NetON Melbourne

Tag: wordpress update

Great new features of WordPress 5.5
Welcome to the second major WordPress update of the year! As expected, WordPress 5.5 has released and is now available. Our WordPress team have been busy testing all the new features and developments on this release and have complied a list of new enhancements available on this Major Release.

Released less than 5 months after the 5.4 version updates, WordPress is coming in again with some hot new features that are mostly focused on aligning with their goals to make the block editor better and better. Let’s take a look at the most notable changes that are in the update quickly! It’s great to see Automattic understand that there is a lot of work required for the block editor and move towards fixing that in the last year.

Summary:

If you don’t want to read the whole lot, here is a quick summary

Core updates
- You can now enable auto plugin updates
GUI Improvements
- A lot of improvements to the block editor/Gutenberg editor making it easy for non-experienced WordPress users to use the block editor.
- Block editor plugins library so that you can add all sorts of new blocks
- Inline image editing capability in the editor WYSIWYG view itself
Customisation updates
- You can preview how the site looks on desktops, mobile and tablets
SEO Updates
- Native Lazy Loading , so images load only when you scroll to them
- Native XML Sitemaps functionality (finally!!)
We are excited to uncover the hood and look at all the new fancy engine upgrades on this release 🙂 Lets jump into it.

Block Editor Improvements

The block editor aka Gutenberg has come a long way ever since it was introduced back in 2018 with WordPress 5.0, and they’re not yet done improving the feature to make it more user-friendly and convenient for everyone to use.

But what kind of improvements are in 5.5?

Improved User Interface

Good UI (User interface) is a must for CMS. That said, I can count numerous CMSes who are still stuck with a single WYSIWYG box. hmm…. That’s why with every update, WordPress is trying to make the block editor look and feel much greater than the previous version. This update is no different. In this update, they added some changes such as borders and focus highlights when moving across blocks. You will also notice that they changed the way the “+” button looks.

Initially while the block editor was good for WordPress developers and experienced WordPress users, the new updates make it easy for the average user to use the block editor easily.

Introducing Block Directory

When we say WordPress wants you to have the most convenient experience in their platform, we mean it.

The block directory will be including searchable plug-ins that you might want to use for your designing needs and definitely makes the whole process faster.

Easier Block Movements

Say goodbye to Gutenberg’s hideous up and down arrows.

No more having a hard time moving your blocks as WordPress 5.5 makes that much, much easier by finally allowing you to drag-and-drop your blocks inside the content editor.

You can even set a “parent block” and select multiple blocks at once!

Introducing Block Patterns

Block patterns are pre-made blocks that helps you design your page instantly within just a few clicks.

WordPress already added a couple of default block patterns in the editor with 5.5, but we can’t wait for the options to grow as developers catch up with this awesome, new feature!

Inline Image Editing

Before the WordPress 5.5 update, you have to go to the media library first before you can crop, rotate, resize, and etc. your images.

With the new update, you no longer have to leave the editor to make such changes!

Desktop, Mobile, Tablet Preview

WordPress 5.5 gives you a faster way to see how your pages are going to look like on desktop, mobile, and tablet by allowing you to preview them through the editor.

No more having to go through different devices just to see if your design is mobile or tablet friendly!

Auto Updates for Themes & Plug-Ins

WordPress 5.5 gives you a new update management system!

By going to the admin dashboard, you may now allow WordPress to automatically update your themes & plug-ins for you.

This is perfect for those who don’t mind not knowing what changes are going to be made to their themes and plug-ins after it updates as it will be much more convenient, especially for those who use A LOT of plug-ins.

But for those people who want to read about the updates first, it’s great that this is only an option that you can turn off anytime you want.

Native XML Sitemaps

Finally!

WordPress is finally eliminating the need for you to use plug-ins in order to have an XML Sitemap ready for your SEO needs in the 5.5 update by providing you native sitemaps! WordPress started making these changes after receiving feedback from Google.

If you don’t know what XML Sitemaps are, they are essentially just XML format files that contain a list of URLs in your page that makes it easier for Google’s bots to crawl through your content. This gives you better visibility.

Native Lazy Loading

The updates keep on coming with this latest release. If you’re big on SEO, you want your pages to load fast because Google and other search engines value that a lot for optimum user experience.

However, the majority of the times, you need to enhance your pages using images, and that actually makes your pages load slower.

