NetON Melbourne

Tag: wordpress releases

Great new features of WordPress 5.5
Welcome to the second major WordPress update of the year! As expected, WordPress 5.5 has released and is now available. Our WordPress team have been busy testing all the new features and developments on this release and have complied a list of new enhancements available on this Major Release.

Released less than 5 months after the 5.4 version updates, WordPress is coming in again with some hot new features that are mostly focused on aligning with their goals to make the block editor better and better. Let’s take a look at the most notable changes that are in the update quickly! It’s great to see Automattic understand that there is a lot of work required for the block editor and move towards fixing that in the last year.

Summary:

If you don’t want to read the whole lot, here is a quick summary

Core updates
- You can now enable auto plugin updates
GUI Improvements
- A lot of improvements to the block editor/Gutenberg editor making it easy for non-experienced WordPress users to use the block editor.
- Block editor plugins library so that you can add all sorts of new blocks
- Inline image editing capability in the editor WYSIWYG view itself
Customisation updates
- You can preview how the site looks on desktops, mobile and tablets
SEO Updates
- Native Lazy Loading , so images load only when you scroll to them
- Native XML Sitemaps functionality (finally!!)
We are excited to uncover the hood and look at all the new fancy engine upgrades on this release 🙂 Lets jump into it.

Block Editor Improvements

The block editor aka Gutenberg has come a long way ever since it was introduced back in 2018 with WordPress 5.0, and they’re not yet done improving the feature to make it more user-friendly and convenient for everyone to use.

But what kind of improvements are in 5.5?

Improved User Interface

Good UI (User interface) is a must for CMS. That said, I can count numerous CMSes who are still stuck with a single WYSIWYG box. hmm…. That’s why with every update, WordPress is trying to make the block editor look and feel much greater than the previous version. This update is no different. In this update, they added some changes such as borders and focus highlights when moving across blocks. You will also notice that they changed the way the “+” button looks.

Initially while the block editor was good for WordPress developers and experienced WordPress users, the new updates make it easy for the average user to use the block editor easily.

Introducing Block Directory

When we say WordPress wants you to have the most convenient experience in their platform, we mean it.

The block directory will be including searchable plug-ins that you might want to use for your designing needs and definitely makes the whole process faster.

Easier Block Movements

Say goodbye to Gutenberg’s hideous up and down arrows.

No more having a hard time moving your blocks as WordPress 5.5 makes that much, much easier by finally allowing you to drag-and-drop your blocks inside the content editor.

You can even set a “parent block” and select multiple blocks at once!

Introducing Block Patterns

Block patterns are pre-made blocks that helps you design your page instantly within just a few clicks.

WordPress already added a couple of default block patterns in the editor with 5.5, but we can’t wait for the options to grow as developers catch up with this awesome, new feature!

Inline Image Editing

Before the WordPress 5.5 update, you have to go to the media library first before you can crop, rotate, resize, and etc. your images.

With the new update, you no longer have to leave the editor to make such changes!

Desktop, Mobile, Tablet Preview

WordPress 5.5 gives you a faster way to see how your pages are going to look like on desktop, mobile, and tablet by allowing you to preview them through the editor.

No more having to go through different devices just to see if your design is mobile or tablet friendly!

Auto Updates for Themes & Plug-Ins

WordPress 5.5 gives you a new update management system!

By going to the admin dashboard, you may now allow WordPress to automatically update your themes & plug-ins for you.

This is perfect for those who don’t mind not knowing what changes are going to be made to their themes and plug-ins after it updates as it will be much more convenient, especially for those who use A LOT of plug-ins.

But for those people who want to read about the updates first, it’s great that this is only an option that you can turn off anytime you want.

Native XML Sitemaps

Finally!

WordPress is finally eliminating the need for you to use plug-ins in order to have an XML Sitemap ready for your SEO needs in the 5.5 update by providing you native sitemaps! WordPress started making these changes after receiving feedback from Google.

If you don’t know what XML Sitemaps are, they are essentially just XML format files that contain a list of URLs in your page that makes it easier for Google’s bots to crawl through your content. This gives you better visibility.

Native Lazy Loading

The updates keep on coming with this latest release. If you’re big on SEO, you want your pages to load fast because Google and other search engines value that a lot for optimum user experience.

However, the majority of the times, you need to enhance your pages using images, and that actually makes your pages load slower.

Lazy loading, it helps solve that problem by only loading the images that are currently visible on the viewer’s screen and loading the others later once the user scrolls up/down or swipes right/left.

In this update, WordPress finally gives us native lazy loading! Yay!

