What caught our attention in this major and most-hyped last WordPress 4.9 update of 2017 is the name “Tipton” it adores! 443 contributors and one happening release. Named after a renowned jazz musician and a bandleader Billy Tipton, we are certain that the WordPress team has added a little bit of jazz and hustle to this update sure to cheer up the WordPress developer community across the globe.
WordPress 4.9 (Tipton) is now available to download so that you can update your websites. Don’t forget to keep the backup of the websites though. PSD to WordPress theme conversion is also going to be much easier with easy theme previewing options!
WordPress.org official community promises that the: “New features in WordPress 4.9 will smooth your design workflow and keep you safe from coding errors.”
What’s in store for WordPress developers as well as content creators and designers in the revamped WordPress 4.9?
Before we move on to explain the little tidbits in detail, here is an overview of the major changes and improvements in this most-awaited release of “Tipton”:
WordPress designers will have the following features to take advantage of, from now on.
- Design Drafts
- Scheduling
- Locking
- Preview Links
These features of WordPress 4.9 saves more time, undoubtedly! The improvements in the Customizer is set to boost up the workflow and eases of the collaboration of the content creators also.
Useful tips and points to get ahead better with coding and avoiding syntax errors has also become much more easier. What’s more important than a clean and healthy code structure to build a dynamic website sure to impress your website visitors. Developers rendering WordPress development services are set to take advantages of all these updated features to save time.
Another great thing about WordPress 4.9 is that you will see a new Gallery widget and theme browsing and switching/ previewing has got an awesome User Interface transformation, saving time on the part of WordPress admins and designers. It will be very helpful while performing the task of PSD to WordPress theme conversion.
Revamped WordPress Customizer for Better Workflow Experience:
Customize Website Designs and Schedule Changes as you please!
Have you always wanted to make changes to your website as and when you have slated it to your customers and audience?
But you have to be awake at night to make that transformed website go live at a certain time you have scheduled and promoted to your audience. You love it when you can write posts and schedule them? Now, same would be possible if you want to customize the website designs. You can simply make the changes in the website and preview it easily before publishing them. Just schedule the changes whenever you want the changes to go live.
What are the cookie (sweet) points here by the way?
You don’t need to worry about losing your scheduled designs at all. Locking of the designs is now possible so that your designs can remain secure and can go live safely at your scheduled time! Definitely a thing of rejoice for all WordPress users! Wait…there’s a lot more to just scheduling website design changes.
How about if you can ask for a constructive feedback from your team or colleagues before you schedule the changes to go live? You get a preview link which you can share with your friends and team so that they can give a feedback on the designs. Collaboration is the key here and it always works.
How does Design Locking feature works in all new WordPress 4.9?
Yes, we all have got teams! Everyone can’t think alike. There is no way that two WordPress designers can have same perspective, at any cost. You put into a lot of hours and hard work into custom designing a website just to get it overwritten by another designer in your time? Just not acceptable!
So, now you can guard and lock your design draft and not worry about the risks which were there in the versions before WordPress 4.9.
Also, to add a bonus point here, you will see a prompt on the screen where you can save your work in case you forgot to save your design in the first place. Designers providing WordPress development services will be using these features to great advantage.
WordPress 4.9 (Tipton) for WordPress developers:
It seems like the main spotlight of this upgraded version is on reducing the complexities for developers making their coding life a little easier.
Code-Check and Syntax Highlighting:
Scanning through the code without any idea on where the error can be in the CSS script you wrote in hours can be a tedious and a frustrating task. What if the intelligent feature of WordPress 4.9 can help you in locating the code errors and syntax problems in seconds? You can edit CSS coding easily when you are able to locate the errors in minutes or seconds. Right?
Custom HTML widget from the last version makes editing a lot more easier. Just cull out the code and fix it to get rid of any display errors you may be confronting. It is not a compulsion to use this feature of syntax highlighting which can annoy some developers. You can disable this feature at your end.
Prevention is better with Sandbox (No cures needed!)
A thing of relief for all the WordPress users or developers rendering WordPress development services because a warning about saving an error will save your life ahead. No white screens of death, anymore!
Genius WordPress 4.9 now warns against potential mistakes!
It is always alluring to make changes to themes and plugins directly. But, all those experiments can become your worst nightmares if you don’t know what the result will look like? WordPress 4.9 warns you against the bad changes before saving, certainly a more intuitive WordPress, I would say! Drafting and testing is a more safer route to tread.
Adding Gallery Widgets was Never this Easier!
This is an extended and enhanced change where it’s easier to add media very easily. With one click, you can now add media to the text widget. You have always wanted to make your text posts more interesting by adding media. This is the thing you must be waiting for! Add images, videos or audios directly to the text with this Gallery widget which allows you to embed the media in a couple of clicks and you’re done. Whoaa!
Upgraded Website Building Interface Makes More Sense now!
WordPress 4.9 (Tipton) has come up with an upgraded and enhanced user-interface of website building. So, the process of your WordPress website designing has got a little bit more easier than ever! We feel that the changes in the website builder makes more sense now. Let’s have a look at all the changes:
Theme Switching with Smart Widget Movements:
There are times when we want to change theme because when it’s time to do so, we just can’t control that urge to give a transformation to the website. Maybe, we want a more modern look or just without any reason! Whatever the reasons, truth is theme switching comes with many problems and one of them can be widget movements. Widgets change their locations and placements, making the things a lot more complex for you. This was the thing of the past though. In WordPress 4.9, you get a more senseful menu and widget placement when you change your website theme. You will not have to dread about the confusing Widgets movements anymore!
Get that Perfect Theme with Filtered Search Options:
When you think that it’s time to switch the theme on your website or for a matter, you are looking for your first ever theme. You can now browse from thousands (2600 approx.) of themes. Themes can be searched from within the Customizer so you don’t have to switch the pages at all. Hasten up the search process by using filters according to the subject or features as well as layout you want in your theme. Not only searching and browsing has become more easier, but you can easily preview the theme before applying it to your website.
Seamless Menu Creation Process:
You may have got perplexed while creating a new menu in the past versions of WordPress. Unclear steps, improper guidance as well as inappropriate instructions are the reasons why WordPress users were not able to create a new Manu easily. Now, a dynamic and smooth UX to create a new Menu in WordPress 4.9 is a praiseworthy fix.
There are some changes in WordPress 4.9 version which are not mainstream but important to talk about. Most of these updates relate to developing end. Customizer JS API has got a new and improved base and new templates like global notifications etc. can also be found.
CodeMirror is a newly introduced code editing library which enhances the code-error checking and syntax highlighting. MediaElement.js is also updated which fixes many bugs!
Final Verdict:
WordPress 4.9 promises many new and updated features which have been introduced to ease the workflow of WordPress developers, designers as well as content creators. Firms and developers delivering WordPress development services will be surely taking the maximum benefit from these upgradations.
WordPrax Ltd.
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