WordPress 6.9 New Features 🚀  ## Metadata - Author: [[YouTube]] - Full Title: WordPress 6.9 New Features 🚀 - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: [wordpress, wordpress-6-9, block-editor] author: WP Roads source: YouTube reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U date created: 2024-12-19 10:30 --- # 🏷️ Title: WordPress 6.9 New Features 🚀 (in 10 min) ## 🧰 Action Inbox - [H1] Test block notes feature for team collaboration — 01:35 #wordpress - [H2] Implement accordion block for FAQ sections — 03:45 #blocks - [H3] Explore stretchy text blocks for hero sections — 06:30 #design ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### 🔗 References - [WordPress 6.9 Release](https://wordpress.org/) - [Abilities API Documentation](https://wordpress.org/) ## 📝 Summary - WordPress 6.9 introduces collaborative block notes, new blocks (accordion, stretchy text, math), and foundational AI capabilities - Key features focus on content creation workflow improvements and developer APIs - Template management improvements have been delayed to WordPress 7.0 - Performance improvements and API enhancements lay groundwork for AI-driven WordPress interactions - No new default theme included in this release ## 📖 Main Content WordPress 6.9 represents a significant step toward collaborative content creation and AI-ready infrastructure. The release introduces block-level commenting for team workflows, expands the block library with practical additions like accordions and stretchy text, and establishes the Abilities API as a foundation for future AI integrations. The new collaborative features allow team members to leave notes on specific blocks, creating a notification system for content review and feedback. This addresses a long-standing need for in-context collaboration within the WordPress editor. New blocks focus on common use cases: accordion blocks for FAQ sections with optional auto-close behavior, stretchy text blocks for responsive design, and utility blocks for reading time and word count. A terms query block provides better taxonomy display options. Developer-focused updates include the Abilities API, which creates a unified registry for WordPress capabilities that AI systems can discover and utilize. This represents foundational work for future AI-driven WordPress management and automation. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=0) — [H1] Introduction and Sponsorship - Key idea: WordPress 6.9 overview sponsored by Cloudways hosting - Evidence: "Let's discover all the new features coming to WordPress 6.9" #### ⏱️ [01:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=95) — [H1] Block Notes Feature - Key idea: New collaborative commenting system for individual blocks - Evidence: "Now we can select any block and we can leave notes... the author will receive a notification" #### ⏱️ [02:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=165) — [H1] Notes Management Interface - Key idea: Centralized notes management with reply and resolution capabilities - Evidence: "I can open the note. I can reply. I can mark it as solved" #### ⏱️ [03:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=225) — [H2] Accordion Block Introduction - Key idea: New accordion block for FAQ sections with nested content support - Evidence: "Inside the panel you can add whatever you want... without limitations" #### ⏱️ [04:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=270) — [H2] Accordion Block Settings - Key idea: Configurable auto-close behavior and icon positioning - Evidence: "You can enable the autoclose behavior... you can change the position of this" #### ⏱️ [05:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=315) — [H2] FAQ Schema Plugin - Key idea: Third-party plugin adds missing FAQ schema markup to accordion blocks - Evidence: "I found out a plugin created by Viney... your accordion block will now support FAQ schema" #### ⏱️ [06:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=390) — [H2] Stretchy Text Blocks - Key idea: New responsive text blocks that stretch to fill available space - Evidence: "The text will stretch to make the content fit inside the block" #### ⏱️ [07:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=435) — [H3] Reading Time and Word Count Blocks - Key idea: Utility blocks for content metadata display - Evidence: "Time to read... estimated time to read your blog post... you can easily switch to... word count" #### ⏱️ [08:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=480) — [H3] Terms Query Block - Key idea: Display taxonomy terms with optional post counts - Evidence: "Display a simple list of terms... assign a count name and count to show the total number of posts" #### ⏱️ [08:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=525) — [H3] Math Block - Key idea: Block for mathematical formulas and calculations - Evidence: "You can use it to write formulas... formatted for mathematics calculations" #### ⏱️ [09:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=555) — [H3] Hide Block Functionality - Key idea: Blocks can be hidden from frontend while remaining in editor - Evidence: "You can use the new hide block functionality... this block won't be shown" #### ⏱️ [09:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=585) — [H3] Improved Drag and Drop - Key idea: Enhanced block dragging with real-time movement - Evidence: "When you drag and drop a block... you're immediately moving the block around" #### ⏱️ [10:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=615) — [H2] Enhanced Command Palette - Key idea: Command palette now available in site editor and WP admin - Evidence: "Available both in the site editor and in the default WP admin" #### ⏱️ [10:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=645) — [H1] Abilities API - Key idea: New unified registry for WordPress capabilities targeting AI integration - Evidence: "Unified registry of callable WordPress capabilities built for AI integrations... foundation of what will be an interactive WordPress that we can manage using AI" #### ⏱️ [11:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U?t=690) — [H2] Template Management Delay - Key idea: Advanced template management features postponed to WordPress 7.0 - Evidence: "Template management improvement... has been punted to WordPress 7.0" ## 📚 References - [WordPress 6.9 Official Release](https://wordpress.org/) - [Abilities API Documentation](https://wordpress.org/) - [Accordion FAQ Schema Plugin by