WordPress is an open-source web creation platform that uses MySQL as a database and written in PHP. In non-geek speak, it is the easiest yet powerful blogging and website content management system (CMS) in existence today. Hence, the WordPress 5.5 update is a big thing!
WordPress is a versatile CMS. It is an excellent platform for a wide variety of websites. From blogging to e-commerce to business to portfolio websites, you can design any website just in a way you want.
With passing time, we have seen a massive change in the WordPress environment. It got better with every update, and with WordPress 5.4, using WordPress became fun.
WordPress 5.5 was released just the previous week, and it is the second major release of 2020.
This new update is packed with many improvements; many of them are focused around the WordPress block editor. It also comes with some long-awaited WordPress features that are making their debut with the release.
WordPress 5.5 is a significant release, and unless you are on a managed WordPress hosting service, you’ll have to initiate the update manually.
In this blog post, we will share with you what’s new in WordPress 5.5, and which features you should try after updating your website. Don,t forget to create a complete WordPress backup before initiating the update.
So let’s get started!
Improved Block Editor
The block editor is where you spend most of your time creating content for your WordPress blog. In the earlier versions of WordPress, the introduction of Gutenberg blocks drastically changed how we used to work on blocks.
Recently, importing and exporting Gutenberg Blocks has become easy. It has been regularly maintained, and every new WordPress update has brought about new changes to the block editor, and 5.5 is no exception.
WordPress 5.5 brought some significant changes to the block editor that will allow WordPress users to work more efficiently. Here are some pretty cool WordPress updates in Block Editor.
Traga Modedas, as an online casino business, has loved this part of the update as they expressed their happiness with the awesome operability improvements that WordPress 5.5 brings to the users.
Integrated Block Directory
WordPress 5.5 comes with an integrated block directory. This means that if you are looking for adding a new block on your site, you’ll automatically see suggestions from the block editor.
Block directory is a collection of WordPress plugins that enables you to add different blocks on your website. This does not include the block library plugins that come with several useful blocks that you can use by installing simple plugins.
UI Changes in the Block Editors
Perhaps the first thing you are going to notice is the visual improvements to the block editor. Borders and highlights are improved, making the block editor more accessible to the users.
The ‘Add new Block’ button(+) is more noticeable and looks more like a button with a black background color.
Edit Images Inside Block Editor
With the new update, we developers can now edit images inside the block editor. You can now adjust the image’s height, width, aspect ratio, crop, and rotate without leaving the block editor.
Of course, this doesn’t change anything with the basic image editing in the media library. However, inline image editing will help users quickly discover these built-in options.
Introducing block Pattern
The block editor already comes with reusable blocks and groups, which allows users to save most common blocks and reuse them later.
WordPress 5.5 comes with a new feature called block patterns. Block Patterns have commonly used blocks with predefined settings that you can instantly add to your block post.
This allows users to quickly create page layouts while maintaining consistency in style across your website. You can find some of these block patterns already available in 5.5. More block patterns will come through as WordPress themes and plugins register their block patterns.
Improved Navigation and Movement
One common problem that many beginners struggled with is block navigation. Mainly if you are using a nested block such as columns or groups, then it becomes tough to select the parent block or move a child element inside it.
With WordPress 5.5, it has become effortless to navigate through different blocks and work on them. You can also move blocks by grabbing the handle and drag and drop them.
These updates worked well for TragMonedas.com as they designed their online casino website on WordPress 5.5. Check them out to see what wonders you can do just because of this new version.
Auto Update your Themes and Plugins
WordPress took a big leap toward security by introducing automatic updates for plugins and themes in WordPress 5.5. You can now go to the Plugins page and enable auto-updates for any WordPress Plugins installed on your site.
The same goes for WordPress themes. Go to Appearance and navigate to the themes page. Now choose the theme, and you will get a theme overview popup. You’ll find the option to enable automatic updates for the theme.
Although this functionality was available in the previous versions of WordPress for enabling that either you have to change the configuration or use third-party plugins to manage automatic updates.
WordPress 5.5 has now made it incredibly easy to ensure that your websites are always running with the latest plugins without the need of your manual toil.
This automation can affect your accessibility though and you know that your site traffic depends upon many factors, primarily your website’s accessibility. So, choose wisely between going full-on automated or staying manual!
Lazy Loading for Images
Another fantastic feature that comes with WordPress 5.5 is lazy Loading for images. This means that it will only load images visible to the user on the screen and delay the rest from Loading.
WordPress, with its new update, has made it a default feature for all sites by adding the ‘loading’ attribute to the ‘img’ tag. All modern web browsers except Safari support this attribute.
Now, what Lazy Loading does for you? It improves your website speed and performance significantly. This is also good for WordPress hosting companies, ISPs, and overall interwebs.
Conclusion.
The WordPress team is working hard to come up to the expectations of the web-developers. This update came with a handful of new stuff that will prove to be a great deal of help for web designers.
Nonetheless, there is always room for improvement. We are excited about the next update of WordPress. Till then, enjoy working on WordPress 5.5!