Wordpress 5 Already!
There are few items of news more likely to send a non-technical audience to sleep than the announcement that some piece of software has been released with a new number. Are you feeling drowsy now? That’s because WordPress 4 is giving way to WordPress 5.
What’s New?
There are the usual bug-fixes and security updates. As one would hope.
The big thing for the WordPress 5 series is the new editor, Gutenberg. It’s block-based. According to this WordPress video it’s the cat’s pajamas!
WordPress 5 Block Editor: Any Problems?
Yes. In some ways the new editor is as great as the above video suggests. But there are a couple of short-comings and at least one situation I encountered which rendered very long documents un-editable.
The Good News™ is that you can simply install a plug-in which gives you back the classic WordPress editor.
If, having decided to try the new WordPress editor, you find it too buggy, too clunky or simply not what you want installing and activating the Classic Editor will bring back the editing experience you know and love.
In the very near future I will return to look at the editor and examine some of its strengths and weaknesses.
Should I Update to WordPress 5 now?
Probably: it seems to be worthwhile. The nature of site admins is to be cautious. I’m rolling this out gradually over the sites I oversee. I haven’t encountered any issues yet with this update breaking anything. If I do, then I will report back.
No Guarantees
Updating is sensible. Having a completely up to date site doesn’t mean that a determined cracker won’t be able to gain access. It does mean that it’s that much more difficult to hack and hopefully less vulnerable to automated assaults.
Hackers looking for “low hanging fruit” are more likely to look elsewhere among the myriads of poorly maintained sites out on the web.
Keep safe out there!
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