Changes for Developers

WordPress 5.5 allows developers to test out a lot of new things for their own themes, plug-ins, and etc. But the most notable updates involve the following:
- Developers will be allowed to control the auto-updates for their themes and plug-ins.
- New external libraries such as phpMailer, Simplepie, Tweemoji, Masonry, and etc.
- 65 new dash icons
- Improved PHP compatibility issue scanning
WordPress 5.5 Demo website

We love checking out all the new features before a major release. We keep an up to date demo site with the latest (sometimes even nightly builds) of WordPress that you are welcome to have a look at. Click here to view WordPress Demo site“. Please ask us for a username/password to test the site. This will let you test run all the new features without putting your live website at risk.

NetON WordPress development services

Neton is your go to team for any WordPress development services in Australia. Our team is constantly working on WordPress website development, WordPress Design, WordPress Hosting, Strengthening WordPress Security, running SEO Optimisation on WordPress Websites and upgrading Core and WordPress Plugins.

Whether you are starting a small blog or an enterprise fortune 500 company, we can help build and maintain your WordPress website for the best results online.

Our WordPress websites are customised based on your business and you requirements. We have built large scale eCommerce websites, traffic generating/ad revenue websites, community building websites, Business 2 Business Websites and Business 2 Customers website. All of them are completely different in their lead generation and revenue models. Please contact us for more details on our WordPress Services.
August 18, 2020
New Features of WordPress 5.4
WordPress is an open-source content management system that was originally created for blog publishing, but has since evolved into supporting various types of web content, and is still continuously evolving. It’s latest version, WordPress 5.4, is named “Adderly” after the trumpet playing musician, Nat Adderly, as WordPress has a tradition of naming versions after Jazz musicians. It was released on March 31, 2020, and is the first major update of WordPress in 2020.

Currently, WordPress is on a “development freeze,” which means there are no new features introduced to the editor but they are consistently improving existing features. In this release, a lot of the improvements focus on their content editor, mainly the block editor. “Every major release adds more to the block editor,” WordPress states.

New Blocks

WordPress 5.4 introduces two new blocks to their block editor.

1. Social Media Icons Block

You’re now allowed to add social media widgets to your posts. These widgets will allow your visitors to click on the logo of a certain social network’s site from your post and redirect them to your social media page. However, to allow your visitors to share your post into a social media site, you will still need a plug-in.

2. From Button to Buttons (with an “S”) Block

As the name change suggests, the previous button block is now in plural form. This improvement allows you to create buttons inside the same block, side by side! Now all you have to do is adjust the buttons’ colors, size, input links, and you’re good to go.

New Color Options for Multiple Blocks

WordPress 5.4 gives you new color options for multiple blocks, allowing you to pick gradients for the buttons and cover block, toolbar access to color options in the rich text blocks, and color options in the group and columns block.

New Block Selection Tool

Have you ever nested blocks inside a group block and had a hard time reselecting a certain block? If so, your life just became easier. There is now a button in the toolbar that allows you to easily select blocks. Just by clicking on this tool called the “select” tool, and clicking on the block that you would like to select.

Default Full Screen

With the ability to focus on your content more in mind, WordPress 5.4 sets your screen on fullscreen mode by default. You may click on the “W” icon in the upper left corner of your screen to reveal the admin area, but if you want to switch off the default fullscreen setting, you have to go to the editor settings and uncheck the “fullscreen mode” option.

Featured Images and Gallery Block Images Improvements

Just drag and drop your images to the “featured images” section, and instantly add your photo there. No need to manually upload them anymore. On top of that, you can now select the size of your images in the gallery block directly from the gallery block settings!

Latest Posts Block Improvement

The latest post block now includes “featured images,” which makes the block more appealing! You may choose to rearrange the images’ alignment and size.

Clearer Interface and Easier Navigation

You may now see which block you’re in very easily and quickly because of block breadcrumbs. The “tips” are also gone and has been replaced by a “welcome guide” that you may bring up only when you need it. Your screen reader now also tells you if you are in edit or navigation mode. Because of these new improvements, WordPress says that loading is now faster by 14% and typing by 51%.

Better Mobile Editing

Mobile editing in the WordPress app is now easier, with the toolbar placed on top, fixing the previous issue where it was hard to edit using the mobile app.

Tiktok Videos

With the rise of the mobile app Tiktok, WordPress 5.4 now allows you to embed Tiktok videos to your posts. Although now, CollegeHumor is gone. 🙁

Privacy Improvements
- Personal data exports now include users’ session information and users’ information. This may be found in the community events widget
- You may now see progress as you process export and erasure requests
- Privacy tools now have a newly improved, cleaner look
Developer Improvements
- Developers can now add custom fields to menu items.
- Keyboard shortcuts may now be added to the block editor.
- Two new APIs: block variations and gradients
- Simpler block styling
NetON WordPress development services

The WordPress development team at NetON has built 100s of WordPress websites for clients in Australia and overseas.

Our team is constantly working on WordPress website development, WordPress Design, WordPress Hosting, Strengthening WordPress Security, running SEO Optimisation on WordPress Websites and upgrading Core and WordPress Plugins.

