7 Best Free Ecommerce Platforms for 2020 (Compared)

Are you looking for the best free eCommerce platform to build your eCommerce website?

In the early days, eCommerce platforms used to cost thousands which kept many small businesses from creating an online store. Luckily now there are several popular eCommerce platforms that offer free or low cost options.

In this article, we will compare the best and most popular free eCommerce platforms that you can use to start an online store. We have a detailed pros and cons analysis for each, so you can choose the best eCommerce website builder for your needs.

How to Choose the Best Free eCommerce Platform

Let’s be honest, there is no such thing as a 100% free eCommerce platform.

Even when the eCommerce platform itself is free, you will have to pay for domain, web hosting, payment processing fees, and other extension costs.

We have a detailed guide on the real cost of building eCommerce websites.

With that said, your goal should be to find an eCommerce platform that helps you get started at the lowest to no cost, without putting severe limitations on how you run or grow your business.

You would also want the platform to be easy to use, full-featured, with the ability to accept payments using your preferred payment methods.

Keeping these things in mind, let’s take a look at the best free eCommerce platforms that you can use to make money online and grow your business.

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the world’s most popular eCommerce platform. It’s a completely free software that you can download and run on any web hosting provider.

Since WooCommerce doesn’t provide hosting for you, you’ll need to buy web hosting and a domain name to make sure your website can be accessed by users worldwide.

We recommend using either Bluehost or SiteGround. They are both among the largest hosting companies in the world and are officially recommended by WooCommerce.

Bluehost is even offering WPBeginner users a free domain name + SSL certificate, and a generous 60% discount on hosting. Basically, you can get started for $2.75 per month.

→ Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Deal ←

Pros

• It’s easy to get started with WooCommerce. You can create an online store quickly even if you’re a total beginner.
• You’ll be hosting your website yourself, which gives you full control. Although you’ll need to pay for WooCommerce hosting, but this doesn’t have to cost a lot.
• There are loads of WooCommerce themes (designs), giving you the opportunity to create a store that truly reflects your brand.
• There are thousands of WooCommerce plugins that you can use to add new features and grow your business.
• You can sell anything with WooCommerce whether its physical products, digital downloads, membership plans, dropshipping store, or affiliate products.
• WooCommerce doesn’t charge you any transaction fees at all. You’ll only have to pay your payment service provider like PayPal or Stripe, or your bank.

Cons

• If you’re a total beginner, WooCommerce is a bit trickier to get started with than some other options. You’ll need to buy hosting and a domain name, for instance.
• You’ll be responsible for maintaining your online store as it grows. This might mean upgrading your hosting plan or paying for a security plugin for WordPress.

To help beginners get started, we have the most detailed WooCommerce tutorial on the web that helps you build an eCommerce website with WooCommerce.

2. Constant Contact’s Website Builder

Constant Contact’s website builder has a free plan that allows you to create an online store without spending anything at all. Constant Contact will host the store and even provide you with a free subdomain.

You’ll only be able to have up to 3 products in your store, but if you’re just starting out, this might be enough. If you want to add more products, you can upgrade to a paid plan.

It’s worth noting that Constant Contact does charge a 3% transaction fee if you’re on the Free or the Starter plans.

Pros

• You can build an online store for free with Constant Contact’s website builder. You can get a free branded domain name too, in the format storename.constantcontactsites.com.
• You can sell both physical and digital products through your store. You can use Constant Contact to track your inventory.
• There’s 24/7 email and live chat support available, even with the free plan.
• You can add a blog to your store’s website for free, though the blogging software is very basic and doesn’t offer the same features as a blogging platform like WordPress.

Cons

• You can’t use your own domain name with the free plan. Instead, you’ll need to use the Constant Contact branded domain name.
• Constant Contact will display their ads on your site if you’re using the free plan.

You can use Constant Contact online store along with your WordPress website and easily link to the store from the menu. This is a good option for small businesses who want to sell few products without the overhead of managing a self-hosted eCommerce platform like WooCommerce.

3. BuyNow Plus

BuyNow Plus is not a full eCommerce platform. Instead, it lets you create “buy now” buttons that you can put on any website.

You’ll need to create a free Stripe account in order to use BuyNow Plus.

