Tuesday 27th November 2018 is scheduled to be the release date of WordPress 5.0. This is the first major update to the content management system in years…
What’s new in WordPress 5.0?
WordPress 5.0 focuses on 2 items:
- The new Gutenberg WordPress editor
- The Twenty Nineteen WordPress theme
For the majority of users, a new theme isn’t going to mean much however the introduction of Gutenberg is a considerable change. The way you write posts and pages is altered massively.
WordPress are looking to take on established WYSIWYG page builders such as Wix, Squarespace, etc. As such the traditional editor similar to a Word document has gone and is replaced by a block building editor. This allows the user to see how their page will appear as it is being written.
Will this affect my website?
Possibly. As this is a major update you may find that existing plug-ins will not be compatible. If you are using add-ons that are regularly updated then chances are you will be fine. Gutenberg has been available in Beta version for quite a while. Yoast – authors of Yoast SEO – first published an update that was compatible with the new editor back in 2017.
What if I don’t like change?
The Gutenberg editor is totally different to what has been in place for years and will take time to get accustomed to. That said, if you were set against learning this new way of publishing posts and pages you can download the classic editor plugin. This will allow you to work as before. WordPress have stated however that support of the classic editor will cease 31st December 2021 so there will come a point where you will need to make the switch.
Do I need to do anything?
We have taken the decision to disable automatic updates to WordPress 5.0 on installations hosted at Clook. Once you are happy to upgrade to the new version you will need to do this manually from the WordPress admin home page. Alternatively you can change the update settings via cPanel for Softaculous WordPress installs. The new version will be installed on fresh instances as standard from the release date.
Whilst it may be tempting to delay upgrading indefinitely, unfortunately that isn’t an option. Vulnerabilities and exploits are discovered regularly – leaving an old WordPress install online opens up the possibilities of various security failures.
Did you know…
At Clook, one of our specialisms is providing WordPress hosting, if you’d like to find out more, please get in touch with us.
