The Evolution of WordPress 6.7 in Performance Tools and Interactivity

Here’s the corrected transcript, formatted in manageable segments. I’ve only applied spelling and punctuation corrections while preserving the content:

Abha:
And we’re here for another WordPress Way, and it is one of our last release shows of this year—in fact, probably our last one this year. But don’t worry, there’s going to be plenty more next year. And if you listen along, you’ll find out just what exciting things are coming up in next year’s releases too. I’m your host, Abha Thakor, and I have a wonderful studio of people today talking about the highlights from this year’s WordPress releases, how that has aided what we do in WooCommerce, and what they’re looking forward to next year. And believe me, you’re going to want to get involved because when you hear people like this, how can you not? Let’s go into the studio and meet them.

So, we’ve got Joe McGill. Hello, Joe.

Joe:
Hello.

Abha:
And where are you joining us from today?

Joe:
I am joining from St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States.

Abha:
And welcome to you.

Joe:
Thank you. Good to be here.

Abha:
I think this might be the first time you’ve been on Do the Woo?

Joe:
First timer.

Abha:
First time! There you are. So, we hope that you’ll be with us again next year when we do our big look at the releases in the middle of the year. We’ll get that into your diary.

And we’ve also got Birgit Pauli-Haack with us today. Hi, Birgit.

Birgit:
Hi, Abha. Hi, Joe. It’s so great to be here.

Joe:
Hello.

Abha:
Now, Birgit, you do a fair amount of traveling. Where are you joining us from today?

Birgit:
Well, I’m finally home, and that is in Munich, Germany.

Abha:
Well, it’s lovely to see both of you today. Now, I have the wonderful gain that I can actually see both of you, but to our listeners, they get to hear you, and that’s far more important because they’re going to want to hear all the lovely things that you’re going to be sharing.

So, Birgit, you are quite famous, I have to say—and I know that you wouldn’t describe it as that—but I think I can. When it comes to a little thing called Gutenberg, your name tends to come up.

Now, Birgit, how long have you been working with Gutenberg?

Birgit:
Well, I think it’s since June 2017, at WordCamp Europe in Paris. Gutenberg was first introduced to the broader community there, and the Gutenberg Times started in January 2018.

Abha:
So you must really like it.

Birgit:
I do, which is good.

Abha:
I think we all like it on the show too. So, we are hoping that you’re going to tell us a bit more about the exciting things this time as well with it.

Abha:
Joe, you’ve been a core team rep this past year, and it was great handing over to you at the beginning of this year and just working with you generally on documentation for releases and performance. I have learned so much about performance from you in terms of how we improve that for WordPress and WooCommerce. Is that really your main passion as a developer—getting things working well for performance?

Joe:
It has been a theme of my career in WordPress, yes. I got involved in WordPress back in, I think, 2016, originally working on the responsive images functionality. It’s hard to believe how long ago we started working on that project. I worked on that, and that’s how I got involved in WordPress. Then I worked in agencies most of my career, building big, complicated websites for enterprise clients. A couple of years ago, I got the opportunity to work more directly back in WordPress on the core side in the performance project. We’re tackling a lot of those same sorts of performance problems, which has been a nice full-circle moment for me over my time in WordPress.

Abha:
Absolutely, and you’ve made so much progress as a team. It’s been phenomenal to watch and help with little bits and also, as I’m sure Birgit will agree, to document how that makes a difference.

Birgit:
Absolutely, yes.

Abha:
So I think for anyone who’s not been involved in releases before—and I’ve been around a little while now—I would say that these two we have in the studio today are two of the most encouraging people I’ve come across in my work on releases. There is no such thing as a silly question or, “I’m not quite sure I understand that,” because they’re always there to explain and make sure that everybody has a chance to understand, be involved, and get a little more confident about using this amazing product.

So, I’m going to take us now to the beginning of the year. I know it’s approaching December—I’m not going to use that “C” word or anything else. We’re nearly there. We’ve just had 6.7 and 6.7.1, a maintenance release. So, if you haven’t already downloaded that, do go to your dashboard and have a look at it.

This year, we’ve had three quite major releases, but what’s been good to see is that we’ve had some time to look at, “Okay, what can we make work better?” I think that’s been a valuable part of 2024. It’s not just been about a headlong, “Hey, we’ll do this, we’ll do that.” We’ve had time to think about how we can make the user experience more stable, more understandable, more exciting, but also more streamlined.

