The latest version of WooCommerce, 8.4, was released yesterday, 12 December 2023. Unlike WooCommerce 8.2 which brought us the new High Performance Order Storage (HPOS), this update mainly contains bug fixes and performance improvements rather than new major features. However, WooCommerce 8.4 does introduce updates to the user interface, blocks and settings, improving the overall user experience.
WooCommerce 8.4 – What’s New?
- WooCommerce blocks update to version 11.6.2
- Product Collection block can be configured to showcase featured products only
- Revamped Shipping Settings
- The new block-based Product Creation experience now supports virtual products or downloadable files
- Updated My Subscriptions view, for additional services purchased from Woo.com
- Fixes to several bugs and a security fix
- Performance improvements, such as block pattern performance, saving order data into transients and the way WooCommerce performs database queries
Detailed information about all the changes brought by WooCommerce 8.4 can be found on GitHub.
What is WooCommerce Blocks?
WooCommerce Blocks is a separate plugin which extends the blocks readily available in WooCommerce. The various blocks and patterns provide flexibility in handling your products and their presentation, allowing WooCommerce to be customised to suit your needs. In other words, blocks from the Gutenberg project will first be available in the WooCommerce Blocks plugin. The block may then be incorporated into the WooCommerce core later on.
When installing and using the plugin, it’s best to keep in mind that these blocks are state-of-the-art – so unfortunately the same stability cannot be expected as with the blocks included in the WooCommerce core.
Testing and Updating New WooCommerce Version
Prior to any WooCommerce release, a beta version is always released first. If you’re interested in the latest features and fixes, you can try installing the beta version in a staging or shadow environment and test the new version before making any changes to your live online store. Seravo recommends testing any and all manual changes first to ensure that your WooCommerce site runs without interruptions.
If your site is already hosted at Seravo but does not yet have a shadow environment, please contact us and we’ll open one for you!
How to Update WooCommerce?
Seravo’s premium hosting for WordPress will update WooCommerce for you, if our unique update tests deem it safe. Official upgrade instructions can be found in the WooCommerce documentation at woo.com.
Need help with updating to the latest version of WooCommerce? Please send us an email (help@seravo.com) and we’ll help you out! You can also visit our knowledge bank to read more about keeping your site updated.
Back Up Your WooCommerce
Before making any changes and upgrading WooCommerce to the latest version, it is important to make sure that you have a recent backup of your shop. At Seravo, every site’s production environment is backed up once a day, and each backup is available for 30 days. Learn more about how backups work at Seravo.
A backup allows you to easily restore your site back into action, even if an unexpected error occurs during an update. You can restore the backup yourself using our instructions, or Seravo’s customer service can restore the backup for you – completely free of charge!
Fast Server and Best Hosting for WooCommerce by Seravo
Earlier this year, ReviewSignal conducted a performance benchmark of WordPress hosting providers. The benchmark also examined WooCommerce performance. Seravo’s premium WordPress hosting received a Top Tier status for WooCommerce performance especially. For more details on the results of the comparison and how Seravo fared in the comparison, see our previous blog post!
Furthermore, in the October 2023 ismyhostfastyet.com leaderboard, Seravo is ahead of other WordPress hosting providers! The results of the comparison are based on data from Chrome browser users (Chrome UX Report).