May 2020 - WP Upgrader

It has been a while since the current version of WordPress has been launched. But WordPress (and other Open Source software) is like the Sagrada Familia: never finished. The latest edition of our favorite software (5.5) is scheduled to be launched on August 11.

Automatic updates for everything

Well, almost everything. With the latest version of WordPress, the automatic updates set since version 3.7 are extended to plugins and themes. You must do side effects for the core of WordPress manually.

Full-site editing

One of the biggest of the biggest updates in sight is the ability to edit your entire site from one worksheet. This sheet would make direct archive, search page, blog posts and post types accessible. This video from The Gutenberg Times gives a rough idea of how full-site editing works.

Possible workflow with the full-site editor

Direct access to the Block Directory

A plugin from the Block Directory is actually a block (one with special features, a bit like a Uno hit map). In WordPress 5.5, you can put a block from this library in your post with the same ease of adding a new block in older versions of WordPress.

Built-in sitemaps in XML

Early this year, a team assembled by Google and Yoast built an XML sitemap. This map includes a homepage, a page for blog and “regular” posts, categories and tags and users. Not everyone is happy with this. After all, it can slow down loading speed and an XML sitemap is already available as a plugin.

Online maps, gps navigation concept. Map pointer location on a computer laptop. 3d illustration

Global Styles refresh

At the moment, work is still underway on Global Styles, an extension that allows theme makers to set standards such as font and color via a JSON file. Website users can then edit the theme through an administrator status interface. The question is whether this is a good development: after all, it may happen that end users perish in the multitude of options (do you go for a line height of 10.1 or 10.2 millimeters with font x?) That sets this in motion.

From beam to block

In addition to making the internet more accessible to the world, WordPress has another mission: to make a block of all toolbars. The full transformation is planned to be over after the launch of 5.6, so block fans are not quite satisfied with 5.5.

Since the world has been gripped by the corona virus, the WordPress community is doing its best to alleviate the various measures by building different implementations for WordPress.

We wrote earlier about the launch of icons by Font Awesome. There is also a WordPress plugin called Corona Virus Data from the Chinese architect Duke Yin that shows where the virus is spreading. Data from infections, deaths and recoveries from COVID-19 are visualized on the world map, in a graph or table. It is also possible to display one continent in a WordPress message by using shortcodes. For those who do not want to reveal anything about themselves at any cost, the plugin is less suitable: the user’s IP address is stored.

Screenshot corona plugin

Unfortunately, the application is not usable for those interested in corona data from Russia, because the API is blocked by the Russian government. Fortunately, such obstacles are not the case in the Netherlands and at Sowmedia we remain fully operational, corona or not.

Do you have any tips to deal with this situation? Leave it in the comments!

What changes in WordPress 5.5?