Pros

• The transaction fee is pretty low at just 2% per transaction. Keep in mind that Stripe charges its own transaction fees on top of this, though.
• You can use BuyNow Plus to handle recurring payments on credit cards without your customers needing to set up an account. If you’re selling recurring memberships for offline items, then this is a really handy feature.
• You can put the button links on social media as well as on your website, or you can even use them in emails.
• There’s no limit to how many different products you can sell using BuyNow Plus.

Cons

• BuyNow Plus doesn’t offer anything extra, like inventory tracking or website creation.
• You could do something similar by using Stripe directly on your website. That way, you wouldn’t need to pay BuyNow Plus’s transaction fee. You’d need your own SSL certificate, but it’s possible to get an SSL certificate for free.

4. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a fully hosted (or all-in-one) eCommerce platform that you can use to create your eCommerce store. There’s also a WordPress plugin available, if you have an existing site that you want to use with BigCommerce.

While they don’t have a free plan available, there is a free trial which lets you set up your shop and get started without paying anything.

Pros

• You don’t have to enter any credit card details to take the free trial.
• BigCommerce is really easy to get started with. You can just sign up, enter details about your store, and start adding products.
• You can get a free domain like mystore.mybigcommerce.com if you don’t want to pay for a custom domain name.
• BigCommerce gives you plenty of different ways to take payments. It has built-in integration with lots of payment platforms, including PayPal powered by Braintree, Stripe, Authorize.net and more.
• There are lots of third-party apps that you can add to your BigCommerce store to extend its functionality.

Cons

• The free trial only lasts for 15 days, which doesn’t give you long to start making money from your store. After that, you’ll need to pay $29.95/month or more to keep your store going.
• BigCommerce is an all-in-one platform, which means you’re limited to using their addons and themes. You won’t have the range of choice that you’d have with some other eCommerce options.

Related: See our comparison of WooCommerce vs BigCommerce for more details.

5. Shopify

Shopify is another fully hosted eCommerce platform. Shopify also offers a 14 day free trial and, like BigCommerce’s free trial, this doesn’t require a credit card.

Pros

• It’s really easy to get started with Shopify. Their website builder has a drag and drop interface that means even total beginners can create a great looking online store.
• If you want to add extra features to your store, there’s an app marketplace with lots of add-ons that you can buy.
• There’s 24/7 support available, through live chat, phone, email, and Twitter.
• Shopify Payments (Shopify’s built-in payment gateway) charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. Since this is a built-in feature which has the same price as Stripe or other gateways, this makes it easier for users to get started.

Cons

• If you use other payment gateways, like PayPal or Stripe, Shopify charges a 2% transaction fee. This is on top of the fee charged by the third-party payment gateway.
• The free trial only lasts 14 days. After that, you’ll need to move onto a paid plan. The cheapest is $29/month.

Related: For more details see our comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce.

6. Weebly

Weebly isn’t quite so well known as some other eCommerce platforms, like Shopify and WooCommerce, but they offer a free trial where you can test out the platform.

Pros

• You can add any kind of physical or digital products to your store
• The drag and drop interface is easy to use to build your site and manage items in your store.
• There are around 100 different themes (designs) you can choose from, so you should be able to find something that’s just right for your site.
• Built-in inventory, shipping, taxes management features.
• As well as the community forum, the free plan gives you access to live chat, email, and even phone support.
• If you do want to upgrade to a paid plan, these are affordable even for very small businesses. Ecommerce starter plan starts at $12 per month paid annually.

Cons

• Weebly charges a 3% transaction fee. That’s in addition to the transaction fee that your payment gateway charges.
• If you’re on the free or Personal ($9/month) plans, Weebly will show ads and branding from Square, Weebly’s parent company.
• Even with the paid starter plan you are limited to sell only 25 products at a time.

7. Big Cartel

Big Cartel is a hosted eCommerce platform that’s designed especially for artists and creatives. If you want to have a store selling handmade products or similar, it could be a great option for you.

