wordpress-logo-stacked-rgbNamed after Jazz great, Benny Goodman, WordPress 4.o was released this week and brings with it a number of great new features to your Post, Page, and Media management experience!

All ESC! Technologies Group clients who subscribe to one of our WordPress Maintenance plans will be updated to the latest release as soon as testing is complete — there is nothing you need to do at this point.

So what’s new in WordPress 4.0?

Easier Embeds

Ever struggled to get a YouTube video into a post?  Or how about a TED talk?

Well, now it’s easier than ever!  Just post a link to the video, images, or one of the many other embeds WordPress supports and watch it automagically embed within your post.

Nice.

Improved Editing

Ever lose your toolbar while editing a long post in WordPress? In WordPress 4.0, you’ll love the fact that all formatting tools remain in place as you scroll through your document — even the long ones!

Media Browsing Never Looked So Good

In WordPress 4.0, the improved media gallery now displays an “endless grid” of your site’s media files along with a new details preview to speed up the viewing and editing of all your uploads.

Not To Mention

  • Featured image previews now support .bmp files
  • New embeds: CollegeHumor, Mixcloud, YouTube playlists, & TED talks
  • Color picker was re-added to the Visual editor
  • Display plugins list as grid, with thumbnails
  • Improved keyboard and screen-reader accessibility
  • And Even More…

Updating Your Site

If you’re not subscribed to one of ESC! Technologies Group’s WordPress Maintenance plans, then before upgrading you’ll want to be sure to:

1. Ensure compatibility with and/or Upgrade all your third party plugins
2. Ensure compatibility with your theme and framework and upgrade if necessary
3. Turn off any caching plugins you may have installed
4. Perform a full backup of your site and database
5. Upgrade
6. After the upgrade is complete, re-enable your caching plugins and test your site

Enjoy the new WordPress!