What does the new Wordpress 3.5 have in store for us?

The version 3.5 named “Elvin” after the famous drummer Elvin Jones has lots of pleasant surprises in store for WordPress users. Especially with features like media library, plugin installations and theme previewer.

In this article we will be going through some of these changes and how to use them.

Media Uploader Improvements

The new version has made uploading media in content very easy and simple. It provides a very simplified interface streamlining the entire workflow and enabling easy uploading and inserting images even for beginners.

Here’s how you do it:
Click the new “Add Media” button:

In the light box that pops up , choose how you want to add the image – by dragging and dropping or by clicking“Select Files.”

Once you have added the image it will appear in the pop-up dialog box. Click the image to access its settings, which will appear on the right.

To finish off click the “Insert into post” button and watch your image appear on your post.

New Default Theme

Ever since 2010 the wordpress development team uses a new default theme each year. This year’s default theme is called the Twenty Twelve and was released with the 3.5 version.

This is the first fully responsive default theme, therefore improving the accessibility of your WordPress blog as it would fit any screen size

Twenty Twelve on a small screen

The twenty twelve provides a front page template with it’s own widgets in the place of a sidebar. This would enable you to customize the front page in a single page set-up. Here the WordPress takes on a CMS attribute.

Twenty Twelve’s front-page template

Also commendable is the fact that the theme is retina-ready, so it works well on high resolution screens and has a stock of Open Sans font family.

Links Manager Is Gone

For a fresh 3.5 installation of the wordPress the links menu is disabled, this is done to make the core lighter. But if you are updating an existing WordPress then these links will continue to exist.

The links menu does not exist anymore.

You have to install the Link Manager plugin to get this feature on the new 3.5 version.

A menu with the Link Manager plugin

Favorite Plugins

You now get to mark all the plugins that you like as a favorite by just clicking a button

The “Favorite” button for plugins.

You can then directly access the favorites from the admin panel. This way its easier for you to install these plugins. To get the list you need to go to Plugins → Add New → Favorites, type your WordPress.org user name, and hit the “Get Favorites” button.

Pulling up the list of favorite plugins from WordPress.org

Favorite plugins

Welcome Screen

Again WordPress has further simplified things for its users with a user-friendly and simpler welcome screen which includes all the basic tasks that a user would require.

The new welcome screen

Color Picker

An improved color picker so you are spoilt for choice.

Other Enhancements

There are several other features that are introduced from a developer perspective and might sound insignificant to the basic user:
XML-RPC has been enabled by default to facilitate easy conection with mobile apps.
Has improved static front-page options in the “Reading Settings” menu.
No longer promotes child categories to the top level after minor edits.
External libraries like TinyMCE, SimplePie, jQuery and jQuery UI have been updated and the Backbone 0.9.2 and Underscore 1.3.3 have also been added.
Now supports Instagram, SoundCloud and SlideShare.
Subdirectories now allow multi-site usage in a subdirectory.
The “HTML” tab renamed to “Text.”
Screen reader and keyboard navigation support have been improved; you now can navigate the admin panel using the Tab key
Several visual elements converted to CSS3 formats suitable for HidPI

Disha Joshi, working in SEO Web Design Company as a content Marketer. I have been in this industry since last two & half years.

About these ads