logo

The WordPress Agency

020 3355 8747

Message Us
  • Home
  • About Impact®
    Learn More About Impact Media®
    • Meet The Team
       
    • Our Process
       
    • Why WordPress
       
    • Careers
       
    • Giving Back
       
    • 100K Tree Challenge
       
    James Coates
    Schedule a discovery call with UX Specialist James
    Book A Call
  • WordPress Services
    Learn More About Our Services
    • WordPress Web Design
       
    • UX Design
       
    • WordPress Development
       
    • WordPress Support & Maintenance
       
    • WordPress Multisite Development
       
    • WooCommerce Development
       
    • Replatform To WordPress
       
    • Integrations & Plugins
       
    • WordPress Training
       
    • UX Website Review
       
    • WordPress Health Check
       
    James Coates
    Schedule a discovery call with UX Specialist James
    Book A Call
  • Case Studies
  • Insights
  • Contact Us
The WordPress Agency
020 3355 8747
logo logo
Book A Call
Back
Menu
  • Home
     
  •  
    About Impact Media
    Learn More About The Impacters
    • Meet The Team
       
    • Our Process
       
    • Why WordPress
       
    • Careers
       
    • Giving Back
       
    • 100K Tree Challenge
       
  •  
    Our Services
    Discover How We Can Help
    • WordPress Web Design
       
    • UX Design
       
    • WordPress Development
       
    • WordPress Support & Maintenance
       
    • WordPress Multisite Development
       
    • WooCommerce Development
       
    • Replatform To WordPress
       
    • Integrations & Plugins
       
    • WordPress Training
       
    • UX Website Review
       
    • WordPress Health Check
       
  • Case Studies
     
  • Insights
     
  • Contact Us
     
020 3355 8747
Mon - Fri • 9am - 5pm
Close

Oops! We could not locate your form.

Home / Insights / WordPress 5.9 – What’s New?
Home / Insights / WordPress 5.9 – What’s New?
Back

WordPress 5.9 – What’s New?

Published 25.01.22
25th January 2022
Last Updated 24.11.23
24th November 2023
Newer
3 Min Read
Crystal Coates
Crystal Coates
WordPress
Older
3 Min Read
 
Crystal Coates
Crystal Coates
 
WordPress

WordPress 5.9 is scheduled for release today. So what can we expect from the latest version of WordPress Core?

wordpress.org website

Edit: If you’d like to learn about the more recent WordPress 6.4, you can here.

In 2021 WordPress released this video, to illustrate what was coming up in WordPress Core version 5.9.

WordPress 5.9 finally launched today, after it was pushed back from its original planned release date in late 2021.

Let’s take a little look at what we can expect to see in this new version of the CMS.

Improvements, Support & Bug Fixing

As expected with any new release, there is a host of updates and changes to ensure that WordPress continues to function well with ever evolving web technologies. 5.9 includes:

  • Update to jQuery 3.
  • Improved support for PHP8

There’s also the usual ongoing bug fixing that any well maintained platform or software receives. These are managed and resolved through their bug reporting ticket system.

Image Lazy Loading Improvements

With Google’s Core Web Vitals making LCP (or largest contentful paint) an important page experience metric, WordPress 5.9 has looked for ways to reduce time to LCP by making changes to its lazy loading feature. By not lazy loading the first content image on page, improvements of 7% on average are seen to LCP.

Hopefully we’ll see some further improvements on key page experience metrics, resulting from the creation of WordPress’s performance team last year.

Language Choice At Login

For sites with multiple languages installed, users can now choose their preferred language at login, from the login screen.

Gutenberg 12.4

Gutenberg version 12.4 was actually released on January 19th. It continues its evolution to improve the native site editing experience in WordPress.

The latest release included a host of accessibility improvements, new and improved blocks, bug fixes, shortcuts, reminders, and more. You can read about it all here.

Full Site Editing- Continued.

