew of improvements and new features designed to supercharge the performance, customization, and collaborative capabilities of the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although there has yet to be a complete list of improvements and new features released as of November 15, 2023, there are several key areas of development that we <i>do<\/i> know we can look forward to seeing. We dig into those below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"article-newsletter article-newsletter--gradient\">\n\n\n<h2>Get Content Delivered Straight to Your Inbox<\/h2><p>Subscribe now to receive all the latest updates, delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p><form class=\"nwsl-form\" id=\"newsletter_block_\" novalidate><div class=\"messages\"><\/div><div class=\"form-group\"><label for=\"input_newsletter_block_\"><input type=\"email\"name=\"email\"id=\"input_newsletter_block_\"placeholder=\"Enter your email address\"novalidatedisabled=\"disabled\"\/><\/label><button type=\"submit\"class=\"btn btn--brand\"disabled=\"disabled\"><span>Sign Me Up!<\/span><svg width=\"21\" height=\"14\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 14\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<path d=\"M13.8523 0.42524L12.9323 1.34521C12.7095 1.56801 12.7132 1.9304 12.9404 2.14865L16.7241 5.7823H0.5625C0.251859 5.7823 0 6.03416 0 6.3448V7.6573C0 7.96794 0.251859 8.2198 0.5625 8.2198H16.7241L12.9405 11.8535C12.7132 12.0717 12.7095 12.4341 12.9323 12.6569L13.8523 13.5769C14.072 13.7965 14.4281 13.7965 14.6478 13.5769L20.8259 7.39879C21.0456 7.17913 21.0456 6.82298 20.8259 6.60327L14.6477 0.42524C14.4281 0.205584 14.0719 0.205584 13.8523 0.42524Z\" fill=\"white\"\/>\n<\/svg>\n<\/button><\/div><\/form><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-so-what-s-on-the-drawing-board\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">So, What&#8217;s On the Drawing Board?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-performant-translations\"><b>Performant Translations<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Arguably one of the most anticipated enhancements in the pipeline is the introduction of performant translations. This feature is a brainchild of the WordPress Performance Team, who have set out to turbocharge the performance of sites that utilize translations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The performant translations feature encompasses a novel, streamlined internationalization (i18n) library. This powerhouse not only provides lightning-fast speed but also economizes on memory usage while loading the binary MO files used for translations in WordPress. The result? A seamless, efficient experience for site users and developers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The library is also engineered to support the simultaneous loading of multiple locales, thus accelerating the process of locale switching. Additionally, it extends support to translations housed in PHP files. This innovative approach sidesteps the need for a binary file format and leverages server level caching, if available, to further enhance site speed and memory efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-font-library\"><b>Font Library<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Typography plays a pivotal role in shaping a website&#8217;s aesthetic appeal and user experience. Recognizing this, WordPress 6.5 will feature a revolutionary Font Library. This feature, initially slated for WordPress 6.4 but subsequently postponed to 6.5, promises to redefine typography management across WordPress sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Font Library will empower users to peruse an extensive repository of open-license fonts in the admin panel, offering an experience akin to managing media. It&#8217;s worth noting that this library will not be constrained by theme dependencies, but will be extensible for plugin developers, providing greater flexibility and customization options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Font Library will also pioneer server-side @font-face CSS generation and printing. All in all, this groundbreaking feature is forecasted to significantly enhance the visual appeal and overall aesthetics of any WordPress sites that decide to leverage it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-focus-on-collaboration-features\"><b>Focus on Collaboration Features<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.5 is also gearing up to place a heightened emphasis on collaboration features. This focus is part of <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/about\/roadmap\/\">Phase 3 of the Gutenberg project<\/a>, which is dedicated to bolstering collaborative capabilities within WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These collaboration-centric features are set to be a key highlight of the 6.5 release and future versions throughout 2024. Users can anticipate a more cooperative and user-friendly WordPress platform, making web development and content creation a more engaging and streamlined process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-improvements-to-wordpress-admin-accessibility\"><b>Improvements to WordPress admin accessibility<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Admin notices inform WordPress users when something goes right \u2014 or wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This new version of WordPress aims to provide mechanisms to assist users with accessibility needs navigate through the notices in a standardized way, outside of the existing than visual indication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with this improvement, work is in progress regarding the focus styling in form inputs, buttons, and links to use a higher contrast. This continues with the previous work introduced in WordPress 5.3 to include some focusable elements that were previously missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-automate-the-workflows-for-testing-wordpress\"><b>Automate the workflows for testing WordPress<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Build package installations for new releases (such as wordpress-6.5.zip) are manually tested by WordPress.org core developers and release party attendees when a new version is released \u2014 but they don\u2019t usually cover an extensive range of PHP, MySQL, and older WordPress versions. With over 60,000 plugins and hundreds of different hosting configurations, it\u2019s kind of hard to account for everything!