The nest core update for WordPress is 5.4 and is scheduled to hit your website March 31, 2020. This post will help you understand what you need to know and address any changes you need to make!
Below we are outlining all of the items in the update that our clients would need to know. There are other updates specific to developers which we are not including. If you want to see the full update details you can read more on WordPress.org.
Improvements To The Block Editor
There were many updates made to the block editor to make updates for some bugs and performance issues.
These updates are showing reductions in loading time of 14% and a 51% reduction in time-to-type for long posts.
Introduction Of New Blocks
Social Media Icons
Now you can easily add social follow icons anywhere on your website – making this block perfect for authors and bio areas.
The block comes with three styles for you to choose from which include the default, logos only and then a pill shape which is shown below. There are a lot of social profiles to choose from so you can customize which you want to use.
You can see more about this on WordPress here.
Buttons Block
In the past the button block only allowed you to add one button to your content, the new button block now offers you the option to show multiple buttons.
Below is what the new button block will look like. You can see we added 3 new blocks, each with a different color and text. You can customize each button in the styles area which offers 2 preset button styles and limitless color options.
You can even use gradient colors and add a radius to your buttons.
Fullscreen Mode
This is a change that may affect how you view your content area. The editor starting in WordPress 5.4 will open in full-screen mode by default now. It was always an option but now they changed it to be default.
Full screen mode essentially removes the left WordPress navigation and all distracting elements.
You can easily change it back to another screen type in the Tools & Options area in the area show below but there are a lot of people who are not happy with this part of the update. There is a fix in there to deactivate it but there are a few who noted it is not an efficient option.
Welcome Guide
Once you update to WordPress 5.4 you will be able to view their newly included Welcome slideshow. This is an overview of how to use the block editor and shows some simple screenshots to help you use the blocks better.
If you want to see this slideshow at some other time you can easily access it by going to the Tools & Options menu and select the Welcome Guide link as shown in the image below.
Inline Text Color Options
With WordPress 5.4 you can easily select some text within a paragraph block and change the text color. In the past you would have to use the HTML editor to change the text – but now there is a simple Text Color option that makes is a breeze.
Below you can see the purple highlight is the text we highlighted, then when the arrow down option is selected you can see the Text Color option.
Once you click the Text Color link you will get a color picker which will allow you to change the color of just your highlighted text.
Latest Posts Block
This block in the past was kind of useless as it had limited options. Unless you just wanted a list of posts it was not very useful. But now you can customize your posts by adding featured images.
