WordPress 6.7: What Enterprise WordPress Experts Need You to Know

Updates to Block Bindings API, enhanced preview capabilities and Data Views, plus Heartbeat API improvements

As WordPress continues to evolve, each major release brings enhancements that not only benefit individual site owners but also cater to the complex needs of enterprise-level organizations. The new WordPress 6.7 update, released on Nov. 12, 2024, is no exception. Expect a suite of features benefiting the entire WordPress community.

At WordPress VIP, we’re focused on helping enterprises solve unique challenges: managing vast content portfolios, prioritizing performance and security, and scaling deep customizations. With WordPress 6.7 introducing features that directly respond to these needs, enhancing content creation, integration, and management, we asked our top experts for their perspectives on the most relevant 6.7 capabilities and how they’ll impact your business.

Updates to the Block Bindings API: direct data management in Blocks

The Block Bindings API, introduced in WordPress 6.5, allowed developers to connect core blocks to dynamic data sources, streamlining content management and reducing maintenance overhead for enterprises. WordPress 6.6 enhanced this functionality with a focus on usability, such as adding a block bindings panel to the Inspector to better surface bindings and allowing the editing of connected sources directly from the block. 

​​WordPress 6.7 builds on these enhancements with a new user interface (UI) for the Block Bindings API, which allows admins and editors to connect attributes with custom fields directly within a block, making it possible to create bindings through the UI instead of the Code Editor. This solves many use cases for custom blocks and supports other features, like overrides in synced patterns. 

For instance, the content team at a major media organization could use the Block Bindings API to link attributes like “Author Bio,” “Related Stories,” or “Latest Updates” directly within a news article block. If a high-profile news event requires frequent updates, editors can simply update the “Latest Updates” field once in the new user interface, and it will automatically reflect across all related articles, without needing to manually edit each one.

This allows the team to respond quickly to fast-moving stories, ensuring that content remains accurate and consistent across all articles.

Expanding preview capabilities: Preview Options API

There’s been significant excitement in the industry lately about preview capabilities. We understand that enterprises need to easily perceive what their content will look like for end-users at every stage of content creation. That’s why more intuitive visual tools and preview capabilities are among the most exciting new enhancements available in WordPress 6.7.

We’re sure enterprise content teams will welcome tools that streamline content review, especially when different formats and platforms are involved. And WordPress 6.7 delivers—introducing an enhanced Preview Options API, enabling developers to offer more tailored content previews. 

This also addresses a common pain point: reducing the risk of formatting errors by offering accurate, multi-format previews right within the familiar Block Editor interface. Developers can now add custom menu items to the Preview dropdown, which makes content workflow more adaptable to specific enterprise needs without additional steps or complexity.

UI changes your team should be aware of

Every WordPress update brings UI changes and improvements. So we wanted to call out a few for our enterprise customers to have on their radar.

Zoom Out to compose with Patterns

The Zoom Out view simplifies your editing experience by allowing you to create and edit at the pattern level rather than focusing on individual blocks. Easily toggle this view from the toolbar to streamline your site-building process, making it faster and more intuitive to design pages or templates using patterns.

Enhanced data views for complex workflows

WordPress 6.7 extends the capabilities of the Data Views feature introduced in previous releases, offering more flexibility in table views and managing complex workflows and layouts in the Site Editor. Enterprise teams using a block theme can now configure the column order in tables, adjust the density of information displayed, and hide or show filters based on preference and custom needs.

Such UI enhancements lay the groundwork for future collaboration capabilities on the WordPress roadmap, pointing towards future workflow improvements in wp-admin. 

 “This is about increasing efficiency for our customers,” says VIP Customer Success Director Russell Hunter. “To fully leverage Data Views, we recommend customers start by mapping their current layouts and identifying areas where more flexible views could have the most impact.” 

Prioritizing publishing buttons in the editor

There’s a handy UI change to the publishing toolbar coming with WordPress 6.7: updated locations for the Publish, Save, and Trash buttons. The Publish and Save buttons have been moved to the farthest righthand side of the publishing toolbar, making it easier and more efficient to accomplish these frequent steps in the publishing workflow. 

Based on community feedback, the “move to trash” option has been pulled out of a three-dot menu and placed more prominently as a button in the settings panel of the editor, visible after a post auto-saves.

Want to get involved with shaping what WordPress looks like? Join the conversation. 

Changes to the Heartbeat API

The Heartbeat API is essential for large enterprise teams. WordPress 6.7 introduces updates that reduce the time it takes for post locks and logged-out warnings to appear, lowering the minimum heartbeat interval to just 10 seconds. It also allows extenders more flexibility in setting a precise heartbeat poll interval, rather than a fixed set of values, ranging from 1 to 3,600 seconds (1 hour). Use the heartbeat_settings filter hook to set a custom interval:

apply_filters( ‘heartbeat_settings’,  array $settings )

This small but important adjustment makes editing with multiple users faster and more responsive, helping teams avoid conflicts when working on the same content in tandem. 

Changes like these are laying the groundwork towards a more collaborative WordPress. We envision future WordPress releases will continue to streamline cooperative content creation for enterprise teams. You can help shape this future by continuing to share feedback with the Core team. 

For more on WordPress 6.7, reach out

The WordPress 6.7 update brings substantial improvements to how enterprises create, manage, and customize content at scale. As WordPress continues to evolve, WordPress VIP is here to guide enterprise customers through these changes, ensuring a seamless transition and unlocking new possibilities for content management and collaboration.

If you have questions about how these updates impact your site or need assistance adapting your workflows, reach out to the WordPress VIP team for support. Want additional peace-of-mind upgrading your application? Check out our Upgrade Assurance Service.

Author

Stephen Edde, Product Marketing Manager, WordPress VIP