Wordpress 5.9 released

[universal4]

Late last night wordpress released the awaited update to 5.9.

Would love to have more feedback on whether anyone experiences any issues with this update.

And before anyone thinks they must rush out and perform the update, as far as I can tell this is not a security update in any way, and I have seen a few early reports it is breaking websites.

Oddly enough, I ran a number of site updates yesterday and glad I did as I got them all in under the wire before this update was released last night.

This site has a decent breakdown of the 3 basic forms of themes and might help you decide whether to do the update now or wait a little while.
https://www.pootlepress.com/2022/01/...-your-website/

Here are a few early reports of possible problems
https://wordpress.org/support/topic/...e-breaks-site/
https://wordpress.org/support/topic/...-lazy-loading/

So far I have only done one site to the new version, but it is a site that is currently being built by a client and not live yet.

So far any reports I have read have to do with disabling the gutenberg editor. One comment I found may somewhat point to why you might want to wait is

The new widget blocks functionality totally trashed my clients woocommerce store. Activating itself with the update. Lots of the legacy widgets throwing errors. None of them displaying. Fatal error on the front end.

Although some people do not agree with this method, I personally remove the needed permissions to the root folder that wordpress needs to update the core files. This insures that auto update will fail.

And yes, updates are available on the plugins and other folders by allowing such permission on the wp-content folder and down.

This method allows me to monitor the backlash of such updates that are pushed out, and whether site breakage is widespread or not.

Would like to hear thoughts from others about this recent update. My guess is this will not affect anyone vastly that uses the block editors, but might affect those with older themes.

Rick
Universal4

[Jacob-itai-s]

Wordpress 5.9 definitely brings great opportunities but at the same time it is also challenging as it creates other issues we need to fix that were cause because of it.

[Tommy_odds]

Well, I do not like the new Widgets "section"... In my opinion it was better as it was before...

[universal4]

I agree, the new widgets section was better before this release.

While we all obviously need to keep up with security releases etc, what wp is becoming is more of a do it this way or do it elsewhere, and this is coming about after many many millions are locked in.

I think the larger total and complete interface changes and trying to "force" the block editors and locking more functions into that kind of it should have easier ways to get around or to more or less turn off.

But I suspect there will be many more changes in the next year, that a lot of people will not like but are based on what a handful of developers will say "this will make it easier".

As for 5.9 itself, I have not seen too many issues that could not be overcome.

Rick
Universal4

[rmeeuwsen]

wp is becoming is more of a do it this way or do it elsewhere, and this is coming about after many many millions are locked in. I think the larger total and complete interface changes and trying to "force" the block editors and locking more functions into that kind of it should have easier ways to get around or to more or less turn off.

So who actually is "in charge" of word press? They are so prevalent, it's almost like being in charge of domain registrations.

I finally and reluctantly learned to do Gutenberg posts, then they changed the widget. At least for now I can switch back and forth.

[universal4]

I do not care for ANY of the block editors and always install the classic editor and classic widget plugin.

I usually stay away from themes that are built specifically around the block editors, but I question if future updates to the wp core will continue to make that more difficult or not.

As for ownership or the roots of WP, for deeper background see the wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress

Wordpress ownership or control is under the parent company of Automattic INC. After the huge amount of funding they got from salesforce, it became obvious who some of the engineers and team leaders were listening to.
https://www.axios.com/wordpresscom-o...d756db20a.html

Salesforce claims that dumped so much money into them because they were "all for the open web" but I wonder how much code base is shared in advance and how much input their developers had in some of the changes we have seen the last few years.

While I do agree that wp is a huge factor on helping millions of people build sites that otherwise may never have been able to, and it is a nice product, many of us who have been around the block a number of years have seen how sometimes once a company gains the kind of marketshare and funding that is at stake here, they will often make moves and decisions that protect their bottom line more then the original altruistic ideology that drove their early moves.

I hope I am incorrect, and future development will not drive changes that force users to follow a path that locks them in to certain plugins, or specifics that make it more difficult for outside vendors or developers that offer products that help wordpress users in achieving their goals with their sites.

By the way, Auotmattic also acquired tumblr in mid to late 2019.

Rick
Universal4

[DaftDog]

Classic Editor plugin life support extended by another year.

