Few web management tools and systems have made a dent in the digital world quite like WordPress has. Since it launched just over 20 years ago, it’s become the go-to tool for people looking to set up organic web-based ideas, blogs, websites, mailing lists, and media galleries. WordPress usually implements a bi-annual update, which helps to iron out bugs and increase the quality of the user experience. They have also opted for three yearly updates on rare occasions over the last 21 years.
Although they were among the first to make waves in this area, they paved the way for DIY, organic businesses. Startup founders soon flocked to WordPress to set up their digital content and appeal directly to a broader digital audience. Within the scope of their enormously successful system, businesses can register for different types of packages and tools, such as managed hosting.
With a reliable WordPress managed hosting, you’ll be provided with an optimised environment. Although you can host WordPress on almost any server setup, managed hosting ultimately means quicker loading times, which can be the main factor in Search Engine Optimization and overall user experience.
Deconstructing 2024 changes to WordPress
Each WordPress update is named, usually after a musician or a notable figure in the art world. Josephine, Arturo, and Misha were the three updates from 2022; the three from last year were Dolphy, Lionel, and Shirley. The most recent update in July 2024 was the Dorsey update, but many of the changes we will touch on were first rolled out in the Regina update in April 2024.
Interactive API
This update provides developers with a better way to create more engaging interactions. Interactivity ranges from basics, such as selecting a topic page, drilling right into clickable images within the site, or implementing videos and detailed animations.
Mega menus
The recent 6.6 update provided a few tweaks to the Regina update. However, the mega menus upgrade added another level of convenience and usability—you can now add any block within the navigation block, which helps to give your site a slicker and more professional look.
Block pattern overrides
Block pattern overrides are among the most evident changes in the Regina update, with the 6.6 update ironing out small bugs. They combine central control of your designs with the ability to update them locally.
Block pattern overrides allow changes to filter down rather than apply broadly to several pages. Previously, you could use the same design on one page and spread it across the entire WordPress site or domain.
However, block pattern overrides allow you to make changes on the central page or design and have the design filter into other pages while maintaining the same structure and text. This helps you maintain site integrity while saving you time.
Data liberation
It sounds like a grand term, doesn’t it? Data liberation is a term for simplifying the input, extraction, and publishing of data and content on WordPress. It is part of the Regina update on which Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder and CEO of WordPress, has worked so closely.
Matt’s vision is something he consistently pushes into unchartered territory, his Forbes interview from 2014 highlighted some of the key changes he has since ushered into the company, and gives an insight into the sort of criteria that continues to inspire him.
Data liberation is an open-source directory that provides a two-way import of this data. Although there are many different page builders besides Gutenberg on WordPress, Matt aims to use this data liberation update to ensure better clarity and traffic for website data. This should theoretically allow a much easier migration format for startups looking to move plugins and files.
If you have first-hand experience, you don’t need us to remind you that it was pretty clunky and cumbersome. This update addresses this directly, and Matt hopes that by radically lowering the friction, he can force this update into the broader culture of sites that interact with WordPress and those startups that use it directly. It is one of the most ambitious ideas integrated within their 2024 updates.
Other notable changes to weigh up
Although we’ve delved into a fair bit of detail about data liberation and other updates, such as interactive API, some of the other notable changes as part of the WordPress 2024 update include the following:
Font manager is available in the style settings of the site editor screen, which brings an entirely new interface to access your fonts (or Google fonts). Although this is mainly for block-based themes, that’s not to say that other themes or page builders won’t support this in the future. If you’ve been using the default theme, you’ll have access to Google fonts as part of this update. The site icon has been moved to the general settings. The site editor revision system allows you to track the timeline of changes that you or other site editors have been able to keep track of previous amendments to the site.
Final thoughts
While there might seem to be a lot of changes as part of the 2024 update, there’s been a noticeable increase in the number of AI plugins you can use with WordPress.
With some of the world’s most prominent companies like Microsoft and Blackrock launching huge data center ideas, AI is set to become such a prominent talking point in website design, coding, and content creation.
With Google upping their involvement in AI and integrating its Gemini AI models, it feels as though the companies who are slow to jump on the AI express will be left behind. Therefore, we expect to see many AI-driven updates with WordPress in years to come, especially with how prophetic the company has been with their updates over the last decade.
Despite the number of changes we’ve touched on today, these are all mainly maintenance changes. Nothing too significant has changed; it’s nothing like the size of the changes we saw in 2018 with the Gutenberg editor. However, the Regina and Dorsey updates have made the whole UX smoother – and it’ll be intriguing to see how they build on some of these changes moving forward.
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