WordPress 5.4 “Adderley” is here
The latest version of WordPress has just been released. Version 5.4 is named after the American jazz trumpeter Nat Adderley and it is available for download or update via your dashboard. This latest version brings improvements to the block editor both for users and for developers, privacy enhancements and various development related features. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Block editor improvements
More fixes and added features for the WordPress block editor with this release. The first change users will notice is that the editor now defaults in the Full Screen mode, this of course can be turned off by clicking the “more tools & options” (ellipses on the top right corner of the editor window). There are two new blocks for you to work with, the Social Icons block which allows you to easily add links to your various social profiles and the Buttons block which helps you create multiple buttons in a row, each button can be styled individually if necessary.
Color options for various blocks have been improved as well, the Buttons and Cover blocks now can have color gradients, toolbar color access is available for Rich Text blocks and color options have been added to the Group and Column blocks.
Images in Media+Text blocks can now be linked to anywhere you like. Block navigation has been improved with block breadcrumbs and keyboard navigation was made better with improved tabbing and focus. Toolbar styling has also been cleaned up a bit.
The on-boarding experience has also received an overhaul with tips being removed and replaced by a Welcome Guide which can be dismissed and brought back up whenever needed.
Privacy enhancements
WordPress 5.4 makes it easier for you to provide info on what user data is stored and how it is handled should you receive such requests. Personal data exports include user session info along with location data from community event widgets, also a table of contents is provided. Additionally you can now see the export progress and the overall appearance of the privacy tools has been cleaned up.
Developer related enhancements
Developers can now easily add custom fields to menu items natively. In regards to the block editor, block styling has been simplified, two new APIs have been added for block variations and gradients, embeds now support TikTok and more.
One response to “WordPress 5.4 “Adderley” is here”
Awesome post! Keep up the great work!