Building on what began in WordPress version 5.8, 5.9 continues to work towards giving users full site editing. This aims to made it easier for those with no coding expertise to have greater control over how their site looks within certain themes.

This is less relevant to us, as we’ve been creating bespoke custom themes for our customers to provide them with greater creative control for years.

Block Editor Improvements

There are improvements to the block editor in 5.9, which include:

  • Drag and drop to easily move sections in list view.
  • Improved controls for headings.
  • Rich URL previews.
  • The navigation block in the site editor can now be used on post and pages.
  • Improved social icons.

More Site-Wide Blocks Added

There are 10 of these new site-wide blocks, which live under the theme category. They include:

  • Navigation
  • Header
  • Footer
  • Post Comments
  • Next & Previous Post
  • Post Author

Global Styling & Block Styling

You can now make site-wide changes to your styling with new tools to let you globally edit typography, colours and spacing. You can find access to the styling interface in the top right corner of your screen, whenever you’re editing a post or page. It gives you the option to save them as site-wide changes, or template specific.

You can now also style individual blocks both globally, and on an individual basis.

There you have it! A very brief overview. Let us know what your most anticipated changes are, and don’t forget the importance of keeping WordPress Core and plugins up-to-date.

If you need help keeping on top of updates, general maintenance, support, and managed WordPress optimised hosting, take a look at our WordPress Support plans.

Share Socially
Crystal Coates
Crystal Coates
Account Manager, Converse Enthusiast & Copacabana Dance Winner 1995
Crystal is an Account Manager and cares for our clients. She is usually the first point of contact for website support.
View Team Profile
See More Articles
Crystal Coates
Crystal Coates
Account Manager, Converse Enthusiast & Copacabana Dance Winner 1995
Crystal is an Account Manager and cares for our clients. She is usually the first point of contact for website support.
See More Articles
View Team Profile

If You Liked This, You Might Like These

WordPress
wordpress 6.3 blog hero image
November 8th, 2023
3 min read

WordPress 6.4 – What’s New?

WordPress Core version 6.3 is released today. So let's take a quick look at some of the main changes it brings with it.

Richard RamirezRichard Ramirez
 
WordPress
contact form plugins blog hero image
September 11th, 2023
23 min read

Contact Form Plugins And Solutions For WordPress

If you're looking for the right contact form solution for your WordPress or WooCommerce website, there are certainly no shortage of options on the market.

Richard RamirezRichard Ramirez
 
WordPress
wordpress 6.3 blog hero image
August 8th, 2023
4 min read

WordPress 6.3 – What’s New?

WordPress Core version 6.3 is released today. So let's take a quick look at some of the main changes it brings with it.

Vikki BakerVikki Baker
 
Want more control over
how you manage content in WordPress?
Edit content that was previously restricted and get creative with building pages in WordPress.
Let's Chat
studio@impactmedia.co.uk
020 3355 8747
Impact Media's LinkedIn
Impact Media's Twitter
Impact Media's Facebook
Impact Media's Instagram
Impact Media's Youtube
wordpress.org

About Impact

  • About Impact Media®
  • Meet The Impact Team
  • Why WordPress?
  • Our Web Development Process
  • Careers
  • Awards
  • Partners
  • Giving Back
  • 100K Tree Challenge

WordPress Services

  • WordPress Web Design
  • UX Web Design
  • WordPress Development
  • WooCommerce Development
  • Multisite WordPress Solutions
  • Migrate To WordPress
  • Custom Integrations & Plugins
  • WordPress Consultancy
  • WordPress Training

WordPress Support

  • WordPress Support & Maintenance
  • WordPress Managed Hosting
  • Support & Maintenance Plan Brochure
  • Case Studies
  • Insights
  • Contact Us

Address

50 Liverpool Street,

London, EC2M 7PY

+44 (0) 20 3355 8747

  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
Impact Media logo
© Impact Media® 2003 - 2023
Impact Media is a trading name of IMDMS LTD. Company Reg. 05970261
Impact® & Impact Media®
are registered trademarks of IMDMS LTD