Every time a new release of WordPress comes out, everybody wants to know what new goodies they’ll find inside. Since WordPress 4.0 is named after Benny Goodman, we figured there would be a number of new goodies, even though the new version isn’t being hailed as a major release. We weren’t disappointed! So what’s new with WordPress 4.0? Here are some of the biggest changes, updates, and new features to the CMS we all know and love.

A Universal Translator

Well, not really, but WordPress has finally become truly universal. Using the new language selector, you can deploy WordPress in any of 42 languages very easily. If you’re just updating your site, you won’t really notice this, but the language selector will come in very handy for anybody who makes a living out of deploying WordPress installations, since it will be a great expansion to your customer base.

A Better Editor

We’ve always loved working in the WordPress editor, with its word processor-like toolbar and word count. Now, the editor is even better, since a couple of new features are added. The visual editor now includes a sticky header and footer, so you don’t have to scroll around to find your formatting options and word count, and the editor also expands to fit your content. This makes it easier than ever to see what you’re typing at the same time that you type it. If you like typing in multiple colors, the TinyMCE color picker makes it easy to change colors on the fly.

Plugins Made Easy

In Benny, it is a cinch to browse through the plugins (there’s more than 30,000 of them!) Under the old method, you needed to know the name of the plugin you were looking for, but now you can filter plugins by featured, popular, newest, and favorites, and you can read reviews of the plugins right in the dashboard. This makes it a snap to find the right plugin, since the best ones are placed right at the front of the search results.

A Beautiful Media Library

There’s a new media embedding feature in WordPress 4.0 that makes it easy to embed YouTube videos, tweets, and so forth in your posts, without using any code. You embed them right in and can see the results in the editor! The media library is much improved, with a beautiful grid of thumbnails that scrolls endlessly, so you can pick out your favorite picture or video to embed in your post. You can even watch your uploaded videos, right in the dashboard!

Great, So Should I Upgrade?

In a word, yes! The new features in WordPress 4.0 makes our favorite CMS better than ever, so we strongly encourage upgrading to the new version. You’ll enjoy under-the-hood improvements, security exploits patched, and a slew of great new features. Upgrade today, or talk to us about help with your upgrade.

Comment below if you have any questions or know any additional features that is new with WordPress 4.0. Also, if you want additional information in regards to the topic, here is direct access to my calendar to schedule a free strategy call.