WordPress news
What's new in WordPress 7.1 "Mary Lou"?
WordPress 7.1, code-named "Mary Lou," was released on August 19, 2026. It adds responsive styling controls so blocks can look different on phones and tablets without custom code, a new image editor for cropping and rotating, richer Notes for reviewing content with others, faster in-browser image processing, and two new blocks: Playlist and Tabs. The current version as of mid-October 2026 is 7.1.3, a security and maintenance update to 7.1.
The changes small-business site owners will notice
Responsive styles without code
You can now set how a block looks at different screen sizes from Global Styles or from an individual block's settings in the Site Editor, and preview the result at different widths as you work. Before, this often needed custom CSS. This adds to the existing options to show or hide blocks on certain screen sizes.
Why it matters: your phone layout is often the first thing customers see. Fixing a too-big heading or a cramped section on phones is now something you can do yourself.
A new way to crop and edit images
The Crop button now opens a dedicated media editor. It brings together freeform and fixed-shape cropping, flipping, precise rotation and editing image details (metadata) in one place.
Faster, lighter image uploads
Image compression, resizing and thumbnail creation now happen in your web browser instead of on the server. According to the release announcement, this reduces server load and produces smaller files without running into server memory limits or upload timeouts. WordPress 7.1 also adds native support for AVIF and HEIC images (HEIC is the format many iPhones use) and HDR gain maps.
The Media Library now scrolls continuously by default; each user can switch back to page numbers.
Notes for working with others
Notes, which arrived in WordPress 6.9, can now be attached to a specific bit of text instead of a whole block. They support bold, italic, code and links, and you can type @ to mention a collaborator and notify them.
Why it matters: if an agency, an employee or a family member helps with your site, you can leave feedback right where the change is needed.
Admin bar in every editor
The admin bar (the toolbar along the top of WordPress) now stays visible inside all editors, so getting back to the Dashboard is easier. It also has small visual updates.
New blocks and button styles
- Tabs: put related content in tabbed panels, such as "Residential" and "Commercial."
- Playlist: group several audio tracks in one player.
- Button hover styles: set separate looks for hover, focus and active states on Button blocks.
Behind the scenes
- The post editor now runs in a separate frame for all themes, matching the Site Editor, so admin styles do not interfere with your content.
- Developers get a public icon API, more Abilities API features (introduced in 6.9) and accessibility improvements such as new tooltip functions.
How to update to WordPress 7.1
- Make sure you have a recent backup. ParsonsHosting keeps offsite backups three times a week (Monday, Tuesday and Friday) on every plan; for a major update, also make your own.
- If you want to be careful, run the update on a staging copy first: staging with WP Toolkit is included on every plan.
- Update your plugins and theme first, under Plugins and Appearance > Themes.
- Go to Dashboard > Updates and click the button to update WordPress.
- Visit your homepage, contact page and any store pages to check them.
- If something looks wrong, contact us before trying more changes.
Because 7.1.1, 7.1.2 and 7.1.3 have since fixed security issues, update to the newest 7.1.x release, not just 7.1.
Sources
- WordPress 7.1 "Mary Lou" announcement, August 19, 2026: https://wordpress.org/news/2026/08/mary-lou/
- WordPress releases list: https://wordpress.org/news/category/releases/
- WordPress 7.1.3 release, October 6, 2026: https://wordpress.org/news/2026/10/wordpress-7-1-3-maintenance-and-security-release/
Questions?
ParsonsHosting WordPress hosting customers can email support@parsonshosting.com or call 530-710-8726. We reply the same day, often within an hour, during business hours (8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific, 7 days a week). More in the FAQ.