Lazy loading, it helps solve that problem by only loading the images that are currently visible on the viewer’s screen and loading the others later once the user scrolls up/down or swipes right/left.

In this update, WordPress finally gives us native lazy loading! Yay!

Changes for Developers

WordPress 5.5 allows developers to test out a lot of new things for their own themes, plug-ins, and etc. But the most notable updates involve the following:
- Developers will be allowed to control the auto-updates for their themes and plug-ins.
- New external libraries such as phpMailer, Simplepie, Tweemoji, Masonry, and etc.
- 65 new dash icons
- Improved PHP compatibility issue scanning
WordPress 5.5 Demo website

We love checking out all the new features before a major release. We keep an up to date demo site with the latest (sometimes even nightly builds) of WordPress that you are welcome to have a look at. Click here to view WordPress Demo site“. Please ask us for a username/password to test the site. This will let you test run all the new features without putting your live website at risk.

NetON WordPress development services

Neton is your go to team for any WordPress development services in Australia. Our team is constantly working on WordPress website development, WordPress Design, WordPress Hosting, Strengthening WordPress Security, running SEO Optimisation on WordPress Websites and upgrading Core and WordPress Plugins.

Whether you are starting a small blog or an enterprise fortune 500 company, we can help build and maintain your WordPress website for the best results online.

Our WordPress websites are customised based on your business and you requirements. We have built large scale eCommerce websites, traffic generating/ad revenue websites, community building websites, Business 2 Business Websites and Business 2 Customers website. All of them are completely different in their lead generation and revenue models. Please contact us for more details on our WordPress Services.
August 18, 2020
Whats new in WordPress 5
Each major version of WordPress comes with tons of new features and updates. WordPress 5 comes with one huge change since the original release of WordPress. A new and updated shiny editor: Gutenberg Editor. The story of WordPress 5 starts and ends with the new block based Gutenberg editor.

We are not talking about the German Inventor, or the free eBook library (which is fantastic by the way). We are talking about the new editor that comes shipped with WordPress 5 (although we believe that it is named after the German guy). Gutenberg editor brings a complete re-imagination and redesign of the WordPress editor. It is expected to change the way we create and deliver our content. It also goes beyond just being an editor and becomes a customiser allowing you to set layouts and add complex components.

Unfortunately, with big changes comes heaps of rebuilding work. It is hard to accept that a refined platform such as WordPress has to adapt to the ever changing internet space. Without innovation, everything loses its crown. Gutenberg editor is a massive leap forward and there are still more updates coming to make it even better.

Yes there are flaws to the editor and the release was rushed, but it offers a solid base to build upon.

The Gutenberg Editor

We have already covered most of the features of Gutenberg in our earlier post. Gutenberg provides everyone an improved page building and editing experience. With new updates, new functionalities and shortcodes will be introduced along with it. Plugins that are not currently compatible with the editor, will need an update. New Gutenberg-friendly themes will flood the themes market designed to accommodate the new features.

For more information on the Gutenberg Editor, please view our earlier post WordPress 5 Beta and Guterberg Editor Features

Twenty Nineteen (2019) – the new WordPress Theme

WordPress 5 also comes with the latest new theme -Twenty Nineteen. The latest theme is a minimal, responsive theme built on the Gutenberg editor. The focus is on typography and showcasing text and image combinations that loop a visitor into the site. We will be utilising all the blocks and combination of Gutenberg in our demo site (link down below). It will be on the Twenty Nineteen theme as well for you to test out and check.

Major Changes to Expect

Putting Gutenberg aside, WordPress 5 bring a more intuitive site-building experience. Because of the old classic editor, there has been a lot of website builders and hosted platforms cutting into WordPress’s market share. With 5, WordPress shoule improve improve the site-building functionality and stay ahead.

Also the ever improving Rest API will help developers create applications using the platform as a framework.

Theme creation will also be made easier and accessible, with lower barriers to entry for developers.

Parting thoughts on WordPress 5

While it doesn’t seem like there is a lot of changes on WordPress 5, if we look over the last year, the platform has really changed a lot. Since version 4, there has been market changes, widget updates, customiser, scheduling design changes etc.

While these changes are incremental, the plaform has improved a lot in the last year. The latest release has finally tackled the main issue it had: the rise of website builder plugins which slow down your site and cause a lot of bloating. The new WordPress 5 is a lean and healthy whole-website which does all the customisation by itself.