Pros

• The free plan doesn’t have any transaction fees. You will need to pay Stripe or PayPal fees, though (these are the only options Big Cartel offers for payment processing).
• Your free shop URL can be customized. It has to be in the format name.bigcartel.com, but you can choose whatever you want for the name. Many other platforms assign you a specific URL based on your username or store name and you can’t change it.
• You can have up to 5 products on your free plan, which makes it more generous than other hosted free plans.
• It’s quick to get your store set up and it’s easy to add your products. Big Cartel walks you step by step through the process.

Cons

• If you want to customize your website theme, you’ll need to edit the theme’s HTML. This definitely isn’t as beginner-friendly as most other eCommerce platforms.
• The free plan only has limited features. You need to upgrade to a paid plan if you want to use things like inventory tracking or discount codes.

Choosing the Best Free eCommerce Platform

So which is the best free eCommerce platform for you? That depends on what you’re looking for.

If you want to start cheap and have full freedom to grow your business, then WooCommerce is the best option.

Using our exclusive Bluehost deal, you can get started for $2.75 per month. That’s less than a cup of coffee.

If you want to use a totally free eCommerce platform, then Constant Contact website builder is easier and free. However, it is limited in terms of features and flexibility that you get with other platforms.

If you want to try out an online store for free, but you’re happy to pay for something that’s a good fit for your business, then BigCommerce and Shopify are great full-featured options.

We hope this article helped you learn about the best free eCommerce platforms to get started with. You may also want to see our guide on the best email marketing services and best live chat software for eCommerce, so you can increase your store sales.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 7 Best Free Ecommerce Platforms for 2020 (Compared) appeared first on WPBeginner.

February 19, 2020 at 06:52PM

How to Create Custom Post Types in WordPress

Do you want to learn how to easily create custom post types in WordPress? Custom post types transform a WordPress site from a blogging platform into a powerful Content Management System (CMS).

Basically, they allow you to go beyond posts and pages by creating different content types for your website.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily create custom post types in WordPress. We’ll teach you two methods and you can choose one that looks easier to you.

What is Custom Post Type in WordPress?

Custom post types are content types like posts and pages. Since WordPress evolved from a simple blogging platform into a robust CMS, the term post stuck to it. However, a post type can be any kind of content.

By default, WordPress comes with these post types:

• Post
• Page
• Attachment
• Revision
• Nav Menu

You can create your own custom post types and call them whatever you want.

For instance, if you run a movie review website, then you would probably want to create a movie reviews post type. This post type can have different custom fields and even its own custom category structure.

Other examples of post types are Portfolio, Testimonials, Products, etc.

Many popular WordPress plugins already use custom post types to store data on your WordPress website. The following are a few top plugins that use custom post types.

• WooCommerce – Adds a product custom post type to your WordPress site.
• WPForms – Creates a wpforms post type to store all your forms
• MemberPress – Adds a memberpressproduct custom post type

When do I need a custom post type?

Check out our article about when do you really need custom post types or taxonomies in WordPress.

Also take a look at WPBeginner’s Deals and Glossary sections. These are custom post types that we created to keep these sections separate from our daily blog articles. It helps us better organize our website content.

You will also notice that we are using custom taxonomies for them instead of categories or tags.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily create custom post types in WordPress for your own use.

Method 1. Creating a Custom Post Type – The Easy Way

The easiest way to create a custom post type in WordPress is by using a plugin. This method is recommended for beginners because it is safe and super easy.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Custom Post Type UI plugin. Upon activation, the plugin will add a new menu item in your WordPress admin menu called CPT UI.

Now go to CPT UI » Add New to create a new custom post type.

First, you need to provide a slug for your custom post type. This slug will be used in the URL and in WordPress queries, so it can only contain letters and numbers.

Below that, you need to provide the plural and singular names for your custom post type.

Next, you can optionally click on the link that says ‘Populate additional labels based on chosen labels’. Doing so will fill in the rest of the label fields down below.

Scroll down to the ‘Additional Labels’ section and from here you can provide a description for your post type and change labels.

Labels will be used throughout the WordPress user interface when you are managing content in that particular post type.

Next, comes the post type settings option. From here you can set up different attributes for your post type. Each option comes with a brief description explaining what it does.

For instance, you can choose not to make a post type hierarchical like pages or reverse chronological like posts.