Viney](https://wordpress.org/plugins/) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - WordPress 6.9 introduces collaborative block-level commenting that enables team members to leave contextual notes and receive notifications for content review workflows - The release expands the block library with practical additions including accordion blocks for FAQs, stretchy responsive text blocks, and utility blocks for reading time and taxonomy display - A new Abilities API creates foundational infrastructure for AI-driven WordPress interactions by providing a unified registry of system capabilities that AI tools can discover and utilize ## 📰 Newsletter WordPress 6.9 brings exciting collaboration features to your content creation workflow! The standout addition is block-level notes - now team members can leave contextual comments directly on specific blocks, with automatic notifications for seamless review processes. New blocks enhance your design toolkit: accordion blocks perfect for FAQ sections, stretchy text blocks that adapt to any screen size, and handy utility blocks for reading time estimates. The enhanced command palette and improved drag-and-drop make editing even smoother. For developers, the new Abilities API lays groundwork f - Document Tags: [[blocks]] [[design]] [[h1]] [[wordpress]] - Summary: WordPress 6.9 New Features 🚀 (in 10 min) - URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QgXXYCjz-U Let's discover all the new features coming to WordPress 6.9. This video is powered by Cloudways. If you want hosting that actually boosts your business results, better speed, better uptime, better conversions, Cloudways is the upgrade you've been looking for. You can choose top cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, or Digital Ocean, and manage everything from a clean, simple dashboard. No technical headaches, just reliable performance. Use my link below to grab their Black Friday offer. 50% off for the first three months. Plus, they're also offering free migrations if you decide to move your websites to their OIM platform. So, this is the perfect time to switch to Cloudways. Don't miss it. And before diving in WordPress 6.9 features, my daughter has a favor to ask you. >> Please subscribe to my daddy channel. >> If you click on the subscribe button, you will be part of the small community of people that are watching my videos and are also subscribed. Congratulations. The first very interesting new feature coming to WordPress 6.9 is the fact that now we can select any block and we can leave notes. Let me show you how this works. I'm on this text block. I select it. I click on the three dos icon and I click on add note. As you can see there is this simple interface here that I can use and I can leave my note. And what happens now that if I add this note, the author of this blog post or of this page will receive a notification exactly like the one that you see here. New note on your post, author, email, note. Change the color. And you also have a quick link to go and see all the notes. And now I log in as an editor and I see that there is also this quick link to all notes. I can enable this and I see all the notes that have been left to all the blocks on the page. I can open the note. I can reply. I can mark it as solved. I also have a quick link here to my notes. Beautiful. And now let's talk about new blocks coming to WordPress 6.9. We now have a new accordion block that we can easily add if we want to create for example an FAQ section. When you open up the structure, you will see that there will be a main accordion block. Inside there will be the first accordion item. Then you will have the heading and the accordion panel. interesting is that inside the panel you can add whatever you want an image or video or whatever block you want to add inside here without limitations. You can add of course multiple accordion items just by selecting the main accordion and clicking on add item. Now when you go back to the main accordion block you will see that you have some settings here. For example, you can enable the autoc close behavior. If you do that and you go and save when you open an accordion item and then you open the next one the previous one will be closed automatically like this. And if you disable this, they will all stay open unless you close them manually. You can then choose to display or not the accordion icon. In this case, this plus icon here, which in the future will be so good to be able to change it. And we can change the position of this. And I really hope that they're going to integrate the FAQ schema inside this block. I was asking myself if in this block they have built an FAQ schema markup to enhance SEO for our blog post or for our pages, but this wasn't the case. So, I found out a plug-in created by Viney. Shout out to Viney. Thanks for this plug-in. And you can easily go and download this. I will leave you the link in the description box below. And when you install it on your WordPress website, you will find that your accordion block will now support FAQ schema. Who knows, maybe in the future it will be directly there in core. But for now, shout out and thanks to Viny for providing this for free. I really like the new stretchy text and heading blocks. If you're using a paragraph, you will notice that now you have this new option called transform to stretchy paragraph. When you select this, the paragraph will occupy all the space available in its own block. As you can see, the text will stretch to make the content fit inside the block. And the same applies also to headings. We have the simple heading and the stretchy heading. This will work great on hero sections and call to actions. You will also find these two stretchy blocks as a separate blocks so that you can easily add them to your content while you're editing. We also have a new block which is the time to read and this will integrate an estimated time to read your blog post or your pages. You can display it as a range or as a single estimation. And if you want, you can easily switch to another block which is the word count. And of course, the word count exists as a separate block like this. This is just a simple switcher between blocks. I would love to have the ability here to add some text before and after this element. I hope that we will integrate this in the next versions because otherwise I would need to transform this into a group, make it a row and then insert some content before or