How to upgrade from WordPress 4

If you have a WordPress 4 website, you will need to be slightly careful when upgrading to WordPress 5. Depending on how complex your website is, we reocmmend one of two ways below
1. If your website doesn’t have eCommerce, website builders and doesn’t have complex layout pages, then please install the Gutenberg editor first, change all the pages over to the new Editor then upgrade the platform.
2. If your website has eCommerce, external website builders and/or complex layout pages, please wait a bit for all the plugins to update compatibility to the new version of WordPress. Please check all the plugins in the backend to make sure they work with thew new version of WordPress and then run an upgrade on a staging site. If everything works fine on the staging site, run an upgrade on your main site.
About WordPress

WordPress is arguably the most powerful blogging and website content management system (or CMS) in existence today. The latest version of WordPress has been downloaded more than 30 million times. 60% of all CMS run websites run on WordPress.

WordPress 5 Demo website

NetON maintains and upto date demo site of the latest version of WordPress that you can browse through. Click here to view WordPress Demo Site

WordPress Development Services

Neton is your go to team for any WordPress development services in Australia. Our team is constantly working on Website Development, UX/UI, Design, Hosting, Strengthening Security, running SEO OPtimisation on Websites and upgrading Core and Plugins. Whether you are starting a small blog or an enterprise fortune 500 company, we can help build and maintain your website for the best results online. If you have any questions, or if you need a quote, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Please call us or email us on the details on our Contact Us page.
December 17, 2018
WordPress 3.8 Released – Features and Updates

WordPress 3.8 Parker is now released and live. This is a Visual Update and updates the Admin backend and comes with a brand new Magazine based theme. This is a semi-major update. The update timeframe is also much quicker based on the new development process by the Automattic team.

WordPress 3.8 Features:

Modern new Design

WordPress hosted now has a similar look to the admin area, similar to WordPress.com with a dark , responsive design with a number of themes to change the colours of the Admin Area.

TwentyFourteen – a new Magazine Theme

WordPress 3.8 also comes with a brand new theme which we have uploaded to our WordPress Demo site. Please click on the image to view the new theme in action.

Other Updates:

Better theme management

Other Updates (more details coming soon)

December 17, 2013
WordPress 3.6 Oscar Released–Features and Updates
WordPress 3.6 Oscar is now released and live. This is a semi-major update and comes with a completely new theme and a host of other features explained below

WordPress 3.6 Oscar

New Twenty Thirteen WordPress Theme

The new version of WordPress comes with a new blog-centric responsive theme designed to look great on all devices, from your laptop, to your tablet to your mobile. TwentyThirteen is a similar approach to TwentyEleven and seems like the team is keen to alternate between a blog focused theme and a corporate theme. The sidebar widgets are now setup on the footer.

Improved Individual Auto Save

While Auto Save and Revisions have been around for a while, Autosave has been a bit buggy and looks like the new WordPress improves on this feature to make it more better. Every Author also has their own autosave version of the post which is saved locally as well as on the server, making this a much easier and efficient process.

Revamped Revisions

Revisions has also been revamped with a completely new interface that allows the user to scroll easily through changes to see line-by-line who changed what.

Native audio and Video

WordPress 3.6 now comes with a HTML5 media player and allowing you to work with native video and audio more easily. You can upload mp4s and generic videos and audios and having them play in your site without any third party support.

Post Locking

WordPress 3.6 allows users to lock posts while they are editing a post and another author to take over the post. Very neat

Other Features
- Menu UI Improvements
- Preview Audio and Video on Media Edit Screen
- In-line login after expired sessions
Developer Features
- jQuery Color updated to 2.2.1, Backbone updated to 1.0.0, jQuery UI updated to 1.10.3 and other script updates
- New audio/video APIs give developers access to powerful media metadata, like ID3 tags.
- Filters for revisions, allowing you to set the number of revisions ad hoc instead of only via a define.
- Semantic Markup allows themes to choose improved HTML5 markup for comment forms, search forms, and comment lists.
- Search content for shortcodes with has_shortcode() and adjust shortcode attributes with a new filter.
WordPress 3.6 Demo Site

We have setup a Demo Site for you to play around with. Please click on the link below or the image to test:

http://www.wordpress.neton.com.au

We have also opened up an editor account for you to play around with the backend. The url is:

http://www.wordpress.neton.com.au/wp-admin

user: neton
pass: neton234

Please note that this url will always have the most up-to date version of WordPress to check and review.