I’m going to go to Birgit first. I know that’s been an important thing for you—not just with your documentation hat on but also in terms of how people use the new Gutenberg features. How do you think this year has been different in terms of releases achieving those kinds of things for the end user, but also for the people who are advocating and building sites for others?

Birgit:
Well, I think the Site Editor has really matured. We’re not totally there yet, but working on block themes and being able to design a theme with the Site Editor has come a long way. The team started working on that in 2020. So, after four years, there are quite a few things that are working very well.

I’m glad that now, as a theme developer or designer, you don’t need to know code to actually create or modify a theme. The same goes for site owners. With the design tools, style variations, and patterns in place, you can do a great deal of site design through the Site Editor and follow along with the new developments.

So, yes, I agree it was a great year. We also had the new font library available in one of the releases. The design views, starting out in 6.5, have come a long way, and by 6.7, design views have improved significantly. To recap: design views are a new way of looking at the WP Admin. It’s isolated right now in the Site Editor to look at patterns, templates, and template parts. Unfortunately, it’s not yet available for posts, but there’s an experiment for that.

I think the rollout of features—especially block bindings, which came from a development angle and moved into the interface with 6.7—is a major stepping stone for many people.

Abha:
Block bindings are actually quite amazing. It’s a way to display custom fields in the editor without needing a developer. That doesn’t mean you might not use a developer for some other things, but it’s such an exciting tool for the end user. More importantly, it’s going to become easier and easier to use. So, if you’ve not used 6.7 and you’re listening to this show and thinking, “I don’t know what this is, or how to use it,” as Birgit says, you can see it in the Site Editor. But you can also download the test site and practice with these features.

We encourage everybody during releases to try out a test site—not on a live site—because with WordPress, one of the great strengths is that you can practice, experiment, and see what you might like to use. That process, in itself, can inspire new creations in your area of expertise, your product, or how you want your WordPress site to develop in the future.

On that note, Joe, tools like block bindings and the design tools coming in now are very visual. Does that visual aspect add a problem in terms of site speed and performance?

Joe:
That’s a good question. I’ll start by saying it’s just been so exciting to see how much these tools have evolved over the last several years.

As a WordPress developer and web developer, I started earlier in my career building themes and templates. It was always nice to go to the theme repository, browse options, get inspiration, and start somewhere. Then you could tweak a theme to fit your exact use case. But it still required a lot of effort and developer know-how to do any real customization.

Within the last year, I’ve had several experiences where someone has said, “Hey, can you build a website for me?” Using one of the default themes and the Site Editor, you can now do 90% of what used to take me a couple of weeks with a code editor, CSS, PHP, and all the things I’m very comfortable with. That ability breaks down barriers for people to bring their ideas to life, and it’s really cool to see how powerful it’s become.

Now, to your actual question—does this cause a performance problem? Potentially, it can. One of the things we’ve been working closely on as a performance team, from release to release, is measuring how fast a page renders with these features compared to previous versions.

What we’ve discovered is that for WordPress to produce the outputs expected, like customizable styles or fonts, there’s just more processing required to create those pages. As new features are released, we’ve worked to identify and mitigate areas where functionality might slow WordPress down.

For example, a theme might register a lot of patterns. Previously, WordPress would process every pattern for every page, even if they weren’t used. By optimizing how patterns are processed, we’ve kept the user experience consistent in terms of speed while still adding functionality.

Birgit:
Yes, and that was actually a highlight in 6.5, where it was noted in the release notes that the editor had become two times faster, and input processing was five times faster. That’s a noticeable improvement—not just for page loads on the front end, but also for content creators working in the WordPress platform. We all have deadlines, and faster tools are really helpful. So, kudos to the performance team and the core team for following through with those improvements.

Abha:
And, of course, one of the things we try to do with this show is to represent perspectives from different parts of the world. Broadband speed and access vary greatly, even within the same country or state. Performance really does matter because it impacts how everyone can access these features.

Joe, I think you’re right—it has evolved and gotten better, and the tools have become easier to use in many ways. Everything is an evolution with WordPress. That’s partly because of the number of people contributing to it, but also because technology is always changing.

