Gutenberg 17.9, the latest version of Gutenberg, has been released and is available for download.
This new release is packed with enhancements and bug fixes. Many contributors are still focused on polishing for the upcoming WordPress 6.5 release. The enhancements and new features are highlighted below.
As a reminder, with WordPress 6.5 now in the RC phase, bug fixes from the Gutenberg plugin are backported for inclusion in 6.5 as needed. However, new features in Gutenberg 17.9 will not be included in WordPress 6.5.
Color and typography presets in Global Styles
Color and typography presets that are defined in theme variations are now exposed within the color and typography sections of Global Styles. This new feature allows users to mix and match color presets or typography from different variations, offering greater flexibility for designs from a given theme. (56622).
Indenting List block items via the tab key
The List block now supports indenting and outdenting when the selection is at the beginning of the List item. This improves the usability of the List block by allowing indenting via the keyboard, while still preserving existing tabbing behavior in the editor canvas when the selection is elsewhere within the block. (59199)
Shuffle option when choosing patterns
When a pattern is inserted and has categories defined, and where the pattern contains a single top-level block such as a Group block, a shuffle button is exposed in the block toolbar that allows a user to cycle through random patterns. This makes it easier to quickly browse through a variety of available patterns in specific scenarios. (59251)
Swap Template Parts in the Inspector
When selecting a Template Part in the site editor, now the replace flow is more discoverable with previews of alternate Template Parts available to select from the block inspector controls. This allows for a more at-a-glance approach to browsing different options for swapping out headers and footers. (55128)
Other Notable Highlights
- Background images can now be set in the root of
theme.jsonto provide site-wide background images (59354). There is currently no UI for it in Global Styles, and this will be explored in future releases. - For container blocks that use
allowedBlocks, insert before and after actions are now supported on child blocks (59162). - Use drag handles to set row and column span and see a dotted outline of block placement when the new “Grid interactivity” experiment is enabled (59052).
Reference: WordPress Core