What’s New in WordPress 5.5 — A Deep Dive Into an (Epic) Release
WordPress 5.5 “Eckstine” is out, and it’s time for us to introduce the most noticeable changes and features added to Core with the second WordPress release of the year.
These days, we are used to seeing many additions to the block editor at each WordPress release. WordPress 5.5 is no exception!
This version also brings tons of changes not related to the editor that should have a great impact on the way we use the CMS.
Info
We’re hosting a free webinar to illustrate and discuss what’s coming in WordPress 5.5, make sure to join us!
While WordPress 5.5 brings many changes to WordPress Core, several features awaited with 5.5 have been delayed and removed from this version because of several unresolved issues. So, full-site editing, navigation block, navigation screen, and widget screen aren’t part of WordPress 5.5.
If you want to read more about WordPress 5.5 development cycle, check the links below:
- 7 July 2020: Beta 1
- 14 July 2020: Beta 2
- 21 July 2020: Beta 3
- 27 July 2020: Beta 4
- 28 July 2020: RC 1
- 4 August 2020: RC 2
- 10 August 2020: RC 3
- 10 August 2020: Dry run for release of WordPress 5.5
- 11 August 2020: Final release of WordPress 5.5 “Eckstine“
So, what’s new in WordPress 5.5?
WordPress 5.5 is the second WordPress release of 2020 and we're happy to introduce the most noticeable features added to Core 🥳 Check out what's new in WordPress 5.5 🎁CLICK TO TWEET
What’s New With The Block Editor
With the final release of WordPress 5.5, ten versions of the Gutenberg plugin have been added to the core, bringing a huge number of UI improvements, features, enhancements, and bug fixes affecting every aspect of the editing experience, from usability to functionality and performance.
It’d be close to impossible to mention all these changes here, so in this post, you’ll just find a hand-picked selection of our favorite new features and improvements.
For a more comprehensive listing of improvement and features added to the block editor with WordPress 5.5, see the official announcements of the plugin releases: 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5.
That being said, here we’ll cover the following additions brought to the block editor with WordPress 5.5:
- New UI Design
- Block Design Tools
- Inline Image Editing
- Block Categories and New Block Inserter Panel
- The Block Directory and Block Plugins
- Block Patterns
New UI Design
Each version of the Gutenberg plugin brings small and not-so-small improvements that are silently changing the overall editing experience. A lot of these changes are now going to be merged into WordPress core. So, when you first launch the block editor in WordPress 5.5, a slightly different interface should grab your attention. You’ll find:
- A simplified Block Toolbar
- Stronger color contrast
- New icons
- Block movers
- Surrounding elements
- Device Previews
- Improved drag and drop
- Improved and unified block focus styles across the whole UI
- Ability to format multiple blocks at once
- Better performance
Formatting multiple blocks in WordPress 5.5
Those mentioned above are only a few of the many changes affecting the editing experience.
Mobile preview in WordPress 5.5
Additional changes also include:
Subscript and Superscript Options
Formatting options for subscript and superscript text are now available through the Rich Text controls (Gutenberg 8.0).
The new block toolbar with redesigned icons, block mover and better color contrast
Parent Block Selection
A brand new toolbar button now shows up when hovering over the left side of the block toolbar. The new button allows to select parent blocks in nested contexts (Gutenberg 8.3).
The parent selector in a Media & Text block
Block Design Tools
Several design tools have been added to the Gutenberg plugin over the last months and now are going to be included in the core with WordPress 5.5.
Height Control and Background Gradients
A first set of tools provide control over dimensions and background color for several blocks (Gutenberg 7.9).
Background gradient settings for the Columns block
Padding and Link Color Controls
Two additional features landed to the core (Gutenberg 8.3) but at the time of this writing they’re still marked as experimental:
- Padding control for Cover block.
- Link color control for Paragraph, Heading, Group, Columns and Media & Text blocks.
Padding control and link color control are off by default and developers have to explicitly declare support for them, as explained in the Block Editor Handbook.
If you want to add padding controls for the Cover block to your themes, simply add the following line to your theme’s functions.php:
add_theme_support( 'experimental-custom-spacing' );
If you want to enable link color control for Paragraph, Heading, Group, Columns, and Media & Text blocks, just add the following line to your theme’s functions file:
add_theme_support( 'experimental-link-color' );
Custom Units and Custom Line Heights
This new feature allows you to set px, em, rem, vw and vh height values for the Cover block (Gutenberg 7.9). % is also supported but it’s omitted because of the unpredictable rendering of percentage heights.
With the enhanced height control, you can jump values by 10 by holding down Shift while pressing up or down.
The new Unit Control
Developers can add support for Custom Units by defining the custom-units support flag:
add_theme_support( 'custom-units' );
You can also set specific custom units:
add_theme_support( 'custom-units', 'rem', 'em' );
Developers can also add Custom Line Heights for heading and paragraphs by defining the custom-line-height support flag:
add_theme_support( 'custom-line-height' );
Inline Image Editing
A new editing feature has been added to the block editor with Gutenberg 8.4 allowing users to edit images directly from the Image block.
Now it’s been merged to core and, as of WordPress 5.5, you can crop, rotate, zoom and adjust image positions without the need to launch the Media Library resulting in a faster editing experience.
If you use to publish tons of photos, no doubt you’ll enjoy this feature.
Inline image editing in WordPress 5.5
Just click on the Crop button in the image toolbar and you’ll have access to the new editing functionalities. When you’re happy with your customizations, apply your changes and you’re done.
WordPress will save a new image as attachment in the Media Library and copy details from the original image (title, description, caption, alt text, and EXIF data). This gives you complete control over new image versions.
Block Categories and New Block Inserter Panel
A redesigned block inserter panel shows up blocks and patterns by categories, significantly improving the editing experience and making blocks and patterns easier to find (Gutenberg 8.3).
Blocks and Patterns tabs in the new block inserter
The Block Directory and Block Plugins
With the implementation of the block directory, you can find, install, and add third-party blocks directly from the block inserter.
When you search for a block, if you haven’t it already installed, you’ll be prompted a list of plugins available in the Plugin Directory. Those plugins are called “block plugins” and you can add them to your editor with a single click.