Top 3 Reasons to Upgrade to WordPress 5.0 & Gutenberg Block Editor

Now’s the Time to Update Your Site

If your business’ website uses WordPress – as 30% of all websites on earth do – this is a great time to update your existing website (or build a new one) using WordPress 5.0.

WordPress’ latest version features a new editor called Gutenberg, and it enables users to more easily update their own sites – without the need for shortcodes and HTML like their previous editor. You can try out Gutenberg here.

Here’s why now’s a great time to switch up:

1. Gutenberg is a better editor. Gutenberg allows you to visually see an accurate preview as you make changes. Built to accommodate media-rich sites, the new default editor provides a variety of content blocks that let you easily drop in videos, text, quotes, images, audio files, buttons, embeds and more.
   This allows you to customize your pages and create modern layouts that work across all screens and devices. Best of all you, you can trust that what is showing visually in your editor is what will show on your website.
2. Your current plugins might not work in the new WordPress. Another reason that you may want to consider upgrading this year is that your WordPress plugins could become obsolete, as they were developed to work with older versions of WordPress without Gutenberg. A lot of new Gutenberg-compatible plugins have already come out that take advantage of the new editor’s features.
   We’re able to help build custom plugins or modules to help ensure that you retain the functionality you need. WYSIWYG editors can add a lot of code to your website and slow down your site speed; we can also help maximize your site’s performance while utilizing WordPress 5.0.
3. Better security. We recently published a blog post, “Time’s Up for PHP 5.X”, which explained that PHP 5 would no longer be supported and had reached end of life – exposing sites that use that technology to security risks.
   WordPress now recommends your host supports PHP version 7.3 or greater. While the new WordPress still will work with PHP 5.2.4+, they warn that “these versions have reached official End of Life and as such may expose your site to security vulnerabilities.”

If you are upgrading to the latest version of PHP – as you should – it’s the perfect time to also transition to WordPress 5.0 (and vice versa).

Interested in updating your current site or creating a new site that makes the most of WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg’s capabilities? We’d love to help. Let’s Talk.