WordPress has always impressed users with the new features offered in every update. If you are updated with the WordPress news then you must have heard about the new upcoming WordPress update “5.8”. The latest WordPress 5.8 update is rolling out and is made available to many publishers. Apart from attractive features, bug fix and major improvements the WordPress 5.8 come with a new advanced way of building a website and pages by bringing in “Full Site Editing”.
The latest WordPress update mostly focuses on making the block editing approach more flexible and powerful. Apart from the full site editing the WordPress 5.8 update focuses on enhancing several areas of the CMS. If you are not using the Gutenberg plugin for your WordPress website then remember you will be getting access to the nine Gutenberg releases altogether in one place. Remember the latest WordPress 5.8 update totally focuses on enhancing the backend experience and makes it easy for users to get started with WordPress.
If you are planning to get your WordPress website redesigned by an experienced WordPress web design company then it’s the best time to come into action. As you will be getting access to the whole new front end as well as the backend that will help you to get maximum results from your WordPress website design.
The latest WordPress update comes with an important new feature called WebP format support for those who are more focused or we can say more serious about their WordPress website performance. If you are a developer then you are going to like the removal of IE11’s from the list of supported browsers. There are many new features for developers like the styling mechanism and block configuration on the theme.json.
Apart from that the enhanced block registration system depending on the block.json and other API enhancements coming with the latest WordPress 5.8 updates will help developers and other WordPress users in many ways. So make sure you stick till the end of this article as we are going to highlight some of the best features that you will be getting access to in the latest WordPress 5.8 updates.
WordPress 5.8 new updates and features
1. The new template editor or the full site editing feature
WordPress 5.8 is more focused on offering an abundance of features that make it easy for site owners to easily customize and make new pages and websites within a few seconds. Through this WordPress is offering full site editing tools with the help of a block editor. It comes with a bunch of tools and features that make it easy for WordPress owners to create an entire website with the help of blocks.
The latest template editor will come with many blocks that will allow WordPress site owners to create and add different elements like navigation menu, sidebar widget, template, and many more. Remember WordPress 5.8 comes with different features under the new template editor but don’t expect the full site editing feature to offer a fully-featured visual site building environment.
Instead, you can expect more features that will help you in creating a more effective and result-driven WordPress website design. The latest WordPress 5.8 updates will not offer you the complete FSE experience but will be giving access to new features they will be getting updated over time. If you wish to create a new template then you can follow the below steps:
- To create a new template click on the “new” option under the template tab
- Next, you will be able to find a pop-up asking you to enter the title for the new template
- Once you hit the create button then you will get access to the template editor mode.
- On the left side of your screen, you will be able to find the blocks which will allow you to edit the non-content area and also add the site widget blocks in your template.
Here are some of the site-wide elements that you will be getting access to like Query Loop, Site Title, Site Tagline, Post Excerpt, Post Featured Image, Post Categories, Site Logo, and many more. It also encompasses some of the other sub-products like the navigation block, template block theme, global style, and many more.
2. Block-Based Widget Editor (WordPress 5.8)
If you are an existing WordPress user then you might feel happy to know that WordPress 5.8 is introducing the interface of the block editor to the classic widget screen. The latest block-based widget editor offers various advantages to users making use of the click theme. As you start to use the blocks interface you will be getting more familiar and used to access the block-based widget editor in your WordPress dashboard.
With the help of a block-based widget editor, you can easily create different layouts in the sidebar, footer, header with the help of separators, columns, spacers, and other design blocks. Apart from that, you do not have to add any custom code to the third-party HTML editor for text editing. As the new WordPress updates support the rich text editing by default. You also get access to the different shortcode-based widgets that will help in streamlining the editing process.
The main advantage behind updating the widget to blocks is that you will be directly editing the widgets with the help of familiar blocks iterating which you will come across when editing the post or pages in your WordPress website. It will open a number of new creative possibilities that are shifting from no code mini layout to the huge library of different core and 3rd party blocks which can be used to create content.
Now you must be thinking that the widget will stop working after the update or WordPress 5.8. But you don’t have to worry about it as the community ensures backward compatibility so that your existing widget and another third-party widget will work along with the block-based widget editor. That Is the reason why in the beginning we said the WordPress block editors are bringing a whole new experience with the latest WordPress 5.8 updates.
If you are looking to try the new widget experience then we recommend you to follow the below steps:
- Go to the appearance in the left sidebar
- From the drop-down menu select the widget option to try the new widget experience
- You will be able to find the widget ready area in the WordPress theme that will appear in the form of a tab in the block editor.
- You can easily add blocks to the widget sidebar and other enabled areas. You easily get access to the add button, group different blocks, choose colors, and many more.
While the new block-based widget ensures to offer a streamlined editing experience there will be few users who will look to use the older widget screen. If that is the case then you just need to install the classic widget plugin in your WordPress website to continue using the older widget screen.
