The first beta for WordPress 4.5 is in full flow, with a final release date set for April 12th 2016. And thankfully, unlike with WordPress 4.4, I'm quite looking forward to clicking the update button on release day.
I've had my moments with WordPress recently. I have channeled some of my thoughts on the world's most popular CMS via my coverage of WordPress 4.4 (where I labeled the update as a bare bones excuse for a semi-major update), and also through my article entitled; “How WordPress Needs to Improve Itself (In 6 Ways)“.
In fact, the latter publication caused a bit of a stir. In return, I recieved some scathing feedback from well-known WordPress advocate, sparking a small debate.
But as WordPress 4.5 edges closer, I'm happy to report that it looks far more useful than its predecessor.
The usefulness of WordPress 4.5 will largely reside in the updates it has for Customizer, WordPress' front-end editing environment.
But to be fair, there's more to it than that. Here's a summary, borrowed from the official WordPress announcement:
WordPress developers will get a bundle of updates to play around with, too:
Now that's an update!
Customizer has long been a relatively handy tool, but it was never truly impressive in terms of functionality. But this update is a solid step in the right direction for that particluar dimension of WordPress.
Plus, inline link editing and improved comment moderation seem like good additions to the platform. I'm hoping the latter can help speed things up when comments start to clutter up the moderation queue.
To find out more about WordPress 4.5 beta 1, check out the WordPress blog announcement.