WordPress.org today announced the debut of WordPress 3.7, which focuses much more on the backend than the frontend. You can download the new release now from WordPress.org/Download (it’s 4.8MB).
Dubbed “Basie” in honor of American jazz pianist and composer Count Basie, WordPress 3.7 is the first release that uses the company’s new plugin-first development process that results in a much a quicker development cycle. WordPress.org explains it gives much more autonomy to plugin leads and allows the organization to decouple feature development from a release.
The new features are as follows:
- Updates while you sleep: With WordPress 3.7, you don’t have to lift a finger to apply maintenance and security updates. Most sites are now able to automatically apply these updates in the background. The update process also has been made even more reliable and secure, with dozens of new checks and safeguards.
- Stronger password recommendations: Your password is your site’s first line of defense. It’s best to create passwords that are complex, long, and unique. To that end, our password meter has been updated in WordPress 3.7 to recognize common mistakes that can weaken your password: dates, names, keyboard patterns (123456789), and even pop culture references.
- Better global support: Localized versions of WordPress will receive faster and more complete translations. WordPress 3.7 adds support for automatically installing the right language files and keeping them up to date, a boon for the many millions who use WordPress in a language other than English.
WordPress 3.6 was released in August. If this faster release cycle sticks, we’d expect to see WordPress 3.8 before the end of the year. Version 3.8 is in fact currently scheduled for December.
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See also – WordPress now powers 18.9% of the Web, has over 46m downloads, according to founder Matt Mullenweg and WordPress is 10 years old today: Here’s how it’s changed the Web
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