What’s new in WordPress 5.8- Template Editor, WebP Images, Duotone Filters, Site Health and more

What’s new in WordPress 5.8 Update

WordPress 5.8 Release candidate is out now and just like every time we decided to test and see what’s new in WordPress 5.8 release.

WordPress 5.8 is the second major update of the year and its general release date is expected to be 20th July 2021.

Before we move forward, it is important to know that as WordPress 5.8 is not officially out yet, there are chances that some of the features and changes that we discuss might not make it to the final release.

Also, if you are looking to test and see all the features and improvements included in WordPress 5.8 then we will recommend installing the beta tester plugin on a localhost or staging environment.

Kindly note, we do not recommend you testing any of latest updates on your main site as it is not a stable release.

What’s new in WordPress 5.8- New Features and Improvements

As WordPress 5.8 is a major update, there are plenty of new features and improvements that are included in this version.

In this article we have tried to cover most of the changes and below are the topics covered

Changes to Block editor in WordPress 5.8

There are quite a lot of new blocks and enhancements that you will come across in the WordPress editor after the release of version 5.8.

In WordPress 5.8, a total of 8 Gutenberg plugin releases are included. (10.0 to 10.7)

Apart form this, bug fixes and performance improvements from Gutenberg version 10.8 and 10.9 are also a part of this update.

Keeping this in mind, lets dive into what are the new features included in the Block Editor in WordPress 5.8

Parent block selector offset in the toolbar

if you have been using nested blocks in your pages and posts then I’m sure you are aware of the fact that the parent block selector in not always visible and only appears when you select the block. See the below screenshot for reference.

In WordPress 5.8 this has been changed and now the parent block selector is always visible and offset in the toolbar.

This will help you easily select and edit the blocks whenever needed.

Paragraph block can be converted into buttons

Paragraph block is one of the most widely used blocks in the Gutenberg editor.

And in WordPress 5.8, you will be able to convert it into a button block.

New icon for the Buttons block

While we are on the topic of buttons block, it is important to know that in WordPress 5.8 its icon has been updated.

Typography support for Button block in WordPress 5.8

If you have been using the Button block to add buttons on your pages and posts in WordPress then I’m sure you already know that it does not allow you to change the font size.

This has changed in WordPress 5.8 release as typography support has been introduced in the button block.

Now you will be able to change the font size easily.

Category Block displays a message

In WordPress 5.8 Category block has received a minor update where a message will be displayed indicating blank categories instead of blank content.

Tag name selector in Group block

If you are comfortable in adding minor code fragments to your WordPress site then I’m sure you are aware of the fact that every block in Gutenberg has an advanced section that lets you add HTML anchors and CSS classes.

In WordPress 5.8, a new option named HTML element has been introduced in the Group blocks that lets you select from various HTML tags using a drop down.

Improvements in Reusable blocks in WordPress 5.8

Reusable blocks is a very useful feature in the WordPress block editor and in WordPress 5.8 it has received a few enhancements.

When you now create a Reusable block in the WordPress block editor, it first displays a modal asking you to add a name or cancel.

It is important to know that you can still change the name of the reusable block from the sidebar.

The second change that Reusable block has received in WordPress 5.8 update us that its clarity has been improved considerably and the revision history is supported as well.

Better clarity on Image block toolbar in WordPress 5.8

In WordPress 5.8, Image block toolbar will follow the “meta, block level, inline” order (semantic grouping) and this will improve the clarity.

Kindly note that semantic grouping has also been applied to other blocks such as buttons, list, heading, paragraph, quote, audio file, media and text, video, site logo, cover and post featured image blocks

Justification controls added to social icons block

In WordPress 5.8, the social icons block lets you set the space between and around the social links using the new justification controls.

Media and text block transforms into columns

In the version of WordPress prior to 5.8, you were able to transform media and text block into columns.

However, the block would still show up as media and text and the parent block would change to columns. Below is a screenshot for reference.

In WordPress 5.8 this has changed and now when you convert media and text blocks into columns, it shows up as a separate image and text block inside columns.

It is important to know here that on transforming, the block still retains its properties.

Padding in Verse block

In WordPress 5.8, support for custom padding has been introduced in Verse block and now you will be able to add spacing to this block easily.

Custom colors in Verse block

Another update that Verse block has received in WordPress 5.8 is the introduction of custom colors.

Now, you can add background color / gradient and change text and link colors with just a few clicks.

Block editor List view design updated in WordPress 5.8

WordPress 5.8 comes with a few design updates for the List view in the block editor, these include changes to icon size and spacing.

And changes to the hover, focus and select colors.

You will notice that these changes will help you easily identify nested blocks making the navigation between blocks much easier.

List view in the sidebar

Before WordPress 5.8, the list view used to appear as a pop over in the post editor.

And on clicking / selecting anything it would disappear.

In WordPress 5.8 this has changed and now when you click the List View it will appear in the sidebar.