What we can do now wasn’t possible two years ago. It’s easy to forget that. I know when I’m training and talking to people about WordPress, they’ll ask, “But why didn’t you do it this way?” Well, that technology didn’t exist when that feature was created. You have to adapt to what’s available while trying to anticipate what’s coming. For performance, it’s about balancing the features that make a difference with where you can have the most impact.

Joe:
That’s true. Most people are familiar with WordPress’s mission to democratize publishing. When WordPress was first created, building a website was difficult. You needed to know a lot to put information on the internet.

We take for granted how easy it has become now. There are so many ways to publish online, whether it’s hosting your own website—which we encourage—or using other platforms. I have teenage kids, and they can post whatever they want in countless places without barriers.

But if you’re building a business or trying to teach people something, having your own space to share your ideas is important. WordPress tries to make it easy—not just to produce content, but to do so in a way that your audience can access it.

If WordPress creates experiences that are slow to load, it makes it harder for your audience to access your content. And it’s not just about geographic infrastructure. Even students commuting on a subway with poor cell service could face challenges.

If WordPress experiences are slow, your products, posts, or messages might not reach your audience effectively. So, it’s essential to provide tools that allow people to build great things while ensuring the end-user experience is smooth and fast.

Birgit:
Exactly. And for those students on subways, for example, there’s a new feature in 6.7 that makes it easier to work with images from iPhones. Apple’s HEIC image format isn’t web-ready, but WordPress now has a built-in converter. You don’t need to manually convert it before uploading. You can post pictures from your iPhone directly to your WordPress site.

Abha:
For people concerned about the size of images they’re uploading, is that something WordPress handles fully now?

Joe:
WordPress does a lot out of the box to ensure that no matter what size image you upload, the version displayed on a user’s device is optimized for their screen size.

That’s part of why we created the responsive images feature back in 2016. At that time, people were increasingly using phones, and it didn’t make sense to load a 1200-pixel-wide image on a 300-pixel-wide screen.

Since then, technology has improved, and we’ve made better choices about image formats served to users. For example, instead of just JPEGs, WordPress might use WebP or AVIF formats if your hosting provider supports them. We also automatically convert formats like HEIC to something web-friendly.

In the latest release, we introduced a new HTML feature for lazy-loaded images. This ensures that only the appropriate image size is requested for display, which speeds up loading times. With WordPress powering over 40% of the web, implementing these optimizations benefits a massive number of sites.

Abha:
It’s amazing how much WordPress does automatically in the background. Features like this make it easier for users to focus on the creative aspects—writing, designing, or creating images—while WordPress handles the technical side.

And for developers, it’s exciting too. With so many possibilities, there’s never a dull moment.

Birgit:
Absolutely. Even just playing with the design tools added this year, like drop shadows, border support, dimension settings, and negative margins, sparks creativity. The introduction of grid layouts and background images also opens up new possibilities.

It reminds me of the early days of MySpace and GeoCities, where background images were a big deal. They pushed creative boundaries—though some weren’t very readable! I had a psychedelic background on my first website that wasn’t accessible at all.

But with these new tools, you can create designs that are visually appealing and functional. Features like drop shadows and borders help showcase products or content in a more engaging way, which is great for businesses.

Abha:
And I think, having worked on magazines and designs in various tools over the decades, it’s incredible how much of that is now possible in WordPress. It gives users so many options.

Accessibility is also critically important. In 6.7, there were more than 65 accessibility fixes and enhancements. Many focused on foundational aspects of the WordPress experience—improving the user interface, keyboard navigation, editor accessibility, login screen clarity, and better labeling.

There’s still a lot to do on accessibility. For anyone who doesn’t know, there’s a Make WordPress team dedicated to accessibility. If that’s an area you feel strongly about—or you’re a developer wanting to learn more—you can get involved. Accessibility is something we should all care about. It’s best built into projects from the start, and if we can do that, it makes WordPress better for everyone.

We’ll link information about the accessibility team in the show notes.

I want to jump to something related to releases, which is WordPress Playground. Those of us who’ve been using it are quite excited. If you haven’t heard about it yet, the WordPress Playground lets you run WordPress instantly—yes, instantly—on any device without a host. You can build, experiment, test, and grow your ideas directly within it.

