More design freedom and improved performance

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In addition to the font library, WordPress version 6.5 brings even more design freedom: Theme styles can now be customized more easily, including colors, fonts and layouts. The improved controls for colors and spacing also allow more precise control over the design.

Improvements are also to be made in terms of performance. Optimizing the code base will result in reduced resource consumption and faster loading times. Lazy loading for images and automatic image optimization will further improve performance by delaying the loading of images and compressing them to the optimal size.

New WordPress APIs
WordPress 6.5 comes with three enhanced APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) if you develop with WordPress yourself:

API for interactivity
The Interactivity API represents a critical advancement in WordPress development by providing a standardized way for developers to integrate interactive elements into the frontend of their blocks. This enables actions such as liking a post or adding products to the cart without having to reload the page.

This type of interactivity helps to significantly improve the user experience on websites by providing more fluid and responsive interactions. The introduction of this API marks an important step towards a more dynamic and interactive web by making it easier for developers to implement complex features such as instant page navigation or instant search.

Since its testing phase in certain core-provided blocks within the Gutenberg plugin home owner database and recently in core with WordPress 6.4, the Interactivity API has already shown its potential. However, some work remains to make the API fully available for extensions. These include:

Refactoring the store based on feedback from early adopters
Server-side processing of directives that meets SEO requirements and optimizes initial rendering
The support of ES modules and import cards
These steps are necessary to ensure a robust and efficient implementation of the interactivity API that provides developers with maximum flexibility and performance.

Custom API Fields
Custom API Fields is another exciting feature introduced in WordPress 6.5. It aims to create a seamless connection between block attributes and custom fields or metadata. This approach simplifies the way developers and content creators can manage and present content on their website by allowing them to make dynamic content more easily reusable.

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The integration of custom fields into the block editor opens up a wide range of possibilities for personalized and contextual content, which is especially beneficial for complex websites with specific data requirements. For version 6.5, we plan to introduce a simplified version of this API that will allow direct connection of block attributes to custom fields without a user interface.

In addition, a basic UI will be implemented that allows reading the metadata values ​​and gives users the ability to change the value of the meta field directly in the editing process. These steps lay the foundation for more extensive use of custom fields in WordPress and significantly expand the possibilities for content customization.

API for block binding
The Block Binding API is an innovative tool that aims to dynamically bind block attributes to values ​​that can vary depending on the context. This flexibility greatly expands the use cases of existing blocks by allowing information such as the authors of a post to be represented directly in blocks without the need for special new blocks.

This type of data binding is particularly valuable for theme developers and website owners who want to make their pages more dynamic and content-rich without having to rely on a multitude of additional plugins or blocks. Work on the Block Binding API for WordPress 6.5 is primarily focused on supporting other areas of the roadmap, particularly the custom fields and partial sync patterns.