Just 4 months after the major upgrade with WordPress 3.8, a new version has already been released.
We are testing the software on our own website and on a few client sites. We will be upgrading sites on our hosting servers to the newest version over the next week, once we determine that the release is stable and works well with our core themes. If you’re in a rush to try out the new features, let us know and we’ll put your website on the top of the list!
The WordPress 3.9 upgrade adds quite a few improvements to content and media editing. Some of the exciting new features include:
Improved Visual Editing
The updated WordPress visual editor has faster speed, accessibility, and better support for mobile devices. In this age where so much online traffic comes from mobile devices, now you have the power to manage your own website from your phone or tablet with more ease.
The visual editor has also been improved to make copying and pasting between programs (such as Microsoft Word or e-mail) easier. The improvements allow for you to copy and paste without cleaning up messy formatting and styles.
Image Editing in the Visual Editor
Now you can size images to the correct size directly in the visual editor, with a quick drag of the mouse. For people who frequently post content with pictures that need resizing, this will cut down a lot of time choosing the percentage at which to display your image. (In fact, we used this feature when writing this very blog post!)
Drag and Drop Images directly to the Media Editor
Another feature we’re testing with this blog post: now you can drag photos from your computer directly to the visual editor to upload them. No need to click the “Add Media” – dragging a photo or music file directly to a post will open up the media uploader automatically.
Preview Gallery Images in the Visual Editor
Perhaps our favorite update: standard WordPress Galleries are now displayed in the visual editor as a full preview of all of the images in your gallery.
Built in Audio and Video Playlist Support
Now you can add simple audio and video playlists to your website pages or blog posts to showcase your music and video clips.