Now the WordPress community has had a chance to get to grips with WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg, it’s time to turn our attention to the first of 2019’s planned new version releases.
WordPress 5.1 is currently planned for a February 21st release and promises to bring with it a number of changes, some that have likely been in the works for a long time and some that may be more last minute additions off of the back of feedback received after 5.0’s release.
One of the main upcoming features Matt Mullenweg highlighted in his 2018 State of the Word address is the Site Health Check, which is planned to become core during 2019. To kick off this integration, the first part of the Site Health Check that’s set to be included in WordPress 5.1 is a WSOD (white screen of death) protection feature, a long-awaited inclusion that many users are excitedly anticipating.
Another notable change in 5.1 is that references to ‘blogging’ will be replaced with ‘publishing’ in the WordPress admin areas. While we’re used to seeing ‘happy blogging’, we’ll soon be seeing ‘happy publishing’ instead, reflecting WordPress’ evolution from a blogging platform to the web’s most dominant CMS. It’s interesting to note this change comes so soon after Gutenberg’s launch, as the new page builder was designed to help make publishing engaging, innovative content simple for both experienced WordPress users and newcomers.
We look forward to finding out more about the planned changes in WordPress 5.1 and will likely hear more towards the end of January, so stay tuned for further updates as they’re released.
