The world of WordPress is ever-changing, and we want to keep you in the know. We look back at the WordPress features bought to us in 2020-2022 and what we can expect in 2023.
Gutenberg Updates
The introduction of the Gutenberg editor has already transformed the way users build and edit their WordPress websites. Introduced in 2018, Gutenberg is still relatively new – but that hasn’t stopped the company looking to the future, with plans to further develop the tool by adding new and exciting features.
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The Four Phases of Gutenberg
In its current roadmap WordPress states they intend to work on four major phases over the coming months. They are as follows:
Gutenberg is one of the most significant additions that WordPress has introduced in a long while, and work on the project is ongoing. So, how have the WordPress gurus added to Gutenberg in 2020-2022, and what’s on the horizon for the next year?
Gutenberg in 2020-2022
Unfortunately, we haven’t had any major additions for Gutenberg in 2020. In 2021 and 2022 Gutenberg received such features as drag-and drop, lots of new and improved styling options, empowered some blocks, enriched navigation and block control. According to the current roadmap, the WordPress devs have been working hard on phase two. So, let’s look at major releases of last 3 years.
2020-2022 Major Releases
2020:
2021:
2022:
So, what did each new update bring us?
5.4 – Adderley
2020’s first release included:
5.5 – Eckstine
In August 2020, the WordPress features they gave to us included:
5.6 – Simone
Last but certainly not least, here’s a brief overview of 2020’s final update:
5.7 – Esperanza
First release in 2021 included:
5.8 – Tatum
Second release in 2021 included:
5.9 – Joséphine
First release in 2022 included:
6.0 – Arturo
Second release in 2022 included:
Did WordPress Deliver in 2020-2022?
Let’s see more detailed what we have in result.
Automatic Updates
We’ve had improvements and additions to the auto-update features. These have been a big bonus for WordPress users, as automatic updates really take the hassle and worry out of manually updating plugins and themes.
Lazy Loading
Lazy loading made its debut. For those unfamiliar with web development jargon, lazy loading is a technique used to optimize web page speed. Instead of loading a whole website in one go, lazy loading is where content only loads as the user needs it – this saves on resources and can significantly decrease loading times. WordPress have delivered on their promise to give us this, and it’s been a positive feature for many.
XML Sitemaps
Another one of the exciting WordPress features implemented in 2020 is XML sitemaps. XML sitemaps are meant for consumption by search engines such as Google. It is essentially a roadmap for your website – listing pages and the date they were last updated. This signals to search engines that there is new content to crawl, which can in turn help to boost your SEO credentials.
WordPress delivered the new sitemaps in version 5.5.
Block Widgets Editor
One of the biggest updates of 2021 was adding widgets with blocks, similar to Gutenberg. You can manage widgets using blocks either in the widget area on the back-end or via Theme Customizer on the front-end with live preview.
Block Themes
At the beginning of 2022, WordPress presented new default theme “Twenty Twenty-Two” – first block theme. This new type of themes can be edited with blocks in the same way as posts in Gutenberg and block widgets. It gives users more freedom to customize the theme in a completely different style.
Predictions for the Future
The world of web development and content management is changing all the time. Without the aide of a crystal ball it’s hard to say what will come next – but that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate!
Here are a few ideas for what might be up next for WordPress:
More Freedom for Themes
With the introduction of Gutenberg, themes and theme developers have seen somewhat of a renaissance. It’s possible that this will only continue into the future – as themes become increasingly decoupled from content and plugins.
That means more freedom and even more creativity for theme developers, and more opportunities for users to create stunning, totally unique websites – what’s not to love?
Even More Mobile Optimization
We know that the future of the web lies in mobile devices, and so it makes sense for WordPress to further optimize their offerings for mobile. Gutenberg’s editor tools have already made steps in this direction – but we predict we’ll see more updates for mobile devices in the near future.
Unified Management
Currently, if you manage multiple WordPress websites you have to log out and log in again, using different dashboards for each site.
With WordPress features focusing on streamlining and ease of use over the last couple of years, we predict that this could soon change. A unified dashboard would allow you to manage multiple WordPress websites from one singular dash. Watch this space!
Want to Focus on What Matters?
If you prefer skipping all technical details and going right to the point, hire a WordPress developer to implement your ideas!