Unveiling WordPress 6.4: A Tour of the Latest Updates

On November 7, 2023, we welcomed WordPress 6.4 — “Shirley,” named for jazz singer and pianist Shirley Horn. As you’ll discover in this article, the last major release of 2023 is aptly named, as it inspires boundless creativity.

Let’s explore all Shirley has to offer, including improvements, fresh features, and an all-new default theme — stick with us until the end to see how it looks with Ninja Forms!

Get to know WordPress 6.4

Designers, content creators, and developers alike have something to look forward to with Shirley. Some of this release’s most notable offerings include:

Improved Command Palette

The Command Palette is better than ever, supporting new commands to streamline workflows. For example, open List view, hide or show breadcrumbs, open preview in a new tab, and more. The Palette’s styling is better, as well, with a permanent search symbol and darker icons for improved visibility. Check out the before and after:

Seamless content creation

Thanks to a few updates, writing and editing in WordPress just got easier. Navigation, List, and Quote blocks offer one toolbar attached to the parent block rather than separate toolbars for each child block (which can be annoying while editing content).

Link settings are more convenient as well, as you no longer have to access advanced settings to set a link to open in a new tab.

There’s also a new keyboard shortcut to duplicate blocks in List View: CMD+Shift+D (Mac) or Control + Shift + D (Windows).

A better List View

List View sees multiple improvements in this release. See media previews in List View (instead of a generic label for images or galleries), and rename Group blocks. These tweaks offer greater clarity while you review your site’s outline.

New Lightbox feature

You can now add a lightbox feature — allowing users to see full-screen images without opening a new page or tab. Apply this to individual images by toggling “Expand on Click” in the block settings, or make it a global update by navigating to Styles > Blocks > Images.

Upgraded Pattern management

Patterns already streamline site and page design, but now they’re even easier to implement. Organize your patterns into categories (like “Calls to Action” or “Galleries”), and even add custom categories. The Site Editor in WordPress 6.4 also features advanced filtering for Patterns, so you can quickly find what you’re after.

Design enhancements

Speaking of design, Shirley also packs additional design tools to improve your site’s appearance. Add background images to Group blocks, include buttons on Navigation blocks without touching code, and ensure consistency across image dimensions with placeholder aspect ratios.

Developer tools

This release is particularly exciting for developers, as it introduces a new feature called Block Hooks. As the release notes say,

This is the first step in emulating WordPress’ Hooks concept that allows developers to extend Classic Themes using filters and actions.

With Block Hooks, certain blocks can be automatically added to related block types. For example, a “Like” button with a Post Content block.

The other developer-focused improvement is Pattern sharing. If you want to use the same pattern across multiple sites, you can import and export patterns as JSON files.

More to explore

These are just some of the new/improved features and functions made possible by the talented release squad. The release also packs 100+ performance boosts plus accessibility updates. Take a deeper dive into WordPress 6.4 by exploring the official release notes.

A new default theme: Twenty Twenty-Four

Shirley also ushers in a new default theme — Twenty Twenty-Four. This is a versatile theme fit for any WordPress site. More specifically, the theme leads targeted three use cases:

• Entrepreneurs and small businesses
• Photographers and artists
• Writers and bloggers

Twenty Twenty-Four includes dozens of templates and patterns that align with these use cases, but can be customized as you see fit. As a block theme, it’s fully compatible with all Site Editor features. Regarding appearance, Twenty Twenty-Four is modern, elegant, and clean.

Twenty Twenty-Four and Ninja Forms

Curious to see Twenty Twenty-Four in action? How about with your favorite form builder for WordPress? Follow the walk-through below to see how Ninja Forms blends beautifully with WordPress’ latest default theme.

Thanks, Shirley!

As you can see, Shirley brings much to the table and continues WordPress’ long history of making site building, design, and management an intuitive experience.

If you haven’t already, download WordPress 6.4 to take advantage of all its enhancements and new features today.