WordPress 6.7 Roadmap Includes New Default Theme, APIs, and Media Enhancements

Anne McCarthy has unveiled the roadmap for WordPress 6.7, slated for release on November 12, 2024. This will be the final major update of the year.

She has emphasized that “More than anything though, this release brings refinement to how everything connects together to create a more seamless WordPress experience, whether you’re trying to upload a HEIC image to your site or display a selection of posts with the Query Loop block.”

WordPress 6.7 will ship with a new default theme, Twenty Twenty-Five, that “embodies ultimate flexibility and adaptability”. Fully compatible with the Site Editor, the theme features high-quality fonts supporting multiple languages, a variety of color palettes, and an extensive collection of patterns.

This release will also include two new APIs designed to simplify developers’ workflows:

Template Registration API to allow templates and template parts to be registered directly within plugins without filters.

Preview Options API to expand the Preview dropdown menu in the post/page editor and add greater flexibility in preview functionality.

Several existing APIs, such as the Interactivity API, Block Bindings API, and HTML API, will also see enhancements.

New features offering more flexibility and functionality will improve the data view experience. Users can expect options to hide or show filters in the interface, adjust the density of information in the grid layout, and configure the grid layout’s aspect ratio to their preferences.

The Query Loop block will be updated to ease customization. Improvements include refining settings copy and context detection for a more intuitive user experience. For a better editing experience, WordPress 6.7 will introduce an option to zoom out and work at the pattern level.

Significant updates to media handling are also on the way, including HEIC support, auto sizes for lazy loaded images, and more background image support at individual and global levels.

Other highlights of WordPress 6.7 include:

Updates to design tools, including shadow support for Group blocks.

Improved support for PHP 8.x and removing code specific for unsupported versions.

A new split view for the iframe post editor to ensure a consistent WYSIWYG experience.

Removing the experimental status of typography blocks

A new feature in the Styles interface allowing users to customize theme presets.

Anne has cautioned that the new features mentioned in the post “ is being actively pursued, but doesn’t necessarily mean each will make it into the final release of WordPress 6.7.”

Interested users can look into the demos shared during a recent hallway hangout to get a glimpse into what’s being developed for this release and future updates.