Last week, I reached out to several members of the core WordPress committers to see if we could get an official word on whether Classic Editor support would continue beyond the mere months it seemingly had left to live. I received a semi-official answer but was asked to hold off on publishing for a more detailed and nuanced response.
Earlier today, WordPress executive director Josepha Haden Chomposy announced the official decision. It was just as expected. The WordPress project would continue supporting the Classic Editor plugin for a while longer.
“At the time, we promised to support the plugin through 2021 and adjust if needed as the deadline got closer,” she wrote. “After discussing this with Matt [Mullenweg], it’s clear that continuing to support the plugin through 2022 is the right call for the project as well as the community.”
As of now, classic users have a one-year extension.

– WP Tavern

I use and love WP blocks, so the future demise of the Classic Editor plugin does not bother me.

[universal4]

Thanks dafdog, one interesting part of that discussion you linked took place in the comments and surrounded the use of custom post types. Although they specifically leaned heavily on how it affected woocommerce custom posts, it is a very large part of millions of sites even though that do not use woocommerce.

My hope is that wp dev's will take heed to comments such as

The best thing that WP can do is keep the two modes active and let users choose between “Gutenberg mode” and “Classic mode” (both for native post types and for custom post types).

Rick
Universal4

[Tommy_odds]

The fact they prolong support for Classic Editor means that the "user base" disagrees with the new implementation and there are too many complaints. At this point I do not understand why they do not just listen to customers and forget about new "features".... Or at least give the option to choose. It is quite a strange behavior...I do not understand why they push so hard in one direction only. I am not technical, but I understand markets: never go against your clients...

[Former Member 14]

I've updated to 5.9 and had no issues.

Though, each site only uses 5 plugins: 1x classic editor, 1x seo, 1x litespeed cache (VPS runs litespeed), 1x heartbeat, 1x GDPR. Any other functionality I need, which really isn't much, I'll hard code into either functions.php or in the head/footer and use a child-theme.

The more plugins one uses - the more headaches one gets.

[mincasi]

I've updated to 6.0 and had no issues.

[OnlineCasinoCrypto]

Some interesting points here. I am currently using this version. Can someone redirect me from where to get the previous User friendly interface?

[universal4]

If you need an older version of wordpress, they have the releases listed here
https://wordpress.org/download/releases/

I personally am not having a lot of issues with the new versions, although I did have some ancient themes that needed a bit of tweeking due to changes in php, as well as some core changes in wordpress. (this is normal over the course of time)

I prefer running the newest versions when possible, but am always a bit cautious when new versions come out and for that reason keep automatic core updates disabled. (auto update does not check to see if it will break something, it just updates whether it breaks something or not)

Rick
Universal4

Side note/ the releases is at 6.0.1 now.

[pokeraussie]

I prefer running the newest versions when possible, but am always a bit cautious when new versions come out and for that reason keep automatic core updates disabled. (auto update does not check to see if it will break something, it just updates whether it breaks something or not)

How does one go about disabling automatic updates?

[Vanderlindemedia]

How does one go about disabling automatic updates?

You actually can, it's quite simple. And if your server is equipped with for example Modsecurity / OWASP ruleset you can actually run extremely outdated wordpress versions while still being safe. Highly not recommended, but you can.

I hate the idea that Wordpress keeps pushing updates with functionality we're not looking for. Think of the mass pushing of "TwentySomething" themse that is just clogging up installations as they go on for years.

It is stupid to know you have to have a beefy server, with litespeed enterprise, and some serious CPU cores to get it running right.

[universal4]

There are a few ways to disable automatic updates.

I remove the rights at the folder level of the root folder, so that no matter what the update will not run. (not recommended for everyone) and using this method you should be sure to allow access to the wp-content folder) One of the first things wp update checks is that it has write permission to the root, and stops if it doesn't and just gives an update notice in the dashboard.

You can also a line to the wp.config file OR add filters to the functions file for wordpress itself or the plugins. Here is a simple way to do that.
https://wpengine.com/resources/disable-auto-update/

There are also plugins available, but why use yet another plugin?

Here is a quick breakdown if you want plugin updates only disabled.
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/h...-you-shouldnt/

(why you shouldn't?) To answer why one might want to? Easy, grab a quick database and or folder backup before the update. If you have auto backups, quick verification they ran the previous night.

Rick
Universal4