Also, on clicking it will remain in the sidebar

Addition of Site icon and name to Publishing UI

Another change that has been introduced in the WordPress 5.8 update is the addition of site icon and name to the publishing flow.

Now you will be able to see the Site Title, Site Icon and URL when you click the Publish button in the block editor.

In case you want to add the Site icon and name to your site then you can follow our tutorials below

Improvements to rich text placeholder in WordPress 5.8

When you add any block in the WordPress editor, the first thing you will see is the placeholder.

In WordPress 5.8 update, the placeholder has received a few updates.

The first change you will notice is that the placeholder text is much shorter or smaller.

And the second tweak is that the placeholder text will be visible even when focused.

These changes will improve the editing experience and will make the behavior much consistent.

Embed pdf using the File block

If you are looking to embed a pdf file in WordPress then in WordPress 5.8 the file block has received an update that adds support for embedding pdf.

In the screenshot above you can see we have embedded our Essential WordPress Settings checklist and it worked seamlessly.

If you want to download this checklist then you can do that by subscribing to Blogging Unplugged by using the form below.

Introduction of Duotone filters in Image and Cover blocks

In WordPress 5.8, Duotone filters have been introduced in Image and Cover blocks.

• Duotone filter in Image block

• Duotone filter in Cover block

This feature will allow you to add attractive color filter to the media on your WordPress site.

It is important to know that this feature allows you to select a filter from the available presets or you can create your own as well.

Also, this feature us currently not for Gallery, Media and text and Video block.

However, if you add a video to cover block it allows you to select and apply the duotone filter of your choice.

Color block support added to Table block in WordPress 5.8

If you have been creating tables in WordPress using the tables block then you must have noticed that it gives you a very limited options to choose colors from.

This has changed and improved in WordPress 5.8. Now, table block allows you to change the both text and background colors.

On top of that it lets you select custom colors and gradients.

Padding support for single column within Columns block

In WordPress 5.8, column block has received an improvement where padding control has been added to single column blocks with a column block.

Color support for individual column block in WordPress 5.8

Another update the the single column block has received in WordPress 5.8 is that it now allows you to add colors to individual columns in Column block.

It lets you change text color, background color, link color and ever allows you to add gradients.

Block shortcuts with auto complete for multiple words

Before WordPress 5.8, if you were using keyboard shortcuts to add blocks in the WordPress editor then you must have noticed that it does not support multiple words.

This has changed in WordPress 5.8 and now you can add multiple words after “/” and it will show you related blocks.

Add drag handles to Select mode in WordPress 5.8

Gutenberg is a user friendly editor and it allows you to reposition block using the drag and drop feature.

In WordPress 5.8 this feature has been extended to the Select mode as well.

This means now you will be able to easily reposition blocks in Select mode as well.

Blocks in widgets in WordPress 5.8 update

WordPress 5.8 is packed with features and if you are a fan of the block editor then you will be glad to know that a new block based widget editor has been added to the widget screen.

You can access it by

• Navigating to the Widget screen (Appearance >> Widget)

• Heading over to the Theme Customization menu (Appearance >> Customize >> Widgets)

This is a very powerful feature as now you will have a huge library of core and third party blocks that you will be able to add to the widget areas of your site.

Before we move forward, it is important to know that the new block based widget editor is enabled by default in WordPress 5.8.

And if you want to restore the classic widgets then there are a few ways to do it, the easiest one being installing the classic widget plugin.

See- How to disable block widgets in WordPress

Support for WebP images introduced in WordPress 5.8 update

If you have been using Google PageSpeed insights to check the loading time of your site then there chances that you must have come across the error “Serve images in next gen format”.

This error can be resolved by adding WebP images on your site.

It is important to know that before the release of WordPress 5.8, the WebP image format wasn’t supported in WordPress.

This means you will get an error when adding images to your site with this format.

Keeping this in mind, in WordPress 5.8 you will be able to add WebP images to your site without any problems

Adding images with WEBP format will ensure that your site loads fast as this image format is around 30% smaller than JPG or PNG.

In case you are wondering, if this feature will automatically convert the existing images on your site to WebP then the answer is NO.

And for this you will have to use Imagify by WP Rocket.

Infinite scrolling removed from Media Library

In WordPress 5.8 infinite scrolling has been removed from the Media Library.

And now it will show the initial 40 files first with a load more button to see the next.

Option to remove multiple menu items

If you are familiar with menus in WordPress then I’m sure you are aware of the fact that it allows you delete one entry / item at a time.

This has changed in WordPress 5.8 and now you can remove multiple entries using the Bulk Select option

Copy to Clipboard button in Media uploads page

Another minor update that WordPress Media library has received in WordPress 5.8 is that a new Copy to Clipboard button has been added to the Media Upload page.

This will allow you to copy the URL of the image after upload.

