Today, WordPress 3.7 was released bringing with it some impressive improvements to the WordPress platform. At OAK, we have worked extensively with WordPress, and we are avid fans of this platform. Using WordPress, we have built some amazing solutions for our clients such as Pathways to Prosperity, Impact Academy, Apollo PTC, and TiECon Canada.
We put together a quick round up of some of the new features in WordPress 3.7 “Basie”.
Automatic Background Updates
This is an interesting feature to add. Automatic updates are now available for minor version of the core WordPress, which can also be extended to theme and plugin updates by choice. For more technical details of this update, check out Codex page
Considering projects like iOS and Google Chrome have already introduced this concept, it was time for WordPress to improve their core and ensure their installations are secure.
An Improved Password Meter
We’re just going to come out and say it – everyone is worried about WordPress security. Of course, some of the obvious security holes are due to weak passwords. And to address this, WordPress is helping users pick better passwords. As well, they increased security by implementing a new password meter which uses Dropbox’s zxcvbn library, a significant improvement in our opinion.
Enhanced Search
It’s no secret that WordPress search is weak. So one of the new features of WordPress 3.7 “Basie” is an improved search functionality. With this feature, you can now tell WordPress search to return:
- Full sentence matches in post content
- Full sentence matches in post titles
- Any search terms in post titles
- All search terms in post titles
Better Global Support With Language Packs
Samuel “Otto” Wood has a great overview of this new feature. With “language packs” you can now get faster and more complete translations. These language packs are separated from the WordPress core and they are maintained independently from plugins and themes.
Data Queries
With this update, data queries have been significantly improved. Check out the WordPress Codex for more details – but essentially, it is now easier to query based on a slew of data parameters.
Accessibility
Accessibility has been improved in a few locations, including table rows and colour contrasts in the default themes. For more information you can check out the Make WordPress blog.
Multisite
A small, but much needed improvement in Multisite. A new wp_get_sites function has been introduced to replace the get_blog_list function, which has been depreciating for a while and was in need of an update.
New functions, classes, filters & actions
Looking at the WordPress release page, we find that six new classes have been introduced, along with ten new methods of existing classes. All these new functions, classes, filters and actions will definitely help us developer better WordPress sites.
In our opinion, WordPress 3.7 is a major achievement. This update addressed issues and improved some much needed features to makes it easier to design and develop WordPress websites.
Congratulations to everyone involved, especially Andrew Nacin, Jon Cave and Dion Hulse – and the 211 other people who have helped to push WordPress forward.
