A Little Better Every Day
Version 5.1 of WordPress, named “Betty” in honour of acclaimed jazz vocalist Betty Carter, is available for download or update in your WordPress dashboard.
Following WordPress 5.0โโโa major release which introduced the new block editorโโโ5.1 focuses on polish, in particular by improving the overall performance of the editor. In addition, this release paves the way for a better, faster, and more secure WordPress with some essential tools for site administrators and developers.
Site Health
With security and speed in mind, this release introduces WordPressโs first Site Health features. WordPress will start showing notices to administrators of sites that run long-outdated versions of PHP, which is the programming language that powers WordPress.
When you install new plugins, WordPress’s Site Health features will check them against the version of PHP you’re running. If the plugin requires a version that wonโt work with your site, WordPress will keep you from installing that plugin.
Editor Performance
Introduced in WordPress 5.0, the new block editor continues to improve. Most significantly, WordPress 5.1 includes solid performance improvements within the editor. The editor should feel a little quicker to start, and typing should feel smoother.
Expect more performance improvements in the next couple of releases.
Developer Happiness
Multisite Metadata
5.1 introduces a new database table to store metadata associated with sites and allows for the storage of arbitrary site data relevant in a multisite / network context.
Cron API
The Cron API has been updated with new functions to assist with returning data and includes new filters for modifying cron storage. Other changes in behavior affect cron spawning on servers running FastCGI and PHP-FPM versions 7.0.16 and above.
New JS Build Processes
WordPress 5.1 features a new JavaScript build option, following the large reorganisation of code that started in the 5.0 release.
Other Developer Goodness
Miscellaneous improvements include:
- Updates to values for the
WP_DEBUG_LOGconstant - New test config file constant in the test suite, new plugin action hooks
- Short-circuit filters for
wp_unique_post_slug(),WP_User_Query, andcount_users() - A new
human_readable_durationfunction - Improved taxonomy metabox sanitization
- Limited
LIKEsupport for meta keys when usingWP_Meta_Query - A new โdoing it wrongโ notice when registering REST API endpoints
…and more!
The Squad
This release was led by Matt Mullenweg, along with Gary Pendergast as Senior Code Reshuffler and Poet. They received wonderful assistance from the following 561 contributors for this release, 231 of whom were making their first ever contribution! Pull up some Betty Carter on your music service of choice, and check out some of their profiles:
