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Articles → WordPress 6.8 “Cecil” Is Here!
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Published: 16 April 2025

WordPress 6.8 “Cecil” Is Here!

WordPress 6.8 “Cecil” brings a focused set of refinements to design, performance, and security. In this release, you’ll find powerful new tools for styling any theme, near‑instant page loads, and industry‑leading password protection.

1. Style Book for Classic Themes

With 6.8, the Style Book—formerly exclusive to block themes—now works with any theme that opts in via theme.json or add_theme_support('editor-styles'). Under Appearance → Design, you can:

  • Preview and adjust colors, typography, spacing, and more in real time
  • Manage patterns in a dedicated panel, leaving room for the Style Book’s structured layout
  • Maintain legacy designs while enjoying modern styling workflows citeturn0search0

2. Blazing‑Fast Navigation via Speculative Loading

Page‑speed matters. WordPress 6.8 introduces the Speculation Rules API, enabling browsers to prefetch or prerender linked pages on hover or click. The result:

  • Near‑instant page loads, reducing perceived wait times
  • Customizable rules: define exactly which URLs to preload in your theme or plugin
  • Improved Core Web Vitals, like First Contentful Paint and Interaction to Next Paint citeturn0search6turn0search2

3. Rock‑Solid Security with bcrypt

Security takes a leap forward as WordPress replaces phpass with bcrypt for password hashing. Key benefits:

  • Adaptive cost factor makes hashes progressively stronger as hardware evolves
  • Seamless upgrade: existing passwords are rehashed to bcrypt on next login or change
  • Future‑proof foundation for further hardening user credentials citeturn0search2turn0search6

Upgrade Today

Head to Dashboard → Updates (or your hosting control panel) to install 6.8. For a deep dive, explore:

Embrace sharper design control, instant navigation, and iron‑clad security—happy building!