Next week, WordPress 4.0 is going to be released next week and I’d like to give you an overview of the new features.
WordPress has made over 250 changes thus far, but here are the top 3 that I know you’ll be using:
#1) Media Library
The Media Library has a new grid layout that’s better designed and photo friendly:
The new media library also allows you to edit images in a modal window, rather than loading up a new page. This will drastically cut down image editing within WordPress:
Bulk selecting and deleting images is also much easier/faster:
#2 Plugins
The plugins “view” also received a few updates, including a grid layout and a readily available search:
#3 Visual Editor
The updates to the visual editor are by far my favorite.
Now, the editor window expands to the amount of content you have. In previous versions, it was a fixed-height window (you could adjust manually) that you had to scroll within.
Also, while editing and scrolling through your post/page content, the editor toolbar stays fixed to the top of the screen. No longer do we need to scroll to the top of the page just to format our content.
In the video below, the first example is WordPress 4, while the second is WordPress 3.9.2.
Notice the editor toolbar “sticking” to the top of the screen as you scroll, while the content box is also stretched vertically):
We can also preview our embedded content (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) within the editor:
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There are many more features included in this version of WordPress. The new features above are those that I think you’ll notice and start using first.
If you’d like to read more about WordPress 4.0, you can at WordPress.org.
Before You Upgrade
Be sure to backup your website (database/files) before upgrading.
I would also recommend that you have a copy of your website installed either locally (on your computer) or on a testing server so you can safely upgrade and evaluate the compatibility of your plugins and theme.
If you’ve had problems with WordPress upgrades in the past, or don’t want to take the gamble of a WordPress upgrade, we can help. We’ll take a backup of your website, install it, and complete the upgrade in a test environment. If a problem arises, we’ll fix the issue and make sure your website is
100% ready for primetime.
Questions?
If you have a question or would just like to chat about these new features, give me a call at (360) 450-3711 or shoot me an email: shawn@graticle.com.
