Changes Coming To WordPress In 2018
As the world’s leading content management system, WordPress is an ever-evolving platform. Some significant WordPress changes are scheduled for next year, and UK2 has investigated the main trends to watch out for…
WordPress 4.9
The latest version of WordPress has just been launched, heralding some fairly significant changes for site users. Many of its revisions fix flaws from June’s 4.8 release, making it easier to edit code thanks to syntax highlighting and auto-completion. It’s finally possible to save theme customisations as drafts, and previewing designs via a URL. Building on the media widgets launched in 4.8, a new gallery widget will start to compete with third-party plugins.
Drag-and-drop functionality
One of the major WordPress changes this year was the increasing adoption of drag-and-drop themes, and that trend will continue in 2018. Appealing to people with no prior coding knowledge, drag-and-drop dovetails perfectly with the draft customisation facility outlined above. It will also permit short-term experiments, such as determining whether adding a video clip or changing a blog layout improves user engagement.
Greater focus on ecommerce
The global ecommerce market is expected to be worth $2.8 trillion in 2018, as consumers become more confident ordering online. Biometric security on smartphones and more streamlined payment portals will drive ecommerce companies towards more dependable and sophisticated infrastructure. New ecommerce themes like Handmade and Uncode are proving hugely popular, from the former’s demo importer to the latter’s pricing plans.
360-degree tours
Already familiar from estate agency and hotel websites, 360° tours are expected to underpin many WordPress changes as ecommerce companies try to capitalise on this fast-growing market. Plugins like WP-VR View and MomentoPress already support wraparound photos and videos, and their use is expected to increase next year as companies strive to provide consumers with more information about online products.