Client WordPress Updates

We will be rolling this update to all of our client WordPress Installations in the next couple of days and everyone should be upto date by the 15th of August. If you would like to get this update quickly, we understand… please leave us a support ticket using the Support Tab and we will put you in front of the line.
August 3, 2013
WordPress Security–3.5.2 Security Update
Great to see a security update for WordPress 3.5.2

WordPress 3.5.2 Maintenance and Security Release. This release adds a number of security fixes including:
- Blocking server-side request forgery attacks, which could potentially enable an attacker to gain access to a site.
- Disallow contributors from improperly publishing posts, reported by Konstantin Kovshenin, or reassigning the post’s authorship, reported by Luke Bryan.
- An update to the SWFUpload external library to fix cross-site scripting vulnerabilities. Reported by mala and Szymon Gruszecki. (Developers: More on SWFUpload here.)
- Prevention of a denial of service attack, affecting sites using password-protected posts.
- An update to an external TinyMCE library to fix a cross-site scripting vulnerability. Reported by Wan Ikram.
- Multiple fixes for cross-site scripting. Reported by Andrea Santese and Rodrigo.
- Avoid disclosing a full file path when a upload fails. Reported by Jakub Galczyk.
Additionally: Version 3.5.2 fixes seven security issues:
- Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) via the HTTP API.
- Privilege Escalation: Contributors can publish posts, and users can reassign authorship.
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in SWFUpload.
- Denial of Service (DoS) via Post Password Cookies.
- Content Spoofing via Flash Applet in TinyMCE Media Plugin.
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) when Uploading Media.
- Full Path Disclosure (FPD) during File Upload.
Additional security hardening includes:
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (Low Severity) when Editing Media. CVE-2013-2201.
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (Low Severity) when Installing/Updating Plugins/Themes. CVE-2013-2201.
- XML External Entity Injection (XXE) via oEmbed. CVE-2013-2202.
All of our existing client installations will automatically be updated.
June 22, 2013
WordPress 3.5 “Elvin” now released – Release Features and updates
WordPress 3.5 “Elvin” in honour of drummer Elivin Jones is now released and making its way into your installations shortly. Below is a quick video with the latest updates and also a list of all the new features that come with this fantastic new release.

WordPress 3.5 Features and Updates

Updated Media Library and Uploading

The media library has had a much needed refresh, allowing you to create galleries easily, tag images properly and create galleries more easily. The interface is much more streamlined, fancy and allows for drag and drop reordering. Another great feature is the ability to add multiple images.

A brand new Responsive Theme (Twenty Twelve)

The new themes comes with ultra-responsiveness and looks great on computers, laptops, macs, tablets and mobiles. The default font is also Open Sans making it a lot more gorgeous. It’s a great step from Twenty Eleven and also reinforces WordPress as a great CMS platform and not just a blogging platform. Please note that only if you are using the default WordPress theme (TwentyTen or TwentyEleven, you will be automatically updated to TwentyTwelve).

Updated and Retina Ready Dashboard

The dashboard has had more updates and is now Retina display friendly. This will look ultra clear on the iPad, Kindle Fire HD, Nexus 10 and the new MacBook Pro. The Quickpress box looks great and allows media directly from the dashboard.

Developer updates

There has been a number of developer updates which make it easier for developers to now build and extend WordPress faster. The main updates are
- ability to tag WordPress.org users with their username (mine is sumandahal )
- ability to import your tumblr
- ability to pull meta information in comments and users
- rpc api is enabled by default
- default image editor which inside WordPress so that we don’t have to see another timthumb vulnerability exploit anytime soon
NetON WordPress 3.5 Demo Site

We have setup a Demo Site for you to play around with. Please click on the link below or the image to test:

http://www.wordpress.neton.com.au

We have also opened up an editor account for you to play around with the backend. The url is:

http://www.wordpress.neton.com.au/wp-admin

user: neton
pass: neton234

Please note that this url will always have the most up-to date version of WordPress to check and review.

Client WordPress Updates

We will be rolling this update to all of our client WordPress Installations in the next couple of days and everyone should be upto date by the 20th of December. If you would like to get this update quickly, we understand… please leave us a support ticket using the Support Tab and we will put you in front of the line.
December 12, 2012