WordPress 5.4 came out in March of 2020 with most of the upgrades dedicated to the content creator. Blocks were improved and created. Full screen (distraction-free) writing is introduced in 5.4 and more. Click through and get familiar with the new blocks and settings.

1. WordPress 5.4 What’s New
Oklahoma City WordPress Meetup
April 28, 2020
Lynn Dye

2. This presentation made from the WPBeginner
Blog article from April 1, 2020
https://www.wpbeginner.com/news/whats-new-
in-wordpress-5-4-features-and-screenshots/

3. Welcome &
What’s New After
Upgrading
• With 5.4, when you add a new
page or post, it goes full-
screen and you’ll see the
welcome.
• There is a detailed guide that’s
available – click and it takes
you to a WP site.
• This guide is always available
by clicking the ellipsis at top
right and selecting welcome
guide

4. Block Editor Improvements
This is a major
release, so your site
may NOT have
updated itself.
It’s a good idea to
take a complete
backup before you
update

5. ◦ If you’re upgrading from WP5.3 using the same
browser and device you usually do, then your
editor will open in the last mode you had
enabled.
◦ To exit full-screen mode, click on Editor
settings and uncheck the fullscreen mode
option.
◦ If you want to permanently disable the full
screen mode, then see our tutorial on how
to disable full screen editor in WordPress.

6. Lots of Real Estate
• Distraction free writing is on
by default.
• To turn it off, click the gear
and this drop-down will show
up and you can unclick the
fullscreen mode
• There’s also a top toolbar that
is unchecked and you can
check it to reveal the toolbar.

7. ◦ Social Icons are NEW in WP5.4
◦ These are social icons that take people to
YOUR social network. It’s not a follow-type
icon.
◦ You can add as many icons as you wish and
rearrange them.
◦ 39 icons are included and you can click the
+tool to add new icons.

8. Buttons Block-
replaces Button
block!
• This allows you to add
multiple buttons side by side
• Option to style each button
differently with color,
background, image, gradient

9. Block Tool
Changes
• Add block tool is now on the right
for all blocks.
• You won’t see recently used blocks
anymore, instead, start typing the
name of the block you want.
• A new feature of this version is
ability to select text from within a
block and apply a color to just a
few words.
• You can also choose text and
background colors with gradients
for the cover block as well as any
block now

10. Column Block
• Now you can use colors for
separating columns from
regular paragraphs
• You can also choose text and
background colors with
gradients for cover block, and
you can even choose
background and text colors
for all the blocks inside a
group block.

11. New Block
Breadcrumb Bar
• Now when you’re in a block,
look to the lower left to see
the block hierarchy.
• Click on the one you want to
go to.

12. New Select Tool
• This new tool allows you to
select a group of blocks to
edit
• This highlights the selected
block in a solid border with
the block type listed above it

13. Featured Images
• Here’s a nice improvement –
now you can drag and drop
your featured image right on
the editing page – no more
going into the media library to
select your image.

14. Gallery Block
Settings
• Now you can select images
size in the gallery block
settings instead of inside the
block.

15. Block for Latest
Posts Improvement
• The block will now include
your featured image for each
block

16. Site Health
Notification
• There’ll be a new dashboard
notification showing site
health and to let you know if
there are
security/performance related
issues.
• Here’s what showed up on a
new site just installed.

17. Coming in WP 5.5
• Automatic Theme & plugin
updating
• Full-site editing
• Global styles
• Expected to ship 9-11-2020