Whether you are starting a small blog or an enterprise fortune 500 company, we can help build and maintain your WordPress website for the best results online.

Our WordPress websites are customised based on your busines and you requirments. We have built large scale eCommerce websites, traffic generating/ad revenue websites, community building websites, Business 2 Business Websites and Business 2 Customers website. All of them are completely different in their lead generation and revenue models.

Please contact us for more details on our services.

Our contact details are on the Contact Us Page.

WordPress Demo Website

Want to try out all the new features :). We keep an upto date demo site with the latest (sometimes even nightly builds) of WordPress that you are welcome to have a look at.

Click here to view WordPress Demo site

Please ask us for a username/password to test the site. This will let you test run all the new features without putting your live website at risk.
May 20, 2020
WordPress 5.2 has just dropped with more security than you can shake a stick at

WordPress 5.2 has just dropped :). This is a major security release for WordPress and needs to be rolled out to all sites immediately. The new release is named “Jaco” in honour of renowned and revolutionary Jazz bassist Jaco Pastorious. If you want to listen to Jaco, please find a video at the end of this post to listen to while we work on updating your site 🙂

Our team will be working on making sure your site is up to date with the new security release and making your WordPress website secure. You and your team will be notified when the upgrade is complete.

This Security Release version focuses on Making WordPress more secure from malware and attacks while helping you run it error-free.

We are really excited about all the new security features that web designers have been waiting years for on this Security Release.

In this post, we will look at what’s new in WordPress 5.2, and which features you should notice or play around with after updating to this version.

To view all the updates, bug fixes and new features included in this new version, please visit on over here.

Lets find out what new features are available in WordPress 5.2.

Whats new in WordPress 5.2?

This latest update of the most popular website CMS in the world comes with the following features:

Site Health Check

Site Health Check feature has had an update from the previous version and now has two new pages to help debug most configuration issues in WordPress. These new pages give you site status and recommendations as well as overall info on your site which includes directories, drop-ins, active themes, themes, plugins, media handling, server, database, wordpress constants and filesystem permissions.

PHP Error Protection

This update builds up on previous error protection and allows an administrator or developer to safely fix 500 errors or “white screen of deaths”. This update also bring the recovery mode which allows you to log in without plugins/themes.

Minimum PHP version

With WordPress 5.2, the minimum php requirement is now 5.6.20. Using a later version of php makes your site safer and faster. So please make sure that your PHP is upgraded before you run this update.

Other updates

There are a host of other updates mostly focused on developers and making it easy for them to develop your site easier such as a new theme page template, a conditional function, two css classes, a new body hook (wpbodyopen) and addition of webpack and babel configurations under scripts.

About WordPress

WordPress is the most popular website CMS in the world. The latest version of WordPress has been downloaded more than 50 million times. Did you know that 60% of all CMS run websites run on WordPress.

NetON WordPress Security Release Update Policy

WordPress security is one of the most important considerations for us. We want to make sure that your WordPress website is safe, malware free and attack-resistant. The NetON team will immediately update your WordPress website installation on our hosting as we do with any Security Release.

The new Security Release 5.2 of WordPress makes your site safer and faster. If your WordPress site is not hosted with us, you should upgrade your PHP asap and update your WordPress to the latest version.

NetON WordPress development services

NetON is proud to provide a 360 degree solution of WordPress development in both Melbourne and Sydney Australia.

We offer WordPress Website Development, WordPress Website Design, WordPress Website Hosting, WordPress security, Maintenance, WordPress SEO Optimisation and Upgrades.

Whether you are starting a small blog or an enterprise fortune 500 company, we can help build and maintain your WordPress website for the best results online.

Our WordPress websites are customised based on your busines and you requirments. We have built large scale eCommerce websites, traffic generating/ad revenue websites, community building websites, Business 2 Business Websites and Business 2 Customers website. All of them are completely different in their lead generation and revenue models.

Please reach out to one of NetON’s Account Managers for more of our services.

Our contact details are on the Contact Us Page.

WordPress 5.2 Demo website

Want to try out all the new features :).

NetON maintains and upto date demo site of the latest version of WordPress that you can browse through.

Click here to view WordPress Demo site“.

Please ask us for a username/password to test the site. This will let you test run all the new features without putting your live website at risk.

And here is a tune from Jaco Pastorius to listen to while we are updating your site:

May 8, 2019
Whats new in WordPress 5
Each major version of WordPress comes with tons of new features and updates. WordPress 5 comes with one huge change since the original release of WordPress. A new and updated shiny editor: Gutenberg Editor. The story of WordPress 5 starts and ends with the new block based Gutenberg editor.

We are not talking about the German Inventor, or the free eBook library (which is fantastic by the way). We are talking about the new editor that comes shipped with WordPress 5 (although we believe that it is named after the German guy). Gutenberg editor brings a complete re-imagination and redesign of the WordPress editor. It is expected to change the way we create and deliver our content. It also goes beyond just being an editor and becomes a customiser allowing you to set layouts and add complex components.