0x6f0 ยท 1265578519 ยท 1naveengiri ยท aardrian ยท Aaron Jorbin ยท Abdullah Ramzan ยท Abhay Vishwakarma ยท Abhijit Rakas ยท Achal Jain ยท achbed ยท Adam Silverstein ยท Ajit Bohra ยท Alain Schlesser ยท Alda Vigdís ยท alejandroxlopez ยท Alex Concha ยท Alex Stine ยท Alexander Botteram ยท Alexandru Vornicescu ยท alexgso ยท allancole ยท Allen Snook ยท Alvaro Gois dos Santos ยท Ana Cirujano ยท Anantajit JG ยท Andrea Fercia ยท Andrea Gandino ยท Andrea Middleton ยท andrei0x309 ยท andreiglingeanu ยท Andrew Duthie ยท Andrew Lima ยท Andrew Nacin ยท Andrew Nevins ยท Andrew Ozz ยท Andrey Savchenko ยท Andrรฉs Maneiro ยท Andy Fragen ยท Andy Meerwaldt ยท Angelika Reisiger ยท Antal Tettinger ยท Antipole ยท Anton Timmermans ยท Anton Vanyukov ยท Antonio Villegas ยท antonioeatgoat ยท Anwer AR ยท Arun ยท Ashar Irfan ยท ashokrd2013 ยท Ayesh Karunaratne ยท Ayub Adiputra ยท B. ยท Barry Ceelen ยท Behzod Saidov ยท Ben Byrne ยท benhuberman ยท Benoit Chantre ยท benvaassen ยท Bhargav Mehta ยท bikecrazyy ยท Birgir Erlendsson ยท BjornW ยท Blair jersyer ยท Blobfolio ยท Bob Linthorst ยท bobbingwide ยท Boone Gorges ยท Boro Sitnikovski ยท Brad Parbs ยท Bradley Taylor ยท bramheijmink ยท Brandon Kraft ยท Brandon Payton ยท Brent Swisher ยท Brian Richards ยท Bridget Willard ยท Bruce (a11n) ยท Burhan Nasir ยท Bytes.co ยท Caleb Burks ยท Calin Don ยท campusboy ยท Carolina Nymark ยท carolinegeven ยท ccismaru ยท chasewg ยท Chetan Prajapati ยท Chouby ยท ChriCo ยท chriscct7 ยท Christopher Spires ยท claudiu ยท Clifford Paulick ยท codegrau ยท coleh ยท conner_bw ยท Corey McKrill ยท croce ยท Csaba (LittleBigThings) ยท Cyrus Collier ยท Daniel Bachhuber ยท Daniel Gregory ยท Daniel Koskinen ยท Daniel Richards ยท Daniele Scasciafratte ยท danieltj ยท danimalbrown ยท Danny de Haan ยท DannyCooper ยท Darko A7 ยท Darren Ethier ยท Dave Pullig ยท David A. Kennedy ยท David Anderson ยท David Biลovec ยท David Cramer ยท David Herrera ยท David Lingren ยท David Shanske ยท David Stone ยท dekervit ยท Denis Yanchevskiy ยท Denis ลฝoljom ยท Dennis Snell ยท designsimply ยท dfangstrom ยท Dhanendran ยท Dharmesh Patel ยท Dhaval Kasavala ยท Dhruvin ยท DiedeExterkate ยท Dieter ยท Dilip Bheda ยท Dion Hulse ยท Dipesh Kakadiya ยท Dominik Schilling ยท Donncha O Caoimh (a11n) ยท dontstealmyfish ยท Drew Jaynes ยท Drivingralle ยท dsifford ยท eamax ยท Ebonie Butler ยท edo888 ยท ElectricFeet ยท Ella Van Durpe ยท Emil Dotsev ยท Eric Andrew Lewis ยท Eric Daams ยท Erich Munz ยท Erick Hitter ยท ericmeyer ยท etoledom ยท Evan Solomon ยท Evangelos Athanasiadis ยท Faisal Alvi ยท Felipe Elia ยท Felix Arntz ยท Fernando Claussen ยท flipkeijzer ยท Florian TIAR ยท FPCSJames ยท fperdaan ยท Frank Klein ยท fuchsws ยท fullyint ยท Gabriel Maldonado ยท Gareth ยท Garrett Hyder ยท Gary Jones ยท Gennady Kovshenin ยท Gerhard Potgieter ยท Girish Panchal ยท GM_Alex ยท gnif ยท graymouser ยท greg ยท Grzegorz Ziรณลkowski ยท Guido ยท GutenDev | โ โใ ยท Hafiz Rahman ยท Hai Zhengโก ยท Hans-Christiaan Braun ยท Hardeep Asrani ยท Hardik Amipara ยท Harsh Patel ยท haruharuharuby ยท Heather Burns ยท hedgefield ยท Helen Hou-Sandi ยท Henry Wright ยท Herre Groen ยท Hitendra Chopda ยท Ian Belanger ยท