Introduction of Template editor in WordPress 5.8

If you have been following the evolution of WordPress over time then I’m sure you are aware of the fact that it is moving towards Full Site Editing (FSE).

And in phase one of this process template editor and a few new blocks have been included in WordPress 5.8.

Talking about the Template editor first, it is a special mode that will allow you to create, assign and edit block templates to various posts and pages in WordPress.

It is important to know that by default the template editor is disabled in WordPress themes and if you choose to enable it then you will have to add the below code snippet to the functions.php file.

add_theme_support( 'block-templates' );

See- How to enable template editing in non block based themes

New Theme blocks in WordPress 5.8

When creating posts in the default WordPress editor, you will see a new group of blocks that have been introduced in WordPress 5.8 and classified as Theme Blocks.

As the name suggests these blocks lets you take over the complete page and design it in the theme editor.

Below is the list of all the theme blocks released in WordPress 5.8.

• Site Logo
• Site Tagline
• Site Title
• Query Loop
• Post Title
• Post Content
• Post Date
• Post Excerpt 
• Post Featured Image
• Post Categories
• Post Tags
• Login/out
• Page List

Before we move forward, it is important to know that full site editing is in its initial stages in WordPress. In case you are looking to create custom templates for pages and posts or even design your site from scratch then Elementor is a tool that you can depend on.

See- How to install Elementor Pro in WordPress

Support dropped for IE 11

In a recent announcement by Microsoft, the company has stated that IE 11 desktop application will end support for certain operating systems starting June 15th 2022.

And the customers have been asked to move to Microsoft Edge with IE mode.

Keeping this in mind, it is important to know that WordPress will also drop support for IE 11 in version 5.8.

This means no new updates / changes will be tested for this version.

If you are a Internet Explorer user then it is recommended that you move to Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox or Safari.

Changes to Site Health interface in WordPress 5.8

In WordPress 5.8, the site health interface has been extended to allow developers to add their own interfaces in the Site health dashboard.

This is a welcome change as you will be able to find themes and plugin conflicts and possible solutions to resolve it here.

Bundled theme changes in WordPress 5.8

As you know block patterns were introduced in WordPress 5.5 and in the version 5.8 sine more patterns have been released for the default themes.

Below we have listed the new patterns included in each theme.

Twenty Fifteen

• Gallery and description
• Contact area
• Two columns with images
• Columns with a list block

Twenty Fourteen

• About
• List
• Summary
• Contact

Twenty Thirteen

• Decorative gallery
• Informational section
• Callout quote
• Decorative columns
• Big Quote
• Information list

Twenty Twelve

• Floating images gallery
• Left aligned large quote
• Left aligned image and paragraph block

Twenty Eleven

• Image and text columns
• Inline quote
• Follow blog
• About me
• Two columns of lists

Twenty Ten

• Introduction
• Highlighted quote
• Alternating images

Other changes in WordPress 5.8

• WordPress 5.8 comes with theme.json that will allow users to configure the editor that enables finer grained controls. See
• Global Styles and Settings has been introduced in WordPress 5.8 and these allow theme authors to control and style the available features and blocks using theme.json.
• Starting WordPress 5.8, it is suggested that you use block.json metadata file as a canonical way to register block types.
• Version of Twemoji has been bumped from 13.0.1 to 13.1.0.
• Jquery external libraries version has been bumped from 3.5.1 to 3.6.0.
• Moment.js has been updated from 2.27.0 to 2.29.1
• In WordPress 5.8 the version of Requests Library has been updated from 1.7.0 to 1.8.1
• Underscore library has been updated from version 1.8.3 to 1.13.1.

Read more about these changes here.

WordPress 5.8 Release Schedule

• 23 February 2021- Alpha begins
• 30 March 2021- WordPress 5.8 Pre-Planning post
• 25 May 2021- Feature freeze /bug fixes
• 8th June 2021- Release of Beta 1
• 15 June 2021- Release of Beta 2
• 22 June 2021- Release of Beta 3
• 25 June 2021- Release of Beta 4
• 29 June 2021- Release of Candidate 1
• 6 July 2021- Release of Candidate 2
• 13 July 2021- Release of Candidate 3
• 19 July 2021-Dry run
• 20 July 2021- WordPress 5.8 General release

How can you update WordPress 5.7 to WordPress 5.8

Updating from WordPress 5.7 to 5.8 is pretty straight forward.

• The first step in the process is to check if the stable version of WordPress 5.8 is available and you can do that by visiting the updates section in your dashboard.
• If it is available then the next step is to take a complete backup of your site and you can do that by using UpdraftPlus plugin.

Please note that if you are using managed hosting then your provider will take care of the WordPress core updates.

• Once you have taken the backup the next step is to visit the updates section and click Update Now to update the WordPress to the latest version.

Having said that,

I hope you will find this article helpful and now know What’s new in WordPress 5.8. In case you have any queries feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to help.

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