WordPress 5.0 Released: How Does WordPress 5.0 Impact Your Website?

Author: Michael Scorcia Category: Web Design Date: December 21, 2018

Rumors around the release of a major WordPress upgrade have been circulating for some time now. We were finally able to see what all the buzz was about when WordPress 5.0 was released on December 8, 2018. The upgrade brought some exciting new features. The most significant change is the introduction of a content editor called Gutenberg, which allows users to create and manipulate content in a more visual way using “blocks.” This sort of visual editing structure is very popular in DIY website template builders due to the ease of use it provides when laying out website content.

Everything from paragraphs, lists, quotes, headings, specific code, and images to galleries, columns, buttons, widgets, and more can be easily arranged using the Gutenberg editor. The fact that each content block operates as its own entity within the page opens up several new beneficial capabilities for website administrators. It allows us to more easily and effectively build custom pages from the ground up using less code than may have been needed previously.  For example, website administers can now create reusable “blocks” that can be implemented into any and all required pages throughout the site or rearranged within a page. Let’s say, for instance, you want the same sort of portfolio photo gallery to appear at the bottom of a few select pages. With Gutenberg, you can do that with the click of a box. Once a block has been added to one page, that block structure is then saved to your site to be used elsewhere.

Yes, there’s a lot to love about WordPress 5.0 and the new Gutenberg editor, but any advancement typically comes with a few drawbacks.  At Paradigm, we successfully upgraded several of our clients’ websites to WordPress 5.0. Here’s what we’ve learned during the process so far: Themes used on existing sites have been, more often than not, incompatible with WordPress 5.0. In some cases, this conflict in coding is prevented the Gutenberg editor from functioning properly. In other cases, it caused significant rendering and functionality issues with the site. Remediating these issues called for some manual coding updates to ensure the theme and the updates would communicate effectively and efficiently with one another. On a positive note, once WordPress 5.0 and all plugins were updated and tested, we have found that the editor’s ease-of-use lives up to the hype.

You might be saying to yourself, “I like how I edit my site now; why do I need to update my site at all?” There is a bit of a learning curve to using this new editing style, but investing the time now to learn the new system far outweighs any of the negative effects you may face if you do not upgrade to WordPress 5.0. Delaying an upgrade to WordPress 5.0, may cause you to run into one of these risky situations.

Risks of Not Updating to WordPress 5.0

1. You will leave your site vulnerable to security threats, as well as a low-security threshold moving forward.
2. Your plugins might not be usable or compatible with other plugins or your current version of WordPress 5.0. Having outdated or incompatible plugins can have a negative impact in SEO site speed and site rankings.
3. The update may run automatically without you realizing it has happened, leaving your site vulnerable to the rendering and functionality issues that could occur as a result of the upgrade. Be sure to check the settings within your WordPress site to find out if it is set to auto-upgrade.

Change is inevitable, especially in our technology-based marketing world. As we have seen in many different instances, change is not always a bad thing. Think of WordPress 5.0 as a new year’s resolution to learn a new skill. The upgrade to WordPress 5.0 will not only support success with your marketing ROI, it will also provide you with the opportunity to learn a new editing platform. This means you can look forward to continued growth with your skills, with your website, and with your business in the coming new year!

We are here to help.

Learning a new skill can be overwhelming. Paradigm has many training programs and outlets to help you learn how to navigate and edit your new WordPress 5.0 website. For more information about making the update to WordPress 5.0 or to schedule a training for the new Gutenberg editor tool that comes with WordPress 5.0, please contact Kristen Carter at kcarter@paradigm-md.com or call us at 862.259.8809.