Unfortunately, with big changes comes heaps of rebuilding work. It is hard to accept that a refined platform such as WordPress has to adapt to the ever changing internet space. Without innovation, everything loses its crown. Gutenberg editor is a massive leap forward and there are still more updates coming to make it even better.

Yes there are flaws to the editor and the release was rushed, but it offers a solid base to build upon.

The Gutenberg Editor

We have already covered most of the features of Gutenberg in our earlier post. Gutenberg provides everyone an improved page building and editing experience. With new updates, new functionalities and shortcodes will be introduced along with it. Plugins that are not currently compatible with the editor, will need an update. New Gutenberg-friendly themes will flood the themes market designed to accommodate the new features.

For more information on the Gutenberg Editor, please view our earlier post WordPress 5 Beta and Guterberg Editor Features

Twenty Nineteen (2019) – the new WordPress Theme

WordPress 5 also comes with the latest new theme -Twenty Nineteen. The latest theme is a minimal, responsive theme built on the Gutenberg editor. The focus is on typography and showcasing text and image combinations that loop a visitor into the site. We will be utilising all the blocks and combination of Gutenberg in our demo site (link down below). It will be on the Twenty Nineteen theme as well for you to test out and check.

Major Changes to Expect

Putting Gutenberg aside, WordPress 5 bring a more intuitive site-building experience. Because of the old classic editor, there has been a lot of website builders and hosted platforms cutting into WordPress’s market share. With 5, WordPress shoule improve improve the site-building functionality and stay ahead.

Also the ever improving Rest API will help developers create applications using the platform as a framework.

Theme creation will also be made easier and accessible, with lower barriers to entry for developers.

Parting thoughts on WordPress 5

While it doesn’t seem like there is a lot of changes on WordPress 5, if we look over the last year, the platform has really changed a lot. Since version 4, there has been market changes, widget updates, customiser, scheduling design changes etc.

While these changes are incremental, the plaform has improved a lot in the last year. The latest release has finally tackled the main issue it had: the rise of website builder plugins which slow down your site and cause a lot of bloating. The new WordPress 5 is a lean and healthy whole-website which does all the customisation by itself.

How to upgrade from WordPress 4

If you have a WordPress 4 website, you will need to be slightly careful when upgrading to WordPress 5. Depending on how complex your website is, we reocmmend one of two ways below
1. If your website doesn’t have eCommerce, website builders and doesn’t have complex layout pages, then please install the Gutenberg editor first, change all the pages over to the new Editor then upgrade the platform.
2. If your website has eCommerce, external website builders and/or complex layout pages, please wait a bit for all the plugins to update compatibility to the new version of WordPress. Please check all the plugins in the backend to make sure they work with thew new version of WordPress and then run an upgrade on a staging site. If everything works fine on the staging site, run an upgrade on your main site.
About WordPress

WordPress is arguably the most powerful blogging and website content management system (or CMS) in existence today. The latest version of WordPress has been downloaded more than 30 million times. 60% of all CMS run websites run on WordPress.

WordPress 5 Demo website

NetON maintains and upto date demo site of the latest version of WordPress that you can browse through. Click here to view WordPress Demo Site

WordPress Development Services

Neton is your go to team for any WordPress development services in Australia. Our team is constantly working on Website Development, UX/UI, Design, Hosting, Strengthening Security, running SEO OPtimisation on Websites and upgrading Core and Plugins. Whether you are starting a small blog or an enterprise fortune 500 company, we can help build and maintain your website for the best results online. If you have any questions, or if you need a quote, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Please call us or email us on the details on our Contact Us page.
December 17, 2018
WordPress 5 Beta 1 Release and Features
The newest Major Release for the most popular website CMS in the world WordPress is almost here with the latest release of WordPress 5 Beta 1. The newest version is a Beta Release and is for the next major version 5 which is due sometime later this year. This release is aimed at bringing major changes and upgrades to the WordPress CMS. WordPress 5 Beta 1 comes with a number of new features as listed below and focuses on bringing major changes and upgrades to the WordPress CMS. We are really excited about the new shiny Gutenberg WYSIWYG editor on this Beta Release.

Whats new in WordPress 5 Beta 1?

This latest update of the most popular website CMS in the world comes with the following features:

A new shiny Gutenberg WYSIWYG editor

This beta release of WordPress 5 come with the shiny new Gutenberg WYSIWYG editor. This editor will eventually replace the current classic WYSIWYG editor that WordPress currently has. Here is a comparison of the two editors.

New Gutenberg Editor

Classic Editor

While Gutenberg editor has had it’s fair share of criticism, we love it here. It’s still a big buggy but its smooth, fast and does the basics. We are using the Gutenberg editor to write this post.

