WordPress 5.6: Highlighting The exciting new updates

WordPress has recently introduced multiple powerful features in its latest version 5.6 that we will be sharing with you in this article. The significance of the new update is that this time the WordPress update has been released by a special women-only squad.

For those whose professional life is related to WordPress must be aware of these new developments and also its impact on their businesses and sites.

The launch of the new default theme has brought something for every user with some amazing additions.

The new WordPress 5.6 version was introduced on 8th December 2020 with all new features, updates and the new  Twenty Twenty-One theme. Lets take a deep dive into the details of the latest version.

Examine your site in WordPress 5.6

A massive new update always carries various changes with it including fixes and enhancements. Usually, no issues occur with the new versions but it is always better to take precaution. The new WordPress 5.6 brings in the risk of damaging some of your plugins or themes. The shift of WordPress from an outdated jQuery.

A JavaScript library to an advanced one may cause compatibility issues with your plugins and themes. So to stay in the safer side you must examine the new release on your staging environment before finalizing it for your website.

Here is a list of new developments that the latest WordPress version has gone through:

1. Introducing a new default theme: Twenty- Twenty one

One of the most prominent additions to the latest version of WordPress is the new default WordPress theme called Twenty-Twenty-one. It has everything that you can ask for in a theme.

Here are the feature highlights of the Twenty-Twenty one theme

• Mesmerizing looks. 
• High speed performance. 
• Easily accessible.
• SEO friendly.
• Creates difficult layouts using block patterns in no time.
• The brand new theme utilizes the block pattern that was launched in the WordPress 5.5. 
• The theme offers mainly two types of patterns but also gives you the scope to build your own pattern as per your requirement. 
• Offers multiple color pattern. 
• Enables users to turn on the dark mode support. 
• Developer friendly and effortlessly customizable with the CSS variable.

With a lot of amazing features, the brand new design of the Twenty Twenty one theme is a flexible option for users. Users can utilize it for various purposes like

• Creating a website for web development agency.
• Photography portfolio, or
• Personal blog and more.

You can easily create simple yet attractive websites using the new theme with the block editor.

Gutenberg block editor updates

The block editor update is considered to be a remarkable update in the WordPress 5.6 version. Apart from performance improvements and bug fixes the version has also made modifications in user interface, block pattern and block functions.

The developers team scrutinizes the modification made in the block editor before making it available for the users using the Gutenberg plugin. You can install the plugin if you wish to try out the new features before others.

Now let’s take a look at the major changes:

New developments in the block editor

Before discussing the changes that the block editor has gone through in the new WordPress version, let us give you a brief introduction to the block pattern.

Block patterns were introduced in WordPress 5.5 as an extension to Gutenberg.

They help users add complicated layout elements to the pages on their websites.

Highlights of the new addition in block editor:

• Better video positioning support in cover blocks. 
• Improved dragging and dropping of blocks. 
• Upgraded block patterns.
• Better keyboard navigation.
• The addition of Heading and Paragraph option to simplify the process of building content. 
• Incorporation of new layout in the large header and paragraph pattern with better and more text and color options.

These were the major changes that the block editor has gone through in the WordPress 5.6.

Block UI changes

The WordPress 5.6 has brought various changes to the User Interface of blocks as well, one of them is the capacity  to choose multiple blocks and turn them into columns

The new WordPress version also empowers the cover blocks with the potential to showcase the background pattern.

In addition to that, It allows the users to move the focal point forward or backward to set a video in a custom position.

Other Gutenberg Changes

Apart from the above mentioned changes, other changes can also be seen in Gutenberg that are explained below,

• Better accessibility: several improvements are also made for the better accessibility of the WordPress editor. 
• Video subtitle support: users will get the option to add subtitles to their video content to help people understand them clearly. 
• Block API: The new and advanced block API gives developers the freedom to add more features like colors and font sizes to their blocks. The block tool bar has also passed through some enhancements.

PHP 8

The new WordPress update has brought something for developers as well with the launch of PHP 8 which is the brand new programming language version which has been used in WordPress. It helps developers to adopt advanced features and core practices

Improvements made in automatic updates

The new version of WordPress has given a complete makeover to the concept of auto updates. Before the release of the new version only a few core updates could be done automatically but now automatic updates can also be done in case of major releases. The main objective behind this is to enhance the security of WordPress based websites.

Additional tip

If you have an events website that deals with online events, tickets, or any other similar thing that has anything to do with events, you must try out the WP Event Manager, which works perfectly with the new WP Updates. It is a comprehensive event management plugin created for wordpress websites. Click here to get it for free.

Conclusion

WordPress 5.6 is designed with advanced features and functionalities along with additional security measures. From the points discussed above in detail, we can conclude that highlights of the new version includes the following areas,

• A new default theme.
• Advanced auto update functionality. 
• Improved block editor features.
• PHP 8 support for developers.

We hope that this article helped you in getting a closer look to the major changes in the WordPress 5.6 version.