The latest version of WordPress, WordPress 4.7, named “Vaughan” after the legendary jazz vocalist Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan, was released in December and is available for download or automatic update through your WordPress dashboard.
This version of WordPress will be of most interest to web developers, but there are some benefits for those who want to self-build a website without too much technical knowledge.
Version 4.7 does not contain security patches, but it is always wise to keep up to date with the latest version of your website’s software as it is released – so update as soon as possible.
NB: The Security Firewall plugin, Wordfence, reports a potential vulnerability in WordPress 4.7. Make sure that you are protected if you update.
Wordfence reported: “WordPress 4.7 … includes a REST API that will be used by many WordPress plugins… and even WordPress core in future. Every site that upgrades to WordPress 4.7 has this API enabled by default. One way it can be exploited is by bots that are launching brute-force password guessing attacks on WordPress websites. They can use this API to list the usernames of anyone who has published a post on a WordPress site. The list of users displayed via this API almost always includes a user with admin level access.” You can read the full Wordfence report here.
At the same time, WordPress has revealed the new default theme for 2017.
If you use the Twenty Seventeen theme and want to create a website without professional help, you’ll find it easy to personalise it with widgets, navigation, social menus, a logo, custom colors, and more. The process of setting up a new theme has been modified for WordPress 4.7. Now, themes allow placeholder content which appears if you use customization mode. This gives you the opportunity to plan the content without making any changes to the live site.
New Video Headers
WordPress 4.7 now gives you the facility to use videos as header media rather than simply the traditional header image. This can be accomplished through uploading your own video in MP4 format or providing the link to a YouTube video.
New Menu Building Options
Now, when you create navigation menus in WordPress, you can create new pages on the fly. When you publish your menu items, the new pages you have specified will be prepared, ready for you to add content to in the admin panel.
Simplified Custom CSS
It is now easier to add custom CSS to your site and, most importantly, get a live preview of what the changes will look like before going live. This is much more efficient than the older method where you had to refresh the page repeatedly as you worked.
Other Admin Panel Tweaks
- It is now possible to see a thumbnail preview for PDFs. They will appear just like images and videos in the media library, making them easier to identify.
- It is also possible to add new languages to the admin area of a site. As the WordPress points out, this is helpful if a diverse team helps manage a website and prefers different languages to the one the site is written in.
For more technical details behind the WordPress 4.7 update, see the company’s official announcement.
