WordPress 6.9.1: The newest WordPress update is ready for you to install

WordPress 6.9 introduced a slew of new team collaboration features and content creation improvements. If your WordPress site isn't already up-to-date, there’s no better time than now, because the follow-up 6.9.1 maintenance update has dropped with lots of other of small fixes.

The new ‘Notes’ feature is the biggest change in 6.9. Notes can be attached directly to blocks in the post editor, similarly to making comments in Google Docs, where users can comment and reply to comments on any block on a page. Simply click the three-dot option at the top right of any block, and select ‘Add note’ to leave comments for your team. Again, like Google Docs, you can view all notes by clicking on the notes icon in the toolbar at the top of any page when editing.

Blocks, blocks, blocks

While we're talking about blocks—a bunch of new blocks have been added, such as: the Accordion Block, Terms Query Block, Math Block, and the Time to Read Block. These are self-explanatory, other than the Accordion Block which is used to create collapsible content sections by adding multiple text panels that expand and collapse. Think of a Q&A section that lets you click to open and close question sections—just like an accordion.

Blocks have also been made much easier to move around the editor, thanks to a new drag and drop feature. You can move blocks around the page by clicking and dragging them, all without pressing a button or handle.

The other, smaller improvements

Command Palette has also had some changes (that's the tool that lets you quickly navigate across your site by searching it by name). The tool is now accessible from any part of the dashboard with the shortcut Ctrl+k /Cmd+k, whether you’re editing a post, browsing plugins, or midway through designing a page in the Site Editor.

There's also new adaptive text content options for Paragraph and Heading blocks. This new option automatically adjusts font sizes to perfectly fill containers for more polished banner images and callouts.

Like all major WordPress updates, 6.9 came bundled with lots of smaller improvements. You can look forward to more than 70 accessibility changes, like cursor placement fixes and improved screen reader announcements. There's also a range of performance enhancements, notably refinements to the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) of on-demand block styles for classic themes.

For more in-depth release notes, visit the WordPress website.

Smooth things out

Following 6.9's significant changes, WordPress recently dropped the 6.9.1 maintenance release. As is standard with smaller releases, this patch is more about stability and security rather than introducing new tools and features.

The next major update,WordPress 7.0, is scheduled for April later this year. Unil then, it’s worth keeping your site up to date with the latest releases—especially with the smaller patches like 6.9.1 that smooth over issues from the 6.9 major release.

Keep tabs of your WordPress Hosting performance

Is your WordPress host helping or hindering your site’s load speeds? If you’re already running a WordPress site you can install the PHP Vitals plugin to find out how fast your WordPress Hosting really is.

PHP Vitals works by separating out your hosting infrastructure from everything else on your site and scoring its performance. It’s designed for you to run regular tests and compare back against, measuring hosting performance over time. If something changes in terms of performance, you’ll know that it’s the hosting causing affecting your speeds.

Get started with WordPress

We highly recommend updating to 6.91 if you’re running 6.9, to patch out bugs and other unwanted quirks. If you’re still running an even older version of WordPress hopefully some of the new features tempt you to update to the latest version sooner rather than later.

Or perhaps you’re looking to launch a new WordPress site? Whether you’re running a small business or starting a blog, MyHost has fast, reliable and easy WordPress Hosting plans to suit your needs.