WORDPRESS 5: WAS IT WORTH THE WAIT?

WordPress 5 has been here for some time now, and while it was a long time coming – and while it promised plenty of good changes – it still meant a little bit of a leap into the darkness. Now we’ve had some time to get used to the new platform, has it changed things for the better when it comes to web design?

Gutenberg – the project codename which has brought a number of changes to the main editor – works as seamlessly and as fluidly as it promised us it would. However, there may be some worth in holding out to update to 5.0 at all, given the fact that many plugins still haven’t adapted to the new engine.

While some important add-ons have adapted well to the new WordPress, you may be surprised to see just how many of your regularly used plugins are in need of a new rollout. Truth be told, WP5 has only just arrived – but there’s perhaps a little bit of worth in holding out on updating everything until 2019.

Gutenberg and WP5 offer a fantastic amount of functionality and practicality, however, as with all software, it is going to take time for the full experience to be rolled out. To that extent, this means you may expect a few patches and updates here and there to be stitched into the main interface for the first few months of release.

But does this mean that it is worth upgrading to WordPress 5 at all? Of course it is – however, for those of you building and maintaining websites out there expecting the full experience out of the box, you may do well to hold on a little bit longer. Given enough time, WP5 will be fighting fit and easier to use than ever before.