WordPress updates its website builder for the third time this year

Open source CMS WordPress.org has released WordPress 6.1 “Misha” in a bid to expand the block editing experience introduced earlier this year in WordPress 5.9 and WordPress 6.0.

Named after the Soviet-Norwegian jazz pianist Mikhail “Misha” Alperin, WordPress 6.1 includes additional updates to its website builder, offering a new default block theme that features ten style variations designed by WordPress community members.

The release also includes new writing features that allow users to select partial paragraphs in a block, and has a keyboard shortcut to add internal links expanded to all blocks.

WordPress site builder upgrade 

With contributions from over 800 people around the world, WordPress 6.1 has been designed to ensure that users can apply a different look and feel to a website within a single theme.

Available now, WordPress 6.1 also offers a suite of new templates that users can create directly from the Site Editor, including custom templates for posts and pages. 

“Additional improvements to the editor give creators and developers more control and customization for site-building while offering a more cohesive experience to users,” said Josepha Haden Chomphosy, WordPress Executive Director.

The update also includes fluid typography that lets web creators set one font size to scale on any screen size, which can be enabled through theme.json, a configuration file for block themes.

“As of WordPress 6.1, block based template parts can be used in traditional WordPress themes, allowing both site owners and plugin and theme authors to adopt what they need as they are ready in a way that is still future forward. A theme needs to specify the block-template-parts theme support to enable this feature,” a WordPress.org press release added.

WordPress.org has also improved the layout and visualization of document settings to help content creators easily view and manage important post and page settings.

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