What’s New in WordPress 6.8? Major Highlights for Users

Exciting news, WordPress 6.8 “Cecil” has arrived!

This brand-new version is packed with powerful features to take your website speed, design control, and usability to the next level.

From long-anticipated Site Editor upgrades to behind-the-scenes performance boosts, there’s something for every user. 

This post walks you through the major highlights and features of WordPress 6.8. 

Fasten your seat belts as we take you through this exciting journey!

Video Tutorial – What’s New in WordPress 6.8?

If you enjoy getting a complete demonstration of the new features, then it’s better to check out our video. We’ve made it quick and easy to understand!

Want to have an in-depth exploration to build a site? Continue reading this blog!

Major Highlights and Features of WordPress 6.8

WordPress 6.8 brings several updates in terms of design, accessibility, performance, and whatnot. These features suit developers, bloggers, and site owners alike. 

Here are some notable highlights you can’t miss out on.

Let’s start by logging into your WordPress dashboard and updating it to the 6.8 version (if you haven’t done it yet). Here’s how you can update the WordPress version.

Here, we’ll demonstrate using the Twenty Twenty-Five theme primarily. Also, we’ll use the Kadence theme for some demonstrations.

Without further delay, let’s get down to business!

1. Style Book Improvement

One of the biggest highlights of WordPress 6.8 is the improved Style Book. 

First, go to ‘Appearance’ and then ‘Editor.’ 

There, open the ‘Styles’ panel, and you’ll find the Global Styles with a new and structured layout along with clearer labels.

There, you can edit the typography, colors, background, shadows, and layouts of the entire website in one location.

Along with that, clicking the eye icon shows the Style Book, which displays the real-time changes in the style settings.

For example, choosing the color options in the Style Book lets you edit the color palette of your style settings with the preview of the results. The same goes for typography, images, buttons, etc. 

Once you’re done, click the ‘Review Changes’ button, followed by ‘Save.’ This saves the changes you’ve made.

Overall, the improved Style Book is a visual playground that gives you full control over the website styles.

2. Style Book in Classic Themes

Cherry on top, WordPress 6.8 provides this Style Book for classic themes that support the full site editor too. Until now, it was exclusive to block-based themes. 

So, as a user, you can check this feature by activating a compatible classic theme (for example, Kadence). Then, navigate to ‘Appearance,’ then ‘Design.’ 

Following that, open the ‘Styles’ menu.

There, you can preview and manage your site styles without needing to edit templates. Check how your content and blocks look from one place.

Guess what? WordPress 6.8 has shifted the patterns inside the ‘Design’ panel. Now, you’ll have a smooth design workflow keeping ‘Patterns’ and ‘Styles’ together.

3. Speculative Loading

Speed matters, whether it be for user experience or SEO. Keeping that in mind, WordPress 6.8 now enriches site speed with Speculative Loading. It’s a smart performance boost that makes your site feel faster than ever. 

Simply put, it’s powered by the Speculation Rules API. Now, your website preloads pages quietly in the background based on user intent, like when someone hovers over or clicks a link. By the time they land on the page, it’s already loaded.

Best of all, this near-instant load experience works seamlessly in modern browsers. In addition, it doesn’t require any plugins or extra setup.

However, if you’re a developer, then you can customize it via plugins or manual code. Amazing, isn’t it?

4. More Data View Controls

Have a lot of posts or custom content to manage? You’ll love this feature.

WordPress 6.8 brings more controls on Data Views for flexible content management. This includes how to view and organize them.

The ‘Pages’ menu inside the site editor offers all the data view options. The default properties now contain the ‘Preview’ option.

Further, you can also customize the page view for quick content identification through new columns like slug, parent, template, and password. 

Just click the eye icon for the options, and you’ll see all those criteria for the pages. Makes things a lot easier, doesn’t it?

5. Query Loop Changes

In addition, the Query Loop block has also received a makeover.

Now, you can easily ignore sticky posts when setting up a loop. Just select the Query Loop block, and in the ‘Sticky Posts’ block settings, pick ‘Ignore.’

This works best if you’re showcasing recent articles but don’t want to show the sticky posts at the top.

Moreover, the Query Loop block doesn’t have a ‘Replace’ option, which was present in WordPress 6.7. 

Instead, it now has a ‘Change Design’ option in the toolbar with a dropdown of various design options. 

Just select one of the options, and the query loop format structures accordingly.

6. Set any Image Block as the Featured Image

No more digging through the media library to assign featured images!

WordPress 6.8 lets you set any image block as a featured image. Yes, you heard it right!

Just choose your preferred image block and click the three-dotted ‘Options’ on the block toolbar. Scroll down and pick the ‘Set as featured image’ option.

Save the post and preview it to get amazed!

Indeed a helpful option for bloggers and editorial teams.

7. Color Reset

Ever applied a bunch of color settings and just wanted to start fresh?

WordPress 6.8 introduces a Color Reset option inside the Global Styles panel.

For demonstration, use the Color options for your text and background like this. Now, hover to the ‘Background’ color option and press the newly added ‘Reset’ option. Same for the ‘Text’ color option.

With one click, all colors are wiped—back to theme defaults. 

8. Cut Function Added for Blocks

WordPress 6.8 introduces a small but powerful enhancement to block editing: the Cut option.

Now, if you select a block and open ‘Options’ in the toolbar, then you’ll also find the newly added ‘Cut’ function. Previously, you could only copy blocks.

This update completes the standard set of content manipulation tools: Cut, Copy, and Paste. This makes it easier to reorganize layouts without dragging and dropping. 

Overall, it’s a simple addition that improves everyday editing convenience.

9. Undo Option after Editing Images 

Moving on, WordPress 6.8 adds an ‘Undo’ link after editing an image. 

Let’s say you added an image; open the ‘Crop’ option in the toolbar to crop or rotate it. 

Then, you clicked the ‘Apply’ button.

Suppose you decided to go with the original image. But previously, you couldn’t revert your actions on the image and had to reupload it. Problem solved!

WordPress 6.8 instantly provides a success notification with the ‘Undo’ link. Clicking it will revert changes you just made. 

Saves a lot of time and effort, doesn’t it?

10. Additional Features 

That’s not all! Some of the additional features in WordPress 6.8 include:

• Introduction of bcrypt security for hashing passwords. Indeed, strong encryption capabilities will provide enhanced data protection.
• The new ‘Query Total‘ block to show the total number of posts or pages returned by a query, enhancing content visibility.
• Performance enhancements on the block editor, frontend interactivity, block type registration, and query caching.
• 100+ accessibility fixes and enhancements. Within the core, the focus is on the navigation menu, customizer, labeling, and others.
• Cache key generation optimization in the WP_Query class for database load reduction, and many more.

Check out the details of these WordPress 6.8 features from the official release site.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Conclusion

This concludes our exploration of the new WordPress version.

So, should you update to WordPress 6.8?

Absolutely.

WordPress 6.8 “Cecil” brings the kind of polish and performance that makes everyday site-building smoother and more enjoyable.

If you haven’t yet, make sure to back up your site and give the new version a try.

Let us know in the comments which feature you liked the most. 

If you’re eager, then check out our other articles. This includes how to make money online and the collection of stunning WordPress Wapuus.

Starting in 2025, WordPress will move to one major release per year. That makes WordPress 6.8 the final big update for this year—the next one arrives in 2026.

Until then, stay connected with us by following our Facebook and X accounts!