WordPress releases major updates every 4-6 months, bringing forth enhancements and introducing new features. These updates are identified by version numbers like 6.1 or 6.2.
Some of these major updates may lead to changes that affect your theme’s styling or features. We thoroughly test all major releases to determine if it is safe for you or your technical support partner to update.
In a few cases, we will recommend opting for a white-glove WordPress update. This approach ensures that we can personally test and modify your theme to guarantee a smooth update.
This page will summarize recent WordPress releases and our recommended approach to the update.
WordPress 6.2 – March 29, 2023
Recommendation: Safe to update yourself
The most noticeable change in this release is the separation of “Settings” and “Style” in the block settings sidebar. To change the text or background color on a block, you now need to click the “Style” icon which is a half-filled circle.
WordPress 6.1 – November 1, 2022
Recommendation: White Glove WordPress Update
This update may change how your buttons look on the frontend, and how wide/full width groups appear on the backend. We recommend having our team make the following technical changes.
WP 6.1: Buttons
The core/button styles generated by theme.json target .wp-block-button .wp-block-button__link and not the more generic .wp-block-button__link. If you used that class to style things like buttons (like we do with WPForms submit button), they’ll lose their styling with 6.1.
The fix is to move the theme.json styles from styles > blocks > core/button to styles > elements > button. That will output the CSS using .wp-element-button, .wp-block-button__link. You can use .wp-element-button going forward for styling things to be button-like.
The increased specificity also affects the padding / border width on outline buttons. WP 6.0 (screenshot) vs WP 6.1 (screenshot).
WP 6.1: Max-width of elements inside group
WP 6.1 changes how the Layout function on groups works. Now “Content Width” is selected by default, which is the reverse of the previous user experience.
When “Content Width” is selected, WP adds .is-layout-constrained which overrides our styling of the max-width (screenshot). In our themes, this override only applies on the frontend, so the backend group content still looks grid width.
Required fix: in _gutenberg.scss, change .wp-block-group > * to .wp-block-group:not(.is-layout-constrained) > *
WP 6.1: Full-width alignment for editor/frontend
Beginning in WP 6.1, the .editor-styles-wrapper has additional styles included which supersede our left/right padding in the editor. To combat this, in theme.json add "useRootPaddingAwareAlignments": true, under the top level settings, and styles for left/right padding under styles > spacing > padding. Example: "left": "var(--wp--custom--layout--padding)". The useRootPaddingAwareAlignments item is to insure the left/right padding does not affect the frontend.