Today, Matt Mullenweg announced the official release of WordPress 3.9 on WordPress.Org. This version is named after Jimmy Smith to honor the great jazz organist.
WordPress 3.9 came with many usability refinements that close the gap between editing and publishing. It lets you know exactly what you will have before hitting the Publish button. Here is a quick recap of new improvements in WordPress 3.9.
Seamless Experience in While Making Post
Better formatting in Visual Editor
WordPress 3.9 has an enhanced Visual Editor which allows you to copy and paste content from Microsoft Word directly and then displays the content perfectly the way you want.
The new Visual Editor with no Word icon
Improved Image Editing
Using WordPress 3.9, you are able to drag and drop images from your computer right in the editor. Images will automatically be uploaded without having to open Add Media.
Also by using dragging, users can scale image in post to the size they want:
Plus, the image’s detail window now is updated and you have quicker access to editing image:
Crop and rotate image while editing post easily:
Gallery Live Preview in Post
In previous WordPress version, when creating gallery in post you have to click Preview to see how it really looks like. Now, you can view your gallery right in your post:
Create and Edit Audio/Video Playlist in Post:
WordPress 3.9 allows you to upload multiple audio file and video files. People now are free to create showcase their audio/video playlist in post:
Audio playlist in Post
Video playlist in Post
New Add Theme Interface
We have a polished and slick Add Themes interface in WordPress “Smith”. Now you can quickly filter and browse themes you want and then preview or install themes conveniently:
There are filters to search your desired themes. This change saves us many time and clicks while finding and installing themes from WordPress theme repository:
New Theme Customizer Interface
Widgets built in Theme Customizer
Bravo! Widgets are added in Theme Customizer. So while customizing theme, we can add new widgets, edit or arrange widgets by dragging and dropping. Smooth! That’s not all. Live preview here allows us to see directly how changes are gonna be implied:
Header Image Tool in Theme Customizer
One more usability improvement in WordPress 3.9 is that, beside widgets, header is also added in Theme Customizer. You can upload, crop and manage theme’s header when customizing theme:
WordPress 3.9 Introduction Video by WordPress
What should you do?
Those are the most significant changes in the WordPress 3.9 “Jimmy Smith”. Besides, there are many other improvements in this new release.
As a blogger, you might love the convenience and cleaner, more user-friendly experience in WordPress 3.9. Update your blog and enjoy WordPress as you write!
As a theme provider, you might want to consider new changes in Audio/Video playlist as well as the new Theme Customizer. These can support your music/band themes.
As a developer, make sure your WordPress products compatible with the latest 3.9. Take this into your note that there are many updates you can utilize:
- New utility functions: doing_action() and doing_filter() for identifying a hook in progress. And the other two: has_image_size() and remove_image_size()allow manipulation of custom image sizes.
- New updates in external libraries: jQuery, TinyMCE, Underscore, Plupload, Backbond, Mansory 3.
- Autosave functionality is also updated.
- There is HTML galleries and captions. Details here.
Lastly, the first and foremost thing you should do is downloading this revamped WordPress 3.9 at WordPress. Don’t forget to share this news around you! (Wake your clients up, they might haven’t known yet!).
