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WordPress 6.5 is here with fresh new features

WordPress

Mark your calendars! April 2nd, 2024 welcomes the arrival of WordPress 6.5, bringing a suite of updates designed to enrich your site's functionality and aesthetic appeal. As part of our commitment at WHC to help you thrive online, we're excited to dive into the details of this update, showcasing how these new features can transform how you create your website.

Let’s take a look at what’s new with WordPress 6.5. 

As usual, if you have a complex website that uses several plugins, we recommend waiting at least a few weeks before upgrading to 6.5. Major upgrades may break some plugins/themes. 

What’s new with WordPress 6.5?

WordPress 6.5, the first major release of 2024, offers multiple enhancements that promise to streamline your website design and management experience. Whether you're building your first website without any coding knowledge or you’re a seasoned developer who builds websites from scratch, WordPress 6.5 makes the process more user-friendly and efficient. 

Let's explore the standout features and how they can benefit your site.

Introducing the Font Library: Typography Tailored to You

The Font Library is a standout addition, offering you the ability to directly upload or install your favourite Google Fonts. This feature empowers you to personalize your site's typography without the need for additional plugins, aligning your design more closely with your brand identity.

WordPress 6.5 Interface example

By default, this feature displays the fonts currently installed on your WordPress theme. To add more fonts from your computer, you can navigate to the Upload tab.

WordPress 6.5 Interface example

Want to use Google Fonts for your website? Click on the Install Fonts tab to connect your website to Google Fonts.

WordPress 6.5 Interface example

Interactivity API: Elevating User Engagement

Transform your site with the Interactivity API, a tool designed to make your pages more dynamic and engaging. This API allows for real-time interactions, such as colour changes on a product, without needing a page to reload, providing a smoother and more interactive experience for your visitors.

The WordPress team has made a demo website to showcase its capabilities.

WordPress 6.5 Interface example

New Design and Editing Enhancements

  • Smoother Drag-and-Drop: Move things around with less friction, get a visual cue when an object is displaced and drag them to any location within your workplace.
  • Pattern Duplication: Easily duplicate patterns on your site, including the option for synced patterns, simplifying the process of creating consistent layouts.
  • Improved List View: Access block settings with a right-click and rename blocks directly from the list view, offering a more intuitive navigation and editing experience.
  • Optimized Site Editor: Enjoy a cleaner, more organized site editor interface with personalized presentation options, including filtering, sorting, and bulk editing capabilities.
  • Aspect Ratio and Box Shadow for Blocks: Customize the appearance of your cover blocks with aspect ratio controls and add depth to your images and columns with box-shadow support.
  • Gallery and Social Block Updates: Benefit from the new randomize feature in the Gallery block and an updated icon for Patreon in the Social block, enhancing visual dynamics and social connectivity.

Simpler and More Insightful Updates

  • Easy Site Icon Changes: Update your WordPress site icon with ease, directly from the General Settings, for both block and classic themes.
  • Enhanced Link Management: Improved link editing with immediate access to link settings upon addition, streamlining content creation.
  • Style Revision Insights: Gain better insights into design changes with the style revision feature, offering descriptions and timestamps for each modification.

Curious to learn more? Check out the official 6.5 release notes for additional info about this release.

Upgrading to WordPress 6.5

WordPress 6.5 will soon be available on our Web Hosting and Managed WordPress plans.

If you have a complex website that uses several plugins, we recommend holding off for a few weeks before upgrading, as major upgrades may break some plugins/themes. 

When you’re ready to upgrade, you can do so from either your WordPress dashboard or cPanel. See Manually Update WordPress and WordPress Plugins for more information.

If you use one of our Pro Managed WordPress plans, you can create a staging site to test out the new version. This will create a copy of your live website in a separate staging environment for testing (that won’t affect your production site).

Ensure you have a working backup before making any changes. This way, you can quickly revert to your previous installation if any problems occur.

Until next time

WordPress 6.5 is an opportunity to elevate your website experience with new functionalities and design enhancements. From typography freedom with the Font Library to interactive user experiences via the Interactivity API, this release promises to make your site more attractive, functional, and user-friendly.

For any questions or assistance with updating to WordPress 6.5, our WHC support team is here to help you make the most of these exciting new features.

Stay ahead in the digital space with WordPress 6.5 and see what’s planned for version 6.6!