It’s an excellent tool for honing your developer skills, whatever level you’re at. If you’ve missed previous shows where we talked about Playground, we’ll link articles in the show notes about how to get started.

Now, Birgit, I know you love WordPress Playground. What is it about it that makes it a standout feature for you this year?

Birgit:
Well, it’s incredible because you don’t need a host, a database, or even a server. Everything runs directly in your browser. You just click on playground.wordpress.net, and it’s all there. The newest version even loads with the new default theme, so you can try it out immediately.

There’s also a “Blueprint Gallery” in Playground, which gives you ideas on how to configure it for specific tasks. You can use it to demo something, add content, or load plugins or PHP scripts. It’s fantastic for theme and plugin developers, contributors, or anyone who wants to test features in isolation.

For example, if you’re working on a Gutenberg pull request or a Trac ticket, you can test it directly in Playground to ensure the patch or change works as intended. That helps maintain a good experience for future versions of WordPress before things are merged into core.

And for contributors, it’s a great way to provide feedback or identify bugs. Even if you’re not a developer, just testing features and reporting back can make a huge difference.

Abha:
Absolutely. It’s also a valuable tool for plugin developers. For example, there’s a blueprint for loading WooCommerce alongside a theme and sample products. This lets you demo your shop to clients or stakeholders.

Joe, you’re a fan of Playground too. What’s been your experience?

Joe:
It’s truly mind-boggling what you can do in a browser. Playground essentially runs a web server and database server directly in your browser, allowing you to use WordPress as if it were on a host.

There are limitations, of course, but for most things you’d want to test or explore, it’s phenomenal. For example, on GitHub, when reviewing pull requests for WordPress, there’s an automation that integrates Playground. You can click a link to load a version of WordPress with the proposed change applied, and you’re immediately testing it.

That ease of access allows more people to participate in the development process, even those without the time or technical expertise to set up local testing environments. It opens the door for feedback and collaboration in ways that weren’t possible before.

Birgit:
What I also hope to see more of is plugin developers creating previews for their plugins using Playground. For users, it’s often hard to understand what a plugin does until you install it. With Playground, you can create live previews directly in WordPress.

For instance, Nick Diego’s Block Visibility plugin has an excellent Playground demo. When you land on the demo, you’re taken directly into the editor and can immediately see how the plugin works. You can test block visibility controls right away. It’s a fantastic example of how to showcase a plugin’s functionality.

This kind of interactivity increases user understanding and, potentially, adoption. Nick has seen a significant rise in active installs over the last few months, partly because of this approach.

If you’re a plugin developer, I encourage you to explore Playground and blueprints. There’s also a dedicated Slack channel called #playground, where you can ask questions and meet the team working on it. The documentation for Playground has improved significantly, and the team is proactively testing plugins to ensure compatibility.

Abha:
Speaking of plugins, there are two we should highlight. Joe, you’ve been involved with the Plugin Checker project on the performance team. Could you tell us how it’s useful to our listeners and where you see it heading in the future?

Joe:
Absolutely. The idea for Plugin Checker came from research the performance team started a few years ago. We found that one major factor impacting site performance is not just WordPress itself but the plugins people use.

It’s important to note that the number of plugins isn’t necessarily the issue—it’s about how well those plugins perform. To address this, we thought about creating a tool similar to the Theme Checker, which has been around for years to help theme developers ensure their themes meet WordPress standards.

With Plugin Checker, the goal is to provide plugin developers with instant feedback on how to improve their plugins. Initially, it was focused on performance, but it’s expanded to cover other aspects, such as security and accessibility.

Earlier this year, the tool was adopted as part of the plugin submission process for the WordPress.org repository. This was a big step forward, especially considering the strain on the small team of volunteers who review new plugin submissions. By automating many of the checks, we reduce the workload and make it easier for developers to create plugins that meet WordPress standards right out of the gate.

In the future, I hope Plugin Checker becomes a tool that developers use proactively—not just for repository submissions but as a standard for improving plugin quality across the board. It could offer optional checks, like optimizing performance, improving accessibility, or enhancing security. These features could elevate the overall quality of plugins in the WordPress ecosystem.

