It was just two months
ago when WordPress 3.6 was released, and we already have
WordPress 3.7 almost ready to go. It is scheduled to be released on October
14th, 2013. There are some important changes coming your way. WordPress 3.7
will be mainly focused on security and stability of the WordPress core. Let’s
take a look at what new features are coming in WordPress 3.7.
Automatic Updates
One of the most
anticipated features of WordPress 3.7 is automatic updates.Managed WordPress hosting providers
already do automatic WordPress updates for their users when a new update is
available.
Now WordPress will be
able to do this on its own. A typical WordPress installation will be able to
automatically update minor/security releases by without any user input. This
means that a user does not need to update WordPress from 3.7 to 3.7.1. However,
automatic updates will not be done for major releases by default, for example
3.7.1 to 3.8.
When we asked audience
opinion on this using our twitter and facebook pages, we had a mixed response
from users. Some really liked it and others absolutely hated it. This is why
there will be an option to turn off automatic updates from the wp-config.php
file. There will also be an option to completely automate the process and even
auto-update WordPress to major releases by adding a define parameter in
wp-config.php.
Language Packs
WordPress 3.7 will
also come with better support for language packs. The current goal set for
WordPress 3.7 is to separately maintain language files for default themes,
importer plugins, and the WordPress core. For users, this means that if you are using WordPress in your language, then with each update WordPress will
automatically fetch the language files for default themes, importer plugins,
and the core.
Currently users need
to find a translation ready
WordPress theme and install
language files. Hopefully, this feature will extend to other themes and
plugins, so users will not have to worry about downloading and uploading
translation files for each plugin they use.
New Password Meter
Strong password are
important for WordPress security. This is why WordPress comes with a password
strength meter, but it is very weak. This is why in WordPress 3.7, the core
team decided to add a new password meter that will encourage users to choose
stronger passwords.
This will be a great
addition with the force
strong passwords plugin that
admins can use to force users to use strong passwords.
Improved WordPress
Search
Let’s face it, the
default WordPress search is not the best. This is why many users rely on other
solutions like SearchWP or even Google custom search for their sites.
Thankfully, with
WordPress 3.7 the default search will get a little better.
WordPress will now display search results by relevancy rather than in a reverse
chronological order. It will consider a result more relevant if the keyword
matches in title as well as content.
In line Documentation
for Hooks
As an open source software WordPress is free and the source code is available for
anyone to use, modify, study and build upon. All WordPress code was already
documented, but there are many new hooks available.
The core team decided
to streamline the inline documentation for all the hooks in the core. This will
make it easier for new developers to study the code, learn, and practice. It
will also help experienced developers to write better code for their own
WordPress applications.
WordPress 3.7 is
currently in Beta, and there is very little chance that any new features will
be added to it. However it is still possible that the final release can be
different. If you want to try the beta version, then you can do so by installing WordPress on local server
environment and run the beta tester plugin.
Which feature are you
looking forward to the most? Let us know what you like or dislike about WordPress 3.7 by leaving a comment below.