Cloudfest 2024

WHC at CloudFest: the World’s Biggest Cloud Conference

WHC News & Events

Every year, people ask me why some of us at WHC travel all the way to Rust, Germany, for CloudFest, the #1 internet infrastructure conference in the world. 

It’s a huge event for anyone in the cloud and tech industry, and this year marked CloudFest’s 20th anniversary. 

Let me give you a peek at CloudFest 2024 (and why we keep going back).

What’s CloudFest all about?

Imagine a place where everyone who’s anyone in the cloud business meets. That’s CloudFest. It’s held every year at Europa Park, one of Europe’s biggest amusement parks. 🎢🎡🎆

CloudFest is known for being the biggest cloud and tech meet-up globally. There's learning, networking, and, yes, some pretty epic concerts and parties too!

Cloudfest 2024

CloudFest in the age of AI

This year, CloudFest sessions focused heavily on the new opportunities and challenges that come with the rise of AI. Most vendors were demoing and showcasing new versions of their software, now leveraging generative AI to create richer and easier user experiences. 

Facing such a major shift, it’s no surprise NVidia was visible as a major sponsor, leading the way with its industry-leading GPU performance that’s been bringing affordable AI to the masses (and sending its stocks soaring!). 

Microsoft and OpenAI, while not overtly present at CloudFest as Sponsors, were clearly behind much of the service innovation that was being showcased this year.

WHC at CloudFest

Miles, WHC’s Director of Finance, and I got to reconnect with our trusted vendors, including WebPros/cPanel, CloudLinux, rankingCoach, CentralNIC, Verisign, Digicert (and many, many others), while also discovering and exploring new opportunities.

But CloudFest isn't all business - we also had many laughs, rocked out to live concerts, enjoyed roller coasters (did we mention they host startup rollercoaster pitches?), and even got to see a rather unique server-throwing competition (but alas, were not brave enough to directly participate)!

Why we keep going back

It boils down to the people. Sure, CloudFest is the biggest event of its kind, but what really makes it special is getting to meet leaders, innovators, and thinkers from all over the cloud world. We share stories, learn from each other, solidify partnerships, and come back inspired to do even more to empower Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs online. For 4 days, even competitors get together and discuss practical and meaningful ways to solve common challenges and improve the state of our industry.

A stopover at NDD Camp

If this wasn’t enough, it was also a great pleasure to wrap up the week by attending NDDCamp, a domain-centric conference in beautiful Strasbourg, France. Major topics included DNS abuse (and how to prevent it at the registry/registrar level), ICANN’s next round of new, generic TLDs (slated for Q2 2026) and the rise (and challenges) of Web3 domains.

Cloudfest 2024

A big thank you to Benjamin Louis for receiving us, and the delightful gang that joined us down there!

Until Next Time

A big shout-out to everyone who made CloudFest 2024 amazing. And to all the friends, partners, and new acquaintances we made, thanks for the great time. We're already looking forward to CloudFest 2025! 

In the meantime, we'll be in Austin, Texas, in June, for the US edition of CloudFest and Namescon. Follow us on LinkedIn for all the inside scoops!

CloudFest shows us how cool and innovative the cloud industry is. It’s a reminder of why we do what we do at WHC, and we can’t wait to bring some of these ideas to life at WHC!

Yoast SEO

How to optimize your website’s referencing with Yoast SEO

Small Business Success, WordPress

Can optimizing your search engine rankings be quick and easy? Yes. It's never been easier, in fact, thanks to Yoast SEO, a WordPress plugin that's perfect for those new to SEO.

If you've read some of our other blog posts, then you’ve probably heard of search engine optimization (SEO). For those of you who haven't, SEO is the use of various techniques that aim to better position a website's pages in search engine results.

What is Yoast SEO?

Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin, available as a free or premium version, and is designed to help optimize a website's content for better search engine results. A wide range of features are available, including optimization of titles, keywords, readability and more.

For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on the free version of Yoast, which is all you'll need to implement each of the steps below.

How to install and configure Yoast SEO?

First of all, you obviously need to use the WordPress content management system. Otherwise, you won't be able to use Yoast – not on a site designed on Wix, for example.

Simply download the Yoast SEO plugin and install it on your site. Once that's done, you need to configure the basic settings. To do this, go to the Yoast SEO section of the control panel and click on "General".