Features of Gutenberg Editor

Gutenberg has a number of features which make it easier for developers and website owners/marketing users.
- Utilising Gutenberg means that you are using less plugins. So plugins for tables/ columns and page builders can now be removed completely because Gutenberg editor handles that for you.
- Gutenberg is more user friendly. Yes it takes a few tries to get your head around it but once it’s done its very easy to use
- The bugs that are there currently will get ironed out over time and it will work exactly as expected
- Gutenberg uses blocks allowing you to modularise your content and use different types of contents in different blocks. The available blocks are listed below.
- Gutenberg uses layout elements so that putting things side by side is a piece of cake. Also what you see in your screen is most likely how it will display to a user as well.
Available Gutenberg Blocks
- Paragraph block – For normal text
- Heading block – For article and paragraph headings
- Subheading block – For Subheadings
- Quote Block – For setting up quotes
- Image Block – For showing images by themselves
- Gallery Block – To show multiple images and gallery
- Cover Image block – To show a bigger image that covers the whole area
- Video Block – To show videos
- Audio Block – To show and embed audio files
- Columns Block – To show multiple columns in the same row for layout
- File Block – For file downloads, links and embeds
- Code Block – To work on html code separately
- List Block – To show a ordered or unordered bullet list
- Button Block – To show buttons and call to actions
- Embed Block – To show embedded code
- Plus more block coming up…
A brand new Twenty Nineteen theme

With this new release comes the long awaited new Twenty Nineteen theme. This theme has been built to showcase the Gutenberg editor and we are a bit disappointed that this looks very similar to the previous theme. However we expect this theme to get better as WordPress 5 gets closer to release.

WordPress Demo Website

Want to try out all the new features :). We keep an upto date demo site with the latest (sometimes even nightly builds) of WordPress that you are welcome to have a look at. We have even installed the new theme so that you can check it out. Click here to view WordPress Demo Site.

About WordPress

WordPress is arguably the most powerful blogging and website content management system (or CMS) in existence today. 30% of all new domains run on WordPress. 60% of all CMS run websites run on WordPress.

NetON Beta Release Update Policy

Beta releases of WordPress are good for testing by developers and not intended to be used on live websites. Please read through this post to see what is coming to WordPress, however noting that the final version may be slightly different from the Beta Release. Please note that the NetON team won’t be updating your website with this version because this is not a final version. We will update your installation when the full production version is released.

NetON WordPress development services

NetON offers a complete range of WordPress Services for Australian businesses. We are constantly working with our clients on WordPress Website Design, WordPress Development, Hosting, WordPress Security, SEO Optimisation for WordPress sites and upgrading Core WordPress and Plugins. We work with some of the smallest and the biggest companies in Australia and around the world and help them build and maintain their WordPress website to generate the best results for them. Please reach out to one of NetON’s Account Managers for more of our services. Please call us or email us on the details on our Contact Us page.
October 26, 2018
WordPress 4.5 new features
WordPress 4.5 has been released. Our team are very excited to work with whats new in this release. This version is considered a Major Release and focuses on adding new features to the WordPress CMS. More details on the release can be found over at https://wordpress.org/news/category/releases/. adding a logo to the site and responsive customiser

WordPress 4.5 release notes

This latest update of the most used CMS in the world comes with the following featues:
- Theme Logo Support
  
  WordPress 4.5 now comes with a feature that has been requested for a long time. WordPress 4.5 now allows theme builders to set logo directly from the customizer.
- Customizer Responsive Previews
  
  WordPress customizer now comes with Responsive previews and allows you to select between desktop, tablet and mobile to see how your site will look in those devices.
- Better Favicons
  
  WordPress 4.5 brings improvements to Favicons introduced in previous version 4.4. Now you can see exactly how it looks like on your browser in the site customizer.
- Better image optimisation
  
  WordPress 4.5 improves on the responsive image optimisation introduced in WordPress 4.4 and now creates smaller sized images with the same quality.
- Visual Editor Enhancements
  
  The Visual Editor in WordPress 4.5 has been improved allowing you to put inline links and improving shortcodes
- Logging in using email
  
  A much awaited feature, now you can login using your email address on the wordpress login screen
- Other improvements
  
  A number of other improvements have happened in the backend which can be read in release notes.
NetON WordPress Update Policy

With this being a Major Release, our team will be working to make sure that your website gets updated as soon as possible.

NetON WordPress Development Services

Neton is your go to team for any WordPress development services in Australia. We are constantly working with our clients on WordPress Website Design, WordPress Development, Hosting, WordPress Security, SEO Optimisation for WordPress sites and upgrading Core WordPress and Plugins. We work with some of the smallest and the biggest companies in Australia and around the world and help them build and maintain their WordPress website to generate the best results for them. If you have any questions, or if you need a quote, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Please call us or email us on the details on our Contact Us page.