Below the general settings, you will see the option to select which editing features this post type would support. Simply check the options that you want to be included.

Finally, click on the ‘Add Post Type’ button to save and create your custom post type.

That’s all, you have successfully created your custom post type. You can go ahead and start adding content.

We will show you how to display your custom post type on your website later in this article.

Creating a Custom Post Type Manually

The problem with using a plugin is that your custom post types will disappear when the plugin is deactivated. Any data you have in those custom post types will still be there, but your custom post type will be unregistered and will not be accessible from the admin area.

If you are working on a client site and do not want to install another plugin, then you can manually create your custom post type by adding the required code in your theme’s functions.php file or in a site-specific plugin (See: Custom Post Types Debate functions.php or Plugin).

First, we will show you a quick and fully working example so that you understand how it works. Take a look at this code:

// Our custom post type function
function create_posttype() {

        register_post_type( 'movies',
        // CPT Options
                array(
                        'labels' => array(
                                'name' => __( 'Movies' ),
                                'singular_name' => __( 'Movie' )
                        ),
                        'public' => true,
                        'has_archive' => true,
                        'rewrite' => array('slug' => 'movies'),
                        'show_in_rest' => true,

                )
        );
}
// Hooking up our function to theme setup
add_action( 'init', 'create_posttype' );

What this code does is that it registers a post type 'movies' with an array of arguments. These arguments are the options of our custom post type.

This array has two parts, the first part is labeled, which itself is an array. The second part contains other arguments like public visibility, has archive, slug, and show_in_rest enables block editor support.

Now let’s take a look at a detailed piece of code that adds more options to your custom post type.

/*
* Creating a function to create our CPT
*/

function custom_post_type() {

// Set UI labels for Custom Post Type
        $labels = array(
                'name'                => _x( 'Movies', 'Post Type General Name', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'singular_name'       => _x( 'Movie', 'Post Type Singular Name', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'menu_name'           => __( 'Movies', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'parent_item_colon'   => __( 'Parent Movie', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'all_items'           => __( 'All Movies', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'view_item'           => __( 'View Movie', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'add_new_item'        => __( 'Add New Movie', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'add_new'             => __( 'Add New', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'edit_item'           => __( 'Edit Movie', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'update_item'         => __( 'Update Movie', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'search_items'        => __( 'Search Movie', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'not_found'           => __( 'Not Found', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'not_found_in_trash'  => __( 'Not found in Trash', 'twentytwenty' ),
        );
        
// Set other options for Custom Post Type
        
        $args = array(
                'label'               => __( 'movies', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'description'         => __( 'Movie news and reviews', 'twentytwenty' ),
                'labels'              => $labels,
                // Features this CPT supports in Post Editor
                'supports'            => array( 'title', 'editor', 'excerpt', 'author', 'thumbnail', 'comments', 'revisions', 'custom-fields', ),
                // You can associate this CPT with a taxonomy or custom taxonomy. 
                'taxonomies'          => array( 'genres' ),
                /* A hierarchical CPT is like Pages and can have
                * Parent and child items. A non-hierarchical CPT
                * is like Posts.
                */      
                'hierarchical'        => false,
                'public'              => true,
                'show_ui'             => true,
                'show_in_menu'        => true,
                'show_in_nav_menus'   => true,
                'show_in_admin_bar'   => true,
                'menu_position'       => 5,
                'can_export'          => true,
                'has_archive'         => true,
                'exclude_from_search' => false,
                'publicly_queryable'  => true,
                'capability_type'     => 'post',
                'show_in_rest' => true,

        );
        
        // Registering your Custom Post Type
        register_post_type( 'movies', $args );

}

/* Hook into the 'init' action so that the function
* Containing our post type registration is not 
* unnecessarily executed. 
*/

add_action( 'init', 'custom_post_type', 0 );

As you can see, we have added many more options to the custom post type with this code. It will add more features like support for revisions, featured image, custom fields, and more.

We have also associated this custom post type with a custom taxonomy called genres.

You may also notice the part where we have set the hierarchical value to be false. If you would like your custom post type to behave like Pages, then you can set this value to true.

Another thing to be noticed is the repeated usage of twentytwenty string, this is called text-domain. If your theme is translation ready, and you want your custom post types to be translated, then you will need to mention text domain used by your theme.