after. Of course, it works well, but it would be great to have it integrated directly in the block. There is now a terms query block. Voila. And you can decide to display a simple list of terms. So for example of categories or tags or any taxonomy that you're using on your WordPress website or even assign a count name and count to show the total number of posts belonging to that specific term. As you can see here we have all the different options. We can select tags for example or categories because this is the only taxonomy that I have on my website at the moment. We can select them manually. We can decide to show empty terms and we can decide also to show nested terms. In my case I do not have them. For example, subcategories. Here you can decide to display a maximum number of terms or just leave it on zero if you want to display them all. And you can work on the template here just by opening up the structure and playing around with the design. For example, if you want to remove the term count, you can just do it safely and there will be just a term name available in your list. There is also a new math block. So if you type math right inside here, you will see this block appearing here. And you can use it to write formulas or whatever you want. You will see here a preview of the outcome and everything will be formatted for mathematics calculations and you will also find this math block inside a simple paragraph. If you're writing a paragraph and you need to insert a mathematic formula, you just go here and you will find the math block right here. Now, if you need to create a new block and you don't want to display it immediately in the front end, you can use the new hide block functionality. You just head here and you click on hide. As you can see here, now we have this icon showing that the block is hidden. And when we save and go in the front end, this block won't be shown. It would be great to have it still visible in the back end. But at the time when I'm recording this video, when you hide the block, you won't see it no more, even in the back end. So to be able to edit it again, you just need to go back here, you make it visible again, you make your changes, and then you can go and hide it again. We now have another enhancement regarding the block editor. In the previous version, when you drag and drop the block, it will work like this. You drag, you see the old block with a fade out opacity, and when you drop the block, the actual block will move. Now, this is going to work differently because when you drag and drop a block, as you can see, you're immediately moving the block around. I really like this enhancement. Now the command pallet when you type command K or ctrlK it's available both in the site editor and in the default WP admin and you can easily jump to any part of the website just by typing on the keyboard. I would love to be able to open up this bar even in the front end but at the moment it is not possible. It would be great to see this work like in Elementor when you type command D even when you are in the front end and you can easily reach any part of your website just by typing with your keyboard. developer and API updates. There are great news here. There is the new abilities API which is coming to WordPress 6.9 which is a unified registry of calible WordPress capabilities built for AI integrations and developer automation. In the official abilities API post, James Leage explained that by adopting this common language, plugins and themes will empower AIdriven solutions to seamlessly discover, interpret, utilize, and coordinate capabilities throughout the entire WordPress ecosystem. Basically, this is the foundation of what will be an interactive WordPress that we can manage using AI. I'm super curious to see how this is going to be developed in the next months. I'll leave you all the links in the description box below. There are then news regarding the interactivity API, data views and data form components, HTML API, blockbinding API, and a bunch of very important performance improvements. There is no default theme this time in the 6.9 version. So, we're going to keep using 2025 theme because now the focus it's all on the side editor. Another important thing to notice is that the template management improvement that was originally scheduled for WordPress 6.9 has been punted to WordPress 7.0. With this new update, it will be possible to save multiple templates for the same purpose. For example, here we have multiple single post templates. And it will also possible to make them active or inactive. And with this functionality, it will also be possible to save and store all your templates regardless of the theme that you're using. So when you switch themes, you will be able to keep all your custom templates. But as they announce here, this feature has been punted to WordPress 7.0. I really hope that there will be the ability to assign different single template to different posts based on the category. For example, using Elementor on my website, I have assigned a different single post template to the post that belongs to the tutorial category. As you can see, there is this template and I have created a different template to the posts that belongs to the reviews category. I really hope that they will ship this into WordPress 7.0. Let me know what you think about this new version of WordPress. If you have any thoughts or feelings that you want to share with me, please do it in the comment section below. Personally, I am excited and at the same time I'm a little bit disappointed because I really love the site editor and Gutenberg in general, but I feel like there are always some tiny pieces missing to the puzzle to make it robust and usable in a real life business. Personally, I challenge myself each time there is a new release of WordPress and I try to rebuild my current website wpro.com using all the features provided by the site editor. But also, this time I must say that there are too many tiny little pieces still missing from the final puzzle. Maybe I will be able to do that with WordPress 7.0. Let me know what do you think about this. Go and visit wproads.com and tell me if you would be able to build it using mainly the site editor. I will leave you here one of my latest videos. My name is Pascal. This is WP Roads and I wish you all the best with all your WordPress projects. Take care. Touch out., WordPress 6.9 New Features 🚀, YouTube, 01kav05zzkzgy9ba97103c9bhy.