WordPress user? Please, be seated. There is a new WordPress update, version 5.6, that is just rolling out.
I know you may not know or care, but you probably have to know about this WordPress update.
Why? Because the WordPress 5.6 version is called to be the biggest and major update by WordPress.
And most importantly, you need to know the vulnerability you might face with this new WordPress 5.6 update.
So, let me explain it to you in a very clear and concise manner.
What’s New In WordPress 5.6
WordPress 5.6 “Simone”
Instead of simply calling it a WordPress 5.6 update, it’s better to call it “Simone”— that’s what the official name is.
Wonder, Why Simone? Simone is a famous and legendary performer and singer. She knocks down the hearts of the audience with her enthusiastic singing capabilities.
Some of her best hits are “Feeling Good”, “Young, Gifted and Black” and “Four Women”.
In short, her poetry voice thrills, And that is what makes the tagline for this WordPress 5.6 update i.e. “Code is poetry” So here, what WordPress does is ‘coding’, and what “we and you” have to do is “sharing our story”.
What’s New to WordPress 5.6 Simone Update?
this major update, you are not only getting the flexibility to layouts but also nourishing a creative style to depict your thoughts. They introduced a new bunch of blocks to beautify your creativity without any hasty coding or installing plugins.
This is just a glimpse of what is coming in the future of WordPress updates. Sounds Interesting? But, you have to wait for that. What you don’t have to wait for is to hear about this edition of WordPress 5.6 Simone. So, let’s discuss all of its features in a detailed way.
#1 New Default WordPress Theme 2023
When you install a fresh WordPress blog, you all have a blank canvas with a “Hello World” post.
And honestly speaking, I get fed up with it. Surprisingly, it is a very light theme and best for a personal blog. Moreover, in WordPress 5.6 update, the layout and the design are again given pretty simple with a new significant and classic feature called “Dark Mode Support.”
Yes, you heard right. A user can assess your website in dark mode. They just have to click on the Dark mode button, at the bottom of the screen.
Dark Mode Support in WordPress Default Theme 2023
So, if you have an AMOLED screen, this mode will be going to be handy for you. It saves battery as well as your eyes. By default, dark mode is ‘ON’. To make the option ‘off’, you have to follow the following pointers:
Log in and go to the home page.
Click on the Customize button on the top bar.
Click on “Color and Dark Mode”
Now, check or uncheck it based on your preference.
#2 Automatic Updates For WordPress
Automatic Updates are one of the major features that was highlighted from the last bigger update i.e. WordPress 5.5.
With WordPress 5.5, an automatic update feature for the plugins and themes was introduced.
Now, WordPress 5.6 comes with an adjoining approach of “all-in-one”.
What does that mean?
It means, if you have a niche WordPress website and you don’t work daily on it, you can take a whole year’s vacation. Because now, you not only auto-update your plugins and themes but WordPress itself.
#3 Numerous Changes to WordPress Block Editor
People prefer to work on the classic editor. However personally, I am a big fan of the WordPress block editor. It works like a charm. And the hard truth— Classic editor is far way gone.
And if you’re also a fan of block editor, you will gonna love these new additional features.
A. More Customizable Options
There are a bunch of new sections added in the “Options Menu” (three-dot menu on left).
a. New Preference Tab
In the WordPress 5.6 update, there is a ‘Preference’ tab which replaces the ‘Option’ tab from WordPress 5.5.
b. Informative Description of Preference Tab
In the updated version of WordPress 5.6, you not only get new features but with explanations. Here, all the titles have their informative descriptions. This seems to be handy for beginners.
c. New Appearance Section in Preference Box
A brand new section Appearance tab is added in the preference window.
#4 Rest API Authentication (Application Password)
With the updated WordPress 5.6 version, you get a developer feature of Rest API Authentication in the author’s tab. With the help of this, you can authorize third-party applications such as plugins and themes directly from your website without manually signing in with your email credentials.
Here, you can also analyze which plugins or themes the user’s data is connected to your web. But here comes the sad part. Wonderfence WordPress Security blog, in their post, highlighted the risk of using Rest API authentication. You can check the post from here.
#5 WordPress 5.6 Updates Support PHP 8
With each update of the PHP version, you are getting higher performance improvement.
This also seems with PHP 8. Concisely, PHP 8 can be a favorable deal for app developers and online app websites. So, if your website has any online tools you’re going to get optimal performance with PHP 8 and PHP 8 JIT versions.
I know, it looks a bit technical. And honestly, it does. So, in short, you’re going to have better page loading speed and less computing time to process data by your server.
#6 jQuery Addition
Sorry, I’m going to be a little bit technical again.
As I mentioned earlier, WordPress had removed the jQuery migration script from their WordPress 5.5 update. That alone has broken millions of websites that have some elements of jQuery script.
If you’re one of them, please solve this issue before updating your WordPress to the 5.6 version. This is because this version has inbuilt jQuery Migrate v3.3.2 which will conflict with the “Enable jQuery Migrate Helper plugin” whose version is v1.4.1.
Final Thoughts on WordPress 5.6 Simone Updates
With every incremental decimal number in the WordPress version, this CMS is constantly evolving and improving. That makes it smarter by balancing performance and optimization.
Moreover, this is one of the greatest updates by WordPress that comes with a new default theme, auto-WordPress update, dark mode, and building blocks (in block editor). With it, you are getting optimal performance with a nicer and cleaner web design.
That’s all, with this post on “WordPress 5.6 Simone Update“. But, the following are some questions that the user asks.