Introduction
Keeping your business website competitive and efficient requires staying updated with the latest WordPress features. In 2024, WordPress continues to evolve, offering a host of features that can significantly enhance your website. This blog delves into the Must-Have WordPress Features in 2024 that are essential for your website’s success. These features, available through essential WordPress plugins or enterprise wordPress development services, are designed to maximize your website’s potential and boost its performance.
WordPress Version 6.5: Key features
Custom font family library
The new WordPress Font Family Library is a game-changer for administrators. It allows you to add custom fonts directly from the admin panel, eliminating the need for complex coding. This feature not only enhances the visual appeal of your website but also ensures a consistent look and feel across all pages. With this easy font customization, aligning your website’s typography with your brand identity has never been simpler.
Enhanced styling options
New WordPress 6.5 Features for Businesses include a range of styling tools that make website management a breeze. Administrators can now effortlessly handle Gutenberg block patterns and customize them directly from the admin panel. These tools, including color, typography, and padding options, empower you to create highly responsive layouts that your clients can easily manage themselves.
To learn more about leveraging these features, check out our detailed guide on wordPress website planning using elementor pro.
- Manage Gutenberg block patterns.
- Style options include color, typography, padding.
- Create highly responsive layouts.
Theme builder enhancement
With the new WordPress feature 6.5 cover and group widget, administrators can create dynamic backgrounds and change HTML tags like “section,” “div,” and “nav.” This feature also allows adding multiple text paragraphs and other Gutenberg blocks and patterns within the group and cover elements. Discover How to manage Gutenberg block patterns in WordPress 6.5 effectively for the best results.
Styling revisions
For styling backup, the new WordPress styling revisions feature allows you to revert any changes made by mistake with a single click, ensuring that your website’s design remains intact .What is the WordPress styling revisions feature? It’s a safety net for maintaining your website’s visual consistency.
Anchor links support
Previously, making text clickable in the editor was complicated. With improved anchor link support, making any text an anchor link quickly enhances navigation and user experience.
Performance improvement
WordPress performance improvements in version 6.5 include significantly improved static content performance, almost doubled speed, and Gutenberg input performance five times faster. This ensures a smoother and more efficient website operation.
Interactive API
The new Interactive API is a game-changer for developers. It allows for the implementation of complex features with intuitive navigation and data loading, all without the need to refresh the page. For instance, an e-commerce site can enhance the shopping experience by dynamically loading product details as users browse different categories. What are the interactive API benefits in WordPress 2024? This feature significantly speeds up development, making it more efficient and effective.
Support for AVIF images
WordPress now supports AVIF images, which are 50% smaller than JPG and JPEG images, while maintaining the same quality. This format supports various HDR colors, improving image loading times and visual quality.
Data views and layouts
WordPress 6.5 offers different layouts and views, all manageable from the admin panel. This flexibility allows administrators to customize the presentation of their content to suit their audience’s needs better.
Smoother plugin dependency
What is the new plugin dependency feature in WordPress? It allows WordPress to automatically manage the installation process, making it easier to handle complex plugin requirements. Developers can now add dependencies in the plugin header file using WordPress’s new plugin dependency feature.
/**
* Plugin Name: August Infotech WordPress Store
* Requires Plugins: woocommerce, advanced-custom-fields, advanced-custom-fields-pro
*/
Appearance tool settings
The new settings field provides unique properties that can be added to the theme.json file. Administrators can add multiple theme options in JSON format, which WordPress will auto-populate inside the admin panel.
{
"version": 2,
"settings": {
"color": {
"palette": [
{
"color": "#0584c4",
"name": "Background Color",
"slug": "bg-color"
},
{
"color": "#00000",
"name": "Text Color",
"slug": "text"
}
]
}
}
}
WordPress version 6.4: focus on styling
The WordPress 6.4 release primarily focuses on styling elements with support for the Twenty Twenty-Four theme. Gutenberg block patterns are straightforward from the admin panel, allowing administrators to manage multiple grid layouts, full-width sections, left and right side images with content, and more.
Improved editor experience
The site editor experience has significantly improved, becoming faster and more intuitive. New patterns have been added, enabling administrators to select templates, change content quickly, and publish pages smoothly without developer support.
