WordPress 4.3 is Here: What All You Need to Know?

If you are a WordPress user, then you will be happy to know that the new WordPress version 4.3 has been released. The version is named after an admired Jazz singer, “Billie Holiday”.

WordPress “Billie” introduces some exciting changes that will make the process of formatting the content of a WordPress site and customizing the site a lot easier. Let us now have a quick glimpse of the major features that the new version brings about:

Menus Have Been Added to the Customizer

With each new WordPress release, small improvements are introduced to the Customizer. And with version 4.3, you will be able to create, update and assign menus and can preview them in real time. However, you can still use the traditional way of creating navigational menus. But, thanks to the new improvement, creating and managing menus has become easier and faster. So, if you have been taking up WordPress Theme Development, and want to streamline the navigational structure of the theme, the new menu addition in the Customizer will help you achieve such need in the best possible manner.

Help Create Better Passwords

When it comes to hardening the security of a WordPress site, creating strong passwords is one of the recommendations that you'll probably hear every now and then. However, WordPress wasn't much concerned about user passwords. But, the new version introduces a new approach towards maintaining users’ password security. It gives suggestions to users about creating strong passwords, at the time of setting up a WP install and changing the password.

Rather than receiving the password through email, from the new version onwards, you will be getting a password reset link. Whether you are adding some new users, or editing any existing user profile, WordPress will auto-generate a secure password for you.

Favicon (or Website Icon)

 

Users often forgot to add website icons (also referred to as favicon) from the admin dashboard screen in the previous WordPress versions. However, the new version of WordPress “Billie” resolves such an issue, as it comes with a built-in option that will allow you to add an icon (or favicon) directly from the customizer. This is a huge benefit for users involved with WordPress site development projects, as they cannot only customizer their theme layout from the customizer, but will be able to apply a favicon as well.

Formatting Shortcuts

 Have Been Introduced in The Editor

Now writing in WordPress will become even better and faster, thanks to the introduction of new formatting shortcuts in version 4.3 of WordPress. Some of these shortcuts are:

• You can choose to use asterisks (*) for creating a bulleted list.
• Use numbers such as 1. or 1) for the numbered list. 
• Create a heading using the number sign (#). For example, use ## for H2, ### for H3 and so on.
• Transform your text into blackquote using the greater sign '>'. 
•  

A Few Other Improvements:

• In WordPress version 4.3 editor section, at the time of linking the text to an URL, you will be able to view a “link preview wizard” under the linked text.
• Improvement has been made to the word count style in the newest version of WordPress, which will now get updated when the user stops writing. You no longer will have to click on the “Enter” button to make the updates to the word count style.
• In the latest version of WordPress, comments on the page will be “turned off” by default.
  

Wrapping Up!

Whether you are just a WordPress developer or a user , you should not ignore getting to know about the latest WordPress version 4.3, and the features it offers such as the ones discussed above.

The Best Ways to Build a WordPress Website

Holding 60.2% CMS market share, WordPress is undoubtedly one platform you can't miss to ignore for your website development project. Of course, there are many other content management systems (both open-source and paid) out there – that can be used for website development as well. However, the ease that the WordPress CMS provides in creating, editing and managing a site is something you may not experience with any other CMS-system.

So, in case you are convinced to build a WordPress-enabled site, here are some of the best ways that will help you in making a successful WP website:

1. Markup Conversion

Now-a-days, most of the WordPress users prefer to choose PSD to WordPress conversion services offered by web development companies for their project. In fact, this is one of the most recommended ways to build a WP site, because of the following benefits:

It provides a custom design that help set your website as a “unique” brand and helps in getting instant recognition.

It generates clean and semantic code. Most importantly, your code is W3C validated and thus make your site accessible across all browsers.

You have complete control over the layout of your site, thereby giving you the flexibility to make your site tailored based on your preferences.

2. Install and Activate a Responsive WordPress Theme

Choosing a markup conversion service can help you create a great website, but isn't a viable option for start-ups or small businesses tied to a limited development budget. If that's the case, then you can install and activate a pre-built WordPress theme. It would be better if you will install a responsive theme, as it will make your website look and function great on all the devices.

You can get access to free themes from the official WordPress Theme Repository. Or else, you can even choose a premium WordPress theme – that are usually available at a  nominal rate. But, the problem with choosing a ready-made theme is that it may contain faulty code. Also, such themes restrict from making customization.

3. Use a Page Builder Plugin

If you want to add more pages to your existing WordPress site, you can choose to use page builder to achieve such an objective. Thankfully, there are many great plugins that helps in building a page for your existing site. For example, the Visual Composer is one of the most popular page builder plugin that helps in building pages for the front-end.

Using this plugin, you add things such as sliders, color schemes, columns, and a lot more. The best part is that you can view how all these elements look when adding them to your site in real time.

Wrapping Up!

If you want to build a WordPress site, then you will be overwhelmed with the plenty of choices available over the web. To make the task easy for you, we have presented three of the most commonly used and recommended ways for developing a WordPress enabled site.