All of us have heard about WordPress – the simplest way to create your website or blog. Did you know WordPress powers over 40% of all the websites on the web? This implies, more than one in four websites that you scroll through is likely to be powered by WordPress. Impressive, isn’t it?
WordPress, an open-source content management system licensed under GPLv2, is now coming up with a new version called WordPress 5.7. This WordPress update will have more powerful features and tools for the users.
This article covers everything you need to know about WordPress 5.7. So, without any further ado, let’s get started.
WordPress 5.7 – Main Features
The main objective for WordPress in 2021 is Full Site Editing via Gutenberg. The contributors of WordPress 5.7 anticipate working on the features mentioned below:
- Update the WordPress Core so that it can include current releases of the Gutenberg plugin
- Gutenberg to ship additional blocks, enhance the UI, embed more tools for new themes and layouts, and more work on the widget screen
- More work to be done on auto-updates and jQuery
Apart from these features, the WordPress 5.7 release will consist of certain other features as well.
WordPress 5.7 – Core Improvements To Be Seen
Some of the core improvements that will be seen in the new WordPress version include the following:
Lazy-load iframes
You can simply use the loading=’lazy’ attribute to iframe tags and enable the lazy-loading of iframes
The migration from HTTP to HTTPS is streamlined in the 5.7 edition
Switching a WordPress site from HTTP to HTTPS is always a headache for all involved in the process. With the new version of WordPress, migration from HTTP to HTTPS is now a one-click interaction. The URLs will be automatically replaced when the site and WordPress Address are both working on HTTPS.
Standardized colors will be used in WP-Admin CSS to a single palette
This alteration in the new version collapses all colors used in CSS to one of the available shades of blue, green, red, yellow, grey, black, and white. It will make it easier for developers to build components according to the current accessibility guidelines.
Ongoing clean-up after update to jQuery 3.5.1
The JQuery update deprecations in WordPress Core will show up a lot less often. In addition to that, the notifications will get more relevant to the user.
You will see new Robots API for your website and blog
The addition of the new Robots API will let developers include filter directives in the ‘robots’ meta tag. Additionally, the directive max-image-preview:large is added by default to allow large image previews (unless your blog is marked as not being public).
All these core improvements will help you build better websites and blogs in the latest WordPress edition.
Improvements in the Editor Area
WordPress has a WordPress Editor area where the website owners spend most of their time and energy creating new pages and writing content for their website and blog.
Whenever a new WordPress update comes in the market, the Editor Area comes with certain improvements and new features for editors. WordPress 5.7 is no different! These new features will ease the job of editors and also help them manage their website with better efficiency. Interesting, isn’t it?
Some of the key features and improvements that owners will see in the new WordPress edition include the following:
Drag and Drop blocks from the inserter
In this version of WordPress, editors can simply drag and drop a block from the ‘Add new block’ (+) inserter into your content area. This feature will let you choose where to put your block before posting it on the post canvas.
Full-height blocks
Did you enjoy using the full-width blocks for cover, columns, and group blocks? Of course, you would; after all, they let you create visually appealing layouts. In the new WordPress edition, you can also create full-height blocks as per your preferences to create more engaging layouts.
Block variations to have their own descriptions
The WordPress latest release will now show descriptions for block variations. For example, the social icons block will now consist of Facebook, Twitter, and other social icons. To preview them, you need to go to the block inspector.
Improved buttons
The WordPress 5.7 release will come with vertical alignment for buttons in the block editor. The site owners can easily choose from the available preset percentage width for their buttons.
Adjust font size
Adjusting the font size got easier with the upcoming version of WordPress. Users can easily adjust the font size in more blocks including the list and code blocks.
Social icon sizes
There is another useful addition to the new WordPress release. This update will let you adjust the size of icons that are present in the social media icons block as per your needs and preferences.
WordPress 5.7 – Release Schedule
Following the WordPress 5.6 release schedule, the 5.7 edition will have a similar timeframe:
- Alpha – 78 days (5.6 had 84 days)
- Beta – 21 days
- Release Candidate – 14 days
- Alpha: November 17, 2020
- Kick-off: December 15, 2020
- Planning Roundup: December 21, 2020
- Betas: February 2, 2021
- Release Candidates: February 23, 2021
- General Release: March 9, 2021
WordPress is constantly evolving and coming up with improvements and new features. You must keep yourself updated with the ongoing updates to extract the best out of your WordPress panel. Also, you need not worry about how to update WordPress, as it’s really easy.
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WordPress.org Deserves Acknowledgment
There are certain organizations that go with the perspective of doing a job regardless of whether they are ready for it or not! That’s why we see software and platforms with bugs and loopholes when they reach the end-user.
But, WordPress.org does not work on this principle. The WordPress team has worked thoroughly on each part of the platform to create something that works phenomenally well. Keeping this objective in mind, the development team has made great progress so far.
We are to see useful features in the next version of WordPress, which is WordPress 5.7.