WordPress Demo Website

We keep an upto date demo site with the latest (sometimes even nightly builds) of WordPress that you are welcome to have a look at. Click here to view WordPress Demo Site
April 20, 2016
WordPress 4.4 Released
Version 4.4 of WordPress entitled “Clifford”, in honor of jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown, is now officially available to end users and developers alike to roll out to their websites. Here we will showcase a comprehensive guide to the set of features spanning from conspicuous changes to rather subtle tweaks within the new release.

Website End-Users
- Classic Default Theme TwentySixteen
- Responsive Images Capability
- Expanded Embedded Capacity
Developers
- REST API Infrastructure
- Term Metadata Inclusion
- Efficient Comment Classes
Further details of each aspect are discussed below, brace yourselves for a game-changing update!

WORDPRESS END-USERS

Classic Default Theme TwentySixteen

Twenty Sixteen features a standard blog layout, with a horizontal header and menu across the top, and a sidebar on the right. It was built with a mobile first approach, so it’s responsive and looks great on devices of all sizes. A fluid grid design, flexible header, fun color schemes, and more, will all make your content shine. Other notable features include:
- Larger Image sizes
- Custom color options
- Custom post intros and excerpts
- 2 widget areas at the bottom of posts and pages
- Pull quotes
Responsive Images

The trending framework for websites nowadays is large images, and it poses a great deal on the page loading speed which most users would frown upon. With the latest update, it support for improved image handling attributes and the srcset tag, which defines available sizes for a given image. So that users don’t have to rely on plugins which coincidentally increase the load to obtain equivalent functionality.

A vital rule of thumb in responsive Web design methodology is that Websites are responsive to the size and bandwidth capabilities of an end-user device or browser. This is an inherent trait as WordPress already automatically creates multiple sizes of each image that a user uploads into a site’s media library as stated by WordPress developer Joe McGill.

Expanded Embedded Capacity

To embed content, the usual manner to do so is using a plugin that recognizes URL and connect to external service and ask for the relevant HTML code to embed the content into the page or post. Fortunately the new update allows content to be seamlessly embedded into posts or pages with just a simply drag and drop of URLs into the WordPress Editor. It’s called oEmbed, and they’re expanding that capability to allow embedding from almost any source.

$C:\Users\Jack\Desktop\Embed.png$

You can now embed WordPress posts on any sites just like Tweets or Youtube videos, using URLs or a snippet of code will work wonders. Embedded posts will display a title, excerpt and featured image, as well as a site icon and links for comments and sharing.

Further enhancements to embedding comes in the form of support for five new oEmbed providers: Cloudup, Reddit Comments, ReverbNation, Speaker Deck, and VideoPress

DEVELOPERS

REST API Infrastructure

The REST API is a specific API that was designed to get information to and fro WordPress from a variety of sources. It’s fairly novel, and was designed with modern approaches to browsers and mobile devices. It helps developers to access data in a standardized, interoperable manner which may be one of the most highly-anticipated WordPress features ever. Allowing them to build and extend RESTful APIs on top of WordPress.

The infrastructure is the first part of a multi-stage rollout for the REST API. Inclusion of core endpoints is targeted for an upcoming release. Once those endpoints are available, WordPress developers will be able to use WordPress as an application back-end without any additional plugins. That will give them the opportunity to implement their own front-ends using whatever technologies they so chooses. Integrating this API certainly make life easier for theme and plugin designers.

Term Metadata Inclusion

Metadata provides information about other data. Terms are individual objects within a taxonomy where the category taxonomy can have many terms. Taxonomy is a classification format to which it’s not a category or tag, but gets its context from the term taxonomy table.

WordPress has long allowed for meta on other types of objects, such as:
- Posts
- Comments
- Users
Metadata is important as it allows plugins and the core itself to add extra data to the various objects that’s not accounted for in the main table. A prime example of this would be featured images in core that stores the image ID as metadata because there’s no field for the image ID in the posts table.

New meta wrapper functions for terms:
- add_term_meta()
- update_term_meta()
- delete_term_meta()
- get_term_meta()
All of these can be quite a mouthful, basically it enables you to arrange, manage data and content with ease, they can be color-coded for intuitive design use.

Efficient Comment Classes

Comment query improvements
- Comment queries now have cache handling to improve performance. New arguments in WP_Comment_Query make crafting robust comment queries simpler.
Term, comment, and network objects
- New WP_Term, WP_Comment, and WP_Network objects make interacting with terms, comments, and networks more predictable and intuitive in code.
January 7, 2016
WordPress 4.4 Beta 1 Released
WordPress 4.4 Beta 1 has been released for public testing and feedback! The newest version WordPress 4.4 Beta 1 is a Beta Release and is due next month. This release focuses on adding new features to the WordPress CMS.

