Wordpress 6.0 is coming soon, but is your website ready for it?
As with any major update it's always worth planning in advance to ensure you're not going to end up with a broken website! Some things to consider:
- Is my theme compatible?
- Are my plugins compatible?
- Will auto update take care of it?
- Do I have a backup?
The truth is you may only know the answer to the last question and if that's a no, hang your head in shame!
Seriously, until the answer to point 4 is a yes there's no point reading on. If you need help, we have that covered with our backup service or just call us for advice on how to set it up yourself.
Phew! So you now have a backup let's carry on!
There are over 250 modifications coming with this update. They consist of bug fixes, enhancements and feature requests and should you wish to study them all, the full list can be found here - https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/05/03/wordpress-6-0-field-guide/.
When it comes to deciding on the update plan you really have the following options:
Pros: This allows time for plugins and themes to confirm compatibility. There's also a good argument to wait for the inevitable minor updates that will be released, once the major release has been tested in the real world
Cons: No one likes being late to the party! You want the latest features as soon as possible, right?
If you're looking for our opinion, go with option 2 and stage it. If that's not something you're set up for then let us do it for you!
As major releases go this appears to be much more along the enhancement route than major overhaul so we'd hope that in most cases an update goes smoothly. 2 key errors of improvement:
Accessibility
There have been a large number of accessibility improvements, in particular focusing on blocks.
Block Editor
The Gutenburg block editor has had its critics but with this update it could be about to come into it's own. I'll be honest, I still favour the Beaver Builder page builder but if you're looking to use Wordpresses own block builder then it's about to get a load more functionality!
In Conclusion
Whatever approach you take and whenever you decide is the right time to update I hope you've picked up our number 1 advice is to backup prior to updating. Ideally take out a maintenance plan and let us take care of it for you. If you're happy to give it a go yourself then create a staging environment and update that site first, before updating your live production site.
Good luck and enjoy the additional enhancements that Wordpress 6.0 will bring with it!