WordPress 6.8 “Cecil” – New Features and Benefits for SmartHost Customers

Style Book Enhancements: The Style Book – a tool that previews all blocks and design elements – gets a cleaner, structured layout with clearer labels. This makes it easier to review and edit global styles (colours, typography, etc.) all in one place. Notably, the Style Book is now available for classic themes that have editor styles or a theme.json file, not just block themes. In classic theme sites, WordPress 6.8 also moves site Patterns into the Appearance > Design > Patterns menu, keeping all design tools together. These changes give all users (even those on older themes) a more unified and convenient design experience.

Editor Improvements (Blocks & Content Editing): WordPress 6.8 brings many small improvements to the block editor that smooth out daily content creation. For example, in Data Views (the list and grid views of content in the admin), layouts are more consistent across post types and you can adjust the density of list tables to see more content at a glance. The Query Loop block now has an option to “ignore sticky posts,” so sticky posts don’t always appear at the top of a query unless you want them. This gives more control when listing posts (for instance, a blog grid can exclude pinned posts if desired). The Query Loop’s design picker was also improved – the “Choose Pattern” modal is replaced with a simpler Change Design dropdown for switching layouts. Additionally, a new Query Total block was introduced to display the number of results in a Query Loop, which can be useful for archives or search pages. Dozens of other refinements – from better block placeholders to navigation menu tweaks – make the editor more intuitive and accessible in 6.8.

Near-Instant Page Loads with Speculative Loading: A major performance addition in 6.8 is Speculative Loading, which uses the browser’s Speculation Rules API to preload content before a user actually clicks a link. In practical terms, WordPress can detect when a user hovers over or is about to click a link and quietly fetch the next page in the background. If the user proceeds, the page appears almost instantly because it’s already partially loaded. WordPress balances this preloading to avoid wasteful requests, and it only works in modern browsers that support it (browsers that don’t support the feature simply ignore it with no effect). Developers can even fine-tune which links should be preloaded via code or plugins. The result is a snappier browsing experience for your visitors – pages feel more responsive and fast.

Stronger Security with bcrypt: WordPress has upgraded its password hashing algorithm to bcrypt in version 6.8. Bcrypt is much more computationally intensive to crack than the older MD5-based scheme (Phpass) that WordPress used for years. This means stored passwords are far more secure against brute-force attacks. The great part is that this happens automatically – you do not need to re-set any passwords. As soon as a user logs in after the update, their password will be transparently rehashed with bcrypt. Along with this, WordPress 6.8 includes other cryptography improvements behind the scenes, contributing to a more secure core. Stronger password security benefits everyone on your site, hardening user accounts and customer data against attackers.

Accessibility Improvements: Continuing WordPress’s commitment to inclusivity, version 6.8 includes over 100 accessibility fixes and enhancements across the dashboard and editor. Every default theme in WordPress had accessibility updates in this release, and features like the navigation menu interface and the Customizer were improved for better keyboard navigation and screen reader support. For example, screen reader announcements were added when saving settings in Screen Options, empty links (like author links with no author) now display a readable placeholder instead of just an empty tag, and the Customizer now respects users’ “reduced motion” preferences to minimize animations. These changes make WordPress more usable for people with disabilities and also create a more consistent experience for everyone. If your site serves a broad audience, these baked-in improvements help ensure more visitors can navigate and use your site effectively.

Performance Under the Hood: WordPress 6.8 comes with numerous performance tweaks that make both the admin and front-end faster. In addition to speculative loading, core developers optimized the block editor’s performance (for instance, how block types are registered and loaded) and improved query caching to speed up database operations. There’s also an early implementation of an Interactivity API – a new approach for building interactive front-end components – with best practices now outlined for developers to aim for highly responsive (sub-50ms) interactions. All these changes mean a faster, smoother experience when editing content and for visitors browsing your site, especially on sites heavy with blocks or dynamic content.

