This new version of WordPress includes new features and enhancements focused on design, performance, and security. We suggest all WordPress website owners do this upgrade.
WordPress 6.8 Release (wordpress.org)
WordPress 6.8 is a major release that introduces a redesigned Style Book that works with Classic themes, speculative loading for faster page navigation, bcrypt password hashing for improved security, and database optimizations for better performance.
The Style Book gets a cleaner look—and a few new tricks: The Style Book has a new, structured layout and clearer labels, to make it even easier to edit colors, typography—almost all your site styles—in one place. Plus, now you can see it in Classic themes that have editor-styles or a theme.json file.
Editor improvements: New enhancements to the editor include better Data Views, the ability to exclude sticky posts in Query Loops, and numerous small tweaks that make building with blocks more intuitive.
Near-instant page loads, thanks to Speculative Loading: Speculative loading preloads internal pages as users hover or click, making navigation feel near-instant. It’s efficient, smart, and customizable via plugins or custom code.
Stronger password security with bcrypt: Passwords are now stored using bcrypt hashing, making them significantly harder to crack. This update strengthens site security automatically—no action required.
Accessibility improvements: 100+ accessibility fixes and enhancements touch a broad spectrum of the WordPress experience. This release includes fixes to every bundled theme, improvements to the navigation menu management, the customizer, and simplified labeling. The Block Editor has over 70 improvements to blocks, DataViews, and to its overall user experience.
Accessibility improvements: Performance upgrades target editing, browsing, and backend processes. Highlights include faster block type registration, improved query caching, and the first step toward sub-50ms interactions via the new Interactivity API.
The previous version of WordPress was 6.7.2 February 11, 2025.
Our Website Maintenance Department will be in contact with you regarding these upgrades. Clients that have signed up for our Automatic WordPress Update Program or Website Care will get their website updated in the next week or so or if a follow-up version of WordPress is released.
View the complete list of WordPress versions here and here.
Read more about why WordPress updates are important.
If you haven’t heard about our Website Care, then you’re missing out on savings and peace of mind!
There are different levels to choose from but with each level, you get your installation of WordPress checked weekly for updates to the core software, plugins and themes. The benefit is that your website software is kept up to date. This work is done by hand and we test your website after the upgrade to make sure everything works like it should.
The program is either by monthly subscription or you can save 10% and pay for a year in advance. When you use this program you save about 40% on updating WordPress. It’s kind of a no-brainer!
Sleep better knowing that your website is being taken care of when you enroll in our Website Care today!
-Webstix Support
