WordPress 4.4 will revolutionize how we publish

Ben Moss.
December 10, 2015
WordPress 4.4 will revolutionize how we publish.
WordPress 4.4, named ‘Clifford’ in honor of jazz legend Clifford Brown, has just been released. It’s available to download or can be updated from an existing installation’s dashboard. The latest version of the Web’s favorite CMS is focused on responsive web design enhancements, connecting content across sites, and could signal a new way forward for WordPress. As always, WordPress 4.4 ships with a new default theme, named ‘Twenty Sixteen’. The Twenty Sixteen theme is a stripped down version of a blog post. It’s a minimal, type-based approach that is ideal for blogging. Designed by Takasho Irie, who designed the last two default themes for WordPress, it’s been available for a few months on GitHub. It has five color variations, an optional sidebar, custom features like header styles, and is of course fully responsive. [pullquote]Twenty Sixteen…delivers a modern blog design right out of the box[/pullquote] Twenty Sixteen is inspired by rival platforms Ghost, and Medium, and delivers a modern blog design right out of the box. Expect to see plenty of WordPress users stick with the default theme in 2016. As is frequently the case with WordPress updates, many of the new features were previously available as plugins, and have now made it into the WordPress core in a standardized and streamlined format. We have WordPress’ engaged community to thank for the platform’s continued advancement. A great example of this are the fully responsive images built into WordPress 4.4. Implemented with the srcset attribute WordPress images will now provide alternate sizes for displays such as retina screens, allowing the browser to select the most appropriate file itself. WordPress 4.4 includes expanded support for oEmbed. Previously WordPress users could embed YouTube and Twitter content. With 4.4 you can embed even more content — specifically content from Cloudup, Reddit Comments, ReverbNation, Speaker Deck, and VideoPress — allowing WordPress users to curate, almost syndicate, content from across the Web. Interestingly, WordPress posts themselves will, optionally, be embeddable in this way. Meaning that the content of sites that choose to embrace the approach can be embedded in other WordPress sites. [pullquote]oEmbed support…[heralds] a major change in the way we publish on the platform[/pullquote] It’s a revolutionary idea for WordPress because it opens the way for Medium-style collaborative blogging, with users embedding and then responding to posts on their own sites. Ultimately making WordPress publishing an open conversation. Developers will also note a couple of big changes. Firstly the REST API has been built-in as a core feature. (API endpoints still require the WP API plugin, but they’re expected to make it into the core in a subsequent release.) Secondly, developers are being encouraged to move over from the wp_title() method to the title tag feature. Originally wp_title() was slated to be deprecated, but will continue to be supported for a short while yet. WordPress 4.4 Clifford is a major step forward for WordPress. Whilst responsive images will receive the attention, the extended oEmbed support is the real story, heralding a major change in the way we publish on the platform.

Ben Moss

Ben Moss has designed and coded work for award-winning startups, and global names including IBM, UBS, and the FBI. When he’s not in front of a screen he’s probably out trail-running.

Read Next

10+ Best Resources & Tools for Web Designers (2024 update)

Is searching for the best web design tools to suit your needs akin to having a recurring bad dream? Does each…

3 Essential Design Trends, April 2024

Ready to jump into some amazing new design ideas for Spring? Our roundup has everything from UX to color trends…

How to Plan Your First Successful Website

Planning a new website can be exciting and — if you’re anything like me — a little daunting. Whether you’re an…

15 Best New Fonts, March 2024

Welcome to March’s edition of our roundup of the best new fonts for designers. This month’s compilation includes…

LimeWire Developer APIs Herald a New Era of AI Integration

Generative AI is a fascinating technology. Far from the design killer some people feared, it is an empowering and…

20 Best New Websites, March 2024

Welcome to our pick of sites for March. This month’s collection tends towards the simple and clean, which goes to show…

Exciting New Tools for Designers, March 2024

The fast-paced world of design never stops turning, and staying ahead of the curve is essential for creatives. As…

Web Tech Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond

It hardly seems possible given the radical transformations we’ve seen over the last few decades, but the web design…

6 Best AI Productivity Apps in 2024

There’s no escaping it: if you want to be successful, you need to be productive. The more you work, the more you…

3 Essential Design Trends, February 2024

From atypical typefaces to neutral colors to unusual user patterns, there are plenty of new website design trends to…

Surviving the Leap from College to Real-World Design

So, you’ve finished college and are ready to showcase your design skills to the world. This is a pivotal moment that…

20 Mind-Bending Illusions That Will Make You Question Reality

Mind-bending videos. Divisive Images. Eye-straining visuals. This list of optical illusions has it all. Join us as we…