Hot Off The Press, Introducing WordPress 6.1

The last major WordPress release of 2022 is now available to download. The new upgrade features a new default theme, new templates, tools and lots more.

A modern office workspace featuring a large computer monitor displaying a webpage. The desk is cluttered with notebooks, a laptop, and a mug. Soft light filters through a window with gray curtains, highlighting a cozy, well-organized environment.

The last WordPress release of 2022 is now live, and it’s a big one.

WordPress 6.1 is available to download now and has been titled ‘Misha’ after renowned jazz pianist Mikhail ‘Misha’ Alperin.

The new update claims to ‘give site owners more control and easier customization while offering a more cohesive experience to users’ (WordPress.org) and introduces a range of new and improved features.

Misha showcases a new default theme called Twenty Twenty-Three, this single theme enables users to apply a variety of styles with minimal actions. The theme has passed an extensive accessibility audit and can be found within the ‘accessibility ready’ tag. You can find out more about accessibility within the WordPress community by reading our writeup from this years WordPress Accessibility Day.

Improved performance and accessibility are among the key objectives with this release, with over 60 updates made specifically with accessibility in mind. If you want to find out more about accessibility within the WordPress community, you can read about those specific updates here or you can read our recent article on WP Accessibility Day.

Site admins can also utilise new templates for both site pages and posts, which enable more control and a quicker editing process, thanks to new tools such as search-and-replace.

Other features we’re excited to see rolling out are:

Visit the official WordPress website to view the full list of new features.

Overall, it’s great to see the WordPress core team taking steps to improve accessibility, while also introducing some excellent new functions to aid a consistent style and enhance site performance.

You can hear more about the future of WordPress at this years State Of The Word keynote address from WordPress co-founder, Matt Mullenweg. The event will be livestreamed live from New York on the 15th December.

If you’d like to speak to our team about your next WordPress project, make sure to get in touch to organise a convenient time to talk.

If you’d like more day to day updates from us and our team, you can connect with our CEO Oliver Morrison or our CTO Paul Halfpenny on LinkedIn or follow our official company page here.

If you’d like to see more news articles but you’re short on time, why not sign up to our newsletter to receive a quarterly digest of our most recent posts.

Paul Halfpenny
Paul Halfpenny

CTO & Founder

Having worked in agencies since he left university, Paul drives both the technical output at Filter, as well as being responsible for planning. His key strengths are quickly understanding client briefs and being able to communicate complex solutions in a clear and simple manner.

Read More

Illustration showing WordPress integration with icons for plugins and settings between a WordPress dashboard and a website interface.

How We Connected WordPress to AI Using the Abilities API and MCP

Our open-source Filter Abilities plugin uses the new WordPress Abilities API to give AI assistants direct access to your site. This unlocks conversational commands to manage content, audit SEO, and analyze visitor data, transforming how you interact with your digital platform.

Two panels showing "BIMA100 Judge 2026" with grayscale portraits of Oliver Morrison and Paul Halfpenny on a blue background.

Filter’s Co-Founders Selected as BIMA 100 Judges for 2026

We are proud our co-founders will judge the 2026 BIMA 100, celebrating the UK’s top digital talent. This reflects our commitment to the digital community and our deep expertise in engineering scalable digital platforms that deliver measurable, transformative business outcomes for our trusted client partners.

The Filter Team group photo

From St Pancras to Shoreditch: The Filter Winter Team Event

As a fully remote agency, the Filter team is spread across the UK and Europe, so when we get the chance to come together in person, we make sure it counts. Our latest team event brought us to London for a day that had everything: good food, great company, a genuine contribution to the community,...

Interested in working with us?