WordPress 4.4 Beta 1 comes with a number of new features as listed below:

This latest update of the 12 year old CMS, WordPress comes with the following featues:
- Twenty Sixteen
  The new default theme for WordPress
- Responsive Images
  Auto resizing of images to fit screen/viewport size and resolution
- Embeds
  A variety of new embeds such as YouTube, Flickr, Twitter etc
- URL Previews
  You can new preview posts from other WordPress sites by pasting the URL
- Developer Changes:
  REST API development
  Term Metadata inclusion
  Improved page title rendering
  More efficient comment classes
We are really excited about the newest theme Twenty Sixteen, the newest CMSpecific theme for WordPress. It’s a shame that we have to wait 2 years for each of these but all of them have been worth the wait.

NetON Beta Release Update Policy

Beta releases are not recommended for live or production websites as they have a number of bugs, they are mostly suitable for developers to try new features and report on bugs. Please read through this post to see what is coming to WordPress, however noting that the final version may be slightly different from the Beta Release. Please note that because this is a Beta Release, we won’t be updating your WordPress installation with this release.

NetON WordPress Development Services

NetON is your go to team for any WordPress development services in Australia.We are constantly working with our clients on WordPress Website Design, WordPress Development, Hosting, WordPress Security, SEO Optimisation for WordPress sites and upgrading Core WordPress and Plug-ins.We work with some of the smallest and the biggest companies in Australia and around the world and help them build and maintain their WordPress website to generate the best results for them. Please reach out to one of NetON’s Account Managers for more of our services. Please use the contact details on our Contact Us Page.

WordPress Demo Website

We keep an upto date demo site with the latest (sometimes even nightly builds) of WordPress that you are welcome to have a look at the url here.

Click here to view WordPress Demo Site
October 22, 2015
WordPress 4.3 Billie Released
An update, WordPress 4.3 named “Billie” in honor of jazz singer Billie Holiday, has been released for the latest version of WordPress. This version is considered a Major Release and adding new features to the WordPress CMS. More details on the release can be found over at WordPress.org.

With this release, we are really excited about the passwords being more secure and all the extra features added to make it easy to update content as well as view lists in the admin area.

The latest update comes with the following features:

Stronger Passwords

Passwords now show strength meters, password reset links now expire within 24 hours and email notifications are sent when email or password is changed.

WordPress Website Favicons

WordPress Admins can now manage their site’s favicon on desktops and mobiles. They are also now independent of theme and can be modified separately

Updated Editor

The Backend editor has been updated with a number of new features

Comments

Comments are now turned off for pages by default, this should help with a lot of comment spam that WordPress is having issues with currently.

Lots of developer updates
- Fast previewing changes to Menus in the Customizer
- A new theme template now shows up in the theme files to make it easy to code single posts
- Changes to the Customizer
- Starting to look towards PHP7 Support
- Removal of Distraction Free Writing
With this being a Major Release, our team will be working to make sure that your website gets updated as soon as possible. Our team can be asked to update your site if it hasn’t been updated in a week or two.

WordPress is a free and open-source tool and a content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL. Features include a plugin architecture and a template system. WordPress was used by more than 23.3% of the top 10 million websites as of January 2015. WordPress is the most popular blogging system in use on the Web, at more than 60 million websites.

NetON WordPress Development Services

Neton is your go to team for any WordPress development services in Australia. We are constantly working with our clients on WordPress Website Design, WordPress Development, Hosting, WordPress Security, SEO Optimisation for WordPress sites and upgrading Core WordPress and Plugins. Our team has worked with small to enterprise companies in creating, managing and running successful WordPress websites in Australia and around the world. Please contact us for more details on our services. Our contact details are on the Contact Us Page.

WordPress Demo Site

We run an upto date demo site of WordPress with the latest theme installed and configured.

Click here to view WordPress Demo Site
August 27, 2015
WordPress 4.3 Beta Released
The next Release for the most used CMS in the world WordPress is almost at our doorstep with the release of WordPress 4.3 Beta. The newest version, WordPress 4.3 Beta is a Beta Release and is due next month. This release focuses on adding new features to the WordPress CMS.

WordPress 4.3 Beta comes with a number of new features as listed below:

We are most excited about
- the security features coming into this release with the team working on improving passwords, also limiting the lifetime of password resets and generating secure passwords.
- the fact that you can now toggle columns in the list view of Posts and Pages, this was a big issue if you had any SEO plugins.
The latest update comes with the following featues:
- Menus can now be managed with the Customizer, which allows you to live preview changes you’re making without changing your site for visitors until you’re ready. This will most likely make it to the final version.
- That favicon bugging you? You can now manage your site’s favicon and app icon from the admin area.
- Very Exciting: A lot of work has been put into Better Passwords throughout WordPress. Now, WordPress will limit the life time of password resets, no longer send passwords via email, and generate and suggest secure passwords for you.
- Editor Improvements have been added. Certain text patterns are automatically transformed as you type, including * and - transforming into unordered lists, 1.and 1) for ordered lists, > for blockquotes and one to six number signs (#) for headings.
- We’ve improved the list view across the admin dashboard. Now, when you view your posts and pages on small screen devices, columns are not truncated and can be toggled into view.
Beta Release means that this version of WordPress is still in development. Our team will not be updating your WordPress site with this version until it is released. Please read through this post to see what is coming to WordPress, however noting that the final version may be slightly different from the Beta Release. Please note that becasue this is a Beta Release, we won’t be updating your WordPress installation with this release.

