What’s New in WordPress 5.7? (Lazy Loading, HTTP to HTTPS, New Robots API)

Introducing WordPress 5.7 – “Esperanza”, the first major release of 2021. A little brief about the name – WordPress 5.7 named as “Esperanza” to honour Esperanza Spalding, a musician having an inspiring musical journey.

So, WordPress 5.7 was just released on 9th March 2021. You must be wondering what are the new improvements we are getting with this new version. Here we go…

What’s New in WordPress 5.7 – “Esperanza”

Let’s take a drive to the new features and improved layouts…

New Improvements in Editor

WordPress Editor is the place where all the website owners spend most of their time updating their website. And with each new WordPress release, we get the new improvements in the editor. Also this time WordPress 5.7 editor comes with considerably new features which will help us to get an improved editing experience.

Inserter Drag-and-Drop Blocks

WordPress 5.7 editor allows you to simply drag and drop a block of your choice from ‘add a new block’ inserter into the content area.

Full-Height Block

With WordPress 5.7 editor, you can make a block like a cover block that covers the full-screen. See how

Blocks Can have Their Own Description

Now, every block can have its own description. For example, social media icons block can be previewed with the block inspector.

Adjustable Font Size in Block

Now, it’s easy to resize and adjust the font size in a respective block on the same screen (no need to switch to a new pop-up or screen).

Social Icons Size

WordPress 5.7 allows you to adjust the size of Social Media Icons in the Social Icons block.

Button Block Improvements

Now with WordPress 5.7, you can choose the preferable layout (Horizontal or Vertical) of the Button. Also, users can set the Button width to a preset percentage.

Migrating HTTP to HTTPS is Easier Now!

In previous WordPress versions, if you move your site from HTTP to HTTPS then you need to update all the HTTP URLs to HTTPS within content manually. But with WordPress 5.7, it’s just a one-click action. WordPress 5.7 will automatically update all the URLs in the database when you want to make a switch from HTTP to HTTPS.

In the Site Health menu, you will be able to see it as a critical issue, if your site is not using HTTPS. See the below screen…

From here, the user will be able to make a quick move from HTTP to the HTTPS website.

New Robots API

WordPress 5.7 is introducing a new Robots API that will allow developers to control and update robots’ meta tags programmatically on the website. wp_robots is a new function introduced in WordPress 5.7 that will help developers to manage robots meta tags.

WordPress 5.7 has come up with a new default directive “max-image-preview: large” added in the robot’s meta tag. This helps search engines to use the large image preview in search results.

Lazy Loading iFrames

WordPress 5.7 will automatically add a lazy load in embedded iframes. Lazy loading is a technique used to improve website speed during page loading. Since WordPress 5.5 was released, it has already used lazy loading for images. And now with this release, the lazy loading will be applied to all the embeds like YouTube Videos, Maps, etc which are generally wrapped in iframes.

We hope this blog gives you a clear understanding of the new features introduced in WordPress 5.7. You can download WordPress 5.7 here. If you wish to upgrade your existing WordPress to WordPress 5.7, feel free to reach one of our WordPress Specialists. We would be more than happy to assist you with our hassle-free services.