WordPress 5.7 Beta 1 is now available for testing, released earlier this month. The final release is scheduled for March 9, 2021.

The software is in progress and therefore it is not recommended to be used at the production site. If you want to play with this beta version, try it on the test site.

How do I test WordPress 5.7 Beta 1?

  • You can install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (set to the Bleeding edge channel and the Beta/RC Only stream)
  • Or, download the beta version for WordPress 5.7 here.

What are the highlights of the 5.7 Beta 1 WordPress?

Lazy-load iframes

Now, by adding the loading=’lazy’ attribute to the iframe tags at the front end, you can enable lazy-loading of iframes.

Streamlined migrating from HTTP to HTTPS

It has proven to be a pain for all involved to switch a WordPress site from HTTP to HTTPS. While the Site Address and WordPress Address need to be updated on the surface, content with embedded HTTP URLs remains in the database unchanged.

Migrating a site to HTTPS with this release is now a one-click interaction. Database URLs are automatically replaced when both the site and the WordPress address use HTTPS. Site Health also now includes an HTTPS check for status.

Standardize the colours used for a single palette in WP-Admin CSS

This change falls into one of the available shades of blue, green, red, yellow, grey, black, and white, all the colours used in the CSS. The palette makes it easier than ever to build components that your users can read, because, according to current accessibility guidelines, half the range gives you great contrast with white type and half with black type.

Ongoing cleanup after jQuery 3.5.1 update

JQuery deprecations show up much less frequently in WordPress Core and bundled themes, and the notifications make more sense to the user.

New Robots API

The new Robots API enables the ‘robots’ meta tag to include the filter directives. The max-image-preview:large directive is now included by default in order to allow the display of large image previews in search engines (unless the blog is marked as not being public).

Moreover, there are many improvements and bug fixes done to the Gutenberg editor. And needs to be tested. Features such as inserter drag and drop, block variations, reusable blocks, buttons block and many more.

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