The latest WordPress update is here, and it is all about polish, performance, and power under the hood.
Featuring over 370 enhancements and 520 bug fixes, this first major update for 2025 focuses on user experience improvements, editor upgrades, and security boosts that make maintaining and designing your WordPress website smoother than ever.
Here’s everything you need to know…
Editor Improvements You’ll Actually Notice
WordPress 6.8 includes a wide range of updates to the block editor, that will make it easier for you to build and manage your content without needing to dive into code.
Better Data Views
The data view panel in the editor will now make it easier to see and manage your post types. You’ll also find the option to ignore sticky posts in the Query Loop block, giving you more flexibility when displaying your latest content.
Small Tweaks, Big Results
This release includes hundreds of smaller usability fixes that will improve the way you interact with the block editor. Think of it like tidying up the toolbox, it’s going to be easier to find what you need, and everything just works better.
The Style Book Comes to Classic Themes
If you’re using a classic WordPress theme, you’re going to love this update!
Consistent Design Previews
The Style Book, previously only available in block themes, is now compatible with classic themes too! That means you can preview your site’s typography, colours, and block styles all in one place, even if you’re not using a full site editing theme.
To access it, go to Appearance > Design, where you’ll find a structured layout with clearly labelled previews.
Faster Page Loads with Speculative Loading
A standout performance feature in the WordPress 6.8 update is the ‘Speculation Rules API’, this advanced browser tech allows your site to preload or prerender pages based on user behaviour, like when someone hovers over a link.
What Does This Mean for You?
In short, your pages will load almost instantly, giving your visitors a faster and smoother experience. It’s especially useful for mobile users and increasing mobile responsiveness, and large sites with lots of internal navigation.
By default, WordPress takes a balanced approach to this feature, so it doesn’t overload your server or devices.
A Big Win for Website Security
Security is now, more than ever, a top priority, and the WordPress 6.8 update is introducing bcrypt password hashing, in simple terms this is an industry-standard method that significantly improves how your passwords are protected in the database. This technology is poised to make it much harder for hackers to crack your passwords if your site is ever compromised.
The best part? You don’t need to do anything! This upgrade happens behind the scenes and won’t impact how you manage your users or login processes.
Why This Update Matters for Your WordPress site?
WordPress 6.8 isn’t just a technical upgrade, it’s a polish release that aims to make your everyday WordPress experience faster, more secure, and more user-friendly.
Whether you’re a small business owner managing your own site or a large enterprise, these changes will help:
- Improve the speed and responsiveness of your website
- Make editing and designing your content easier
- Keep your WordPress site more secure without any extra effort
Time to Update, We’re Here to Help!
Keeping up with your WordPress updates can be time-consuming, and that’s where we come in. If you’re unsure whether your theme or plugins are compatible with the new WordPress 6.8 update, or you want help installing this update safely, our WordPress support and maintenance team are here!
If you want to make sure your WordPress site is running smoothly, securely, and up to date with all the latest enhancements, call us on 1300 978 073 or click here to contact us.