After so much of speculations, WordPress 4.2 – Powell has been finally released on April 23, 2015. This version is named after the famous jazz pianist Buzz Powell and it is considered as the major release of the year.
The latest version of this amazing CMS embraces various interesting features that further add to the credibility of WordPress. In this article, I will distill all its new features and functions that are all set to make global sharing and communication a breeze while offering an enhanced web experience.
Without any further ado, let's uncover the remarkable offerings of WordPress 4.2.
1. Easier Content Sharing With “Press This”
The existing tool - “Press This” has been overhauled in WordPress 4.2. It now comes with two major features.
Firstly, it includes the bookmark-let that facilitates one to drag and drop this tool from the Tools Menu to his browser. You can use Press This to swiftly publish blogs, images and videos straight away from the browser. Once you will click on the Press This, the WordPress post editor will appear inside a popup and it will automatically retrieve the image, post title, and an excerpt along with a link to the original source.
Secondly, you can also add a link to this tool that can enable you to implement it via your mobile browser. You may either choose to bookmark it or add it to your home screen. It, thus, allows one to share content on the go.
2. Emoji Support For Impressive Communication
There is no doubt that when Emoji's are used in the text, they offer a fun and enticing way to interact. The good news is that you will be able the add emotions to your text while using the latest version of WP. Although the basic emoticons were there for a long time and users were able to integrate emoji support on their own, the feature was not available in the core platform.
The new WP version comes complete with emoji support. You can add emojis in your text, including posts, comments, and post slugs, to name a few, as and when desired. To include this feature, a lot of work has been done on the WP database. This has certainly also allowed one to natively implement extended characters like Japanese, Chinese, etc.
3. Quick Plugin Installation and Updates
Plugin installation and updates are no more boring and slow processes. With this latest version, you can smoothly update your plugin and get an enhanced version of it.
This version has further streamlined the plugin installation process. You can directly install a plugin from the search results or via the “Add New Plugin” tab. A plugin gets activated as and when installation is completed. Thereby, reducing the page loads that are otherwise generated while installing and activating a plugin.
Despite the chosen plugin will be activated at the time of installation, you can deactivate it by going back to the Installed Plugin window. And, from the same screen, you can also update plugins.
4. Proficiently Change Themes In the Customizer
Whether you are browsing, installing or previewing, you can experience an improved way to work with themes in the WordPress 4.2. This latest version augments theme integration by enabling one to change, preview and activate themes right from the Theme Customizer screen.
5. Seamless Content Embedding
You can seamlessly add content from Tumblr.com and Kickstarter by simply pasting the URL of the requisite content in the WP editor, and it will fetch the complete content (including images and videos). From here, you can easily edit the content in a desired way and publish it on your WP site.
Additional Improvements
In the previous versions, the Database character encoding was utf8 and in this version, it is utf8mb4. This minor change has enabled compatibility with an array of new 4-byte characters.
You can also share response via JavaScripts as the Powell ensures an absolute JavaScript accessibility. This allows one to share audible messages with viewers by using JavaScript, via a11y.speak() function. Simply pass a string in this function, and it will send a notification to an appropriate ARIA live notification area.
The article offers an insight into the amazing features of the recently released WordPress 4.2 Powell. You can find more details about this release by visiting its official site.
Upgrade your platform now and reap the benefits of this fabulous CMS. However, it is advisable to download the most recent version of the platform; currently it is WordPress 4.2.2 that includes certain crucial security related bug fixes.
