What’s Coming in WordPress 4.1 (Features and Screenshots)

Nearly two months ago WordPress 4.0 was released. It came with tons of new improvements like an enhanced post editor, improved internationalization support, embed previews, etc. WordPress 4.1 is expected to be released in the second week of December, 2014. It is coming with lots of changes and a new default theme. In this article, we will show you what’s coming in WordPress 4.1 with features and screenshots.

You can test the beta version on your computer or in a staging environment by using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin.

Focus – The New Distraction Free Writing Mode

WordPress 4.1 will arrive with a new and improved distraction free writing mode. Many beginners usually don’t know about the distraction free editor, and those who know about it don’t find it very helpful. The new distraction free writing mode makes it much simpler to switch back and forth between normal writing mode and distraction free editor.

You will notice that the metaboxes and WordPress admin bar will slide out of view and will remain hidden as long as you are writing. As soon as you move the cursor away, the admin bar and meta boxes will slide back in.

This feature is enabled by default in the beta version. However, it will not be enabled by default in the final release and users will have to click on the distraction free button on the screen to enable it.

Inline Image Editing

WordPress beginners often find it difficult to align images in WordPress post editor. With 4.1 users will be able to click on an image and instantly see alignment options along with a button to remove alignment. The pencil button is still there which will open the image into a popup where users can further edit an image.

Twenty Fifteen – The New Default Theme

Keeping up with the tradition of at least one new default theme every year, WordPress 4.1 will ship with Twenty Fifteen the new default theme for WordPress.

Twenty Fifteen is a simple blog theme with emphasis on typography. It uses Google’s Noto Serif and Sans fonts which support many languages. This makes Twenty Fifteen ready to be used with any language without changing fonts.

Using theme customizer, users will be able to select from different color schemes, add background image, change header, etc. Allowing users to quickly and easily modify the default theme and make it their own.

Install Language Packs From Admin Area

WordPress 4.0 introduced language selection during the installation process. Which provided an out of box localized experience for users. WordPress 4.1 will make it even more easier, as users will now be able to change the language from Settings » General screen.

Simply select the language you want to install from the dropdown menu and save settings. WordPress will automatically download and install the language packs for you.

Improvements for Developers

WordPress 4.1 has many new features for developers to play with.

Customizer API – WordPress customizer API is aiming to build a complete JavaScript API for customizer. There are lots of improvements for contextual panels, controls and sections.

Title Tags – New title tag for WordPress themes will allow theme developers to explicitly define a site’s title and avoid conflict with the WordPress title tags.

Query Improvements – Rewritten and improved meta, date, comment, and taxonomy queries in WordPress 4.1.

We hope this article summarized what’s coming in WordPress 4.1. Let us know which features you are excited about and what you would like to see in the future release of WordPress?

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