The beta versions of WordPress 4.6 have been launched but the official version is still in under development process, and the expected release date of official WordPress 4.6 is 16 August 2016. In this article, we will discuss the Beta Version and the main features which bundled with WordPress 4.6 release.
What is the Beta Version ?
Beta Version is a version of a piece of software that is made available for testing, typically by a limited number of users outside the company that is developing it, before its general release.
You can try out beta version with WordPress Beta Tester plugin and check out the new features which come along with WordPress 4.6 . You can download the beta version here.
Note: After the beta release there are no more new features will be added until the final release of WordPress 4.6 However, some of the features in beta version may not be in the final release.
So let’s start to explore the new feature list of WordPress 4.6
Shiny Updates
The shiny update replaces boring progress updates with a simpler and more straightforward experience.
In the current version of WordPress when users installed, updated a plugin or theme, they usually saw a progress screen and redirect to another page this redirection increase page load time and make the process slower.
In WordPress 4.6 we will have shiny updates. Users will now be able to install and update themes and plugins in one click without being redirected to the progress screen. This shiny update feature makes the process smooth and speedy.
Native Fonts in the Admin
Experience faster load times, especially when working offline, a removal of a third-party dependency
WordPress using Open Sans font in WordPress admin area which is a third party source, this property increased page load times of admin area.
For experiencing faster load time, especially when someone working offline it is necessary to remove a third-party dependency. So With WordPress 4.6, the admin area will revert back to using the system fonts.
These are the system fonts that will be used in WordPress admin area on different platforms and environments.
- Apple system for Safari and Firefox on macOS and iOS
- Helvetica Neue on macOS prior to 10.11
- BlinkMacSystemFont for Google Chrome on macOS
- Segoe UI for Windows
- Roboto for Android and Chrome OS
- Oxygen-Sans for KDE
- Ubuntu for Ubuntu
- Cantarell for GNOME
- Sans-serif, the standard fallback
Editor Improvements
WordPress 4.6 also comes with WordPress post editor improvements now we will have more reliable recovery mode or autosave functionality in our editor and the live detection of broken URLs while you type them means as soon as you add a link, WordPress will check the link is valid or not. If you take the cursor to the linked text, then you will see the link in red color it means the link is broken.
Changes for developers :
- New
WP_Site_Query(#35791) andWP_Network_Query(#32504) classes to query sites and networks with lazy loading for details. WP_Term_Query(#35381) is modeled on existing query classes and provides a more consistent structure for generating term queries.WP_Post_Type(#36217) provides easier access to post type objects and their underlying properties.- Language Packs (#34114, #34213) – Translations managed throughtranslate.wordpress.org now have a higher priority and are loaded just-in-time.
- The Widgets API (#28216) was enhanced to support registering pre-instantiated widgets.
- Index definitions are now normalized by
dbDelta()([37583]). - Comments can now be stored in a persistent object cache (#36906).
- External Libraries were updated to the latest versions – Masonry to 3.3.2 and imagesLoaded to 3.2.0 (#32802), MediaElement.js to 2.21.2 (#36759), and TinyMCE to 4.3.13 (#37225).
- REST API responses now include an auto-discovery header (#35580) and a refreshed nonce when responding to an authenticated response (#35662).
- Expanded Meta Registration API via
register_meta()(#35658). - Customizer – Improved API for setting validation (#34893, #36944).
Source WordPress.org
We hope this article will help you to understand the new features of WordPress 4.6. If you have any query please let us know.