You can find your theme’s text domain inside style.css file in your theme directory. The text domain will be mentioned in the header of the file.

Displaying Custom Post Types on Your Site

WordPress comes with built-in support for displaying your custom post types. Once you have added a few items into your new custom post type, it is time to display them on your website.

There are a couple of methods that you can use, each one has its own benefits.

Displaying Custom Post Type Using Default Archive Template

First, you can simply go to Appearance » Menus and add a custom link to your menu. This custom link is the link to your custom post type.

If you are using SEO friendly permalinks then your CPT’s URL will most likely be something like this:

http://example.com/movies

If you are not using SEO friendly permalinks, then your custom post type URL will be something like this:

http://example.com/?post_type=movies

Don’t forget to replace example.com with your own domain name and movies with your custom post type name.

Save your menu and then visit the front-end of your website. You will see the new menu you added, and when you click on it, it will display your custom post type archive page using the archive.php template file in your theme.

Using Custom Templates for CPT Archives and Single Entries

If you don’t like the appearance of the archive page for your custom post type, then you can use dedicated template for custom post type archive.

To do that all you need to do is create a new file in your theme directory and name it archive-movies.php. Replace movies with the name of your custom post type.

For getting started, you can copy the contents of your theme’s archive.php file into archive-movies.php template and then start modifying it to meet your needs.

Now whenever the archive page for your custom post type is accessed, this template will be used to display it.

Similarly, you can also create a custom template for your post type’s single entry display. To do that you need to create single-movies.php in your theme directory. Don’t forget to replace movies with the name of your custom post type.

You can get started by copying the contents of your theme’s single.php template into single-movies.php template and then start modifying it to meet your needs.

Displaying Custom Post Types on The Front Page

One advantage of using custom post types is that it keeps your custom content types away from your regular posts. However, if you would like them to display among your regular post, then you can do so by adding this code into your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin:

add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'add_my_post_types_to_query' );

function add_my_post_types_to_query( $query ) {
        if ( is_home() && $query->is_main_query() )
                $query->set( 'post_type', array( 'post', 'movies' ) );
        return $query;
}

Don’t forget to replace movies with your custom post type.

Querying Custom Post Types

If you are familiar with the coding and would like to run loop queries in your templates, then here is how to do that (Related: What is a Loop?).

By querying the database, you can retrieve items from a custom post type.

<?php 
$args = array( 'post_type' => 'movies', 'posts_per_page' => 10 );
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args ); 
?>
<?php if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : ?>
<?php while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
<h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
<div class="entry-content">
<?php the_content(); ?> 
</div>
<?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
<?php else:  ?>
<p><?php _e( 'Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.' ); ?></p>
<?php endif; ?>

In this code, first, we have defined the post type and posts per page in the arguments for our new WP_Query class.

After that, we ran our query, retrieved the posts and displayed them inside the loop.

Displaying Custom Post Types in Widgets

You will notice that there is a default widget in WordPress to display recent posts, but it does not allow you to choose a custom post type.

What if you wanted to display the latest entries from your newly created post type in a widget? There is an easy way to do this.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Ultimate Posts Widget plugin. Upon activation, simply go to Appearance » Widgets and drag and drop the Ultimate Posts widget to a sidebar.

This powerful widget will allow you to show recent posts from any post types. You can also display post excerpts with a read more link or even show a featured image next to post title.

Configure the widget by selecting the options you want and by selecting your custom post type. After that save your changes and see the widget in action on your website.

More Advance Custom Post Type Tweaks

There is so much more you can do with your custom post types. You can learn to add your custom post types in main RSS feed or create a separate feed for each custom post type.

For more hacks, see our list of the most useful WordPress custom post types tutorials.

If you’re looking for a no-code solution to customize your custom post type archive pages, then we recommend taking a look at a WordPress page builder plugin like Beaver Builder or Divi because they both can help you do that.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create custom post types in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to increase your website traffic with practical tips.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create Custom Post Types in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

February 18, 2020 at 06:00PM

What’s Coming in WordPress 5.4 (Features and Screenshots)

WordPress 5.4 is scheduled to be released on March 31, 2020. It will be the first major release of the year and will ship with some significant improvements.

