Preview: These Are The Best New Features of WordPress 4.0
WordPress 4.0 is just around the corner. The official scheduled release date is August 27. Every time a major update of WordPress is about to be released, the whole world gets excited about what's new. So are we. The next version of WordPress will bring some long-anticipated features that will put a smile on the faces of developers and mere bloggers alike.
So what are the best new features that we know of so far about WordPress 4.0? Here's a sneak peek into the future of WordPress.
Improved Media Library
No matter what sort of site you manage with WordPress, you have definitely been frustrated by the way Media Library looks in WordPress. The vertical list of uploaded media does not look nearly as good as many expect it. So the folks at WordPress have decided to smarten things up with Media Grid. Thanks to that, starting WordPress 4.0, you will get a grid view of all of your media files in WordPress.
As you can see, it's million times better than the existing Media Library interface. It not only gives you a bird's eye view of all your uploaded media, but also lets you edit them in a modal pop-up window. What's more, you can navigate between media files right from the pop-up by clicking the Next and Previous buttons.
Over all, the Media Library experience will be vastly improved as soon as WordPress 4.0 is released and you make the update.
Post Editor Experience
A large part of us WordPress users write posts on a regular basis, right? If you create short posts, you might have not faced this; but if you write longer posts on WordPress, you must have noticed that when you keep writing, the toolbar from the top of the editor that lets you apply formatting to your text or insert media files simply goes up. You have to scroll up in order to access them.
WordPress understands that this is a bit of a pain. So in WordPress 4.0, you will be greeted with a sticky toolbar in your WordPress post editor window. That means no matter how long your article is, the top toolbar with Add Media button and the formatting options will stay sticky on top. So you can access them whenever you want to without having to scroll up.
I bet you already can't wait for the next version of WordPress!
New Plugin Installer
It turns out, everyone likes a bird's eye view. And “Grid view” is the perfect way to do that. That's why WordPress 4.0 brings a new interface for the plugin installer page. From the next version of WordPress, instead of a list view, you'll get a grid, or should we say card view, of the plugins you can install.
As you can see, you will be able to view more of the plugins from the list without scrolling down like you have to with the current version of WordPress. The plugin installer interface experience is still a work in progress. So the end result might be a little different than what you see up above.
Smart Language Support
Starting WordPress 4.0, you will have better support and easier control over your WordPress language. For example, when you make a fresh install with WordPress 4.0, you will now have the option to select a language you want your WordPress to run in.
You can also easily change your WordPress language without diving into wp-config file. WordPress 4.0 adds a Site Language option in Settings -> General page.
Test Drive Now
WordPress 4.0 Beta 2 is available for download now. You can also install the beta tester plugin to run the beta version of WordPress 4.0. But be sure to test the beta version in a new installation, preferably in local machine. The new version is not ready yet for production sites and using the beta on a live site may break some of the functionality.
Now that you know what the greatest new features of WordPress 4.0 are, let us know in the comments which one is your favorite and why.