Abha:
It’s such an exciting initiative, and it aligns perfectly with WordPress’s mission of continuous improvement. Another plugin worth mentioning is the Create Block Theme plugin. It simplifies the process of creating new themes, making it unnecessary to know how to code. You can still code if you want, of course, but now anyone can package a theme together more easily.

Birgit, how do you see tools like this evolving next year and beyond?

Birgit:
The Create Block Theme plugin solves a significant problem. When users make changes in the Site Editor, those changes are stored in the database, while the theme’s templates and theme.json file are stored in the file system.

The plugin allows you to export those database changes, turning them into template files for a future theme. Initially, it supported exporting changes to templates and theme.json, but now it includes style variations, block styles, and other features.

I see this plugin paving the way for these features to eventually become part of the Site Editor itself. For example, exporting fonts from the font library or patterns directly into theme files might one day be built into core WordPress.

This iterative approach—testing and refining in a plugin before merging into core—is invaluable. It’s part of the concept of “canonical plugins,” which Matt Mullenweg introduced last year. This method allows for faster iteration and testing outside the constraints of core development cycles.

We’re also seeing similar innovation with other plugins, like the Responsive Navigation plugin by Dave Smith. It addresses issues with the navigation block, making it easier to create separate mobile and desktop menus—something currently challenging without custom programming. These tools could eventually become part of core WordPress as well.

Abha:
That’s an insightful take. Another exciting feature is Data Views. Joe, as a developer, how does this make a difference in your work?

Joe:
Data Views is a game-changer. Historically, developers relied on WP List Tables for displaying information in the WordPress admin. While functional, they weren’t the most modern or user-friendly.

Data Views modernizes this experience, offering a more application-like interface. It’s faster and more interactive—you can filter, sort, and view information without needing to reload the page.

Initially, Data Views is focused on templates, template parts, and other elements in the Site Editor. But the long-term vision is for it to become the primary UI for all WordPress admin interfaces.

For developers, this means we don’t have to build custom admin UIs from scratch. Instead, we can use a consistent, extendable framework that feels modern and aligns with the rest of WordPress.

I’d encourage developers to explore Data Views now, provide feedback, and start thinking about how to integrate their custom features with this new system. That way, as it becomes more widely adopted, their plugins or custom applications will seamlessly fit into the modernized WordPress admin.

Abha:
Birgit, I know you’re a big fan of Data Views as well, especially its potential for adding images to the Media Library. Could you tell us more about that?

Birgit:
Yes, definitely! JuanMa Garrido wrote a fantastic two-part tutorial on the WordPress Developer Blog that demonstrates how Data Views can be used. In the tutorial, he creates a plugin page where you can use Data Views components to display a list of images from an external source.

The plugin allows users to filter the images, view different displays, and select the ones they want to add to their Media Library. It’s a practical example of how Data Views simplifies complex tasks.

Developers no longer need to make architectural decisions or build custom solutions from scratch. The Data Views components handle much of the heavy lifting, so you can focus on implementing your unique functionality. It’s a huge time-saver and a great way to standardize admin interfaces.

We’ll include the links to JuanMa’s tutorials in the show notes for anyone who wants to explore this further.

Abha:
That sounds brilliant. If you’re using Data Views or other new features and have ideas for the WordPress Developer Blog, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you want to write something or suggest a topic, let us know, and we can help make it happen.

In addition to Data Views, there’s so much more to be excited about: synchronized pattern overrides, block bindings, style variations, and, of course, the new default theme, Twenty Twenty-Five. We’ll link all of these in the show notes too.

This year’s releases have focused on making WordPress better for everyone—end users, extenders, and developers alike. For extenders, new APIs like the Interactivity API are incredibly exciting. Joe, could you explain why this focus on extenders is important and how tools like the Interactivity API make a difference?

Joe:
Absolutely. I remember having a conversation earlier this year about how WordPress could better support extenders—not just those using the core product but also those building on top of it.

The Interactivity API is a great example of identifying a common problem and solving it in a standardized way. For instance, consider a navigation menu on a smaller screen that collapses into a button. For years, every theme developer had to write custom JavaScript to handle that functionality.

With the Interactivity API, interactions like clicking to open a menu or liking a post are built into the system. Developers no longer have to reinvent the wheel for these common tasks. The API standardizes how interactions are linked to reactions, like expanding a menu or changing a heart icon from empty to filled.