Yoast UI

Follow each step carefully, taking the time to read the instructions. Normally, the setup shouldn't be too difficult.

A key element: the target query

For each page, post or product created on WordPress, you'll need to find and specify the target query representing the content displayed.

What is a target query? A target query is one or several words typed by a user into a search engine. For example, if you're writing an article describing the benefits of a healthy diet, your target query might be "benefits," "healthy diet," or "benefits of a healthy diet." The target query is actually the main keyword of the page (not the site).

A few reminders about the query:

  • The word order in the query is important.
  • Diversify your queries: never use two identical target queries for different pages on your site; if you do, your pages will cannibalize each other and no longer appear on search engines at all.
  • The Premium version will enable you to rank well for the keywords indicated in your content, making it easier to raise the query.

Once you've found the query, simply plug it in where indicated in the Yoast SEO section at the bottom of your content.

Yoast UI

Optimizing titles and meta descriptions

This is an important element of SEO. Fortunately, optimizing titles and description tags is a snap with Yoast!

First off, regarding your page title, remember to keep it short and include the target query.

Yoast UI

The slug is the part of the URL after the domain name, which synthesizes the content of a specific page on a website. It's also essential to find the query in the slug.

As for the Meta Description, this is a very concise summary containing the main query, and will appear below the page title in the search results. Its purpose is to provide an overview of the page's content and encourage users to click on it.

The title and Meta Description will appear on search engines as follows:

Yoast UI

You can always refer to the analysis at the bottom of your page to see whether the optimization of certain elements is working or not.

Yoast UI

Integrating internal and external links into a page or article will definitely help your site rank well.

Internal linking means integrating a link to another page on your site, based on a word or phrase related to the subject.

External links are integrated in the same way, but point to other websites. Make sure you choose credible sites! Otherwise, search engines will automatically penalize you!

It's important to carefully plan the links you wish to integrate and to do so subtly, as in the example below (where the links are in blue).

Yoast UI

You should also check your links occasionally to make sure they're still working – thus avoiding 404 errors.

Legibility analysis

Search engines don't just evaluate content, but also the container itself. In other words, your writing style will also impact your ranking. Fortunately, Yoast SEO's readability analysis tool can help. It evaluates the following:

  • Length of sentences
  • Level of diction
  • Sufficient use of transition words (also called relationship markers)
  • Use of the passive and active voice
  • Title hierarchy
  • Paragraph length

How do you know if you're on the right track? Yoast makes it easy with color-coded dots and smiley faces. Green equals proper optimization, orange indicates there's room for improvement, and red means your content could be better optimized.

You'll also have access to the Flesch readability score.

The Flesch readability score is an index for assessing the readability of a text. The higher the rating, the more accessible the text; the lower the rating, the more complex the text. Obviously, in SEO, we want the highest possible rating.
Yoast UI

Image optimization

Take the time to optimize the various tags in your images; Yoast will tell you whether this has been done properly. Whether it's file names, Alt tags or other image attributes, they all influence SEO.

Effective image optimization will allow your site to come up in search engines’ image search function, which can then bring you more traffic.

Yoast SEO checklist

Here's a summative checklist to ensure proper optimization in Yoast:

  1. Install Yoast SEO
  2. Set up the basic configuration
  3. Define the target query
  4. Choose a page title
  5. Draft the Meta Description
  6. Create a slug
  7. Check content readability
  8. Add internal and external links
  9. Optimize images

Final thoughts on Yoast SEO

In closing, it's worth noting that Yoast offers many other possibilities that are not covered here. This is especially true if you're working with the Premium version, which is comprehensive, but is not necessary for excellent site optimization.

Obviously, mastering SEO is more complex than all this. There's no substitute for the technical and editorial skills needed for good SEO. However, Yoast is a great tool for the more novice among us.

If you optimize each of the previous elements for your pages, articles and products, you'll certainly see an improvement in your ranking. Also bear in mind that it may take some time for changes to be indexed by search engines.

And if you’re looking for even more features, or if you'd like to evaluate your positioning, we invite you to get our rankingCoach tool.

WordPress or Wix

WordPress or Wix: which is better for creating your website?

WordPress

Choosing between WordPress and Wix to create your website can be tricky. These two giants of online site design both have their own strengths and weaknesses! The question is, which platform best suits your needs?

WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) used to create websites, and is renowned for its flexibility and vast community of developers.
Wix is an intuitive website creation platform that allows users to design a site using drag-and-drop functionality.

In this article, we'll compare their key features to help you make the best decision for your online project.

1. Ease of use and accessibility

WordPress

For beginners, WordPress is more challenging. The learning curve is much steeper. Then again, once you've familiarized yourself with the WordPress environment, customization becomes much more rewarding than with Wix, and that’s even if you stick to basic functionalities. You won’t need a PhD to build a site you’ll love!

As you can see, the WordPress interface is pretty straightforward.

WordPress dashboard interface

Wix

Wix has a reputation for being super accessible and simple to use, especially when you want to build a site without breaking a sweat! Thanks to its many predefined templates, designing a basic site won't take you long. Unfortunately, though, your site is likely to blend in with all the other Wix sites. How will you stand out from the crowd? Customization quickly becomes very limited, while your needs will likely evolve at the same pace as your business.

Wix onboarding

2. Speed and performance

WordPress

First of all, since WordPress is open-source software, keep in mind that its performance will initially depend on the type of hosting solution you choose. In particular, look for packages that include SSD storage for reduced loading times, sufficient bandwidth for all your traffic, and PHP and MySQL support optimized for WordPress.

Afterwards, you'll have the option of adding plugins to improve website speed. Some of these plugins enable image caching and optimization for a smooth user experience.

Wix

Since Wix is an all-in-one solution, which includes hosting, you will have no control over your website's technical aspects and performance, unfortunately. You'll basically have to settle for what’s on offer.

3. Site customization and evolution

WordPress

WordPress is probably the most flexible software for building a website. From the moment you create it, you have access to over 50,000 free plugins (there are many other paid ones as well). These plugins allow you to customize your site to fully suit your needs, beyond even the aesthetic aspect. The possibilities are endless for your online store, corporate site, portfolio, blog, etc.

Wix

On the other hand, Wix stands out for its ease of use and intuitive approach to web design. If you want to customize your site, you'll have to go to its App Market, which contains around 250 applications. Obviously, there are a lot fewer options than WordPress. Were you planning to access the source code to modify and customize certain elements? Alas, that can’t be done—another point for WordPress.

4. Search engine optimization (SEO)

WordPress

Sites built with WordPress have long had the reputation of being the best referenced, thanks to its great capacity for search engine optimization. Not only can you optimize your site using the basic settings, but you can also do so using certain plugins. Yoast SEO is a great example, as it enables much more advanced optimization.

Wix

As far as the free version of Wix is concerned, sadly, you won't have many options for optimizing natural referencing. It's really just the paid version that allows you to modify certain elements; you'll even have access to a configuration checklist, so you don't forget anything. Another issue is that the free version of Wix doesn't even come with a domain name. This is not optimal for search engine optimization.

Of course, you should always remember that SEO also depends on how you write, whether you're on WordPress or Wix.

5. Pricing

WordPress

WordPress is free open-source software. Is it totally free? Yes, in theory. In practice, however, you'll need to purchase hosting and a domain name in order to install WordPress and access its infinite features. The good news is that, for a single site, you can easily get away with paying about a hundred dollars a year.

Did you know...?

If this is your first site, we offer discounted hosting plans for new customers.

Wix

Wix is an excellent solution for those with very limited needs. Its free version is easy to use and offers a straightforward introduction to website creation. However, as mentioned earlier, it becomes very limiting. Also, the free version doesn't give you access to a personalized domain name. This means that your site will be hosted under a Wix sub-domain, limiting your brand identity. You'll end up with an address like: username.wixsite.com/websiteaddress.

Moreover, the free version of Wix will offer you a bare minimum of options, such as low bandwidth and no custom favicon. Plus, you'll have to make do with a 500 MB storage space limit.

Bandwidth: the amount of data that can be transmitted from one point to another in a network or communication system over a given period of time.
Favicon: a small icon associated with a website, displayed on the left of the address bar and in the navigation tabs.

If you wish to obtain a Premium version of Wix, the minimum investment will be $15 CAD per month.

Wix plan comparison

6. Technical support

WordPress

It's hard to get tech support directly from WordPress. However, there is a large community that can answer your questions and help you if you run into difficulties, either via Facebook groups, discussion forums, or blogs. In many cases, a simple Google search will quickly solve your problem.

