WordPress has once again raised the bar with its latest release, introducing block themes—a completely new approach to building and managing themes that offers an unprecedented level of control for editors and developers alike. This update marks a significant shift in how we create websites, with features that streamline workflows, enhance design flexibility, and optimise performance.
Released in July 2024, WordPress 6.6 comes with a range of new features and enhancements that significantly improve the block themes experience. Offering even greater customisation options through features like Grid Block, Section Styles and Pattern Overrides.
1. Enhanced block patterns
Block themes come with a rich collection of pre-designed block patterns, making it easier than ever to create visually appealing content. These patterns can be seamlessly inserted into posts and pages, allowing editors to build beautiful layouts quickly without needing extensive design expertise. This streamlined content creation process is a game-changer for those looking to elevate their site’s visual appeal with minimal effort.
The introduction of the Grid Block in WordPress 6.6 also makes it easier to create responsive grid layouts. This block gives you control over the minimum column width and allows manual placement of items within the grid.
This feature is particularly useful for designers and developers who need to create complex, yet responsive, layouts without relying on external CSS frameworks or plugins.
2. Full site editing (FSE) support
With full support for FSE, this allows you to customise every aspect of your site directly from the editor. This cohesive experience means you no longer need to switch between different interfaces to make site-wide changes. Everything can be managed from within the editor, providing a more integrated and user-friendly workflow that simplifies site management.
Plus, the pattern overrides feature introduced with WordPress 6.6 is a significant advancement in content management. Previously, when you used a pattern across multiple pages, any changes made to the pattern affected all instances. With this update, you can now customise individual instances of a pattern without altering others. This flexibility allows you to maintain consistency where needed while also allowing for custom content tailored to specific pages or sections.
3. Style variations
The theme comes equipped with multiple style variations that can be applied across your site with a single click. This feature makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site, whether you’re aiming to maintain consistent branding or adapt to seasonal campaigns. The ability to quickly switch styles ensures that your site can stay fresh and relevant with minimal effort.
In addition, WordPress 6.6 has introduced Section Styles, a new feature that allows you to apply custom styling to individual sections within your pages. This level of control enables you to create more visually appealing and distinct layouts without needing complex CSS or additional plugins. Section Styles are particularly beneficial for designers who want to elevate the aesthetic appeal of specific areas on a website while maintaining a cohesive overall theme.
4. Responsive design customisation
The responsive design capabilities of block themes allow you to preview and adjust how your content will appear on different devices directly within the editor. This ensures your site looks great whether viewed on a mobile phone, tablet, or desktop—without needing additional tools or plugins. As mobile traffic continues to rise, this feature is essential for providing a consistent and polished user experience across all devices.
5. Global styles
Global styles in block themes offer a centralised way to manage typography, colour palettes, and spacing throughout your site. This makes it easier to maintain a consistent look while still allowing for flexibility when updates are needed. With this level of control, ensuring that your site adheres to your brand’s visual guidelines is simpler and more efficient.
6. Improved accessibility
Accessibility has been a core focus in the development of block themes, ensuring that your content is usable by all, including those with disabilities. Enhanced keyboard navigation, improved screen reader support, and better colour contrast are just a few of the ways these themes make your site more accessible. This not only broadens your audience but also aligns your site with best practices and legal requirements.
WordPress 6.6 includes various under-the-hood changes aimed at improving performance, enhancing security, and ensuring better accessibility, making the platform faster, safer, and more inclusive.
7. Flexible layout options
Block themes provide a variety of layout options for your pages and posts, including multiple column configurations and full-width templates. This flexibility allows you to create dynamic and engaging layouts without needing to touch a single line of code. Whether you’re designing a simple blog post or a complex landing page, these layout options give you the tools to make your content stand out.
WordPress 6.6 has expanded your design toolkit with the addition of Negative Margins and Custom Shadows. Negative margins allow you to pull elements closer together or create overlapping effects, which can be used to achieve modern, dynamic designs.
Custom shadows add depth to your elements, enhancing the visual hierarchy and making your content stand out. These features are invaluable for those looking to create visually rich websites without delving into custom CSS.
8. Rich media integration
With enhanced media handling capabilities, block themes make it easier to integrate images, videos, and other rich media into your content. These themes are optimised to ensure that your media looks stunning across all devices, enhancing the overall visual appeal of your site. In an increasingly visual web, the ability to showcase rich media effectively is more important than ever.
9. Performance optimisation
Performance is key, and block themes are built with optimisation in mind. Faster load times not only improve the user experience but also boost your site’s SEO, as speed is a crucial factor in search engine rankings. By optimising every aspect of the theme, WordPress ensures that your site performs at its best, keeping your audience engaged and your content accessible.
For developers, WordPress 6.6 brings in React 19 and updated JSX Support, enabling more sophisticated and efficient development workflows. JSX simplifies writing HTML-like syntax in JavaScript, making it easier to build and maintain UI components.
The integration of React 19 enhances the performance and capabilities of WordPress, particularly for those developing custom themes and plugins, by providing a more modern and streamlined development environment.
10. Intuitive block editor enhancements
Finally, block themes leverage the latest enhancements to the block editor, providing a more intuitive and streamlined editing experience. Features like drag-and-drop reordering, inline text formatting, and improved block controls make content creation smoother and more efficient. These enhancements allow editors to focus on what they do best—creating compelling content—without getting bogged down by the technical details.