WordPress 4.8 is officially the best WordPress 2017 has seen! Users will receive new and refined features focused on Editing and Customizing their sites while developers will be able to take advantage of 109 enhancements and features added. Let’s look at the many improvements coming in 4.8…
Media Widgets
Not one, not two, but three new media widgets make their way into core Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. It’s like the AV crew just showed up and now the party can really begin. You get an audio widget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user.. You get an image widget. You get a video widget. Check under your seat, media widgets for everyone!
Media Widgets for Images, Video, and Audio
Fabulously Rich Text Widget
Robin Hood has come to town and is handing out rich text editing to all the text widgets. No more having to manually type out your HTML HyperText Markup Language. The semantic scripting language primarily used for outputting content in web browsers. in text widgets like it’s 2016.
Addition of TinyMCE to the Text Widget
Simpler Link Editing, Streamlined Browser Support, and Editor Instantiation via JS JavaScript, a web scripting language typically executed in the browser. Often used for advanced user interfaces and behaviors.
Editing just got a lot easier, you can thank us later. But trust us that adding and managing links within the editor is now easier than ever. If you don’t trust us, then just try navigating in and out of links with your arrow keys. Pretty cool, huh? That’s the new TinyMCE inline element / link boundaries. As for the reduced browser support, let’s just say IE 8, 9, and 10 have been thanked for their service but can feel free to enjoy their retirement. Also, if bootstrapping the TinyMCE content editor dynamically via JS is your thing, then boy are you going to be excited!
Editor changes in 4.8
Editor API changes in 4.8
WMV and WMA get retirement packages
Remember Silverlight? Many browsers these days don’t. So the file formats which require the presence of the Silverlight plugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party are being removed from core support. Files will still display as a download link, but will no longer be embedded automatically.
Removal of core embedding support for WMV and WMA file formats
Resizing the Customizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. sidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.
If you have used the Customizer on a high-resolution screen, then you may have noticed that the Customizer sidebar is… suboptimally narrow. The sidebar is now variable width based on screen size to help you receive the best editing experience possible.
Customizer sidebar width is now variable
WordCamps and meetups all up in your admin (and super admin) dashboard
One of the best things about WordPress is its community. You can now read about WordCamps and meetups in your area right within your dashboard. No more excuses for missing the speaker or volunteer deadlines now!
Nearby WordPress Events
Showing upcoming local events in wp-admin
Mu will really love these multisite Used to describe a WordPress installation with a network of multiple blogs, grouped by sites. This installation type has shared users tables, and creates separate database tables for each blog (wp_posts becomes wp_0_posts). See also network, blog, site changes
We know you love superheroes but is_super_admin() needs to go. So while we’re replacing that with appropriate capabilities, we’re also treating you to some new hooks In WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same. and a new $network_id parameter that gets wide usage across several functions.
Multisite Focused Changes in 4.8
Accessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility): saving the best for last
As a part of ongoing efforts to improve accessibility in WordPress, 4.8 includes some changes to headings within admin screens. This is a continuation of the work started in 4.3 on restoring the H1 (heading level 1) to the admin screens and continued in 4.4 with the introduction of a better headings hierarchy. Also improved is the Tag Cloud widget, now swapping out the title attributes in favor of aria-label attributes.
Cleaner headings in the admin screens
Tag Cloud widget changes in 4.8
But Wait, There is More!
Roughly 217 bugs, 108 enhancements, 1 feature request A feature request should generally begin the process in the ideas forum, on a mailing list, as a plugin, or brought to the attention of the core team, such as through scope meetings held for each major release. Unsolicited tickets of this variety are typically, therefore, discouraged., and 16 blessed tasks have been marked as closed in WordPress 4.8. Some additional ones to highlight include:
- REST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/.:
orderby normalization (#38693)
- REST API: Add
supports object to /types response (#39033)
- New filter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. to disable auto-focus on the login screen (#40301)
- Screencast.com was added as an oEmbed provider (#38367)
- HHVM removed from the test matrix on Travis (#40548)
- Bundled Themes now support the new media and updated text widgets (#40745)
- Popular plugins feed has been removed from the dashboard (#40702)
- Support added for Bosnian locale A locale is a combination of language and regional dialect. Usually locales correspond to countries, as is the case with Portuguese (Portugal) and Portuguese (Brazil). Other examples of locales include Canadian English and U.S. English. (
bs_BA) in remove_accents() (#39658)
- Easily enqueue
WP_Editor JavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com/. files using the new wp_enqueue_editor() (#35760)
New Action Hooks
New Filter Hooks
file_mod_allowed replaces disallow_file_mods (#38673)minimum_site_name_length (#39676)nav_menu_submenu_css_class (#36163)page_menu_link_attributes (#40359)post_date_column_status (#39545)signup_site_meta (#39223)signup_user_meta (#39223)wp_doing_cron (#39591)widget_text_content (#40772)rest_oembed_ttl (#40450)widget_{$this->id_base}_instance (#32417)
Modified Filter Hooks
widget_text_content (#40772){$type}_template (#39525)display_media_states (#39628)media_library_show_audio_playlist (#31071)media_library_show_video_playlist (#31071)rest_pre_insert_comment (#39578)wp_is_large_network (#40489)
External Library Updates
- TinyMCE was updated from version 4.5.6 to version 4.6.2 (see: #40859).
- Twemoji was updated from version 2.2.2 to version 2.3.0 (see: #40858).
- zxcvbn was updated from version 1.0 to version 4.4.1 (see: #31647).
Please, test your code. That bears repeating: Please, test your code. Fixing issues now, before 4.8 is released, helps you and helps millions of WordPress sites. Please. Test. Your. Code.
#4-8, #field-guide
