In this article, we are going to discuss 5 things you need to know WordPress 5.5.
WordPress 5.5 has released which has included many new features and improvements. This is the major release of 2020 and many of the improvements focus on the WordPress block editor.
We are going to explore new features of WordPress 5.5 that you should definitely notice after updating your websites. As it is a major release, you will have to manually initiate and update if you are not on managed WordPress hosting service. Make sure to back up your site before starting the update.
As stated earlier WordPress 5.5 has focused more on WordPress block editor, so let's explore what's new.
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5 things you need to know WordPress 5.5.
1.Improvised Block Editor
You spend most of the time in block editor while creating your content for your WordPress blog. It has been maintained well and WordPress improves block editor with each release.
Let's see what new to block editor in WordPress 5.5.
• Change in User Interface
Visual Improvements to block editor is the most noticeable thing in WordPress 5.5. Highlighting and borders are improved in order to make block editor more accessible.
The option for adding new content (+) icon is now more noticeable with a black background.
Source: wpbeginner.com
• Integrated block directory
WordPress 5.5 has arrived with an integrated block directory. You can see the suggestion from the block directory if you want to add a block which is not available to your site.
Wonder what is block directory? Well, it is a collection of WordPress plugins which allows the addition of different types of block to your website.
But block library plugin is not included which comes packed with useful WordPress blocks and can be used with the single plugin installation.
Source: fastcomet.com
• Block patterns
The previous version already had reusable groups and blocks that allowed users to save and reuse the most commonly used blocks.
WordPress 5.5 has added another new feature called block patterns which are commonly used blocks with pre-configured settings that you can add instantly.
This feature allows you to create page layouts without affecting consistency in style across your website.
Some of them are already available in WordPress 5.5 while others will arrive as WordPress plugins and themes register their own block patterns.
Source: siteground.com
• Option to edit image inside block editor
You can easily edit image inside block editor. It allows to adjust height, width, aspect ratio and rotate without leaving the editor.
It still allows you to carry basic image editing in the media library as well.
Source: simonothen.com
• Improvised block movement and navigation
Many beginners struggle with block navigation especially when you are using nested blocks like groups or columns. It becomes difficult to select parents block and child element inside it.
But don't panic, WordPress 5.5 has offered better block navigation which has made easier to select parents block and elements inside it.
It even allows you to move the block by grabbing the handle and drag and drop them.
Source: crazywoorld.com
2.Lazy loading of images
Now, WordPress 5.5 lazy loads your image. This literally means, It just loads the image which is visible to users on-screen and delays loading other images.
It is default features for all sites now as it has added " loading" attribute to img tag. All the modern browser supports this attribute except Safari.
So, what's good with this? Well, this feature significantly improves your site's speed and performance. This feature also provides benefit to WordPress hosting companies, ISPs and overall interwebs.
This improvement in speed will save a lot of bandwidth, electricity and server resources on the internet as more than 35% of websites are powered by WordPress.
Source: blogginguplugged.com
3.Automatic themes and plugins update
WordPress 5.5 has stepped one step forward concerning security. It has introduced automatic updates for WordPress themes and Plugins.
You can enable this feature by going to the Plugins page. The same can be done for Themes. Simply head towards Appearance>>Themes page and click on the themes to select it. You can find and enable auto-updates for the theme from the theme overview pop-up window.
Source: updragtplus.com
4.Allows to update plugins by uploading its a new version
How would you update WordPress plugin? I guess, either by updating it manually or by clicking on the update notification, right?
You only had the option to use FTP client for uploading a new version in such case. WordPress 5.5 has solved this problem. You can go to the Plugins page and click " Add New" which allows you to upload a new version as a zip file.
WordPress 5.5 has the ability to auto-detect the current version of plugins and allows to replace the current version with the uploaded version.
This same action can be carried for themes by going to Appearance>>Themes and " Add New".
Amazing right?
Source: wpbeginner.com
5.Default XML Sitemaps in WordPress
WordPress 5.5 is able to automatically publish XML sitemaps for your website. The XML sitemap is a list of all the website content in XML format which helps Google or other search engines to easily discover your content and index it.
Sitemaps are a very important part of WordPress SEO which helps a lot to beginners who are unable to follow SEO best practices.
Some of the top WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast SEO and All in One SEO provides their own XML sitemaps because default Wordpress XML sitemaps are limited in features and functionality.
You don't need to panic if you have already used SEO plugin or Sitemaps plugins because they will automatically dominate the default WordPress XML sitemaps.
Source: dev.to
Wrapping up
WordPress 5.5 has brought some cool features and enhancements for better user experiences. We have discussed 5 features and functionality but there are other features added and improvised. We should really appreciate all the efforts and commitments of WordPress 5.5 developers. Thank you.
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