WordPress version 5.0, which includes the new Gutenberg editor, launches today. By the time you listen to this episode, it’s likely already gone live. There is a good bit of debate about this new version, but I’m here to help answer one question — should you upgrade?
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If you’re listening to this episode on Thursday, December 6, 2018, WordPress version 5.0 will be launching later today. Included in version 5.0 is the new post editor, code-named Gutenberg, that is causing quite a stir.
There’s been a lot of debate about whether 5.0 is ready to go, mostly around accessibility issues with Gutenberg and a number of outstanding bugs. You can Google for those to find much more info and see why people are upset (or why others things they’re overreacting).
What I want to briefly address is what you need to do now that WordPress 5.0 is out.
First, you don’t need to rush into anything. This isn’t a security-focused release, so you don’t need to update today or tomorrow, or probably even this year.
Second, you have an option for keeping things working the same as they are right now. If you install the “Classic Editor” plugin before upgrading to 5.0, you’ll notice essentially zero changes after you upgrade.
Finally, it might just be worth trying. We’ve been using Gutenberg on many of our sites for months, and it works very well. If you have a super complex setup, or use a visual page builder, you might want to wait for a little while. For most of us, though, moving up to version 5.0 should be a smooth transition and will give you a much nicer editor experience.
Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you have a good backup of your site first.
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