WordPress 5.1 Betty: Latest Update
As of March 15, 2019, WordPress powers 33.4% websites all over the globe. Being a popular Content Management System it releases new updates every few months. December 2018 saw the release of WordPress 5.0 ‘Bebo’ which introduced the block editor. The new 5.1 update named ‘Betty’ honoring the celebrated Jazz vocalist Betty Carter focuses on polishing the performance of the website.
Let us see in detail what the new update in WordPress brings to the table.
What’s New:
WordPress 5.1 focuses on 3 major aspects viz. Site Health, Editor Performance and Developer Happiness.
Site Health
Speed and security are two of the utmost features that every WordPress update takes care of. Most of the times you download plugins to be installed on your WordPress site. Not all plugins are new and this might even mean they run on outdated versions of PHP. If you as a site administrator download them it might affect the performance of our website, as well as, compromise on the security.The new ‘Site Health’ feature helps to check the PHP version running on the plugin you’re trying to install with the appropriate version of PHP compatible with your site. Should the plugin require a version of PHP that won’t work with your site, WordPress will automatically disallow you to install the plugin.
Editor Performance
The block editor released in WordPress 5.0 continues to improve with each new update. The WordPress latest version 5.1 update lays emphasis on improving the performance of the editor. Some of the improvements looked upon were time taken to start the editor and smooth typing. This is an ongoing project and more performance improvements are expected in the next few releases.
Developer Happiness
This update in WordPress released a lot of improvements when it came to the developers. Some of the areas it touched upon were:
A new Multisite database table that can store metadata associated with websites that allows storage of arbitrary site data
New functions have been added to the Cron API to assist with returning data. Moreover, it even includes new filters that can be used to modify the cron storage
New and improved JavaScript build option
You can check more improvements on the development front on the WordPress 5.1 official release page.
Lastly, remember that it is very important to upgrade your WordPress as it helps fix any security flaw or patch. However, chances are you might end up missing an update if you manually upgrade it, hence it is preferred that your WordPress is updated automatically. Our WordPress Hosting plans ensure that your WordPress is updated automatically whenever there is a new release/update in WordPress. This enables both the improvement & fixes for your WordPress site, as well as, lets you concentrate on your business without having to worry about your site not being updated.
Do let us know what you think of this new WordPress 5.1 ‘Betty’ update in the comments section below!
