WordPress 3.6 – check out what’s new!

We'll be migrating all clients in our WordPress Maintenance Program to the latest version of WordPress this week, check out this post for a quick wrap up of the new user features.

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WordPress 3.6 is out and ready for use! We’ll be rolling out the update for all DMA clients in our WordPress Maintenance Program over the next week. Read on for a quick look at some of the new features that will be of interest to users.

Autosave

This new release brings improvements to the Autosave function when using the WordPress editor. The development team focused on the autosave function in an attempt to make WordPress even more reliable.

As you know, when you work in the editor you’re working in a web browser. When you click ‘Publish‘ on your work, it’s saved into the database that stores your site. If your internet connection is interrupted or perhaps you forget to save your post, work can be lost. With the new autosave feature WordPress is automatically saving your work quietly in the background without causing a fuss but you can see it in action.

Next time you’re working on a new page or post check the autosave notice at the bottom of the editor, here’s a screenshot from this post I’m working on right now.

3.6.autosave

Update to Revision Management

WordPress post revisionsThis connects nicely into the next feature Revision Management. For a long time it’s been possible to revert to an older version of a document (a page or a post) however version 3.6 brings a new user interface to revisions.

This update bring a new Revisions option in the Publish meta box, see the screen shot opposite for its location.

Browsing the revisions shows a new interface which is pictured below – here you can use the slider  to move backward through time and the interface is updated showing you differences between the versions.

If you arrive at a revision that you’d like to restore there’s a button there to restore it, WordPress would then revert the post to the selected version. Great if you change your mind about the direction of a post or if you’re working in a situation with more than one person working on the content.

Browsing WordPress Post Revisions
Click to view larger version

Post Locking

If you have more than one person working on your site this feature will be of great help.

In the past it’s been a little too easy to both be editing the same page or post, post locking now will alert you if another user has the same content open. It goes further by giving you the option to preview what the other user has done or to take over editing from that user.

Take a look at the following series of screen shots showing post locking in action.

post-edit-warning-message-3.5

post-listing-lock

take-over-dialog

(Images courtesy of http://codex.wordpress.org/Post_Locking)

Native support for audio & video

The media library now supports video and audio, just like it does images.

Have an MP3 audio file that you’d like to use in your site content?

No problem just insert it in much the same way that you would an image. 3.6 has an HTML audio player that is going to take care of the front end display. Check out the screen shot below, it’s looks pretty good and because it’s HTML 5 it will work on all devices including iPhones, iPads etc..

WordPress HTML 5 Media Player

The same goes for video files, it’s a matter of drag and drop in the WordPress Media tool – although it’s probably still a good idea to use streaming services like Youtube.com or Vimeo for anything over a couple of MB in size. Those services allow for streaming which means that a visitor can start watching right away rather than downloading the whole file before beginning.

Watch the 3.6 update video

This new release has it’s own video promoting many of the new features, it’s a bit of fun – check it out below (runs about 2 mins)

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