If the contours of the next major version are beginning to take shape, the CMS has already given a preview of its new update in preparation: WordPress 6.0. It is part of phase 2 of the Gutenberg project, which must “  reinvent ” how content is managed on the web, through the development of site creation tools. After a 1st phase which formalized the launch of the new Gutenberg block editor with the release of version 5.0, phase 2 constitutes the base for the deployment of Full Site Editing, the new native experience offered by WordPress to manage its entire site and no longer just the publications.

The general objective is to consolidate and extend the set of customization tools introduced in version 5.9 to create themes with blocks, with a particular emphasis on usability and refinement. This new version [WordPress 6.0, editor's note] could be considered as a conceptual envelope for phase 2 of Gutenberg. This does not mean that the customization phase would be concluded with it, but that its main functionalities would have been established, explains Matias Ventura, an engineer at Automattic and lead architect for the WordPress Gutenberg project in a blog post.

Project Gutenberg takes place in 4 phases:

• Phase 1 (completed): simplified editing with block-based content management,
• Phase 2  (in progress): customization with FSE, block repositories, block templates, and block-based themes,
• Phase 3 (coming soon): collaboration to offer an even more intuitive way of co-creating content (from WordPress 6.1),
• Phase 4 (coming soon): setting up multilingual sites.

What can we expect for WordPress 6.0?

Concretely, the roadmap unveiled for the next major update of the CMS should be accompanied by its share of new features. Here are the main changes mentioned for the release of WordPress 6.0.

1.Editor improvements

The CMS is expected to provide a better " site editor interaction experience, global styles, templates, and overall navigation  " with a more intuitive interface. WordPress 6.0 will also be an opportunity to introduce a new mode of navigation on the site " to easily follow the links to the different parts ", or to benefit from a simplified template creation.

2.Model optimization

This is about placing templates at the center of the experience for creating new themes or pages. The use of the "Explorer" mode, which allows you to connect to the templates directory, should be improved. WordPress 6.0 may also offer the ability to save templates, which could take the form of “a templates folder with automatically saved file headers  ”.

3.New blocks

The development of the navigation block, launched with version 5.9, is on the agenda for the next major update of WordPress, because "it contains a set of customizations and opportunities  ". Other blocks should be reworked, in particular, to be able to organize the display of comments, save the image of the Headline as an “  attribute of other blocks (Cover, Media & Text, etc.)  ”. Note that the CMS could update its block project dedicated to the table of contents.

4.Efforts made to design tools

Matias Ventura clarifies here that “  for version 6.0, there would be a concerted effort to strengthen consistency, introduce more responsive features and extend the Supports & Elements API. Another important goal is to continue to facilitate the adoption of these tools by third-party blocks  ”.

WordPress goals for 2022

If WordPress continues to work on new projects while integrating user feedback on the use of version 5.9 and FSE, no specific date for the release of WordPress 6.0 has yet been planned. After the postponement of the launch of version 5.9 from December 14, 2021, to January 25, 2022, it seems unlikely that 4 major versions will be deployed this year, as was mentioned for a while by CMS contributors.

According to the schedule proposed by Josepha Haden Chomphosy, executive director of WordPress, 2 major updates should see the light of day in 2022:

• WordPress 6.0: not before the end of May 2022,
• WordPress 6.1: mid-October 2022.

I think the relationship between WP5.9 and WP6.0 will be similar to the relationship between WP5.0 and WP5.1, in that there will be a lot of user feedback to process so that we can expand, refine, and, in some cases, even rework the user experience with the vast set of new features introduced in 5.9. Aiming to release WP6.0 in late May, we can let WP5.9 breathe a bit, work through the rest of the Phase 2 roadmap, and prioritize WordPress-wide needs as we come to them. meet, says Josepha Haden Chomphosy.

In another blog post, the executive director communicated on the three main objectives for 2022 that WordPress has set itself, namely:

1. Drive adoption of the new WordPress editor "  by making FSE (and its tools) easy to find and use ",
2. Support open-source alternatives for all site building needs,
3. Iterate on open source CMS methodologies “  to guide and sustain the success of WordPress as well as the global open source community of which we are a part ”.

And as a bonus: Josepha Haden Chomphosy also mentioned another major project that WordPress will tackle in the coming months, namely the preparation of the festivities related to the 20th anniversary of the CMS, launched for the first time in January 2003!