Getting to grips with WordPress 3.3

Now that the first release candidate for WordPress 3.3 is out, we can all plan (hopefully) for the real thing to be out before we take-off for Christmas Holidays in about 2 weeks.

Getting to grips with WordPress 3.3

This is a significant point release but don’t expect ‘major’ new features. Anyway, here are the features you’ll like and a little run-down of each one:

• Fly-out Menus with some responsive design

• New Toolbar

• New Drag n’ Drop Media Uploader

• Tumblr Importer

• Widgets get Memory

Fly-out Menus

First thing you’ll notice on the dashboard is that (most) fonts have changed to Helevetica Neue Lite - after that you’ll probably start wondering what happened with the Menu bar. Gone is the collapsible / concertina menus. Now it’s a smoother menu with ‘fly-out stuff’.

New Toolbar (again)

Yes, again this release sees a lot of work on the Admin Toolbar for logged in users. Mostly the changes impact Multi-site Network Admins. In what may seem like a benefit the Switch to Network Admin link has moved (again).

New Drag n Drop Media Uploader

Cool - Google was doing this a long time back, this feature is a great addition to WordPress and along with the new uploader you can now upload other file formats by default.

Tumblr Importer

This should be important for any die-hard WordPress fan .. seriously, why do you need WordPress and Tumblr?

Actually, this is less of a new feature - just that the Import options now include the Tumblr plugin.

Widgets get Memory

Sometimes it’s annoying - you change theme to test out something new, but decide you like the old better. Now Widgets remember how they were setup for a particular theme. So it’s easy to change back.

Have you been trying out WordPress 3.3 RC1? what do you think?

Meet the author

Damien Saunders
An experienced management consultant and business leader interested in digital transformation, product centred design and scaled agile. If I'm not writing about living with UCTD (an autoimmune disease), I'm probably listening to music, reading a book or learning more about wine.