The popularity of WordPress need not be expressed in words as it is speaking through websites all over the world. More than 37 percent of websites that are surfing on the internet are built using WordPress and on average, about 500 sites are made each day using WordPress. This is an example of the growing popularity of WordPress. And to keep the customers up to date with the current trends and improve efficiency WordPress is releasing new versions often. According to the official WordPress website, version 5.4 has the maximum number of users. With the increased expectation the WordPress 5.5 version is all set to hit the market on August 11, 2020.

The WordPress 5.5 status

The WordPress 5.5 beta 4 has new in-built features and plugins for your website. WordPress has been releasing its beta versions from the start of July. The company has advised not to use the WordPress 5.5 version on the production sites. It is now meant only for testing by web developers. The beta 3 versions of WordPress 5.5 have claimed to have fixed 43 bugs. In the same way, the latest release is said to be loaded with new features, refinements, and bug fixes. Let us unveil the features of the new WordPress 5.5.

Noteworthy features of WordPress 5.5 version

The WordPress 5.5 version has multiple new features from block editor features to improvements to the built-in lazy loading for images. These notable features are to catch the attention of all WordPress development company to improve their sites.

Overcome lazy load with WordPress 5.5

WordPress 5.5 has refinements to improve the new standards of the browser to support lazy-loaded images. With these features, the bandwidth for the hosts, ISPs, and users is saved. But you might be wondering how this would happen? This feature won’t allow the images to be exhibited on the client-side unless they come to the viewport. This will be highly helpful for users with slow internet. This will make the website faster; as a result, will offer better user engagement and interactivity.

The sitemaps of the website

A sitemap is an important part of the website which enables the search engines to identify the content of your page. The WordPress 5.5 version is going to include the XML sitemaps as a default option. The sitemap will include things like post pages, the home page of your site, custom post types, and more to increase the visibility of your website.

The improved accessibility features

The WordPress core team improves the accessibility of the content management system with every new release. In an aim to improve the convenience of the end-users they have made various minute fixes for accessibility making it as easy as just clicking a button. The following list includes the accessibility of the improvements

• The list of tables comes with extensive and alternate view modes
• The list links can be converted to HTML 5 navigation blocks
• With just a single click of the button, you can copy the links in the media screen and the modal dialogs
• The buttons that are disabled will now look disabled
• The meta boxes can now be moved with the keyboard
• The  custom logo on the front page will no longer link to the front page
• The assistive devices can see the status messages now in the image editor
• And much more

Improved block editor experience

It is said that above 1500 improvements are made for the ultimate block editor experience. It includes tons of features including the following

• Inline image editing: you can crop, rotate, and zoom photos in-line directly from the block editor which helps to save a lot of time, and errors in the process can be reduced to a great extent.
• Block patterns: The several default patterns can make building elaborate pages a breeze. The WordPress 5.5 will introduce block patterns which will help the users to add unique blocks to their website. Block patterns are per-configured templates which the user can add to their page or host.
• User interface improvements: there are many notable changes in the block editor like borders around the toolbars, new icons, and focus lighting. The + sign has been changed.
• Compatibility with third party blocks
• Seamless editing experience
• The expansion of themes
• You have Device preview to see how your content will be displayed to the user on different screen sizes
• You can experience smooth editing with block movers, refined drag and drop, parent block section, multi-select formatting, and much more.
• Also, add backgrounds and gradients to more kinds of blocks.

Auto-update of plugins and themes

WordPress is finally bringing the long-awaited automatic update of themes and plugins. It is highly handy to keep the end-users updated on the latest features. To spice up with a personalized touch during PSD to WordPress conversion these plugins and themes are real helpers. This feature will allow the user to automatically update the plugin via the admin dashboard within the platform. The older versions of the same tool would have held you back from creating the best design but with this update, it has now improved. By uploading a zip file you can update themes and plugins as WordPress has become smarter than before.

Other fascinating features

WordPress 5.5 also has many other under the hood changes which will help the WordPress website development company to improve its website.

• It will ship with several updated external libraries like phpMailer, SimplePie, Twemoji, and more.
• Developers can control the auto-update options for specific plugins or themes
• The dash icons will be updated
• It will also have the ability to scan for PHP compatibility  more efficiently

Bottom line

The release of WordPress 5.5 is much awaited and for sure it is going to be fun. The usability of the website will be drastically improved with the new features and enhancements of the new version. WordPress has announced that they fixed a lot of issues and it is going to be a treat for all the WordPress website users. Make use of the latest version and have a top-notch website.

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Pankaj Sakariya

August 18, 2020