WordPress 5.5 update speeds up your site automatically

It uses something called “lazy loading”. This is something that GTMetrix encourages people to use, but it not always easily done prior to this.

I know because I had to optimize other websites that were slow due to problems with lazy loading. Now that it is built in, I don’t have to use those special caching plugins to enable this. This is another thoughtful thing that WP team has done to help those of us who support its platform.

What I like most about updates with WordPress it that things that used to be controlled by plugins get incorporated into the main functionality. This means that optimizations, functionality grow as they develop the product. You don’t have to be an expert to have good WordPress results, but the more you know, the more you can make your site stand out from others.

Yes this sounds boring and sometimes life is boring. At times in life you have to deal with the drudgery of things that have not be perfectly thought out. You have to find a way to make things work even when they aren’t easy or simple. It requires some research and time and thats not fun. It is more fun to just make things happen by pushing a button, but life isn’t that way. However if you do the hard work, then you get the benefits and that is worth doing.

Optimizing WordPress is something that is constantly evolving and this change might change how your own caching plugin is working. Always test with GTMetrix to see if things are better or worse, and then you know for sure that you are on the right path. I am excited that was able to disable a plugin that I used for lazy loading and that will make my site faster as well. So a two for one benefit. Pretty sweet right?

Staying up to date with WordPress updates is always worth it. Even if they aren’t always easy or perfect.