Here you’ll find a summary of the most important changes in the latest versions of WordPress:
WordPress 5.8 “Tatum”
🧱 Improved block editor (Gut 10.7)
🧱 New block-based widget editor
🧱 New content list block
🧱 Directory integration block patterns
🧱 Improved loading styles blocks
🌄 WebP
🎨 Duotone filters
🎨 New template editor (+20 new blocks)
🎨 New theme.json
🥳 New emojis (Twemoji 13.1.0)
❌ Removed Internet Explorer
👩🏻💻 REST API new features
👨🏻💻 Block API improvements
🏥 “Site Health” improvements
👀 96 improvements + 170 fixes
➕ 530 volunteers 👏
WordPress 5.7 “Hope”
🔒 Migration from HTTP to HTTPS in 1-click
🧱 Block editor Improvements
🖼 Lazy-loading iframes
🎨 Standardization WP Admin colors (CSS variables)
🤖 API robots
❌ Removal of jQuery Migrate
🔑 Send recovery password (admin)
🚛 Improvements in import/export
👩🏻💻 New filters for blocks
👨🏻💻 InnerBlocks API improvements
👩🏻💻 New API for blocks variations
👨🏻💻New functions get_post_parent() and has_post_parent()
👩🏻💻 New i18n filters + changes in createI18n()
👀 66 improvements + 127 fixes
WordPress 5.6 “Simone”
🎨 Theme Twenty Twenty-One
🔁 Auto-WordPress updates
🧱 Block improvements
🧱 Block pattern improvements
📹 Captioning videos
🔎 Accessibility improvements
👩🏻💻 REST API authentication (Application Passwords)
👩🏻💻 36 REST API updates
👀 87 improvements + 197 fixes
👩🏻💻 New hook “wp_after_insert_post”
🏥 11 improvements in “Site Health “
Team led 100% by women 👩🏻💻👩🏼💻👩🏽💻👩🏾💻👩🏿💻👏
WordPress 5.5 “Eckstine”
🧱 Block Patterns
🧱 Block Directory
🌄 Lazy-loading images
🌄 Editing images
🔁 Auto-plugin and theme updates
🗜 Update plugins and themes from zip
🗺 Native XML Sitemap
🧱 UI and accessibility improvements block editor
📚 External libraries update
✈️ 65 new Dashicons
🧱 Blocks registered on server
👨🏻💻 PHP compatibility scan improved
👩🏻💻 Define Environments (wp_get_environment_type)
👨🏻💻 Passing arguments to template files
👩🏻💻 Changes get_custom_logo()
👨🏻💻 Default categories in CPT
👀 157 improvements + 307 fixes
👨🏻💻 36 REST API updates
🌄 26 media improvements
🔎 34 accessibility improvements
🔒 6 security updates
🎨 7 customizer improvements
WordPress 5.4 “Adderley”
🧱 Social icon block
🧱 Latest posts block with featured image
🧱Block collections (+ API)
🧱 Block variations (+API)
🧱 Color gradients (+ API)
🎨 Fullscreen editor (default)
🏥 “Site health” improvements
🍔 Add custom fields in menus
🕵🏻 Privacy improvements
📅 Calendar widget changes (HTML)
👨🏻💻 PHP requirements for themes
👩🏻💻 REST API changes
👨🏻💻 [ ] apply_shortcodes replaces do_shortcode
WordPress 5.3 “Kirk”
🎨 Twenty Twenty theme
🧱 150 block editor improvements (accessibility…)
🧱 Group block 🥳
🌄 Auto-rotate images
🏥 “Site health” improvements
✉️ Admin email verification
⬆ PHP 7.4 support
WordPress 5.2 “Jaco”
☠️ Protection against “White Screen of Death”
🏥 Site Health Check
🧱 Block manager that allows to disable them
🧱 Block editor improvements (accessibility, performance…)
⬆ Minimum PHP version 5.6
👩🏻💼25 new Dashicons
WordPress 5.1 “Betty”
🧱 Performance improvements in the block editor
🏥 Addition of “Site Health”
👩🏻💻 Introduction of metadata for multisite
👨🏻💻Cron API
WordPress 5.0 “Bebo”
🧱 Addition of block editor to WordPress core
🎨 Twenty Nineteen theme improvements
👨🏻💻 New APIs for block editor
👩🏻💻 REST API improvements
⬆ PHP 7.3 support
