WordPress 5.4 Beta 1 is now available for testing!
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend running it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version.
You can test the WordPress 5.4 beta in two ways:
WordPress 5.4 is slated for release on March 31, 2020, and we need your help to get there!
While the primary goal for 2020 is full-site editing with blocks, contributors to WordPress are working across every area of the project to ensure the software continues moving forward.
Testing for bugs is an important part of polishing the release during the beta stage and a great way to contribute. Here are some of the big changes and features to pay close attention to while testing.
WordPress 5.4 Core will merge ten releases of the Gutenberg plugin. This means there’s a long list of exciting new features. Here are just a few:
Some additional changes to make note of:
To see all of the features for each release in detail check out the release posts: 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 and 7.5.
The block editor team has achieved a 14% loading time reduction and 51% time-to-type reduction, for a particularly sizable post (~ 36,000 words, ~1,000 blocks) since WordPress 5.3.
When a project powers 34% of the world’s websites, there must be a focus on security. This is why contributors continue working so hard on the Site Health Project.
WordPress 5.4 adds a widget on the dashboard that warns administrators of potential issues that could affect their site’s performance or security. A call-to-action button directs them to the Site Health screen for details and suggested fixes.
WordPress strives to improve accessibility with every release, and this release is no different. Version 5.4 will contain the following accessibility enhancements:
5.4 also contains a bunch of developer focused changes.
The HTML 5.1 specification mandates that a <tfoot>
tag must follow <tbody>
tag (which was not the case in the calendar widget). WordPress 5.4 moves the navigation links to a <nav>
HTML element immediately following the <table>
element in order to produce valid HTML.
Instead of using do_shortcode()
, apply_shortcodes()
should be utilized instead. While do_shortcode()
is not being deprecated, the new function delivers better semantics.
Now favicon requests can be managed with more flexibility. Administrators can choose a favicon in the Customizer, or upload a /favicon.ico
file. The WordPress logo will always load as a fallback.
wp_login_failed
.newblog_notify_siteadmin
filter for multisite installs.Keep your eyes on the Make WordPress Core blog for 5.4-related developer notes in the coming weeks, breaking down these and other changes in greater detail.
So far, contributors have fixed more than 255 tickets in WordPress 5.4 with more to come.
Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac where you can also find a list of known bugs.