WordPress Experts

Category: WordPress Update

  • Quick guide to WordPress 4.4 for Developers

    Quick guide to WordPress 4.4 for Developers

    WordPress version 4.4 comes with a lot of changes and features for WordPress Developers. I have made a brief list of major features in the release.Prior Knowledge of php,html,css and WordPress is required to be able to understand all the features listed below.

    WordPress 4.4 Features

    • Taxonomy Terms: WP_Term class introduced. get_term() , get_term_by() functions will now return WP_Term objects.
    • Term Meta: Now metadata can be added for each term easily with new functions add_term_meta(), update_term_meta(), delete_term_meta(), and get_term_meta().
    • Comments: WP_Comment class introduced to query comments data.WP_Comment_Query class introduced to query through a comment tree.comment_form_field_comment, comment_form_after_fields and other hooks introduced in comment_form() function.These hooks are used to display comment textarea first in the form. You can also now easily customize the fields in the form.
    • Multisite / WordPress Network: WP_Network class introduced. Following new functions are introduced add_network_option(), update_network_option(), get_network_option(), and delete_network_option() to manage network options.
    • Rest API: REST API infrastructure has been finally introduced to WordPress core.
    • Responsive Images: Responsive image markup has been added to the img tag of output from the_post_thumbnail() with attribute srcset. New thumbnail size medium_large, has been added which is 768px wide by default, with no height limit. New function wp_get_attachment_image_srcset() and wp_get_attachment_image_sizes()can be used to get srcset and sizes attribute values for any image. You can use the values in img tag in your WordPress theme.
    • Twenty Sixteen: New Twenty Sixteen theme has been introduced.
    • oEmbed:

      You can now Embed WordPress posts in your WordPress 4.4 based website.Developers can change or edit the embed output code only using embed_head and embed_footer.

    • Accessibility of Admin Screen: Headings in custom admin page should be wrapped with h1 tag and subheadings with h2 tag. Dashboard widget headings should also be changed to h2. More details can be found here.
    • Metabox: You can now add metaboxes to specific custom post types very easily by using add_meta_box function. add_meta_box() now accepts array of post types with $screen parameter.

    You can visit list of all changes that have been addressed (or the tickets that has been closed) for WordPress version 4.4 WordPress Trac.
    You can also view more detailed and updated list at : here

  • Whats new in WordPress 3.5

    Whats new in WordPress 3.5

    WordPress is one of the most popular content management system today. WordPress is used by about 17.5% of all the websites that exist in the world wide web, i.e. a 55.2% of content management system market share. Its continuously evolving as a complete solution for all types of website needs. The most recent version of the WordPress is 3.5. It was released on 11th, December 2012. You can download it from here : WordPress.org/wordpress-3.5.zip

    Features (for users)

    • It has completely new media manager, so you can easily manage media files than ever.
    • New Twenty Twelve default theme has been added. Its responsive and you just might fall in love with its flexibility .
    • oEmbed support for Instagram, SoundCloud and Slideshare.
    • Retina-Ready (HiDPI) Admin screen and New welcome screen
    • Privace tab has been removed and the search engine visibility feature has been moved to “Reading Settings” in admin screen.
    • Many other small but important improvements done in admin screen , like new color picker and it other new devices compatibilty.

    Features (for developers)

    • New “show_admin_column” parameter has been added for for register_taxonomy() allows auto creation of taxonomy columns on associated post types.
    • Meta query support has been added to WP_Comment_Query and WP_User_Query. So , now developers can search comments and users based on their meta value.
    • Two new hooks for the add/edit post screen: edit_form_after_title and edit_form_after_editor.
    • Speed improvement in switch_to_blog() and post Objects.
    • XML-RPC WordPress API is enabled by default and there is no option to disable from admin screen.
    • New WP_Image_Editor class has been added for image manipulation.
    • Underscore and Backbone JavaScript libraries has been added to the core.

    Please visit this link to see more detailed list of changes and developers who contributed.

    Official Video on WordPress 3.5

    Happy blogging. 🙂