This new version of WordPress is our latest and greatest WordPress release.
WordPress 5.6 brings you countless ways to set your ideas free and bring them to life. With a brand-new default theme as your canvas, it supports an ever-growing collection of blocks as your brushes. Paint with words. Pictures. Sound. Or rich embedded media.
WordPress 5.6 Release (wordpress.org)
Bring your stories to life with more tools that let you edit your layout with or without code. Single column blocks, designs using mixed widths and columns, full-width headers, and gradients in your cover block—make small changes or big statements with equal ease!
In some themes, preconfigured block patterns make setting up standard pages on your site a breeze. Let the power of patterns streamline your workflow and save you clicks. Plus, share these features with clients, editors, and more.
To help you add subtitles or captions to your videos, you can now upload them within your post or page. This makes it easier than ever to make your videos accessible for anyone who needs or prefers to use subtitles.
Twenty Twenty-One is a blank canvas for your ideas, and the block editor is the best brush. It is built for the block editor and packed with brand-new block patterns you can only get in the default themes. Try different layouts in a matter of seconds, and let the theme’s eye-catching, yet timeless design make your work shine.
What’s more, this default theme puts accessibility at the heart of your website. It conforms to the WordPress accessibility-ready guidelines and addresses several more specialized standards from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AAA . It will help you meet the highest level of international accessibility standards when you create accessible content and choose plugins which are accessible too!
Perfect for a new year, Twenty Twenty-One gives you a range of pre-selected color palettes in pastel, all of which conform to AAA standards for contrast. You can also choose your own background color for the theme, and the theme chooses accessibility-conscious text colors for you — automatically!
For years, only developers have been able to update WordPress automatically. But now you have that option, right in your dashboard. If this is your first site, you have auto-updates ready to go, right now! Upgrading an existing site? No problem! Everything is the same as it was before.
Even if you’re not an expert, you can start letting others know about your site’s commitment to accessibility! The new feature plugin includes template copy for you to edit and publish, and it’s written to support different contexts and jurisdictions.
If you’ve not had the chance to play with block patterns yet, all default themes now feature a range of block patterns that let you master complex layouts with minimal effort. Customize the patterns to your liking with the copy, images, and colors that fit your story or brand.
The previous version of WordPress was 5.5.3 on October 30, 2020.
Our Website Maintenance Department will be in contact with you regarding these upgrades. Clients that have signed up for our Automatic WordPress Update Program or Website Care program will get their website updated in the next week or so or if a follow-up version of WordPress is released.
View the complete list of WordPress versions here and here.
Read more about why WordPress updates are important.
If you haven’t heard about our Website Care, then you’re missing out on savings and peace of mind!
There are different levels to choose from but with each level, you get your installation of WordPress checked weekly for updates to the core software, plugins and themes. The benefit is that your website software is kept up to date. This work is done by hand and we test your website after the upgrade to make sure everything works like it should.
The program is either by monthly subscription or you can save 10% and pay for a year in advance. When you use this program you save about 40% on updating WordPress. It’s kind of a no-brainer!
Sleep better knowing that your website is being taken care of when you enroll in our Website Care today!
-Webstix Support
