The highly anticipated release of WordPress 5.8 is scheduled for July 20th and includes plenty of exciting new features which aim to bring flexibility through blocks and introduce the beginning of full site editing features which will be fully implemented in WordPress 5.9 when more themes are FSE ready.
“The second release of 2021 continues to progress on the block editor towards the promised future of full site editing with updates like managing widgets with blocks, post templates and colourising images”
Below you can read about the top features of WordPress 5.8 and the introduction of Full Site Editing.
One of the biggest features coming to WordPress 5.8 is the implementation of blocks into the widgets editor and customiser. This opens up a lot of possibilities with blocks as they can now be added to build headers, sidebars and widgets – not just posts and pages as a whole. Colours, typography and spacing are all design tools that can be used in the widget block editor, bringing ease of use and the flexibility of blocks to the widget area.
The Query Loop block is another new block featured in the upcoming update which acts as a supercharged ‘latest posts’, allowing users to display posts based on a specific category or parameter. This, in conjunction with the new ‘suggested patterns’ that comes bundled, gives the user plenty of design and layout choices for their ideal post list, giving you complete control over how your posts look and feel.
The block editor and template creation have now been introduced to one another! Using a handy mode you can toggle on in the post editor, this full site editing tool gives you the power to create, assign and edit block templates for your posts and pages, as long as your theme supports this opt-in feature. You can use any blocks you have been already using to create your template, or try out 20 new blocks that have been added in 5.8 such as a site logo, tagline or title block.
Insert images with style. A nice small update included in 5.8 is the possibility to add duotone filters to your images, providing contrast and making your pictures stand out.
The image format ‘WebP’ is now supported in this new upcoming version. 35% smaller size, same quality.
See your blocks in a cleaner, list view fashion so you can navigate between them more efficiently.
We hope this provides some insight to the introduction of full site editing and the exciting upcoming 5.8 update for WordPress. If you have any questions or thoughts about these features, don’t hesitate to reach out on 0330 123 4000 and we can help you get the most out of this new update.
