WordPress 3.1 is scheduled for release on December 15th. Of course, that date is subject to change but it will be coming out soon-ish.
Here are some of the features we have to look forward to in the next version of WordPress.
Posts and Pages
- Easier Internal Linking – It will now be easier to link to older posts. Instead of having to open a new tab or search around for that post in advance, the link pop-up box will list post and pages and have a search box built in to search for the specific post or page that you want to link to. This only seems to be available in the visual editor.
- Post Templates / Post Styles – Like custom page templates, developers will be able to make custom post templates for posts of a certain type, such as gallery, portfolio, like, etc.
WordPress Admin
- Admin Bar – If you have used WordPress.com, you will be familiar with the Admin Bar that is used to connect the front end of your blog to the back-end. This is most useful for multi-site users but will allow one click access to the Dashboard, New Post, etc. Aesthetically, I don’t like it and I am hopeful that I will be able to turn it off on my own site. I can, however, see it’s usefulness.
- Column Sorting – I was just wishing for this feature a couple of days ago! On the Post, Page, or Media screens you will know be able to sort columns by different fields, such as title, author, and date. The sortable column header will be a link with an up or down arrow next to it.
- Better Pagination – If you have a lot of content, you have probably been annoyed by the pagination for posts, pages and media. It was easier enough to go to the first page or the last but getting to the pages in the middle required numerous clicks. Now you will be able to go to next, previous, first, and last. You will also be able to type a specific page number into the pagination box.
- Revised Blue Color Scheme – WordPress comes with a gray and a blue color scheme. The gray color scheme was revised in a previous release but the blue one wasn’t until now. Very rarely do I work on a site that is using the blue color scheme.
- Improved Searching and Browsing for Installed Themes – Appearance > Themes has a Search Themes field that includes a Feature Filter. I don’t know about you but I don’t keep very many themes installed on any site. When I am trying to select one, I may have a number installed but once I decide, I uninstall the ones that I’m not going to use. I suppose this would be useful for sites that showcase WordPress themes.
Other Stuff
- Improved IE9 support – Ok. That’s good. Honestly, I don’t use Internet Explorer unless I’m testing how a site looks in it.
- Clean Up Admin CSS Files – This is a behind the scenes sort of thing. There are a lot of css files in wp-admin/css. These are going to be cleaned up / consolidated.
Of course there will be other bug fixes and improvements. These are, however, the major features.
As always, check your plugins for compatibility and backup your site before upgrading. If you would like assistance with your upgrade, please contact me.
photo credit: mochida1970
If it’s not released yet, how do you have it?
In any case, thanks for the previews!
Hi Ari – A beta version is available for download. I tested it on a site that I’m not currently using so I could get the screenshots. They don’t recommend using it on a live site yet.
Nice. Im loving it already. hope They’ll release it soon..
Hi Pam – I hope it’s released on time or after the holidays.
There’s also a whole new Network Admin area for those running a network (multisite).
Hi Andrea – I was reading about that but decided to get into it in this article ;-)
There’s a handy plugin to disable the Admin Bar :)
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/disable-admin-bar/
Thank you!!!
Thanks for the great info, Kim! This post I could easily relate to (no code over my head!) and your examples were great.
I think I will like the link update the best! I have enough trouble finding my old content now and as my blog grows, I am sure it will get even more challenging. I didn’t actually pay attention to the blue / gray option but I always used blue and so since I know you have been on the back side of my blog, you would have there too… Gray has its purposes but I really like the calming effect of working on a platform with blue. Note my blog colors… gray is an accent color but blue will always be my favorite…
Hi Julie – I think the internal linking is a great feature.
I was thinking about you when I was writing about blue vs gray admin areas. :-)
Wow! Some great new features for sure…I’m really looking forward to the better internal linking. How is the standard search looking Kim? Any improvements from your standpoint?
Hi Rick – The internal linking really is the biggie. I haven’t read anything about updates to the search :(
I’m looking forward to it coming out but like always I’ll wait til the first bug patch is released before installing 3.1 :)
Hi Dean – I tend to wait a little too – I don’t install it on the very first day.
Hi Kim,
There is some new good thing I looking forward for; Admin Bar and Better Pagination. I hope also they can get a better keyword system for the inside links system on my one WP.
HI Marbella – A lot of the new features look really useful. I’m not too keen on the Admin bar but the rest of them I like.
Finally a release I’ll have some use for!
Where are the custom page templates?
Hi Dennis – They don’t work out of the box – a function needs to be added to the functions file for them to work. I didn’t figure out how to do this until after I wrote the article.
Ah yes, remembered now. Thanks.
Ah internal linking! I always try and link parts of posts back to earlier posts or to other sites with useful and related content so that feature seems soooo “why didnt I think of that before”!
Cant wait till it hits!
Hi Donace – Welcome back! And that is going to be a great feature.