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this next version of WordPress, these tests could include more areas of focus programmatically to help avoid incompatibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is also a proposal to include links to <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.wordpress.org\/playground\/\">WordPress Playground<\/a> to automatically generate a testing environment for every new piece of functionality or patch without having to install a copy of WordPress locally. This could mean more people with non-technical skills could test and provide feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-disable-autoload-for-large-options\"><b>Disable autoload for large options<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress is dazzlingly fast out of the box, but as a website grows with content and new functionality being added, it can become slow. Especially when unoptimized plugins bloat the database with options that load on every visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposal for this new version of WordPress is to prevent these options from being autoloaded if they grow past a specific size to help with speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-automatic-update-rollbacks\"><b>Automatic Update Rollbacks<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A key feature generating buzz is the ability to rollback auto updates for plugins and themes. This feature, already accessible as the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/rollback-update-failure\/\">&#8220;Rollback Auto Update&#8221; plugin<\/a>, is a game-changer in website management. It automatically reverts plugins to a prior version if an auto-update fails, enhancing update confidence, site security, and reducing support dependency. While it adds a layer of security, regular site backups remain essential. The inclusion of this feature in WordPress 6.5 signifies a significant step forward in making website management more seamless and user-friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/blog\/wordpress-6-5-rollback-auto-update\/\">Will &#8220;Rollback Auto Update&#8221; Be Included in WordPress 6.5?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-digital-eyes-open-more-to-come\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Digital Eyes Open, More to Come<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress 6.5 is poised to usher in a wave of significant improvements and features that promise to elevate the user experience for experienced developers and new users alike. With a keen focus on performance, customization, and collaboration, this release marks a major step forward in web development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stay tuned for more updates on WordPress 6.5, coming soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The digital landscape is ever-changing, with web development at its forefront. WordPress, the titan of content management systems, has always managed to keep its users on the edge of their seats with its triannual updates. The upcoming WordPress 6.5 release, slated for March 2024, is no exception. This version will \u2014 no doubt \u2014 promise [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1062,"featured_media":42631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"The upcoming WordPress 6.5 release, slated for March 2024, promises a slew of improvements and new features. Here's what we know so far.","toc_headlines":"[[\"h-so-what-s-on-the-drawing-board\",\"So, What's On the Drawing Board?\"],[\"h-digital-eyes-open-more-to-come\",\"Digital Eyes Open, More to Come\"]]","hide_toc":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13123,10025,696],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-release-news","category-tech-talk","category-wordpress"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>WordPress 6.5 is Coming Soon - DreamHost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The upcoming WordPress 6.5 release, slated for March 2024, promises a slew of improvements and new features. 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Here&#039;s what we know so far.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www-dev.dreamhost.com\/blog\/wordpress-6-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DreamHost Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DreamHost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-06T15:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-22T03:27:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/WordPress-6.5-social.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Cosper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The upcoming WordPress 6.5 release, slated for March 2024, promises a slew of improvements and new features. 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