WordPress 5.7 Release Notes

WordPress 5.7 was released on March 9, 2021, bringing with it a host of new features.

With WordPress 5.6 closing out 2020, WordPress 5.7 marks the first release of 2021. It is a major release and the first of four releases planned for the year. 

In this article we will take a look at the new features added in the latest release.

• New Features and Improvements
  • Core
  • Editor

New Features and Improvements

The main goal for WordPress in 2021 is Full Site Editing via Gutenberg. WordPress 5.7 is the first step in that direction. 

Here’s what has been added in the latest release:

Core

• Lazy-load of iframes
• Migration from HTTP to HTTPS is streamlined (one-click)
• Colors used in WP-Admin CSS have been standardized to a single palette
• Continued cleanup after update to jQuery 3.5.1
• New Robots API

Editor

• Inserter drag and drop: Blocks and block patterns can now be dragged directly from the inserter into the post canvas.
• Full height alignment: Blocks such as the Cover block now can have an option to expand to fill the entire viewport.
• Block variations: The icon and description of a block variation is now shown in the block inspector, and a new dropdown in the block inspector lets you switch between block variations.
• Reusable blocks: Several enhancements to the usability and stability of reusable blocks have been made, and reusable blocks are now saved at the same time that the post is saved.
• Buttons block: The Buttons block now supports vertical alignments, and you can set the width of a button to a preset percentage.
• Social Icons block: You can now change the size of the icons in the Social Icons block.
• Font size in more places: You can now change the font size in the List and Code blocks.
• Many, many other enhancements and bug fixes: To see all of the features for each release in detail check out the Gutenberg release posts: 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, and 9.9.

Bookmark this post to keep up with all WordPress 5.7 updates and stay tuned for what’s ahead in WordPress 5.8.  

WordPress is constantly evolving! Stay up to date with the latest WordPress news and releases to keep your website modern and secure!