WordPress 4 New Features and Benefits
One of the most defining elements about WordPress over the years has been its willingness to constantly adapt to emerging trends. It’s been this ability to stay ahead of the curve that has allowed it to dominate the CMS market, outcompeting its alternatives by a wide margin. The most recent large-scale update known as WordPress 4.0 includes over 250 improvements to the platform. Below we’ll explain some of the WordPress 4 new features and benefits and why they’ll help you maximize the effectiveness of your websites.
WordPress 4 New Features and Benefits: The Shortlist
Embedded Media
One of the best of all the WordPress 4 new features is the ability to easily embed content by copying a URL into a post. This works for the leading forms of embedded video ranging from YouTube to Hulu, and from TED Talks to CollegeHumor.com. In the past, embedding media was a much more convoluted process, but WordPress 4.0 has streamlined it for our convenience.
Enhanced Media Manager
The Media Library has been given a sleek makeover and now appears in grid form. While the improvements are mostly superficial, they do make it significantly easier for webmasters to search and organize their content. Editing is now easier than before which users will find convenient—all you need to do is click on an image in the grid and a pop-up will allow you to edit the file without exiting out of the screen. Best of all, you’re free to switch back to the earlier style if that’s your preference.
Easy-to-Install Plugins
WordPress has always made it a priority to make the process of customizing your site as easy as possible. It took another step in this direction with WordPress 4.0 by improving the way that users find and install plugins. Plugins will now be listed in grid form, along with key information including descriptions, user reviews, release dates, and compatibility information. Considering the importance of plugins when it comes to search engine optimization and branding, this makeover will positively improve the experiences of many users.
User-Friendly Post Editor
Editing posts is now a more pleasant experience, and you’ll be able to compose posts without scrolling now that WordPress will reshape itself per your browser specifications. This means that the menu bar will remain as a sticky at the top of your screen, making the entire editing process that much more efficient. This is a great example of a subtle improvement that will have a positive impact on millions of WordPress users.
International Appeal
If you’re using WordPress in a language besides English—as millions of its users do—then you’ll be satisfied with the new installation languages that have been added. Translations will be handled more effectively than ever before, which means that its growing user base will start appealing to an ever wider audience. This is big news even for English speakers, since the soaring WordPress user base means that improvements will continue to be rolled out for the foreseeable future.
