WordPress 6.5 “Regina” is Here!

WordPress just released version 6.5 “Regina,” inspired by the innovative jazz violinist Regina Carter. This update brings new tools and enhancements, making WP site building more intuitive and creative.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a popular open-source content management system (CMS) used for creating and managing websites and progressive web apps. WordPress is known for its simplicity and flexibility, making it accessible for beginners yet powerful enough for advanced users. It’s built on PHP and MySQL and can be hosted on most web servers.

The platform supports a wide variety of content types, including posts, pages, and media files. One of the key features of WordPress is its extensive plugin architecture, allowing users to extend the functionality of their websites through thousands of available plugins for SEO, social media integration, e-commerce, security, and much more. Additionally, WordPress themes can be used to change the design and layout of a website, with options ranging from free themes to custom-designed templates.

What’s New in WordPress 6.5 “Regina”?

This release includes 110+ performance updates, resulting in an impressive increase in speed and efficiency across the Post Editor and Site Editor. Loading is over two times faster than in 6.4, with input processing speed up to 5x faster than the previous release.

You can now add and manage advanced typography with the Font Library, allowing easy management of local and Google Fonts without coding.

Expanded revisions for templates and parts provides a more comprehensive understanding of your website’s changes over time.

Enhanced design tools in WordPress 6.5 let you control background images and add box shadows for depth, alongside smoother drag-and-drop and streamlined link management.

There are some amazing new tools for developers. For example, the new Interactivity API provides developers with a standardized approach to creating interactive front-end experiences using blocks. This simplifies the development process by reducing the reliance on external tools, while ensuring optimal performance.

The new Block Bindings API introduces a new way of extending blocks that substantially reduces the custom code needed to integrate different kinds of data within the block editor.

It’s an exciting time to be a WordPress developer!

About the Author

Matt Chiera

Matt Chiera is the Founder and Principal Consultant at Ice Nine Online. Since establishing the company in 2014, he has been instrumental in helping clients generate millions of dollars in revenue through digital marketing. Matt is deeply involved with clients on a day-to-day basis, adopting a consultative and educational approach. Before Ice Nine Online, Matt held director-level marketing roles. His extensive expertise is also shared through his experience teaching digital marketing strategy and tactics at the Tribeca School’s Digital Professional Institute. Additionally, Matt is the author of "Digital Marketers Sound Off," which has ranked as the #1 book in the Web Marketing category on Amazon. Matt received formal training in digital marketing and communications at the prestigious University of Chicago.