3. Block editor features improvement
The latest WordPress 5.8 updates also come with enhancement in the different elements in the block editor. If you are running a WordPress website for a long time then you must be aware of the fact that the WordPress block editor contains different elements. The latest WordPress update focuses on improving them with a goal to offer the best editing experience:
Media & Text Block
If you use a WordPress website for a long time then you must be aware of the fact that converting block into column block has been possible in WordPress. However, it transforms all the columns present in the single block. It leads to media and other text blocks acting in the same way, that’s the reason why a single block is used to create barriers in the editing experience.
But the WordPress 5.8 updates ensure that when you transform the media or the text block into a column block then it will automatically add two different columns for the image and text. Or we can say the Gutenberg 10.2 ensures to solve all the basic issues for a better editing experience.
Reusable block
If you are using WordPress for the length you must be aware of the fact that WordPress allows you to save some of the blocks which can be used later for other pages and posts. These particular features were useful for those looking to use the same block for different posts and pages. The WordPress 5.8 updates ensure that reusable blocks are visually clear which makes it easy for the user to manage them.
When creating the reusable blocks you get to assign the same to the block. The reusable block names you use are displayed in the navigation list, block toolbar, and breadcrumbs. When you select any child block then the reusable block will not be getting outlined. It will automatically enhance usability as it will help you to find the parent block and other content easily. Apart from that, you can easily modify the block name in the sidebar.
Normalized block toolbar
There are various block toolbars that have been optimized or we can say rearranged to ensure that you get a better and consistent UI across the block and the best user experience. Now the toolbar controls are grouped in semantic order. The Gutenberg 10.1 and 10.3 ensures to normalize the toolbar that generally includes buttons, images, paragraphs, audio files, media, and many more.
The meta segment contains a block switcher, drag handline, and more. The block-level segment is for the whole content like linking in an image block or other paragraph block. The next inline-level segment contains different transformation tools like formatting in a text block and more. That is the roens why we said the new WordPress 5.8 focuses on normalizing the block editor.
Enhanced top toolbar
In the earlier version of WordPress, you used to get access to the top toolbar and block toolbar side by side. But the WordPress 5.8 looks to enhance it by enabling the top toolbar view fixing the block toll bar which is displayed right under the top toolbar. It happens from the browser width and will surely enhance the user experience of the backend user.
Duotone Filter
The latest version of WordPress has launched a duotone filter for images and other media blocks like the image galleries and cover image. If you are looking to create your own present then you can easily do it by selecting the color you want to apply. Apart from that, your WordPress theme will also come with a separate preset that will help you to match the theme color.
Embedded PDF
When you add the PDF document through the file block you will be able to find the new sidebar that will allow you to enable or disable any of the embedded PDF versions. You get access to two options either to directly drag the file into the editor or you can easily select it from the library. When it comes to mobile devices then remember it will be manually difficult to make changes in the height of the PDF viewer or with help of sidebar control. Almost all the browsers support the PDFviewer except the mobile browsers.
4. Supports WebP images
If you are in the website design industry for a long time then you must be aware of the fact that images you add to your website can make or break your online presence. Most of the time WordPress websites add a large image that leads to slower website speed and a higher bounce rate. That is the reason why most of the websites today prefer to use the WebP image format as it reduces the image file size by nearly 25% to 34% compared to other formats like PNG and JPEG without impacting the quality of the image.
Using these types of images can help you to enhance your WordPress website speed and performance. If your existing WordPress website has a lot of images and comes across site speed-related issues then WordPress 5.8 versus might help you with it. The latest WordPress updates support WebP images by default. It means you can easily add and upload WebP images to your WordPress website without adding any dedicated plugin for it.
While there are few older web browsers that fail to support the WebP images. If most of the traffic is coming from that particular browser then you can always go with an image compression plugin. It can help you to convert the WebP image format into JPEG and PNG images.
5. Change In Media library (WordPress 5.8)
The media library in the previous version of WordPress used to be infinite scrolling in the grid view. But the latest WordPress 5.8 version does not offer infinite scrolling in the grid view instead you will be able to see the load more button. After you click on it then only you will be able to view the other images on your WordPress website.
Another effective feature you will be getting access to is the ability to copy the media file URL when you upload it in your WordPress dashboard. Earlier when you used to add the image file then you had to edit the images and once done then manually copy the URL of your image. You will be able to find the “copy URL to clipboard” button and you can easily paste it anywhere on your WordPress website.
Conclusion
By now you might be having a detailed idea about what features you can expect from the upcoming WordPress update 5.8. The new changes and features offered in the WordPress 5.8 version are added keeping both non-coders as well as coders in mind. The theme.json can easily be used by the theme developers to configure different block settings all in one place.
Not only that but the authors can easily set the layout with the help of the theme.json. Non-coders can make use of the enhanced version of the block editor that comes with more advanced features to create an effective and conversion-centric WordPress website design for your business. Using the editor you can easily create any kind of page and add more elements to it.
If you are looking to create an attractive and conversion-centric WordPress website design for your business. Then we recommend you hire an experienced and award-winning WordPress website design company that can help you to create a research-based WordPress website design that drives more traffic and conversion on your website.