Gutenberg 17.7 Released with Major Improvements

Gutenberg 17.7, the latest version of Gutenberg, has been released and is available for download.

This new release is packed with enhancements and bug fixes ahead of the next WordPress 6.5 release. There are multiple performance improvements, refinement of the Link Control UI, Shadow support for the columns, and image blocks.

Shadow Support for more blocks

The effects panel is now available for the Columns, Column, and Image blocks. This allows users to add shadow effects to them.

And, users can effortlessly apply shadow effects to these blocks, building upon the functionality previously exclusive to the Button block. This opens up new creative possibilities, empowering designers to improve their layouts directly from the Editor. (57982).

Data views enhancements

And, this release is the continuation of the Dataviews project, which will become a part of WordPress 6.5 for managing patterns and templates.

Gutenberg 17.7 has introduced the ability to select multiple items on the grid view and execute bulk actions such as reverting user templates or deleting user-created patterns and templates. It makes it possible to quickly revert all user template changes or delete all user-created patterns with filters.

Refined Link Control UI

Also, it includes a few enhancements to the Link Control UI. A notable addition to the interface allows the user to insert a new block instead of a link from the context of the Navigation block. Combined with the fixes from #55551, the Navigation block now will work to allow the insertion of third-party blocks, opening a new range of possibilities (57756, 57986, 58744).

Making Font Library ready for Core

Furthermore, the Font Library had some important changes under the hood to prepare for its journey into WordPress Core, including security improvements and standardizing some of the code structure. Some important (and ongoing) accessibility improvements came to the Font Library Management UI in the Site Editor.

Other Notable Highlights

A proposal has been put forward to include Core blocks in the directory developed within the Gutenberg repository for convenience. Core contributors would maintain the blocks but would be standalone instead of bundled with the block library. Please contribute to the discussion in the open issue.
Drag and Drop has been improved, allowing dragging from the block inserter into template parts (and within) and allowing dragging from the desktop to template parts (58589, 58423)
This release also comes packed with a bunch of performance improvements (58356, 58349, 58556, 58372, 58244, 57232, 58575, 58348, 58513, 58245, 58734, 58146, 58355, 58393, 58405, 58354)