WordPress 3.8 – What’s New and Why It Matters

Agenda
• New User Interface Design
• Improved Theme and Widget Management
• Twenty Fourteen: A ‘’magazine style’’ Default Theme
• Other Noteworthy Updates
• The New is Now
2

CHECK OUT LYNDA.COM’S WORDPRESS VIDEO COURSES: http://www.lynda.com/WordPress-training-tutorials/330-0.html

Introduction
3


Do you use WordPress?
If so, your world is about to CHANGE
and you’re not alone.

4


Recent statistics show WordPress now
powers:
• Close to 20% of the web
And controls:

• Close to 60% of the Content Management System market.

5


So when big changes are rolling
out, there’s a LOT at stake.

6


The most recent version of WordPress, version
3.8, shows that the platform (and its developers)
take this responsibility seriously and aim to
further simplify web publishing for everyone.

7


Let’s dive in and take a closer look
at the WordPress 3.8 release!

8


New User
Interface Design
9


New versions of WordPress follow a general
pattern:

• Odd numbered releases are mostly back-end
upgrades

• Even numbered releases carry with them feature
additions, front-end upgrades, and changes

10


So it should come as no surprise, that 3.8
has some new features.
But unless you’ve been paying close
attention, the extent of these new features
may SURPRISE you.

11


Version 3.8 is not just a feature upgrade.
It is a long awaited facelift.

12


Farewell to the
skeuomorphic, low
contrast rounded corner
user interface of old.

13

Hello to a responsive,
modern, touch-friendly,
typographically-rich user
interface.


Responsive UI:

Desktop
14

Tablet

Mobile


Over the past year:
A team of developers headed by WordPress
co-creator Matt Mullenweg, have been working
on a new user interface, codenamed “MP6”.

15


The MP6 UI aimed to solve a series of issues:
From responsiveness to high-resolution graphics.
Originally developed as stand-alone plugins, MP6 and its
cohorts DASH (simplified dashboard), THX38 (new theme
experience), and the Widget Area Chooser are now
baked into the WordPress core code.
This provides a whole new administrative experience that
is simpler, more accessible, and works beautifully across all
screen sizes.
16


The only real way to get the full story on
the new UI, is to try it for YOURSELF!
As you dig in, let me direct your attention to
some of the finer and less obvious points...

17


1.

MP6 admin UI is fully responsive–meaning as screen
sizes change the layout resizes and reformats to provide
the best possible user experience.

This provides tablet and smartphone users––and also Windows 8
users utilizing Snap––a much improved user experience.
Plus it makes WordPress administration truly mobile out of the box.
As part of this move to responsiveness, the WordPress Toolbar has
been subtly changed to be touch friendly by making the bar and its
buttons bigger as screen sizes get smaller.
18


2.

On the font side, the new admin UI swaps out Arial
for the Google font: Open Sans.

Open Sans has looser kerning (more space between the letters)
for increased readability.
Just as important but less obvious, the new UI also replaces its
image-based icons for the custom Dashicon icon font to ensure
crisp, sharp icons–regardless of screen resolution.
19


3.

And if you don’t like the default charcoal-and-blue
color scheme...

You now have four versions
to choose from:

• Blue
• Default
• Light
• Midnight
20

Though to be honest, only Default
and Midnight have a high enough
contrast to be really useful.


Improved Theme and
Widget Management
21


In tandem with the new admin user
interface...
The Theme and Widget managers have
also been updated to provide better user
experiences.

22


The Theme Manager has been reworked with
the same minimalist approach as the overall
UI, and now provides a more intuitive and
less cluttered interface.

23


Now Gone
• Vertical separation between your active
theme and the themes available to you.
• Theme info is moved to modal windows for
a quicker overview of available themes and a
more in-depth inspection of theme info.
24


Theme Manager

25


Widget management has been improved
to alleviate an enduring frustration for
anyone with a widget heavy site: simpler
widget selection.

26


Hidden below the traditional
drag-and-drop behavior...
The new Widgets UI allows users
to click on an available widget, and
select what widgetized (sidebar)
area, that widget should appear in.
This is a very elegant solution that
will save users time and frustration.

27


The Customizer has been updated with
the new design, making it less obtrusive
and easier to use.
Also, your theme’s info can be more easily
read with a larger area of the screen now
devoted to it.

28


Twenty Fourteen:
A “Magazine Style”
Default Theme
29


Since 2010, WordPress has shipped with
a new default theme every year.
Unfortunately these themes, named after
their release year, have usually been
released towards the end of their year.

30


With Twenty Fourteen, the new default
theme ships with version 3.8, following a
release schedule more like those of
automotive manufacturers.

31


Twenty Fourteen is a magazine-style theme
with a heavy focus on featured content sliders
and tiles, as well as large images.
These types of themes have proven
exceedingly popular, and Twenty Fourteen
aims to answer the need for visual options,
aside from plain old blog themes.
32


3.8 ships with three
default themes:
• Magazine-style
Twenty Fourteen
• Blog-centric
Twenty Thirteen
•CMS-focused
Twenty Twelve
33


Twenty Twelve and Twenty Thirteen were
all about simplicity, Twenty Fourteen
focuses on massive-content-overload,
with plenty of options...

34


Some of these options:
• The header allows for a large banner image or logo
• There is an optional featured content area that
displays sticky or tab-based posts in a carousel or
tiled view
• The main content is boxed between two
widgetized areas on the left and right that disappear
on smaller screens.
35


Concerns have been raised that this theme may
be too content heavy and prone to clutter, but
I recommend holding any reservations until we
see how the WordPress community as a whole
puts it to use.
My two cents: always keep the widgets in your
theme to a minimum.
36


For an in-depth walkthrough of Twenty
Fourteen and all it has to offer, stay tuned for
my upcoming lynda.com video course:

Start with a Theme: Twenty Fourteen

37


Other Noteworthy
Updates
38


WordPress 3.8 also introduces some other, less
talked about updates, including:
•Updated Profile page with choices reflecting more modern sensibilities
• AIM, Yahoo! IM, Jabber/Google Talk are GONE, replaced by the more popular options of
Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.

•Auto-updating for point releases (which was actually introduced in 3.7.1)
•A smarter password strength indicator for more robust security
•Many other core code updates to give developers new power and
capabilities
39


The New is Now

40


Now that you have a clear understanding of
what WordPress 3.8 is all about, go forth and
update your own site.
After making a backup of course!

41


WordPress has always been on the cutting edge
of current web trends, and 3.8 will put you and
your site firmly at the forefront of modern
web development best practices.
So what are you waiting for? Upgrade to 3.8
today!

42


Check out all the lynda.com Wordpress
video series, including:
- Installing and Running Wordpress
- Wordpress Quick Tips
- Start with a Theme
- Wordpress Plugins
- Wordpress Ecommerce
and much more!

Browse our video training:
Wordpress Training Courses
43

WordPress 3.8 – What’s New and Why It Matters

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Mehr von LinkedIn Learning Solutions

Mehr von LinkedIn Learning Solutions (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

WordPress 3.8 – What’s New and Why It Matters