We’ve been following the development closely and testing the first beta to try out new features that are on the way.

WordPress 5.4 contains several new features that are mainly focused around block editor improvements. There are also some important changes for developers.

In this article, we will show you what’s coming in WordPress 5.4 with features and screenshots.

Note: You can try out the beta version on your computer or on a staging environment by using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin.

WordPress 5.4 is in the feature freeze stage of the development. This means new features will not be added, but existing new features can still change and may not make into the final release.

Having said that, let’s take a look at what’s coming in WordPress 5.4.

The Block Editor Improvements

WordPress 5.4 is focused around improving the block editor by including new features and extending the existing blocks.

This is great news for content creators as they will now be able to do more with blocks inside the content editor.

The New Welcome Guide Modal

WordPress 5.4 will come with a new welcome guide popup to introduce new users with the block editor. It is a simple slide-show that explains blocks, points users to the block library, and a link to block editor tutorial.

You can also relaunch the guide by clicking on the three-dot menu on the top-right corner of the edit screen and then selecting Welcome Guide.

New Blocks in WordPress 5.4

WordPress 5.4 will also bring two new blocks to the library.

1. Social Icons Block

Social Icons block allows you to easily add links to social media profiles inside your WordPress posts and pages.

You can then add social media icons by clicking on the add button and adding an icon. You can also click on an icon to provide a link to your social media page.

Note: These social media icons just allow you to add links to your profiles. For social sharing, you would still need a WordPress social media plugin.

2. Buttons Block

The button block will be replaced by the buttons block. The new buttons block now allows you to add more than one button side by side.

You can choose from two different styles, use your own text and background colors, and add gradient background colors as well.

Block Improvments in WordPress 5.4

WordPress 5.4 will come with many improvements to the WordPress block editor as well as individual blocks. The following are some of the enhancements included in the beta.

More Color Options for Blocks

WordPress 5.4 will introduce more color options for the cover, group, and column blocks.

You can also choose background and text colors for all the blocks inside a group block.

Similarly, you’ll also be able to select background and text colors for the columns block.

Drag and Drop to Upload Featured Image

Currently, you cannot just drag and drop an image to set it as a featured image. WordPress 5.4 will allow users to simply drag and drop an image to the featured image section.

Change Text Color Inside Paragraph Block

Previously, you were only able to change text color for the entire paragraph block. With WordPress 5.4 users will be able to simply select any text inside a paragraph and change color.

Caption Below Table

Users will be able to add a caption below a table block.

Fixed Block Toolbar on Mobile

Currently, if you had to edit a blog post using a mobile device, then you’ll notice the toolbar move around blocks as you write.

WordPress 5.4 fixes this with a floating toolbar at the top which changes depending on the type of block you are currently editing.

Easily Select Gallery Image Size

WordPress 5.4 allows you to easily choose a size for all images in the gallery.

Improved Latest Posts Block

Coming with WordPress 5.4, users will be able to display featured images in the latest posts block.

Easily Select Blocks

WordPress 5.4 will include a select tool that will allow users to easily select a block that they want to change. This will come in handy when you have nested blocks like a group or columns.

The TikTok Embed Block

WordPress 5.4 will come with an embed block to easily add TikTok videos in your WordPress posts and pages.

Under The Hood Changes in WordPress 5.4

WordPress 5.4 will bring significant improvements for developers. The following are some of those under the hood changes.

WordPress 5.4 will change the HTML output for the Calendar widget. It moves the navigation links to a <nav&> HTML element right after the <table> element in order to produce valid HTML. (#39763)

A new apply_shortcodes() function will be introduced as an alias to the do_shortcode() function. (#37422)

Some unused customizer classes will be formally deprecated in WordPress 5.4. (#42364)

In WordPress 5.4, the Button component for WordPress admin area design has been enhanced with several changes and additions. (Details)

We hope this article helped you get a good idea of what’s coming in the WordPress 5.4 release. Let us know what features you find interesting and what you’d look to see in a future WordPress release.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post What’s Coming in WordPress 5.4 (Features and Screenshots) appeared first on WPBeginner.

February 17, 2020 at 06:24PM