Ian Dunn ยท Iban Vaquero ยท Iceable ยท Ignacio Cruz Moreno ยท Igor ยท Igor Benic ยท Ion Vrinceanu ยท Irene Strikkers ยท isabel104 ยท ishitaka ยท Ivan Mudrik ยท J.D. Grimes ยท Jack Reichert ยท Jacob Peattie ยท Jake Spurlock ยท James Nylen ยท Jan Thiel ยท janak Kaneriya ยท janalwin ยท Janki Moradiya ยท Jason Caldwell ยท javorszky ยท Jaydeep Rami ยท Jayman Pandya ยท Jb Audras ยท Jeff Farthing ยท Jeffrey de Wit ยท Jeffrey Paul ยท Jennifer M. Dodd ยท Jenny Wong ยท Jeremey ยท Jeremy Felt ยท Jeremy Herve ยท Jeremy Pry ยท Jeremy Scott ยท Jesper V Nielsen ยท Jesse Friedman ยท Jimmy Comack ยท Jip Moors ยท Jiri Hon ยท joanrho ยท Job a11n ยท Joe Bailey-Roberts ยท Joe Dolson ยท Joe Hoyle ยท Joe McGill ยท Joel James ยท Joen A. ยท Johan Falk ยท John Blackbourn ยท John Godley ยท John James Jacoby ยท John P. Green ยท johnalarcon ยท johnschulz ยท Jonathan Champ ยท Jonathan Desrosiers ยท joneiseman ยท Jonny Harris ยท Joost de Valk ยท Jorge Costa ยท Joseph Scott ยท Joshua Wold ยท Joy ยท jpurdy647 ยท jrdelarosa ยท jryancard ยท Juhi Patel ยท Julia Amosova ยท Julie Moynat ยท Juliette Reinders Folmer ยท Junaid Ahmed ยท Justin Sainton ยท Justin Sternberg ยท Justin Tadlock ยท justinmaurerdotdev ยท K.Adam White ยท kapteinbluf ยท Kazuto Takeshita ยท keesiemeijer ยท Kelly Dwan ยท kelvink ยท khaihong ยท Kira Schroder ยท Kiran Potphode ยท Kite ยท Kjell Reigstad ยท kkarpieszuk ยท kmeze ยท Knut Sparhell ยท konainm ยท Konstantin Obenland ยท Konstantinos Xenos ยท kristastevens ยท krutidugade ยท laghee ยท Laken Hafner ยท Lance Willett ยท laurelfulford ยท lbenicio ยท Leander Iversen ยท leemon ยท Lena Stergatou ยท Lisanne Kluitmans ยท lizkarkoski ยท Luca Grandicelli ยท LucasRolff ยท luciano-croce ยท Luke Carbis ยท Luminus Alabi a11n ยท Mário Valney ยท maartenleenders ยท macbookandrew ยท Maciek Palmowski ยท Maja Benke ยท Mako ยท mallorydxw-old ยท Manuel Augustin ยท manuel_84 ยท Marc Nilius ยท marcelo2605 ยท Marco Martins ยท marco.marsala ยท Marcus Kazmierczak ยท marcwieland95 ยท Marius L. J. ยท mariusvw ยท Mariyan Belchev ยท Mark Jaquith ยท Mathieu Viet ยท mathieuhays ยท Matt Cromwell ยท Matt Gibbs ยท Matt Martz ยท Matthew Boynes ยท Matthew Riley MacPherson ยท mattyrob ยท mcmwebsol ยท Mel Choyce ยท mensmaximus ยท mermel ยท Micah Wood ยท Michael Nelson ยท Michiel Heijmans ยท Migrated to @sebastienserre ยท Miguel Fonseca ยท Miguel Torres ยท mihaiiceyro ยท mihdan ยท Mike Gillihan ยท Mike Jolley (a11n) ยท Milan Diniฤ ยท Milan Ivanovic ยท Milana Cap ยท Milind More ยท mirkoschubert ยท Mohammad Taqui Sayed ยท Monika Rao ยท Monique Dubbelman ยท Muhammad Kashif ยท Mukesh Panchal ยท multiformeingegno ยท Muntasir M. Aumio ยท munyagu ยท MyThemeShop ยท mzorz ยท Nadim ยท nandorsky ยท Naoki Ohashi ยท Naoko Takano ยท nataliashitova ยท Nate Allen ยท Nathan Johnson ยท ndavison ยท Ned Zimmerman ยท Nextendweb ยท Nick Diego ยท Nick Halsey ยท Nick Momrik ยท Nick the Geek ยท Nicolas Figueira ยท Nicolle Helgers ยท Nidhi Jain ยท Niels Lange ยท Nikhil Chavan ยท Nilambar Sharma ยท