WordPress is a free and open-source tool and a content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL. Features include a plugin architecture and a template system. WordPress was used by more than 23.3% of the top 10 million websites as of January 2015. WordPress is the most popular blogging system in use on the Web, at more than 60 million websites.

NetON WordPress Development Services

NetON offers a complete range of WordPress Services for Australian businesses. Our team is constantly working on WordPress Website Development, WordPress Design, WordPress Hosting, Strengthening WordPress Security, running SEO OPtimisation on WordPress Websites and upgrading Core and WordPress Plugins. Our team has worked with small to enterprise companies in creating, managing and running successful WordPress websites in Australia and around the world. Please contact us for more details on our services. Please use the contact details on our Contact Us Page.

WordPress Demo Site

NetON maintains and upto date demo site of the latest version of WordPress that you can browse through.

Click here to view WordPress Demo Site
July 2, 2015
WordPress 4.2.2 maintenance and security release

A security update, WordPress 4.2.2 has been released for the latest version of WordPress. This version is considered a Maintenance and Security Release and is a critical security release for all previous versions and is strongly recommended that you update your sites immediately to this version..
More details on the release can be found over at WordPress.org.

The latest update comes with the following security fixes:

Genericons font package vulnerability fix

The Genericons icon font package, which is used in a number of popular themes and plugins contained an HTML file vulnerable to a cross-site scripting attack. All affected themes and plugins hosted on WordPress.org (including the Twenty Fifteen default theme) have been updated today by the WordPress security team to address this issue by removing this nonessential file. To help protect other Genericons usage WordPress 4.2.2 proactively scans the wp-content directory for this HTML file and removes it.

Cross-site Scripting Vulnerability fix

WordPress versions 4.2 and earlier are affected by a critical cross-site scripting vulnerability which could enable anonymous users to compromise a site. WordPress 4.2.2 includes a comprehensive fix for this issue.

General Website Hardening

The release also includes hardening for a potential cross-site scripting vulnerability when using the visual editor.

As with all Minor updates, Security updates and Maintenance releases, the NetON team will upgrade your installation automatically for you this week.

WordPress CMS

WordPress is a free and open-source tool and a content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL. Features include a plugin architecture and a template system. WordPress was used by more than 23.3% of the top 10 million websites as of January 2015. WordPress is the most popular blogging system in use on the Web, at more than 60 million websites

NetON’s WordPress Website Development Offerings

NetON offers a complete range of WordPress Services for websites including WordPress Website Development, WordPress Website Design, WordPress Website Hosting, WordPress security, Maintenance, WordPress SEO Optimisation and Upgrades. Whether you are starting a small blog or an enterprise fortune 500 company, we can help build and maintain your WordPress website for the best results online.

June 7, 2015
WordPress 3.8.2 Security Release now updating all sites
While WordPress 3.9 is just around the corner and releasing next week (fingers crossed), A WordPress security update came out today. WordPress 3.8.2 is a patch and security release for 3.8 and is a mandatory/auto update because of the HeartBleed vulnerability.

HeartBleed is a major Internet security flaw discovered on Monday. It is a flaw in the online security protocol Open SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). Experts are calling it a devastating security flaw. Surprisingly it has been around for 2 years and currently affects over 60% of the internet.

The HeartBleed official site cites

The Heartbleed bug allows anyone on the Internet to read the memory of the systems protected by the vulnerable versions of the OpenSSL software. This compromises the secret keys used to identify the service providers and to encrypt the traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the actual content. This allows attackers to eavesdrop on communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users.

Recommendation:

If you are a NetON customer, most likely you were already udpated. However it will be worth logging into your site to make sure that you are on 3.8.2

If you are not a customer, make sure you update to WordPress 3.8.2 as soon as you can. The new update is a automatic update, so most likely WordPress has automatically updated you but there are chances that won’t happen because of a number of reasons. If you are using HTTPS its essential that you update the site ASAP.

Security Updates and bug fixes on this release:
- WordPress 3.8.2 releases fixes a weakness that could let an attacker force their way into your site by forging authentication cookies.
- It also contains a fix to prevent a user with the Contributor role from improperly publishing posts.
- This release also fixes nine bugs and contains three other security hardening changes.
April 10, 2014