Wix

Wix support is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What's more, Wix offers a wide range of articles and videos on its website to help users get answers to their questions.

WordPress vs. Wix comparison table

WordPress Wix

Ease of use

The learning curve can be steep at first.

Very easy to use.

Performance and speed

Performance and speed can be optimized with the hosting plan and plug-ins you choose.

Restrictive: you have to make do with what Wix offers.

Site customization and evolution

No limits on site customization.

It gets limited quickly once you delve into the details.

SEO

Optimal.

Optimizable with the Premium version.

Pricing

Free, but you'll have to pay for hosting and a domain name (around a hundred dollars a year).

Premium solutions start at $15 per month.

Tech support

Answers are easy to find through the community or through a Google search.

24/7 customer support on Wix.

Our final verdict: WordPress

For us, WordPress is definitely THE solution to turn to. Yes, the learning curve may be steep at first, but it's well worth the effort if you're managing your own site. And if you'd like to outsource the design and maintenance of your site to an expert, WordPress is once again ideal, as it is generally the go-to solution for Web designers.

Of course, Wix can meet immediate or temporary needs but can become limited as your project grows.

What's more, while Wix is easier to get started with, at a certain point, your site will evolve, and you’ll have few options. At that point, you'll probably want to migrate to WordPress. The problem is that transferring a website created on Wix to another platform is not a straightforward process. Wix uses proprietary technology for website creation and management, which means that the design, pages and functionality specific to Wix can't be exported in the standard way, as you would with HTML files or WordPress databases. So why not choose WordPress right from the start?

Ultimately, keep in mind that WordPress offers endless possibilities.

So, are you ready to embark on your new online adventure?

WHC Expands with Mustang Acquisition

WHC News & Events
It’s been in the works for a while, and now it’s official – Web Hosting Canada (WHC) just acquired Mustang Technologies! This move strengthens Montreal’s tech landscape and WHC’s commitment to Canadian businesses.

About Mustang Technologies

Rooted in Montreal (just like WHC!) Mustang Technologies was among the first 4 providers to offer Internet access in Quebec back in 1994! Today, Mustang is known for domain names offering, advanced web hosting and cloud solutions, particularly with AWS and Plesk. WHC is excited about the potential this brings to our combined efforts.

About WHC

Located in Montreal's vibrant Little Italy, WHC has been empowering Canadian businesses online since 2003. Today, over 65,000 clients nationwide trust us with their hosting, domain names, websites, and emails. WHC also consistently ranks as Canada’s #1 .CA provider, is both CIRA and ICANN-accredited, SOC-2 compliant, and boasts a 96% customer satisfaction rating.

A Warm Welcome to Mustang Clients

First off, a hearty welcome to WHC from all of us. WHC pledges to maintain (and improve!) the quality services you've come to expect from Mustang Techno. Here’s what you can expect next:
  • Seamless Service Continuation: Nothing changes for your websites, domains, hosting, or emails. Your services will continue without any interruption, just as they were under Mustang.
  • Smooth Migration: Over the next 90 days, we'll transition your services to the WHC platform. We’ll keep you informed every step of the way. We’ll contact you beforehand to inform you of the upcoming migration or to arrange a date.
  • 24/7 Tech Support: WHC provides around-the-clock tech support in both English and French. You can still email [email protected] for all your support requests. You can also reach out directly to WHC by phone or chat. Just make sure to identify yourself as a Mustang client from the start.

Merging Expertise and Technologies

Integrating Mustang into WHC not only broadens our service capabilities but also fortifies the sustainability of Montreal’s tech ecosystem, and Canada’s digital landscape. WHC wants to make sure Canadians continue to have local options to power their global online presence. Emil Falcon, Founder and CEO of WHC, shares his enthusiasm: “The Mustang Techno acquisition allows us to grow by integrating a reputable, regional provider into our operations while expanding our service offering across Canada. I’m excited to welcome Mustang clients to the extended WHC family so we can do what we do best: help Canadians grow and succeed online.”

WHC keeps on growing

As WHC continues to evolve, our goal remains the same: Help Canadians succeed online and anchor Canada's web hosting industry firmly in local hands, with the Mustang integration marking a significant stride in that direction.