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What WordPress is Preparing for WordPress 3.8

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WordPress 3.7 is not yet out, but WordPress developers and users are already discussing the even newer version of the world’s most popular content management system and blogging platform. WordPress 3.8 is estimated to be released in December, and the WP community is closely following the development process.

For the first time WordPress is working on two releases simultaneously, even though official development of 3.8 will start only after the release of WordPress 3.7. As co-founder of WordPress Matt Mullenweg announced in his State of the Word address at WordCamp 2013, version 3.8 will be more experimental and will use an innovative “features-as-plugins” model. So what are the major experiments coming up in the 3.8 release?

Features-as-Plugins

According to http://make.wordpress.org, the new features-as-plugins model allows more experimentation and a possibility to wait for a feature to be fully developed before including it in a release. Not every feature will end up in the core, and the ones that don’t will continue as community-built plugins that will improve the ecosystem. Plus, starting a feature as a plugin helps formalises the process.

The core team will decide which feature is included in the core and which isn’t. It’s still too early to say for sure what functionality WordPress 3.8 will have, but some of the features in development and design stages are:

  • CEUX (adding “blocks” to content),
  • Featured Content (ability to spotlight your posts and have the theme display them in a unique way), and
  • Widgets UI Refresh

Redesigned Admin Panel

With the new style of core development, the admin panel also gets a revamp. According to Joen Assmussen, a member of WordPress design team, one of the key ideas for the new UI is the foundation for an “activity stream” that shows everything that happens on the blog.

Other important changes are as follows:

  • QuickPress becomes Quick Draft
  • Quick Draft is merged with Recent Drafts
  • Quick Draft becomes a place for only uncompleted, draft posts
  • Right Now becomes Site Content
  • Activity section, as said above, shows comments and scheduled posts.

The new admin UI was designed with user feedback in mind, based on the results of the WordPress Admin Dashboard questionnaire. This resulted in the merging of news widgets, rethinking QuickPress, and making the admin UI responsive.

The 3.8 Release seems to be one of the most experimental ones since WordPress began as a CMS. Are you looking forward to this new experience, or would you rather stick to the more familiar WordPress 3.7? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.


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