When it comes to my relationship with WordPress, it was love at first site. From the beginning, I found this web design platform both robust and easy to use. With each upgrade, WordPress gets better and better. That remains true with the roll out of WordPress 3.5.
What’s New with WordPress 3.5:
- Improved Image Management
Images continue to be an important part of all online content strategies, so I was glad to see WordPress focus much of this update on improving their media library tools. The improved uploading process and gallery browsing functions are the biggest changes most users will notice. It is easier than ever to drag and drop multiple images to your desktop. As you load more and more images, the bigger thumbnails make it easier to find images you uploaded a week, a month or even a year ago.
I also like the ability to name, tag and describe images as you select them. This was always possible, but the new tool appears in the sidebar and makes it easier to remember to do the little things which will make your images much more visible to Google.
- Twenty Twelve Native Theme – Simple and Elegant
Looking to build a simple web site or blog in a matter of minutes? The WordPress native themes, Twenty Ten, Twenty Eleven and now Twenty Twelve, are a great starting point. But unlike earlier versions, Twenty Twelve really allows you to take the design well beyond a simple blog. My favorite part of this new theme is a separate homepage template, which allows you to use different widgets on the home page and interior pages, a feature most web users have come to expect.
Designed with mobile in mind, Twenty Twelve is fully responsive, so it adjusts easily to small mobile screens or large desktop displays. The new theme also includes improved typography choices. This really appeals to the font geek in me.
- Best Time Saving Enhancement: Favorites
There are a number of other enhancements specifically for web developers like us. My favorite tool is the Favorites List. We install the same plugin set on every web site we build. It usually takes about 30 minutes to run down the list of favorites, find and install. It’s not a big deal, but it still takes time or plugins can be forgotten. That won’t happen anymore. With the new Favorites option, we can create a standard set-up plugins. Now when we set up a new website, all the plugins are installed at once. As we find new favorites, we can add them to our Favorite list, and they will automatically be installed in each new site.
The bottom line? There is a lot to love in the most recent upgrade of WordPress for developers and causal users alike. Take a few minutes to update your operating system and you’ll fall in love too!