What Is New in WordPress 5.1
WordPress 5.1, "Betty," focuses on polishing the block editor and strengthening the site's overall health with key updates to the PHP upgrade checker and the new Site Health feature.
| Category | Key Changes |
|---|---|
| New Features | Site Health, PHP Upgrade Protection |
| Editor Improvements | Performance boosts, Inline Image Editing, New APIs |
| Developer Updates | New Cron API, Multisite Metadata, Database Character Set Upgrades |
How does WordPress 5.1 help with site maintenance?
The core of this release is the new Site Health feature. It provides administrators with two new screens: Site Health Status and Site Health Info, offering insights into your site's performance and security.
In practice, this gives you a clear, actionable list of recommended improvements. It checks for things like outdated PHP versions, which is crucial because running modern WordPress on an outdated PHP version is a common source of performance and security headaches.
What's new for the block editor in this version?
While not a massive overhaul, 5.1 brings significant performance and usability tweaks to the Gutenberg editor. The focus was on making it feel faster and more responsive during everyday use.
A handy new feature is the ability to edit images inline after they've been inserted into a block. You no longer have to leave the editor to make simple adjustments. Under the hood, new APIs like the Multi-Entity Saving API make it easier for developers to build complex interfaces.
Are there any important changes for developers?
Absolutely. The wp cron system gets a major upgrade with a new feature that can prevent simultaneous runs of the same task, reducing the chance of race conditions. This matters because it makes scheduled tasks more reliable, especially on high-traffic sites.
Other notable updates include the introduction of metadata for multisite networks, allowing developers to store information about the entire network, and a long-overdue upgrade to the database layer that changes table character sets from utf8 to utf8mb4 when possible for full Unicode support.
How does it handle outdated PHP versions?
This release actively protects users from running WordPress on end-of-life PHP versions. If a site is hosted on PHP 5.6 or 7.0, the dashboard will now display a persistent warning urging an upgrade.
More importantly, if you try to upgrade WordPress using an unsupported PHP version, the upgrader will now perform a pre-flight check. If it detects a version conflict, it will prevent the upgrade and warn you, potentially saving a site from being broken by an incompatible update.
FAQ
What exactly is checked by the new Site Health tool?
The tool runs a series of tests covering both performance and security. It checks your PHP and SQL server versions, the status of scheduled posts, and recommends enabling HTTPS if you have an SSL certificate installed. The results are split into critical issues and performance improvements.
Does the new Cron API replace the existing WP-Cron system?
No, it enhances it. The new wp_cron function adds a "process locking" mechanism. This prevents the same scheduled event from running multiple times simultaneously if a previous run is still executing, which was a potential issue on busy sites.
I manage a network of sites. What's new for me in 5.1?
The introduction of Multisite Metadata is a big deal. It allows you to store specific data related to the entire network using new functions like add_network_meta() and get_network_meta(), similar to how post meta works for single sites.
Why did WordPress change the database character set?
The old utf8 character set in MySQL doesn't support full Unicode, including 4-byte characters like some emojis. The change to utf8mb4 ensures full compatibility and is a necessary step for a global publishing platform.
Will my plugins break because of the database upgrade to utf8mb4?
For the vast majority, no. The upgrade is handled automatically if your database server supports it. The change is made to core tables, and plugin authors are encouraged to update their table definitions. It's a forward-looking change that improves compatibility rather than breaking it.