This article was published on March 22, 2011

WordPress 3.2 to drop support for old tech, introduce distraction-free writing


WordPress 3.2 to drop support for old tech, introduce distraction-free writing

According to a WordPress development update, the next release of the popular blogging platform is all about dropping support for outdated technology and making the software run faster.

The new version of WordPress will now require PHP 5.2.4 and MySQL 5 at a minimum, and users running Internet Explorer 6 will be asked to upgrade to a newer browser in the admin interface asking them to upgrade to a newer browser. “We probably can’t drop much CSS, as IE7 shares a lot of the issues. This is mostly symbolic, and reduces the platform combos we need to test,” said Mark Jaquith on the IE6 nag in the post.

While most of the proposed changes in WordPress 3.2 are performance-focused, the team intends to change the full-screen post writing view to be similar to popular ‘distraction-free writing’ apps such as WriteRoom and OmmWriter. How this is implemented remains to be seen, but one can assume it’ll involve fewer buttons, typography improvements to make content more readable and perhaps a ‘focus’ feature similar to iA Writer’s that uses font color to emphasize the paragraph the writer is currently working on.

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