WordPress 4.5 Preview

Steve Zehngut - March 9, 2016

WordPress 4.5 is close to rolling out. It’s currently in beta and ready for you to download and test on your non-production WordPress sites. There are over 400 bug fixes and enhancements added to this version. Congrats to the core team!

Here are some enhancements that we found interesting:

Responsive mode in Customizer

When working in the WordPress Customizer, you can toggle between different sizes. This is a big time saver and easier workflow for site owners since the toggle is within the Customizer UI, rather than having to use a browser’s built-in responsive toggle, which may not be so obvious for all users.

Responsive toggle in WordPress Customizer
Toggling between different sizes is now easier when viewing a theme inside the Customizer.

Excerpts now part of search

In the past, excerpts where not part of a search query, which proved problematic for some authors, especially if there was content only in the excerpt. Search queries wouldn’t return a true search result. Now, authors don’t have to worry about missing content and will know their excerpts will be part of search.

In terms of search weight, the query prioritizes title, excerpt, then content.

View the full patch and documentation: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/35762

Inline links

The workflow for adding links to your content inside the WordPress editor has been improved as well. Authors get a slimmer link toolbox rather than the larger link light box. This improves the speed in which adding links to your content dramatically. The more robust link box is still available by selecting the ‘Advanced’ gear icon.

Inline links in the WordPress editor
The UI for adding links to your posts has been simplified. The full version is still available as well.

Login via email

Users can now natively login via email or their username. This is a welcomed addition in the community since a lot of users are used to using their email to login to applications. Traditionally, having a log in via email required a plugin, which required extra maintenance via updates.

This functionality is a big plus for sites running membership or e-commerce applications, which required users to login as part of the core functionality.

View the patch here: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/9568

Additional markdown support

For you markdown lovers out there, the core team added some new editor shortcuts. The great thing about these shortcuts is speed and accessibility: any UX that promotes staying on the keyboard for functionality instead of reaching for a mouse is a big plus.

Specifically, the new shortcuts are:

  1. Italics *italics*
  2. Bold **bold**
  3. Code `code`
  4. Horizontal ruler ---
Markdown in WordPress
Additional markdown support is now available in the content editor.

 

A big congrats to the core team for their hard work and continued support to the WordPress community!