WordPress 5.0 came out on December 6th and at the time of this writing this WordPress 5.02 is already out. 

Given there isn’t much information about upgrading to WordPress 5 we thought it would be wise to give you advice on what you should do. 

What you should take into consideration before upgrading to WordPress 5.02

• Do you really need it ?

• Is WordPress 5.02 stable enough ?

• Is your site Gutenberg compatible ?

Do you really need to upgrade to WordPress 5.02?

If there is no major reason for you to update right now from a previous version, our advice is as follows:

• If you haven’t upgraded to WordPress 5+ already then you should wait.

• If you already took the leap of faith and did upgrade to version 5.0 or 5.01 then you should upgrade to version 5.02.

  • Version 5.01 fixed some security issues, version 5.02 promised 73 bugs fixes and major performance improvement for the block editor.
    
    

Based on advice from WordPress “you can achieve a performance gain of 330% when using the block editor for a 200 blocks post”.

We do agree that the original block editor in version 5.0 was kind of slow and clunky and it felt like a rushed release with a lot of room for improvement.

The WordPress 5.02 changes brought a bit of smile to our face, albeit not a huge smile.

So our advice is that if you can wait a few more weeks to a month then wait. “If it isn’t broke, don't fix it”

Is WordPress 5.02 stable enough?

Overall WordPress 5.02 is a breath of fresh air, when we ran our suite of tests it proved to be stable enough.

We only started to encounter issues when we tested WordPress 5.02 with some plugins and custom themes.

Not all plugins or themes out there been fully updated to handle the structural changes that WordPress 5+ brought to the table.

Please do check if the plugins you currently use are ready before you hit update and make sure you have a full backup of your site and site database as well. 

Or even better use a staging site, if you don’t have one you better get one it will save you a lot of time and stress. If you are a GridGhost customer you don’t need to stress enabling a staging site is just one click away.

So, essentially WordPress 5.02 is very stable, the only issues are with plugins and themes that have not been updated to be compatible with the new system.

Is your site Gutenberg compatible?

WordPress 5.0 came with Gutenberg as the default editor.

When comparing Gutenberg to the previous classic WordPress editor we noticed that some things became more complicated and some simpler.

But as Gutenberg is here to stay and is essentially a step forward in the right direction, it is best to start getting your feet wet so you don’t get left behind. 

With the release of WordPress 5.02 Gutenberg got some major improvements, the speed was greatly increased and you can now write much larger posts a touch faster.

If you have plugins that integrate with the classic WordPress editor, please make sure you check if they are ready and compatible with WordPress Gutenberg editor. 

If your current plugins are not yet compatible with WordPress Gutenberg and you already upgraded to WordPress 5 then you should install and activate the WordPress classic editor.

This way you can still use your current plugins with WordPress 5.

If you are a GridGhost customer then you can setup a staging site and try Gutenberg right now without messing up your live site.

Conclusion

Do you really need WordPress 5.02 ?

At the moment we think it isn’t really worth the risk of having compatibility issues with plugins and themes. So our advice is to give it a few more weeks or months to mature a bit.

Is WordPress 5.02 stable enough ?

Yes, WordPress 5.02 bring a lot of changes that modernize the editor. But, not all plugins or themes been fully upgraded to work with the Gutenberg editor. So, whilst the platform itself is stable it’s compatibility still is a bit shaky.

Is your site Gutenberg compatible ?

It is hard to say, but if you are a GridGhost customer the easiest way to find out is to create a staging site, upgrade to WordPress 5.0 and test for issues. If your staging site works fine then you can always push the changes to the live site and you’re done. Remember to always backup your site before making any major changes though.