Developer-Focused Updates: WordPress 6.8 brings a host of low-level improvements that plugin and theme developers will appreciate (and which ultimately yield a more stable site for you). For example, a new filter should_load_block_assets_on_demand gives developers control to only load block scripts/styles when needed, reducing bloat. A more efficient block registration system was introduced to speed up sites with many custom blocks. The REST API got a new filter rest_menu_read_access to let developers expose or hide menu data for headless setups. There are also new functions, such as one that allows batch-registering multiple block types in one call (useful for plugin authors)). Numerous other “under the hood” tweaks cover everything from media handling, scheduling, and internationalization improvements, to cleaner markup output and updated coding standards. In total, over 320 bugs and enhancements were addressed in 6.8. For those interested, the official release notes and field guide provide a detailed changelog of all fixes and changes. Overall, these developer changes make WordPress more robust, extensible, and aligned with modern PHP 8.x environments – all of which translates to better performance and compatibility for your site.

Daily and Weekly Backups: We maintain 28 days of backups for your website, with daily automated backups and on-demand snapshots before critical operations. Before upgrading to WordPress 6.8, we take a full backup of your site’s files and database. This way, if anything unexpected happens, we can swiftly restore your site to its previous state. Your data is safe, and you have an immediate fallback plan.

Managed Updates (Core & Plugins): Our team performs weekly plugin updates and ensures your WordPress core is updated whenever a new stable version is released. For a major release like 6.8, we don’t rush it out on day one; instead, we carefully test first (see below) and then roll it out to client sites in a controlled manner. We never run beta or release candidate versions on your live site – only the final, tested release (6.8.0 in this case) is deployed, to maintain stability. You’ll always be running a supported version of WordPress, without having to click “Update” yourself.

Staging Environment & Compatibility Testing: A key benefit of our Care Plan is access to a staging site (a clone of your live site in a safe environment) where we can test major changes. For the WordPress 6.8 upgrade, our engineers first apply the update on a staging copy of many client sites to see how the new version interacts with installedthemes and plugins. We perform manual testing of your site’s crucial functions – we check that the pages display correctly, forms work, plugins (like page builders or WooCommerce) operate without errors, etc. If any plugin or theme incompatibilities with 6.8 are discovered, we address them before touching your live site. This might involve applying patches, coordinating with the plugin developer, or in rare cases delaying the update for that site until a fix is found. This cautious approach ensures that when we do update your production site, it goes smoothly.

Seamless Core Upgrade Process: Once we’re confident in compatibility, SmartHost will schedule and perform the WordPress 6.8 core update for your live site. We typically do this during off-peak hours to minimize impact. Our process is refined: we back up your site (again) right before updating, then run the update via our managed tools. Because we’ve vetted it on staging, the actual update is usually quick and problem-free. After updating, we monitor your website closely for any issues. Our team does a round of smoke tests – checking the homepage, logging into wp-admin, and ensuring everything looks normal. We also have automated uptime monitoring, so we’d be alerted immediately if something was wrong post-update (e.g. a plugin error causing a crash).

Security & Uptime Monitoring: Alongside updates, our Care Plan provides continuous security monitoring. We run malware scans and keep an eye on any vulnerabilities. If WordPress 6.8 had fixed a severe security bug (in this case it mainly strengthens passwords), we make sure you get that benefit quickly. Our uptime monitoring notifies us if your site goes down at any point. After the 6.8 upgrade, this monitoring adds reassurance – on the rare chance an issue emerged, we’d catch it and fix it fast. We also include security reporting in your monthly report, so you know your site’s status.

Expert Support and Communication: When you’re on our Care Plan, you have WordPress experts on call. We’ll inform you once your site has been successfully updated to WordPress 6.8 (typically via our ticket system or email). If there are any notable changes you should be aware of, we’ll let you know. The good news is that usually you won’t notice anything disruptive – you’ll simply see the new features in your dashboard. If you have any questions about the new version or need help with a new feature (for example, trying out the Style Book, or configuring the new settings), our support team is happy to assist. We include technical support as part of the plan, so you can ask us WordPress-related questions anytime. Essentially, we act as your behind-the-scenes WordPress IT team.

No Action Needed on Your Part: Perhaps the biggest benefit is peace of mind – you don’t have to do anything to get all these 6.8 improvements. SmartHost handles the update from start to finish, and we do it carefully to ensure zero downtime. We understand that a website is critical for small businesses, online stores, and agencies; our update process is designed to be invisible (aside from the positive improvements you’ll notice). If everything is running normally, you might only realize you’ve been upgraded when you see the WordPress 6.8 welcome notice or read our notification. By delegating this work to us, you avoid the stress and time sink of updating WordPress yourself.