This standardization benefits everyone. Developers can implement interactive features more easily, and because they’re using a consistent system, these features are less likely to conflict with others. It also allows WordPress to optimize performance at a higher level.

For example, Google recently updated its Core Web Vitals metrics to focus on INP (Interaction to Next Paint), which measures how quickly a page responds after a user interaction. With the Interactivity API, we can address performance issues at the API level, improving the experience for all WordPress sites without requiring every developer to fix their individual code.

Abha:
That’s such an important point. It’s about collaboration—working together to make WordPress even better.

Abha:
As we look forward to next year, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Joe, what excites you most about what’s coming for WordPress?

Joe:
It’s hard to predict exactly what will happen, but what excites me most is the community itself.

Every year, I’m inspired by the creativity, resilience, compassion, and humanity of the people who contribute to WordPress. Despite personal challenges or outside pressures, the community consistently comes together to deliver. That spirit keeps the project moving forward, and I can’t wait to see how it manifests in 2025.

Abha:
That’s beautifully said. And to our listeners: if you’ve been inspired by this show and want to get involved, there’s a place for you. Whether it’s contributing to releases, working on features you’re passionate about, or sharing feedback, there are countless ways to make a difference.

Birgit, what are you looking forward to in the coming year?

Birgit:
I’m excited about both the community and the product.

On the community side, I’m looking forward to attending WordCamps, especially the smaller, local ones. I recently moved back to Germany after 25 years in Florida, and I’ve been reconnecting with the German WordPress community. It’s been great to experience the different vibes and cultures at local WordCamps, like WordCamp Leipzig.

On the product side, I have a dream that someday we’ll have a UI for creating custom post types and custom fields. I’m also excited about progress on collaborative editing, grid layouts, and other advanced design tools.

There’s so much happening in WordPress—it’s still an incredibly exciting space. The collaboration and innovation within the community are remarkable. With over 780 contributors to version 6.7 alone, every contribution counts, no matter how big or small.

Abha:
It truly is an exciting place to be. If you want to make a difference in WordPress—whether it’s contributing to a release, improving features, or sharing ideas about what could be better—this community is ready to welcome you.

Before we wrap up, I want to end with a fun release-related question for both of you. Birgit, you’ve lived in America and Europe and traveled quite a bit. What’s your go-to food when you’re working on Gutenberg, documentation, or developer advocacy?

Birgit:
Well, I’m lucky to have a husband who’s an excellent cook. He’s been influenced by the Indian and West Indies communities from his cricket-playing days, and one of my favorites is his biryani. It’s made with rice, chicken, lots of vegetables, and a unique blend of spices. I can already smell it—it’s been in the oven, and it’ll be my go-to meal tonight.

Another favorite of his is mango chow, which is sweet mango with chili peppers and cilantro. It’s spicy, flavorful, and something we enjoy often in our household.

Abha:
Do you think there’ll be enough biryani for everyone in the studio and all of our Do the Woo listeners?

Birgit:
Of course! Come on over!

Abha:
We might just hold you to that! Perhaps we need a Do the Woo cooking show where we share recipes from around the world while talking about WordPress. Tell your husband he’ll need to share his biryani recipe!

Joe, how about you? What’s your go-to meal when you’re working on development?

Joe:
Honestly, I think I just need to figure out how to get to Birgit’s house—it sounds amazing!

At my house, we’ve been getting into Italian cooking. One of my favorites is Detroit-style pizza, which is baked in a square pan and has a slightly thicker crust—almost like focaccia. It’s fun to experiment with different toppings, like mushrooms and béchamel sauce, or keep it simple with pepperoni.

Abha:
So basically, it’s a WordPress-WooCommerce-style platform with different variations! Perfect.

We’ll definitely have you both on the cooking show! And we’ll see more of both of you in 2025 as we feature shows on learning WordPress, maximizing its potential, and exploring its many possibilities. Thank you, Birgit and Joe, for joining us today.

This has been an extended episode, covering three releases and a look ahead to next year. We hope it’s been helpful for your planning. Let us know what you’re working on in WordPress and WooCommerce, and what you’d like us to focus on in the future.

Thank you both for being here.

Birgit:
Thanks for having me!

Joe:
Thank you!

Abha:
And thank you to our listeners for joining us on Do the Woo. Until next time!