Version 3.8 of the popular WordPress is now in beta and available for download if you are interested in testing out some of the new features. Gold is expected December 12, 2013.
The major focus of this release is the user interface in the admin panel.
- The new admin design, especially the responsive aspect of it. Try it out on different devices and browsers, see how it goes, especially the more complex pages like widgets or seldom-looked-at-places like Press This. Color schemes, which you can change on your profile, have also been spruced up.
- The dashboard homepage has been refreshed, poke and prod it.
- Choosing themes under Appearance is completely different, try to break it however possible.
- There’s a new default theme, Twenty Fourteen.
- Over 250 issues closed already.
I’ve had the pleasure of installation installing the beta in order to test the WordPress to XenForo bridge used on this site.
Environment
The installed version of XenForo: 1.2.3
The installed version of WordPress: 3.8-beta-1
MySQL version: 5.5.23
PHP version: 5.4.21
Easy on the Eyes
Adding a post inside the admin panel is now much cleaner with the new UI. The development team deserves props for the look and feel. The new look is definitely easy on the eyes.
New Default Theme
Ugh. No thank you. I’ll stick with this theme but maybe someone will enjoy using the new Twenty Fourteen theme. I realize this is personal preference but the theme is ugly.
Deprecated mysql_connect
Enabling debug in the wp-config.php was very disturbing, bringing up the fact that PHP 5.5 deprecated mysql_connect. This has been an ongoing debate in the development team for over a year – with several patches being included. This is not a big deal for now because most websites are not running the latest PHP version, however this issue will grow in importance as the next year progresses.