11 days ago, Mark Jaquith announced the release of WordPress 3.6 Beta 1, the first beta release of the next version of WordPress. Being the curious ape that I am, I decided to take it for a spin to see what we can expect to see in the future.
Mark noted the following new features and updates : Post Formats, Twenty Thirteen, Audio/Video, Autosave, Post Locking, Nav Menus, and Revisions. Let’s look at these one by one.
Post Formats
There is now a user interface for post formats in the post editor; located above the post title area. All ten post formats are available: standard, image, gallery, link, video, audio, chat, status, quote, and aside.
Depending on what post format you select, a box will appear underneath that allows you to enter additional information. For example, for quote posts you can enter your quote, the quote source, and the quote source URL.
Twenty Thirteen
3.6 will be the first version of WordPress to ship with the new default theme Twenty Thirteen. As I noted in my preview of Twenty Thirteen, this is a design that is going to split opinions.
It’s certainly very different from previous default themes. Whilst I do not think I’d use this design on any of my websites, I am interested to see how developers create new designs using Twenty Thirteen.
Audio/Video
Audio and video files can be embedded directly into posts without the use of an external plugin. Therefore, to embed a YouTube video onto a post or page, all you need to do is enter the URL (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlLbW4SJDtc). This is a fantastic addition for those of you who embed a lot of videos in your content.
I am not sure how you can edit the size of a video (there are no additional options in /wp-admin/options-media.php). The normal procedure of embedding a video from a website such as YouTube is to click on the share button, choose the size of video you want, and copy the code. When I embedded a YouTube video on my test blog, the video was the same width as my content area. I hope that this was by design. That is, WordPress automatically adjusts videos to the maximum width of the content area.
Autosave
In addition to automatically saving revisions frequently, WordPress now saves copies of your posts locally to your computer. So you will not lose your post if your browser or computer crashes.
Saving articles offline is one of the main benefits of using a blog editor, therefore I expect many blog editor users to consider switching back to writing directly via the post editor.
Post Locking
At the moment, if someone is editing a post and leaves the post editing page open in their browser, WordPress gives a warning that the post is currently being edited by someone else. You now have the option of kicking that person off the post. This will prove useful for multi-author blogs and websites where writers collaborate on posts.
Nav Menus
WordPress menus have been improved visually. Pages, links, categories and post formats, now have their own separate tab. It’s a simple change however it is welcomed, as it tidies everything up.
Revisions
Revisions have been given an overhaul. There is now a slider that lets you slide through different revisions. On the left hand side of each revision you can see what has been removed. On the right hand side you can see what has been added. Two revisions can be directly compared too.
I do go back and use revisions periodically, particularly when I have had problems with my internet connection. So for me, this is a fantastic addition to WordPress.
With every new version of WordPress, Automattic are making it slightly better. There is no doubt that they have achieved this again. The changes they have added in 3.6, albeit small, have made WordPress a better application.
This version of WordPress still has many bugs, therefore I do not recommend installing it on a live website. You can test it for yourself via the download file which is located in the announcement below.
Thanks,
Kevin
Link: WordPress 3.6 Beta 1
Hm I thought you can already do the copy-paste YouTube’s URL on a post and WordPress will automatically convert it into a YouTube video? (I remember reading this on a WordPress 3.5 release or earlier – though I am normally still using the embed code so far)
I’ve just looked at all the announcement posts on WordPress.org/blog/and I can’t see anything about media embeds. You could be right, or perhaps you are thinking about Twitter embeds. I’m not too sure 🙂
Kevin
As Scottie once said, “The more they over-think the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the drain”.
Don’t get me wrong – WordPress is a wonderful platform. But in your newsletter today you also mentioned how WP sites are coming under more frequent attack by hackers.
Perhaps they ought to harden the castle walls instead of constantly adding more doorbells to the gate.
Most of the websites being attacked are old installations that still use the username “admin” as the username. The headlines simply illustrated how many people are using old versions of WordPress.
They’re actually pretty good with securing WordPress, as they release many updates to ensure any security holes are plugged. Unfortunately, many webmasters don’t always update. I have written articles for many blogs and been surprised to see them using an old version.
The thing is, WordPress powers about 30-40% of all websites on the internet. So when hackers want to do a massive attack, they go after a script that many people use (which makes sense, no point targeting scripts that no one uses). So basically: they found a security hole from years + many people don’t update to the latest version + most people don’t care about security and don’t use security plugins + most popular script on the internet = CARNAGE!
Forums are attacked a lot too (for the same reasons). Black Belt Forums received a huge amount of spam about 8 months ago, which is why it is now a pain for anyone signing up (as they need to answer spam questions etc).
Kevin
You’re right, of course – but by the same token I can understand why people don’t always want to upgrade to the latest version, because sometimes it plays havoc with plug-ins, but with the ease of making back-ups and implementing the new WP version (think one-click!) there’s really no longer any reason to stick with an old install.
*runs off to change his log-in info from “Admin” and “Password” *:)
Yeah I know what you’re saying. My video websites use a plugin that is essential to the way I publish videos. Thankfully, it is updated regularly, but if it wasn’t, I’d be placed in a position of either not upgrading, or looking for an alternative solution (and I’m not sure there is a good one).
It’s not ideal to do rely on any one plugin. Which is why that you should always use plugins that are updated regularly or that can be changed i.e. try not to put yourself in a position where your website cannot function without a particular plugin. On this blog, I could change any plugin to any other.
You need to remember, using a plugin that hasn’t been updated in years can be risky too, as they may have security issues.
For you, I would strongly recommend changing the username from admin. I’d keeping using “Password” though – they aren’t going to break that.
If you ever have any questions about WordPress, feel free to buzz me 🙂
Kevin