We all know the next major release this year is nearing. WordPress 5.4 will roll out on 31st March 2020. With the new release coming out, we all are excited about the new features and enhancements in it. You can check out the Release Candidate updates to see what you can expect in the upcoming WordPress 5.4. However, today, we are going to mention the most exciting features coming in WordPress 5.4. So, if you want to keep your excitement high for the next major release, stick with us.
Many features and enhancements are coming in WordPress 5.4 including new blocks and functionality improvements. Here are some of them that we found exciting and exhilarating.
Exciting Features in WordPress 5.4
A New Block Editor Welcome Guide Popup
WordPress 5.4 will introduce a new welcome guide popup to help you get started with the Block Editor. This guide will explain what blocks are, points users to the block library and include a link to block editor tutorial.
It is a pretty exciting feature as many of us are still not sure about the block editor and have difficulties using it. This new guide concept will surely be a great help to all those who are wanting to get started with Gutenberg editor.
New Blocks
The new WordPress update will bring many new interesting blocks like:
- Social Icons Block: Allows you to easily add and display your social media profiles on your WordPress posts and pages elegantly with sophisticated Social Icons. There are three style variations available as well as 39 different social networks.
- Buttons Block: Allows you to add multiple buttons at one time. There are two different styles, custom text, background colors, and gradient background color options.
Fullscreen Editing Mode by Default
WordPress 5.4 will enable Fullscreen mode for the WordPress editor by default. Fullscreen editing helps in writing without any distraction for better content creation. To disable the Fullscreen mode, you can click the three vertical dots in the top right corner and deselect the Fullscreen Mode option.
Drag and Drop Featured Image
With 5.4, you will be able to directly drag and drop an image to the Featured Image Section to set it as your featured image for the post or page. It is one of the interesting features that will be introduced in the upcoming release.
Added Color Options
WordPress 5.4 will add color options for blocks like Cover, Group, and Column. You can choose background and text colors for all the blocks inside a group block. Moreover, you can select background and text colors for the columns block.
Built-in Lazy Loading Functionality Concerns
A lot of us are concerned about the in-built lazy loading feature coming in WordPress 5.4. So, for those who are concerned, built-in lazy loading might not be coming in this release; but maybe in future releases. However, you can help the team by testing the Lazy Loading Feature plugin released by the core team. The purpose is to test the prospect of natively incorporating the loading HTML attribute for images as well as other supported elements. If it’s successful, the goal is to add the feature to WordPress Core.
To know more about what’s coming in WordPress 5.4, you can check out RC1, RC2, RC3, RC4, or WordPress 5.4 Field Guide.
So, which of these WordPress features are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments section below!