WordPress 6.6 optimizations around the user experience

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Improved Data Views
Data Views were introduced in WordPress 6.5 . They help manage all types of content (e.g. templates, patterns, posts, media) and are intended to replace the existing WP List Tables. These are no longer flexible enough for complex websites and the requirements of modern collaboration workflows. This makes Data Views part of the third phase of the Gutenberg project, which is all about better collaboration.

Last but not least, they are intended to offer developers comprehensive options for customization and extension in the future, thus ushering in a new era of flexibility and user-friendliness.

WordPress 6.6 now builds on this foundation and expands the data views with important functions and application options. They are used primarily in the site editor and improve the management of templates, template parts and pages.

In future versions, the new views will be expanded to other areas of the WordPress backend, such as the post list and the media library. You can find more background information on this in a separate blog post .

More uniformity among editors
Until now, the block editor, in which you create posts and pages, and the band database site editor, in which you edit the design of your website, have differed somewhat in their operation. With WordPress 6.6, the processes in both editors will be more standardized to create a smoother and more intuitive user experience.

The specific changes include:

The process for publishing posts and pages has been revised and aligned with the site editor.
Settings and options are now displayed and placed more similarly in both editors.
This will (hopefully) help you find your way around both editors better and make it easier to switch between editing content and designing your website.

Dominic Vogl welcomes the changes:

"The Site Editor in WordPress 6.6 continues to grow with the regular editor. Now I can easily apply commands to multiple pages and navigate between them. This integration makes the entire editing of my website much smoother and more efficient, which makes my work much easier."

Dominic Vogl, web developer, Raidboxes
Further improvements in WordPress 6.6
Keyboard shortcut for grouping : With the new keyboard shortcut Ctrl+G (Windows) or Cmd+G (Mac) you can group multiple blocks and work more efficiently.
Block Inserter : The Block Inserter now always shows you all available blocks, regardless of the currently selected block.
Custom Field Values: Values ​​can now be edited directly from the connected block in the editor, saving you time and clicks.
Gutenberg Phase 3 – Overview of Features
In this article, Jan Tissler explains which improvements were released with Phase 3 for individual users. Background: WordPress' "Gutenberg" project consisted of a total of four phases.

Technical improvements in WordPress 6.6
Options API: Smarter handling of options
To improve the performance of WordPress websites, WordPress 6.6 makes an important change to the Options API. Previously, many options in the database were automatically loaded (autoload) every time a page was accessed, even if they were not actually needed. This led to unnecessary traffic and longer loading times, especially for websites with many plugins.

WordPress 6.6 now handles these options more intelligently. The default value for the $autoload parameter has been changed from "yes" to "null". Developers should now explicitly specify whether an option should always be loaded "true", never "false" or only when needed "null".

New functions and filters have been introduced to make developers' work easier. For example, wp_autoload_values_to_autoload() can be used to query all values ​​that should be loaded automatically. The wp_default_autoload_value filter can be used to adjust the autoload behavior for individual options. In the future, website operators will be notified in the Site Health Check if performance is affected by extensive options. If you want to test this in advance, you can install the Performance Lab plugin .