If you work with a WordPress website, you might already know the community is buzzing about the latest version. This updated WordPress core promises performance improvements and huge modifications. If these claims are true, it may be helpful to explore these changes before bringing your site up to date.
With the release behind us, we can now confirm that WordPress 5.9 showcases some significant changes. From Full Site Editing (FSE) to an advanced Navigation block, the core software has a lot to offer WordPress users.
In this post, we’ll review the current state of WordPress 5.9. Then we’ll explore five of its most notable new features. Let’s get started!
The current state of WordPress 5.9
The anticipation for WordPress 5.9 was heightened due to several delays in its release. These setbacks were caused by a few unresolved bugs, but the core software finally went live on 25 January 2022.
WordPress 5.9’s code name honors Joséphine Baker:
As promised, this new software version features drastic changes compared to WordPress 5.8. It continues to move toward simple site design for all WordPress users. Overall, the WordPress development team remains on track with its long-term roadmap, which is currently in phase two of the Gutenberg Project.
The changes in this stage are driven by ‘Customization’. These monumental modifications will impact both newbies and experienced developers alike.
5 important new features and updates in WordPress 5.9
When you decide to transition to the latest WordPress version, you’ll likely be discovering new functionalities for quite some time. In any case, today, we will review five of the most important updates.
Remember, if you want to explore these new features safely, we recommend using a staging site or creating a backup.
1. Full Site Editing (FSE)
For many, FSE may be the most striking update. The majority of users have had some exposure to the flexibility of the Block Editor, but WordPress 5.9 provides a Block Builder.
An entirely new interface enables you to create and edit every element of your website on the same screen. You can adjust headers, footers, layouts, and more.
This interface makes it easy to swap out the different elements on any page. For example, changing your header logo and an Image block side-by-side wasn’t possible in the past.
There is one major caveat regarding this change. You can only use FSE with a block theme. At the moment, there are few available.
However, the new default – the Twenty Twenty-Two theme – is a block theme:
There is vast potential for site-wide customization with any block theme. You can now use a laundry list of new elements that
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This article was written by Will Morris and originally published on ManageWP.