WordPress 6.3 “Lionel” has been released on August 8, 2023, with new features and enhancements. With new WordPress releases, there will be always new features, improvements, and bug fixes. And WordPress 6.3 is no exception. It is named after Lionel Hampton, the celebrated American jazz artist. A prolific jazz vibraphonist, pianist, and percussionist.
With this “Lionel,” you can create beautiful and compelling websites more efficiently than ever. Whether you want to build an entire site without coding or are a developer looking to customize every detail, WordPress 6.3 comes with something to pique your interest. With this latest release, you will discover updated functions and navigation designed that will help you work and create with less effort, design tools that give you more control over layout, and added functionality enriching the site-building experience.
Download the latest version of WordPress here.
Let’s have a closer look at the new changes in WordPress 6.3 “Lionel”
Do everything in the Site Editor
WordPress 6.3 brings your content, templates, and patterns together in the Site Editor for the first time. Add pages, browse style variations, create synced patterns, and enjoy fine-tuned control over navigation menus. Spend less time switching across different site areas—so you can focus on what matters most. Creation to completion, all in one place.
Preview Block themes
Experience block themes before you switch and preview the Site Editor, with options to customize directly before committing to a new theme.
Create and sync patterns
Arrange blocks and save them to the ‘My Patterns’ section for use throughout your site. You can even specify whether to sync your patterns (previously referred to as “Reusable blocks”) so that one change applies to all parts of your site. Or, utilize patterns as a starting point with the ability to customize each instance.
Work faster with the Command Palette
Switch to a specific template or open your editor preferences with a new tool that helps you quickly access expanded functionality. With simple keyboard shortcuts (⌘+k on Mac or Ctrl+k on Windows), clicking the sidebar search icon in Site View, or clicking the Title Bar, get where you need to go and do what you need to do in seconds.
Sharpen your designs with new tools
New design controls bring more versatility for fine-tuning, starting with the ability to customize your captions from the Styles interface without coding. You can manage your duotone filters in Styles for supported blocks and pick from the options provided by your theme or disable them entirely. The Cover block gets added settings for text color, layout controls, and border options, making this powerful block even more handy.
Track design changes with Style revisions
With a new audit trail, you can now see how your site looked at a specific time. Visualize these revisions in a timeline and access a one-click option to restore prior styles.
Annotate with the Footnotes block
Footnotes add convenient annotations throughout your content. Now you can add and link footnotes for any paragraph.
Show or hide content with the Details block
Use the Details block to avoid spoiling a surprise, create an interactive Q&A section, or hide a long paragraph under a heading.
Performance gets a boost
WordPress 6.3 has 170+ performance updates, including defer and async support for the Scripts API and fetchpriority support for images. These improvements, along with block template resolution, image lazy-loading, and the emoji loader, can dramatically improve your website’s perceived load time.
Accessibility remains a core focus
Now, WordPress 6.3 incorporates more than 50 accessibility improvements across the platform which makes it more accessible. Improved labeling, optimized tab and arrow-key navigation, revised heading hierarchy, and new controls in the admin image editor allow those using assistive technologies to navigate more easily.
Other highlights
- Set aspect ratio on images
- Build your site distraction-free
- Rediscover the Top Toolbar
- List View improvements
- Build templates with Patterns
- Changes in PHP support
- Failed update safeguards
KNOW MORE ABOUT WORDPRESS 6.3 “Lionel” RELEASED Here.
- Release Lead: Matías Ventura
- Release Coordinators: Francesca Marano, Héctor Prieto
- Core Tech Leads: Andrew Ozz, Mike Schroder, David Baumwald
- Editor Tech Leads: Isabel Brison, Ramon Dodd
- Core Triage Leads: Jb Audras, Ahmed Kabir Chaion, Mukesh Panchal, Olga Glecker
- Editor Triage Leads: Anne McCarthy, Birgit Pauli-Haack, Firoz Sabaliya, Nick Diego
- Documentation Leads: Femy Praseeth, Steven Lin, Leonardus Nugraha, Mushrit Shabnam
- Marketing & Communications Leads: Dan Soschin, Jonathan Pantani, Meher Bala
- Test Leads: Brian Alexander, Pooja Derashri, Chris Malone, Piotrek Boniu
- Design Leads: Tammie Lister, Rich Tabor
- Performance Leads: Felix Arntz, Emily Clarke
So, have you updated to WordPress 6.3? Did this new version of WordPress fulfill your expectations? Let us know in the comments section below.