WordPress 5.0 will roll out soon with a release date to be determined. It’s a major update with significant design and functional changes. Let’s check out some of the biggest upcoming features we should expect in the future release.
New Gutenberg Editor
Gutenberg is a new editor generally aimed to make the process of development easier for beginners. The editor implements the new blocks-based system, which means that the actual content will be represented as separate customizable blocks. It’s a convenient approach that allows modifying certain elements of the design without affecting any other objects. As Gutenberg brings major changes to all internal logic, updating to WordPress 5.0 may cause compatibility issues with lots of outdated plugins and themes.
Gutenberg won’t be an optional decision – once you have updated to WordPress 5.0, it will become the default and only editor. However, you can use an external plugin like Classic Editor to restore the previous editor appearance. If you feel uncomfortable with Gutenberg at first, this tool may become a great solution.
Security Update
In 2018, 59,5% of all websites run on WordPress. It’s dramatically high and, thus, dangerous value. Since, basically, every second site uses WordPress, this CMS (Content Management System) becomes a delicious target for hackers. Therefore, WordPress team continuously improve security measures in their newest updates.
The development team has already introduced various protection methods:
- SSL certificates.
- Security keys.
- Two-factor authentication.
- OTP (one-time password).
- Application passwords.
Those practices are intended to improve overall user and website safety. WordPress 5.0 implements and enhances those mechanisms to evolve the general security level of the website. Furthermore, WordPress website uses modern versions of PHP that have their own protective measures.
Mobile Optimization
Since the number of mobile users is increasing, there is a task to minimize the differences between desktop and mobile versions of WordPress websites. Nowadays, most of the themes are responsive. Such kind of optimization aims to improve UX (User Experience) and increase developers convenience of implementing new features and maintaining existing functionality. Gutenberg follows this trend, so new editor works great on mobiles.
Conclusion
New major WordPress update will bring us huge improvements in terms of security and responsiveness. Brand new Gutenberg editor may be ambiguous for some developers and require some additional time to get used to new appearance and functionality. This update brings new functionality to almost every part of the WordPress Content Management System.
The new version can bring up some stability and compatibility issues, so it’s a good practice to back up important data you don’t want to lose. Some of the themes and plugins may stop working or start malfunctioning. Don’t worry if Gutenberg doesn’t fit your needs. You can always rollback the update and use the old version.