To dive deeper into this topic, check out our blog on the Gutenberg project: 10 things to know about the gutenberg wordPress editor.
Enhanced writing flow
The writing flow is more streamlined, with well-displayed points, accessible text, and content color customization options. New block hooks allow for customizing blocks using themes and plugins, offering greater flexibility in website design.
Reusable patterns
Administrators can create reusable patterns, store them, and use them repeatedly on any page. A master pattern can be applied across the website, with changes reflecting on all similar sections, ensuring consistency and saving time.
Developer functions in new wordPress feature 2024
Block API
Using the block API, developers can create a block.json file, which includes metadata, JS, CSS, and other arguments. This allows users to drag and drop blocks in the backend editor quickly. Developers can generate a Gutenberg block WordPress plugin using the command line:
npx @wordpress/create-block augustinfotech-block
Creating a new WordPress plugin in the augustinfotech-block directory.
Creating a "block.json" file.
Creating a "package.json" file.
Installing `@wordpress/scripts` package. It might take a couple of minutes...
Formatting JavaScript files.
Compiling block.
Done: WordPress plugin Augustinfotech Block bootstrapped in the augustinfotech-block directory.
This command will create a new WordPress plugin in the augustinfotech-block directory with the following structure:
augustinfotech-block
|-build
|-src
|-.editorconfig
|-.editorconfig
|-augustinfotech-block.php
|-package.json
|-readme.txt
The default block is registered in the augustinfotech-block.php file, and the build folder is based on the Node.js structure. The npm package is built using npm commands, which compile the code and generate optimized output in the build folder.
function create_block_augustinfotech_block_block_init() {
register_block_type( __DIR__ . '/build' );
}
add_action( 'init','create_block_augustinfotech_block_block_init' );
Block hooks
Using block hooks, developers can modify the layout and move and delete blocks in the site editor. Custom hooks can be injected into blocks using the following filters:
- hooked_block
- hooked_block_{$hook_block_type}
Both filters have similar function parameters. For more information, visit the WordPress Feature 2024 documentation for version 6.5.
HTML API
A new tag processor functionality is being added. The tag processor scans the entire WordPress site and skips all non-tags, allowing developers to modify the content of tags like HTML, body, and others. Example:
$title = '';
$content = '';
$processor = new WP_HTML_Tag_Processor( $html );
while ( $processor->next_token() ) {
if ( '#text' === $processor->get_token_type() ) {
$content .= $processor->get_modifiable_text();
} elseif ( null === $title && 'MYTITLE' === $processor->get_token_name() ) {
$title = $processor->get_modifiable_text();
}
}
echo $title ? $title : '';
echo $content;
WordPress new localization system
The WordPress system is based on gettext and uses .po (Portable Object) files and .mo (Machine Object) files for storing translations. Using the existing i18n WordPress system, a new feature plugin called “Performant Translations” has been developed.
This newly built library uses .mo files, which consume less memory and support multiple locations loading simultaneously. A new file format, .l10n.php, has been created for translations.
Developers can generate the translation files using the command line:
# Create PHP files for PO files in the active directory.
$ wp i18n make-php .
# Create a PHP file from a single PO file in a specific directory.
$ wp i18n make-php augustinfotech-block-de_EN.po languages
About August Infotech
August Infotech is a top WordPress website development company that delivers cutting-edge web solutions to clients worldwide. As an offshore development company, we provide comprehensive WordPress development services, from plugin development to theme customization and performance optimization. Our team of experts ensures that your WordPress site is functional, visually appealing, and highly responsive.
Conclusion
Why should you upgrade to WordPress 6.5?
WordPress 6.5 brings many powerful features that can significantly enhance your business website’s performance, design, and usability. From improved styling options to advanced performance enhancements, these updates are designed to help you create a more engaging and efficient online presence. The Must-Have WordPress Features 2024 clarifies that this version is essential for anyone looking to stay ahead in the technology.
Upgrade to WordPress 6.5 today and take full advantage of these cutting-edge features.
For more information on how August Infotech can help you implement these new features, contact us today or visit August Infotech blogs for more insights and updates.