Noam Eppel ยท notnownikki ยท odyssey ยท Oliver Sadler ยท Omar Reiss ยท Omkar Bhagat ยท OthelloBloke ยท Ov3rfly ยท Paal Joachim Romdahl ยท panchen ยท parbaugh ยท Parham Ghaffarian ยท Pascal Birchler ยท Pascal Casier ยท Paul ยท Paul Bearne ยท Paul Biron ยท Paul Paradise ยท Paul Schreiber ยท pepe ยท Peter Wilson ยท Petter Walbø Johnsgård ยท Phill Healey ยท Pierre Saïkali ยท Pierre Sylvestre ยท Pieter ยท Piyush Patel ยท Pramod Jodhani ยท Prashant Baldha ยท Pratik Kumar ยท Pratik Kumar ยท precies ยท presscustomizr ยท Presskopp ยท Presslabs ยท PressTigers ยท programmin ยท Punit Patel ยท Purnendu Dash ยท Qucheng ยท Rachel Baker ยท Rachel Cherry ยท Rachel Peter ยท Rafsun Chowdhury ยท Rahul Prajapati ยท Raja Mohammed ยท Ramanan ยท Rami Yushuvaev ยท Ramiz Manked ยท ramonopoly ยท redcastor ยท remyvv ยท rensw90 ยท rhetorical ยท Riad Benguella ยท Rian Rietveld ยท Rich Tape ยท Ricky Lee Whittemore ยท Rinku Y ยท Rishi Shah ยท Robbie ยท robdxw ยท Robert Anderson ยท Robin Cornett ยท Robin van der Vliet ยท Rolf Allard van Hagen ยท Ryan McCue ยท Ryan Welcher ยท ryotsun ยท Sébastien SERRE ยท Saša ยท Sagar Nasit ยท Sami Ahmed Siddiqui ยท Sami Keijonen ยท Samuel Wood (Otto) ยท sarah semark ยท Scott Lee ยท Scott Reilly ยท Sean Hayes ยท Sebastian Kurzynoswki ยท Sebastian Pisula ยท Sergey Biryukov ยท Shamim Hasan ยท Shane Eckert ยท Sharaz Shahid ยท Shashwat Mittal ยท Shawn Hooper ยท sherwood ยท Shital Marakana ยท Shiva Poudel ยท Simon Prosser ยท sjardo ยท skoldin ยท slilley ยท slushman ยท Sonja Leix ยท sonjanyc ยท Soren Wrede ยท spartank ยท spyderbytes ยท Stanimir Stoyanov ยท Stanko Metodiev ยท stazdotio ยท Stephen Edgar ยท Stephen Harris ยท Steven Lin ยท Storm Rockwell ยท Stoyan Kostadinov ยท Subrata Sarkar ยท Sultan Nasir Uddin ยท swift ยท Takahashi Fumiki ยท Takayuki Miyauchi ยท Tammie Lister ยท Taylor Lovett ยท Ted ยท Tellyworth ยท Terri Ann ยท terwdan ยท tharsheblows ยท ThemeZee ยท Thomas Patrick Levy ยท Thomas Vitale ยท thomaswm ยท Thorsten Frommen ยท Thrijith Thankachan ยท Tiago Hillebrandt ยท tigertech ยท Tim Havinga ยท Timmy Crawford ยท Timothy Jacobs ยท titodevera ยท Tkama ยท Tobias Zimpel ยท tobifjellner (Tor-Bjorn Fjellner) ยท Tom J Nowell ยท TomHarrigan ยท Tommy Ferry ยท tonybogdanov ยท TorontoDigits ยท Toshihiro Kanai ยท Towhidul I Chowdhury ยท transl8or ยท Ulrich ยท upadalavipul ยท Usman Khalid ยท Utsav tilava ยท uttam007 ยท Vaishali Panchal ยท Valérie Galassi ยท valchovski ยท vishaldodiya ยท vnsavage ยท voneff ยท vortfu ยท warmlaundry ยท wbrubaker.a11n ยท Weston Ruter ยท Will Kwon ยท William Earnhardt ยท williampatton ยท wpzinc ยท xhezairi ยท Yahil Madakiya ยท Yoav Farhi ยท Yui ยท YuriV ยท Zane Matthew ยท Zebulan Stanphill
Finally, thanks to all the community translators who worked on WordPress 5.1. Their efforts bring WordPress 5.1 fully translated to 34 languages at release time, with more on the way.
If you want to follow along or help out, check out Make WordPress and our core development blog.
Thanks for choosing WordPress!